Adult Foreign Language Learners Research Articles

Factors affecting the formation of foreign language anxiety: Focusing on Korean EFL learners with high proficiency test scores

This study aimed to describe the factors contributing to anxiety in Korean English learners who scored high on English tests. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Korean adult Foreign Language (EFL) learners who received high scores in English proficiency test. Through the interviews, it was revealed that Korean English learners with high scores acknowledged English as Lingua Franca, a language for communication. However, at the same time, they confessed that they perceived that English as a kind of ideology in Korean society. They opined that English contributed to dividing society into social classes because they could not get into the school or job they wanted if their English skills were not enough. Their experiences further caused anxiety and uncomfortable feelings about English. Based on this, this study suggested that the position of socially dominant English is contributing to the cause of anxiety about English among Korean English learners with a certain level of achievement. It was suggested that the anxiety in Korean English learners should be approached from a social perspective beyond personal factors such as individual achievements and characteristics. (179)

Online guided pronunciation practice helps adult EFL learners improve L2 prosody

This study tests the efficacy of a pronunciation course in developing advanced EFL learners’ expressive reading during a semester of online instruction. The course, designed for future English-language professionals, emphasises primacy of perception before production, the importance of noticing phonetic detail, expert and peer feedback, and context-situated tasks. The magnitude of pitch movements and reading tempo were assessed before and after the course for a trained group, who received the pronunciation practice, and a comparison group attending a course about the theory and research of foreign accents in English. Only the Trained group’s expressive prosody improved: the learners slowed down their delivery and produced the utterances with a wider pitch range. The results suggest that adult foreign language learners can benefit from pronunciation training in a distance learning environment.

Foreign Language Enjoyment and Subjective Happiness in Spanish Adult Learners

Background. Research interest in FLE and its associated factors has increased in recent years, especially regarding learner-internal factors. Happiness could potentially be one of the predictors of FLE.
 Purpose. This study aimed to investigate the link between foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and a measure of subjective happiness (SH).
 Methods. A total of 594 adult foreign language learners aged 16 to 72 participated in the study. Ten items extracted from the FLE scale and the SH scale translated and validated into Spanish were used to gather the data.
 Results. With a significant 3.6% shared variance between FLE and SH, the study found that participants with higher scores on FLE have higher scores on SH. However, the percentage of shared variance found is considerably higher for different subgroups (e.g., 6.7% for the older adolescent group and 10% for mature and senior adults). The results suggest that the relationship between personality variables and FLE may differ depending on learner-internal factors such as age, gender, competence level and foreign language.
 Implications. The study opens a new line of research into the interaction between FLE and happiness, and factors affecting it with a sample that, due to the wide range of participant ages and the number of participants beyond their twenties, is more representative of the adult foreign language learner population than is usually the case in studies of FLE.

HUMOUR IN ADULT FOREIGN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION: PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENT- TEACHERS FROM A TEACHING FACULTY

The aim of this study is to explore the extent to which the employ- ment of humour in adult foreign language instruction represents an important advantage for teachers and learners. In light of definitions, theories, functions, and types of humour, the paper examines aspects and effects of humour in the classroom with adult foreign language learners from the student-teachers’ points of view. It offers new insights into the topic from an empirical perspective in that it reveals perceptions of young adults who are simultaneously students and practising teachers of EFL. The examinees are the final year students of English at the Faculty of Philology, University of Banja Luka, who, for one semester, twice a week, give English language classes to adult learners at different levels of proficiency. These students preparing for a teaching career, are advised to use humour in their classes, monitor and evaluate its consequences. Their perceptions of its use and effects are examined in a face-to-face group interview and a few individual interviews. Qualitative content analysis reveals salient themes related to the role of humour in adult foreign language instruction. Results are discussed in comparison to their supervisor’s field notes from class observations, and relevant research. They indicate that although stu- dent-teachers highly value humour in the classroom they are hesitant in recommending its planned employment. Conclusions suggest a more elaborate use of humour in both foreign language teaching and teacher training, from the earliest stages of practice.

Factors predicting classroom WTC in English and French as foreign languages among adult learners in Spain

This study aimed to identify associations and predictors of willingness to communicate (WTC) of adult foreign language (FL) learners and whether they are contingent upon the FL being learned. To this end, our research investigated learner variables associated with WTC in adult FL learners of English and of French in an under-researched field of WTC studies in Spain. More specifically, the following variables were studied: gender, age, level of multilingualism, perceived relative standing in the class, language proficiency, teacher’s use of the FL in class, out-of-class foreign language use (OCFLU) and the two emotions of foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA). Of the 9 independent variables examined, FLCA and language proficiency were found to be predictors of the WTC of both English and French language learners; additionally, enjoyment was found to be a predictor of WTC of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and OCFLU, of learners of French as a foreign language (FFL). Our findings indicate that the construct of WTC needs to be further studied as research may produce dissimilar results depending on the instructional setting, population and foreign language. Pedagogical implications for language teaching practices seeking to enhance adult FL learners’ WTC were also drawn from the study results.

Anxiety in adult foreign language learning: The case of Ghanaian undergraduate students of Spanish

This study investigates students’ anxiety levels through the administration of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) among Spanish learners at a Ghanaian University. The differences according to level of instruction, the association between classroom anxiety and performance, as well as the possible relationship between language immersion and anxiety are also analysed using descriptive statistics, and Pearson’s Moment Correlation Coefficient. The findings indicate that the majority of student participants experienced foreign language classroom anxiety. Nonetheless, contrary to previous research findings, anxiety was not found to decrease systematically as proficiency increased. Additionally, as confirmed by previous studies, the result of the Pearson correlation analysis showed that students’ overall Spanish classroom anxiety and their classroom achievement had a negative association.

Different Cognitive Correlates of Early Learning of Spelling of Different Target Types in Korean Hangul Among First Language Children and Adult Foreign Language Learners

This study examined whether different cognitive correlates are associated with spelling of different target types, such as phonologically consistent and inconsistent syllables, of Korean Hangul among 94 five-year-old first language (L1) Korean children and 41 foreign language (FL) learners who are Hong Kong Chinese college students. Korean children performed tasks of spelling, along with measures of syllable and phoneme coda awareness, phonological and orthographic working memory, morphological awareness, vocabulary, and orthographic knowledge. Among Korean 5-year-old children, coda awareness and orthographic working memory explained unique variance in spelling of phonologically consistent syllables, whereas syllable and coda awareness, orthographic working memory, orthographic knowledge, and vocabulary all explained unique variance in spelling of inconsistent syllables. When Chinese college students were tested on spelling of Korean Hangul as a foreign language, along with a battery of tasks in Korean similar to those administered to the L1 children, only orthographic working memory significantly explained spelling of consistent syllables, whereas only vocabulary knowledge explained spelling of inconsistent syllables. In both groups, spelling accuracy was lower in phonologically inconsistent than in consistent Hangul syllables. These findings suggest that different cognitive demands are involved in early spelling of phonologically consistent and inconsistent syllables in Korean Hangul among L1 and FL learners.

Kahoot! As a Formative Assessment Tool in Foreign Language Learning: A Case Study in Greek as an L2

Our study investigates the effectiveness of Kahoot! as a formative assessment tool in the consolidation of grammatical phenomena in adult foreign language learning. Kahoot! was used in a multilingual and multicultural learning environment, where Α1-level Greek was the target language. An experimental quantitative methodology was employed to compare progress made by students using Kahoot! (experimental group) compared to those using traditional methods such as paper and pencil tests (control group). Pre-tests and post-tests were administered to both groups to check if students had better assimilated the grammatical phenomena they had been taught. The study was carried out in the Center for the Study of the Hellenic Language and Culture at the University of Ioannina (Greece). Overall findings reveal that both groups performance in the post-tests showed a statistically significant improvement, however there was not a statistically significant difference between the performance of the two groups.

O ‘paradoxo’ da morfologia das línguas de sinais por Adam Schembri

Adam Schembri discutiu o conceito de complexidade morfológica nas línguas sinalizadas, bem como os paradoxos que resultam da análise dessas línguas à luz das visões de Aronoff, Meier e Sandler (2005) e de Trudgill (2011). Segundo o conferencista, os primeiros autores não definem tal conceito, mas pode-se depreender de seu trabalho que eles o associam à composição plurimorfêmica do sinal. Nessa perspectiva, o paradoxo da morfologia das línguas de sinais emerge do fato de essas línguas apresentarem uma mistura de características típicas de línguas polissintéticas e de línguas crioulas. Alternativamente, Trudgill define a complexidade morfológica com base nas dificuldades de aquisição enfrentadas por aprendizes adultos de línguas estrangeiras: a irregularidade, a imprevisibilidade dos alomorfes, a redundância e a marcação morfológica de categorias. Nessa perspectiva, o paradoxo da morfologia das línguas de sinais decorre da escassez dessas propriedades nessas línguas, ainda que apresentem construções morfologicamente complexas envolvendo verbos indicadores e classificadores.

Strategy use, self-efficacy beliefs, and self-regulatedness in adult foreign language learning

The aim of this study was to understand adult learners’ strategy use in foreign language learning. It also explored how such strategy use relates to learners’ sense of self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, and language proficiency. Two questionnaires were administered to obtain data from 90 education majors in a Japanese university. Differences in strategy use in relation to self-efficacy, self-regulatedness, and proficiency were examined using Kruskal-Wallis H tests. Whilst some preferred and less preferred strategy items were identified, the findings suggested that possession of a high self-efficacy profile and self-regulatedness related to both greater use of language learning strategies and a higher level of language proficiency. However, a closer look detected a nuanced, important difference in the magnitude of the effect, whereby self-regulatedness may be more yielding than self-efficacy. Namely, self-regulatedness played a substantial role in differentiating use of several strategy items among different proficiency groups, whereas self-efficacy seems to play a smaller part than self-regulatedness in this respect, considering the effect sizes. Thus, this empirical study contributes to the ongoing discussion of the different roles and nature of the self-efficacy and self-regulatedness constructs in the context of language learning and teaching. Implications for language teaching are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.

Teacher and learner perceptions of adult foreign language learners’ engagement with consciousness-raising tasks in four languages

At some UK universities, non-credit bearing courses for the general public are offered in a wide range of languages, often taught by hourly paid staff. Ensuring similar, high quality learning experiences and learning outcomes across languages can be a challenge. This study inquired into the viability and value of a consciousness-raising approach, i.e. whether teachers would be able and likely to implement it, and whether students would engage with such tasks and find them useful. The study included students and teachers engaged in the learning/teaching of Arabic, French, Italian, and Spanish. Following some input about Language Awareness pedagogic principles, and with some mentoring by the researchers, the teachers designed their own consciousness raising grammar tasks with accompanying communicative output opportunities and implemented them in their classes. To respond to our research questions, this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with teachers and students. The tasks, which combined a form and meaning focus, presented rich affordances for learner engagement with language and were enjoyed by the majority of students. The teachers struggled to correctly estimate task difficulty and time needed but felt that the approach had contributed to improving their teaching and that they were likely to use it in the future.

What We Know about the Acquisition of Russian Aspect as a First, Second, and Heritage Language: State of the Art

This paper offers a state of the art review of the available linguistic scholarship on the acquisition of Russian aspect in various acquisition scenarios. While the studies reviewed here differ in their analyses of Russian verbal aspect, specific research questions, acquisition context, and research methodology, a common observation is that Russian aspectual contrasts are not easily acquired and that some may be more difficult to master than others. The review shows that some of these asymmetries are not unique to child grammars or to bilingual acquisition, but hold in all the acquisition contexts and may be determined by the complexity of the category itself, while others reflect developmental trends and effects of context and timing of acquisition. The paper starts with an overview of Russian aspect and the associated learning tasks, which is followed by the review of patterns emerging from studies on the acquisition of aspect by children, adult foreign language learners, and adult heritage speakers of Russian. The paper concludes with a discussion of the way these empirical findings can be connected to classroom contexts.

Speech processing and plasticity in the right hemisphere predict variation in adult foreign language learning

Foreign language learning in adulthood often takes place in classrooms where learning outcomes vary widely among students, for both initial learning and long-term retention. Despite the fundamental role of speech perception in first language acquisition, its role in foreign language learning outcomes remains unknown. Using a speech discrimination functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task and resting-state fMRI before and after an intensive, classroom-based, Mandarin Chinese course, we examined how variations in pre-training organization and pre-to-post reorganization of brain functions predicted successful language learning in male and female native English-speakers. Greater pre-training activation in right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) to Mandarin speech was associated with better Mandarin attainment at the end of the course. After four weeks of class, learners showed overall increased activation in left IFG and left superior parietal lobule (SPL) to Mandarin speech, but in neither region was variation related to learning outcomes. Immediate attainment was associated with greater pre-to-post reduction of right IFG activation to Mandarin speech but also greater enhancement of resting-state connectivity between this region and both left IFG and left SPL. Long-term retention of Mandarin skills measured three months later was more accurately predicted by models using features of neural preparedness (pre-training activation) and neural plasticity (pre-to-post activation change) than models using behavior preparedness and plasticity features (pre-training speech discrimination accuracy and Mandarin attainment, respectively). These findings suggest that successful holistic foreign language acquisition in human adulthood requires right IFG engagement during initial learning but right IFG disengagement for long-term retention of language skills.

РОЛЬ СУЧАСНИХ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНО-КОМУНІКАЦІЙНИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ У НАВЧАННІ ДОРОСЛИХ ІНОЗЕМНОЇ МОВИ

The article deals with the specifi c role of information and communication technologies in adult foreign language learning. Andragogical principles and characteristics of adult language learners are specifi ed.These characteristics have to be taken into account in order to design the relevant learning content that meets the specifi c needs of adult language learners, to create motivating, autonomous, supportive and emotionally safelearning environment to ensure the effectiveness of learning. Multimedia language programmes, computer games, podcasts as the most effective information and communication technologies and e-learning as a learner-focused approach are studied. A remarkable feature of multimedia programmes is that being an independent study tool they can provide fully learner controlled environment, better suited for adults, and promote more refl ective and deeper learning. Podcasts increase the effectiveness of foreign language acquisitionand are widely used in mobile learning, promoting development of learner autonomy, critical thinking, implementing modern educational standards, corresponding to the basic principles of the student-centred approach in foreign language teaching. Information and communication technologies support the concept of continuous lifelong learning, enlarge the communicative opportunities of adult learners, their linguistic capabilities, promote personal interaction, developall types of language skills based on a learner-centred approach.

Language teachers’ perceptions on the use of OER language processing technologies in MALL

ABSTRACTCombined with the ubiquity and constant connectivity of mobile devices, and with innovative approaches such as Data-Driven Learning (DDL), Natural Language Processing Technologies (NLPTs) as Open Educational Resources (OERs) could become a powerful tool for language learning as they promote individual and personalized learning. Using a questionnaire that was answered by language teachers (n = 230) in Spain and the UK, this research explores the extent to which OER NLPTs are currently known and used in adult foreign language learning. Our results suggest that teachers’ familiarity and use of OER NLPTs are very low. Although online dictionaries, collocation dictionaries and spell checkers are widely known, NLPTs appear to be generally underused in foreign language teaching. It was found that teachers prefer computer-based environments over mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets and that teachers’ qualification determines their familiarity with a wider range of OER NLPTs. This research offers insight into future applications of Language Processing Technologies as OERs in language learning.

Morphological Bottleneck: The Case of Russian Heritage Speakers

The Bottleneck Hypothesis (Slabakova, 2008) assumes functional morphology to be a particular challenge in second language (L2) acquisition whereas acquisition of syntax and semantics to be unproblematic. I propose, following Polinsky (2011), that functional morphology can be seen as an acquisitional bottleneck for heritage language (hl) speakers as well. Russian verbal aspect is known to be problematic in bilingual Russian children (Anstatt, 2008; Gupol, 2009), in adult foreign language learners (Slabakova, 2005, Nossalik, 2009) and in Russian heritage speakers of low (Polinsky, 2008) and even near-native fluency (Laleko, 2010). This comprehension study tested fluent and literate English dominant hl speakers of Russian on their interpretation of lexical and grammatical aspect. The findings suggest that the semantics and syntax of aspect were unproblematic, but aspectual morphology played both a facilitative and a hindering role in the comprehension of aspectual distinctions. In the untimed Semantic Entailments task, where participants chose the most logical continuation of an utterance, the morphological complexity of secondary imperfectives coupled with their semantic complexity, hindered hl interpretations. In contrast, in the Stop-Making-Sense self-paced reading task, in which participants read sentences one word at a time, the idiosyncratic morphology marking lexical aspect hindered hl processing, while the regular mechanism of marking grammatical aspect facilitated it.

“You focus, I’m talking”: A CHAT analysis of mobile dictionary use in an advanced EFL class

ABSTRACTThis article discusses how students and teachers in an Advanced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class in Cape Town, South Africa, construct meaning through mobile phones. Drawing on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), mobile phones are viewed as cultural artefacts that learners and teachers engage in the construction of meaning-making practices resulting in contradictions that potentially lead to radical transformation in the object and subject positions offered in the classroom. The case study was located in a Cape Town EFL institution with 14 adult foreign language learners and two foreign language teachers as participants. The findings indicated potential primary contradictions in division of labour and object owing to the teachers’ uptake of communicative language teaching (CLT) practices and their institutional roles. As contradictions must necessarily lead to change in a system, the authors propose that the use of mobile technology has the capacity to shift pedagogy in this context.

Andrew, Patricia.The Social Construction of Age: Adult Foreign Language Learners. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 2012. Pp. 200. $39.95, paper. ISBN 978–1–84769–613–7.

The Modern Language JournalVolume 97, Issue 4 p. 1001-1002 Book Review Patricia. Andrew The Social Construction of Age: Adult Foreign Language Learners. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 2012. Pp. 200. $39.95, paper. ISBN 978–1–84769–613–7. Stacey Margarita Johnson, Stacey Margarita Johnson Hope CollegeSearch for more papers by this author Stacey Margarita Johnson, Stacey Margarita Johnson Hope CollegeSearch for more papers by this author First published: 21 November 2013 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2013.12052_1.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume97, Issue4Winter 2013Pages 1001-1002 RelatedInformation

Learning to Play, Playing to Learn

Learning opportunities offered by digital games have become an important research topic in recent years. Language learning is one of the areas in which games could prosper but the question then is whether these should be specialized language-learning games or commercial off-the-shelf games for entertainment. The goal of this paper is to compare the experiences evoked by playing a commercial and two language-learning games in adult foreign language learners (N=62). While results of the experimental design suggest that a commercial game results in better playing and learning experiences, these findings are partly neutralized by the attitude of the participants towards learning through digital games and by being a frequent player of games or not. This raises questions as to how digital games should be designed to appeal to a public of learners that is not familiar with digital game-based learning or with gaming in general.

Investigating lexical acquisition for adult foreign language learners

This paper deals with the acquisition of the lexicon of a foreign language by adult learners. The first part of the paper offers a brief overview of research on vocabulary learning and teaching; it also touches on the needs of adult language learners and the controversial question of whether vocabulary should be taught explicitly or not. The second part of the paper discusses relevant insights from cognitive psychology and language awareness studies. In conclusion, some suggestions are made on how language learning materials could be structured to promote effective lexical acquisition. / Hierdie artikel handel oar die verwerwing van die woordeskat van 'n vreemde taal deur volwasse leerders. Die eerste deel bied 'n bree oorsig oar navorsing oar die aanleer en onderrig van woordeskat; dit verwys oak na die behoeftes van volwasse leerders en die omstrede vraag of woordeskqt eksplisiet onderrig moet word of nie. Die tweede deel bespreek relevante insigte verkry uit kognitiewe sielkun(ie en taalbewustheidstudies. Ten slotte word voorstelle gemaak oar hoe taalverwerwingsmateriaal gestruktureer kan word am effektiewe woordeskatverwerwing te bevorder