Researching and teaching speech acts with young L2 learners

As English has emerged to be a global lingua franca, the language has been taught to increasingly younger language learners as a second language (L2). Despite a rapidly growing number of young L2 learners around the world, the motivational process underlying their language learning deserves close attention since motivation is usually believed to be one of the key factors predicting L2 learners’ language learning achievements. In this chapter, we present a critical overview of existing research on young L2 learners’ motivation. Our review reveals that young L2 learners’ motivation is dynamic and mediated by multiple factors including parents’ socioeconomic status (SES) and their involvement in their children’s L2 learning, as well as the teacher and teaching-related factors. We also propose fine-tuning classroom instructions by considering the factors that mediate young L2 learners’ motivation. By undertaking these efforts, this chapter may contribute to the theoretical development of young L2 learners’ motivation for future research and inform practitioners’ pedagogical efforts to enhance it.

This qualitative study highlights the role of pictures and music in vocabulary retention in young second-language learners. By applying the monitor theory by Stephen Krashen as a theoretical framework, this study sheds light on the tailored learning methodologies for young learners. These creative tools are the strategic integration that makes learning fun in a second language classroom without the fear and anxiety of a foreign language. When the comprehensible input is received engagingly, the focus shifts toward learning while the stress is pushed into the background. The findings of the study contribute valuable insights into pedagogical implications that are contradictory to traditional classroom instructions. Moreover, it plays a significant role in overcoming the challenges faced by young second language learners in an anxious and stressful environment which bears a substantial potential in foreign language learning paradigms

ABSTRACTExamining spoken features across proficiency levels allows researchers to explore the nature of speaking proficiency as it develops. This line of research has thus far primarily focused on adult second language (L2) learners. Using cross-sectional data based on a large-scale language assessment intended for young L2 learners, in this study, we examined the distinguishing features that categorize the spoken performance of young English language learners (ages 9 to 12) across levels, and especially, between adjacent levels. The study constitutes an initial step in exploring the construct of speaking proficiency of young English language learners as it progresses. The results indicated that 16 spoken features, found to differentiate adult English learners, were associated with young learners’ English proficiency. We also found that spoken performance of young L2 English learners was characterized by different features at different levels. Findings of the study provide some preliminary observations regarding linguistic features that show differentiating power at different proficiency levels, offering insights into young learners’ English development. The findings can serve as preliminary suggestions for utilizing different rating criteria for constructing rubrics for assessing young learners at different levels of English proficiency.

Research has suggested an interference effect for words taught in semantic clusters due to the semantic links connecting the words. Thematic clustering of vocabulary is an alternative method of presenting new words to second language (L2) learners. However, what is known about the effects of semantic and thematic clustering has been uncovered through the recruitment of adult learners, with little research conducted with very young learners. Moreover, language textbooks and curriculums for very young learners continue to structure vocabulary semantically. Embedded instruction using storybook contexts has been suggested as a suitable context-based vocabulary teaching technique although knowledge of its effects is limited. To investigate this claim, a quasi-experimental within-subjects design was used to investigate whether embedded instruction could differentially affect very young L2 learners’ learning of new vocabulary taught in either semantic or thematic clusters (N = 38) compared to a control (N = 15). The findings suggest that embedded instruction is beneficial for very young L2 learners’ vocabulary learning regardless of the clustering type. Participants gained and retained over time considerable receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge for both semantic and thematic clustered words, indicating that embedding vocabulary in storybook contexts may reduce the potential for interference between target words in semantic clusters.

This paper reviews research on teaching pragmatics – and more specifically speech acts – to young L2 learners from two perspectives: (1) studies investigating young L2 learners’ pragmatic competence and (2) studies examining the potential of different materials with regard to pragmatics instruction. The review of L2 learners’ speech act competence addresses cross-sectional and longitudinal developmental studies, as well as studies that examined the effects of specific instructional approaches, learning contexts or materials on young L2 learners’ pragmatic competence. The review of studies examining materials addresses both studies focusing on designated L2 teaching materials produced for the explicit purpose of foreign language instruction of young learners, as well as studies examining speech acts included in children’s books. The paper concludes with a discussion of issues relevant to young learners and the teaching and researching of L2 pragmatics.

El propósito del estudio es identificar la utilización de estrategias en el aprendizaje de la lengua extranjera, por estudiantes universitarios, con diferentes niveles de competencia. Los objetivos son: 1) Conocer el uso de las categorías de estrategias en los diferentes niveles, 2) Comparar la utilización de las categorías, 3) Analizar la selección de categorías y 4) Averiguar el uso de las estrategias individuales más y menos frecuentemente utilizadas. Los participantes del estudio fueron 135 estudiantes de Magisterio del Grado de Primaria. El instrumento utilizado para evaluar estrategias ha sido una adaptación del SILL-Strategy nventory for Language Learning (Oxford, 1990) y para medir la competencia se emplearon las calificaciones finales de la asignatura de inglés.Los resultados de la investigación indican que la categoría más frecuentemente utilizada ha sido la Metacognitiva y la menos empleada la de Memorización. Los estudiantes más competentes emplean globalmente más estrategias. Además, se hallaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas en la utilización de la categoría cognitiva entre los grupos. The purpose of this study is to analyze the language learning strategy use in foreign language learning by university students at different proficiency levels. The objectives of the study are: 1) to learn about the language learning strategy use in language learning proficiency, 2) to compare language learning strategies employed, 3) to analyze the language learning strategies typically employed by a particular group of students, and 4) to find out about specific language learning strategies most frequently used. The participants were 135 teacher training university students. Data collection method used was a questionnaire based on SILL-Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (Oxford, 1990). The scores on English test were used to measure language learning proficiency. The results of this study reveal that learners use Metacognitive strategies more often than other strategies. In contrast, Memory strategies are the least frequently used. The frequent use of a large number of language learning strategies is reported by the most proficient learners. The differences in proficiency and in cognitive strategy use were found to be statistically significant.

In this chapter, I identify key concepts in language learning and language education. Rather than attempting to compile a comprehensive inventory of concepts, undoubtedly limited by my own experience, I have chosen a generative, question-posing approach, one that I have made use of over the years to situate developments in the field. It is in answering these questions that the key concepts emerge, a process I will illustrate by offering a few answers to each question. In order to bring some coherence to my discussion, I will adopt a heuristic in the form of a triangle (Figure 11.1). In the top angle of the triangle, there is the teacher, who does the teaching. In the lower leftangle, there is the subject matter. In the case of language education, this has meant the language and usually the culture in which it is embedded. The lower right angle of the triangle refers to the language learners in the process of doing the learning. The triangle is situated within a context, broadly interpreted to mean any place, situation, or time in which language education takes place. For instance, it could be in a national context or a more local classroom context with a particular group of students at a particular period of time, etc. Contextual factors affect answers to the questions, as do the prevailing theories at a particular period of time. In other words, there are no absolute answers to these questions at any one time or over time, and I make no claim that more recent evolutionary phases are necessarily superior to those which preceded them. Yet, even though the questions have not always been explicit nor their answers absolute, in this chapter they provide a useful framework for identifying the key concepts in the evolution of language learning and education.

From the popularity of flipped teaching in United States primary and high schools, it is thought that students have more learning control to adjust to the learning progress and are assisted in problem solving and learning guidance during class period. It is believed that flipped teaching could prompt underachieving learners’ active learning and thereby enhance learning effectiveness. A total of 386 high school students in Chungli, Taiwan, were part of an experimental study and the research results are summarized below: (1) Students who participated in the flipped teaching models demonstrated better comprehension levels with the teaching content due to this change in learning style and attitude, which in turn, enhanced learning effectiveness. (2) To eliminate poor language performance of underachieving students, it is necessary to lay solid foundations to gradually enhance language learning effectiveness regarding this particular group of students. Films suitable for students’ individual ability could be combined with new language learned in the unit to genuinely assist underachieving learners’ language learning effectiveness. (3) For students who care about their performance, a “system of play” style grouping should be determined in order to enable the tracking of group performance and term performance. According to the results, further developments regarding active learning ability, boosts in learning interests, enhanced learning effectiveness, and the prompting of creativity resulting in a shift from passive learner to active learner have been proposed.

Various issues make learning and teaching software engineering a challenge for both students and instructors. Since there are no standard curricula and no cookbook recipes for successful software engineering, it is fairly hard to figure out which specific topics and competencies should be learned or acquired by a particular group of students. Furthermore, it is not clear which particular didactic approaches might work well for a specific topic and a particular group of students. This contribution presents a research agenda that aims at identifying relevant competencies and environmental constraints as well as their effect on learning and teaching software engineering. To that end, an experimental approach will be taken. As a distinctive feature, this approach iteratively introduces additional or modified didactical methods into existing courses and carefully evaluates their appropriateness. Thus, it continuously improves these methods.

0 0 1 130 820 Hochschule Coburg 6 1 949 14.0 96 Normal 0 21 false false false DE JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normale Tabelle"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Various issues make learning and teaching software engineering a challenge for both students and instructors. Since there are no standard curricula and no cookbook recipes for successful software engineering, it is fairly hard to figure out which specific topics and competencies should be learned or acquired by a particular group of students. Furthermore, it is not clear which particular didactic approaches might work well for a specific topic and a particular group of students. This contribution presents a research agenda that aims at identifying relevant competencies and environmental constraints as well as their effect on learning and teaching software engineering. To that end, an experimental approach will be taken. As a distinctive feature, this approach iteratively introduces additional or modified didactical methods into existing courses and carefully evaluates their appropriateness. Thus, it continuously improves these methods.

This study explored learning which occurred when mature distance education students co-developed an open educational resource (OER) with their lecturers using Smith’s critical reflection as a method to guide reflection on their learning. This study is significant since student learning on the co-development of an open educational resource could not be found in the literature. Within an interpretative paradigm, we used questionnaires with mainly open-ended questions to determine a particular group of students’ learning. Findings indicate learning about themselves, their interactions, and their contexts. The study puts forward specific implications to improve future practices based on the findings. The specific contribution is that students who engage in critical self-reflection change their perspectives, allowing them to self-examine and reflect on future actions. This learning experience assists students, lecturers and institutions of higher education in their approach toward critical reflection and the co-development of OER.

The teaching of an invented language rule has been proposed as a possible non‐biased, language‐independent assessment technique useful in differentiating young L2 learners with specific language impairment from their typically developing peers. The current study explores these notions by testing typically developing sequential bilingual children's ability to learn an invented language rule in either L1 (Spanish) or L2 (English). Participants were 20 children, age 3:6–5:8, who attended a Head Start programme. For all children, Spanish was the primary language spoken in the home and English was the primary language of instruction. Children were randomly assigned two groups. Group L1 was taught the novel language rule in Spanish; Group L2 was taught the novel language rule in English. Performance was better for the L1 group than for the L2 group. Moreover, not all of these typical language learners were able to learn the new rule, even in their strongest language. These findings suggest that even for typically developing children, specific language proficiency as well as individual differences are closely linked to performance on this novel morpheme learning task.

This study examined the effects of listening support on the listening comprehension and completion time of second/foreign language (L2) students at the primary level. The study participants were randomly assigned to various types of listening support (including question preview, picture preview, and key vocabulary instruction), listened to a folk story, completed a multiple-choice listening comprehension test, were recorded on the amount of time they spent on the comprehension test, and completed a survey. The results showed that the study participants who received either the question preview or the picture preview scored higher than those in the vocabulary group or the control group. In addition, the participants who were exposed to the questionpreview or picture-preview conditions spent considerably less time answering the comprehension questions. The findings suggest that the use of effective listening support in the prelistening stage assists young L2 learners to comprehend a listening text effectively and quickly, and that young L2 learners agree with the positive value associated with the use of listening support in facilitating comprehension, boosting learner confidence, reducing test anxiety, and understanding the core idea of a listening text. The limitations of the study, pedagogical implications, and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Iwona Chrzanowska, Inclusive education in the opinion of the teachers from special pre-schools, regarding the chances of success of the inclusive actions towards particular groups of students, education participants, and teachers’ seniority. Interdisciplinary Contexts of Special Pedagogy, no. 25, Poznań 2019. Pp. 127-149. Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 2300-391X. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/ikps.2019.25.06
 Within the context of the implementation of the inclusive education model, it seems important to learn the opinions of the teachers, particularly those teachers that are experienced in working with a child/student with a disability, regarding the chances of success of inclusive actions, both in the context of the type, and the level of severity of the developmental disorder, the hazard of the developmental disorder, as well as, regarding the remaining participants of inclusive education, i.e. students without or with special educational needs, however, displaying certain aptitudes. The text focuses on the teacher from the pre-school level of education, as well as, refers to the determination of their attitudes towards the realisation of the model ofinclusive education, as related to their seniority.

<p>This study focuses on exploring the impact of happiness on the learning of Chinese as a second language. The study focuses specifically on students from six universities in Indonesia, providing a targeted sample of learners within a specific context. By examining this particular group of students, the study aims to gain insights into the impact of happiness on Chinese language outcomes among Indonesian learners. In this study include an exploration of the Affective Filter Hypothesis proposed by Stephen Krashen the Affective Filter Hypothesis suggests that learners’ emotional states can act as a filter that ether facilitates or hinder language acquisition. The main research question revolves around whether students’ happiness influences their ability to learn Chinese as a language. The research methodology includes a combination of surveys quantitative and qualitative interviews to gather data. Indonesian students who are studying Chinese as their second language were involved in the study. Surveys were used to assess their perceived progress in learning Chinese and their overall satisfaction levels. Additionally, some participants underwent interviews to delve deeper into their experiences and language learning journey. The findings indicate a correlation between happiness and Chinese language acquisition with levels of happiness associated with increased motivation, reduced anxiety and improved language proficiency. The qualitative analysis revealed that contented students exhibited self-confidence, an attitude towards learning and a willingness to engage with the Chinese language. This study contributes to the broader field of second language acquisition by highlighting the significance of addressing well-being in language learning environments and support the relevance of the Affective Filter Hypothesis. According to the study findings enhancing happiness levels and creating a learning environment will facilitate effective Chinese language acquisition, among Indonesian students. This study calls for further research to explore additional emotional factors and their impact on language acquisition in diverse learner populations.</p>