Language Use In Classroom Research Articles

The effect of teacher language use in Spanish EFL classrooms

ABSTRACT Teacher language use has long been debated and the different proportions and functions of the first language (L1) have been recurrently examined. Nevertheless, there has not been enough attention paid to the relationship between teacher language use and learning outcomes using empirical data. Hence, the present study aims to investigate the effect of teacher target language (TL) exclusive use as opposed to L1 use on second language (L2) vocabulary and grammar learning. Data from 60 fourth-year secondary learners from two different groups from a state secondary school in the community of Madrid were gathered by means of pre-tests, post-tests and questionnaires. The two groups were randomly instructed in either the L2 exclusively or through a mixture of the L1 and the L2. In contrast to previous studies, results showed that teaching vocabulary in the L2 exclusively leads to better learning, while it would be advisable to make use of the L2 as well as the L1 when teaching grammar. Based on these results, this paper offers a number of teaching implications to create an effective and successful learning environment.

Perceptions about the use of language in physical science classrooms: A discourse analysis

The low enrolment, lack of interest, exacerbated by the general poor performance in physical science in South Africa paints a gloomy picture about the status of physical science in the country. Despite the fact that there might be other factors at play, one factor which cannot be ignored is the discourse about the use of language in the science classroom as viewed by physical science teachers. In the study reported on here a quantitative methodology was followed in which a closed-ended questionnaire survey was used as data collection tool. In the study we examined South African physical science teachers’ perceptions about the language use in science classrooms, and the study was informed by the Vygotskian socio-cultural theory (SCT). The target population from which a sample size of 37 physical science teachers was systematically sampled was high school classroom teachers and learners in Grades 10, 11 and 12 in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district of the North West province of South Africa. The study revealed that physical science teachers encountered difficulties with meanings of non-technical words used in science context. The conclusion drawn was that many physical science teachers were not proficient in the discourse of the science classroom and this often compromised their effectiveness in the teaching and learning of science. The main difficulty was confusion in differentiating between technical and non-technical words and the lack of convincing explanations of meanings of these words in teaching and learning. Key among the recommendations of this study was the need to address teachers’ challenges with regard to the language use and the implications thereof.

L2 Classroom Language Use: Motivation, Proficiency, and Learner Perspectives on TL-Only vs. Codeswitching in Korea

L2 Classroom Language Use: Motivation, Proficiency, and Learner Perspectives on TL-Only vs. Codeswitching in Korea

The Social Identities and Co-Membership of Preschool Children Revealed through Language Use and Interactions in the Classroom

The Social Identities and Co-Membership of Preschool Children Revealed through Language Use and Interactions in the Classroom

Studying Chinese language in higher education: The translanguaging reality through learners’ eyes

This paper explores learners’ perspectives regarding first and second language use in foreign language classrooms at a higher education setting. Against the backdrop of the decline of language learning, as well as through a sociocultural lens, this study aims to gain new insights from students about what kind of medium of instruction (MoI) models they demand for better engagement and interaction. The mixed-method research was conducted in Mandarin Chinese programmes at three New Zealand universities. It surveyed 237 students through questionnaires, followed by 16 individual interviews. The findings of this study revealed a discrepancy between the prescribed monolingual principle and a perceived translanguaging reality. University students demanded a flexible and realistic MoI model. They viewed classroom L2 use as a dynamic progress that are influenced by many levels of factors. Furthermore, students desired to maintain a translanguaging space as a scaffolding and stress-relieving strategy during fast-paced learning. They felt the translanguaging approach had enabled two-way communication in higher education where an intellectual dialogic pedagogy is highly valued. This study suggests foreign language programmes in higher education re-examining its monolingual ideology and considering employing the translanguaging approach to better engage and retain students in their programmes.

Toward an antiracist genre pedagogy: Considerations for a North American context

AbstractThis article combines principles from critical race theory and genre pedagogy to show how K–12 English language teachers can engage in antiracist genre‐based literacy instruction. Genre pedagogy has become increasingly popular in North America as an approach to supporting multilingual students’ literacy development. However, genres of schooling are often treated as ideologically neutral and not related to the structural racism that permeates North American schools. As a result, genre pedagogy is implemented in ways that reproduce dominant practices and reinforce deficit perspectives of multilingual students of color. Therefore, we propose principles for an antiracist genre pedagogy that (1) teaches community countertexts alongside dominant ones, (2) identifies ideologies and knowledge structures in each, (3) increases focus on interpersonal meanings to analyze racializing dimensions of texts, (4) promotes remixing genres for antiracist purposes, and (5) destabilizes the white measuring stick used to evaluate “appropriate” classroom language use. By combining functional methods with radical goals, we take seriously Ladson‐Billings’s (2014) call for remixing pedagogies in ways that benefit and empower students who have been disserved by dominant schooling ideologies—in this article, multilingual students of color.

Exploring Gender Responsive Pedagogy Practices and Its Management in Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Wollo University, Ethiopia

This study focuses on exploring Wollo University’s gender responsive pedagogy (GRP) practices and the GRP management. Qualitative case study method was used for the research. Semi-structured interview and focus group discussion were used to collect the data. Three university teachers, three gender administrative office members and five female students for the were used for the purpose of in-depth interview. Besides, six female students were used for the purpose of focus group discussion. The findings indicated the university had experiences in using gender policy and gender clubs to ensure gender equity and equality in educational delivery processes. However, it had limitations in using GRP dimensions specifically: gender receptive lesson planning; gender friendly teaching and learning materials; gender friendly language use in classrooms; gender responsive classroom interaction; addressing hidden gender-based violence and negative attitude of teachers and male students towards gender equality and equity. Additionally, the university had limitations in using gender friendly management structures that utilizes: gender policy effectively; empower students and teachers on GRP; and mainstreaming gender issues in GRP. Finally, recommendations on GRP practice and its management to GRP are discussed based on the findings of the study. Key terms : gender responsive pedagogy; practice, gender management, higher education institutions DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-16-03 Publication date: June 30th 2020

Young children performing linguistic varieties: comparing classroom and play-time language use in the bidialectal context of Cyprus

This study examines young speakers’ language use in the bidialectal context of Cyprus. It focuses on children’s language use of their two language varieties, namely Standard Modern Greek and Cypriot Greek, and how they are being socialised to use these two varieties in the classroom environment and at home. The data collected from kindergarten formal education and the home environment via observations and voice recordings suggest that children socialise in their activities by making use of both varieties and their decisive factor in terms of favouring one more than the other is not merely space (class versus home) but also the topics involved in the interaction and the values attached to these which seem to be expressed via habitual linguistic practices.

Error Analysis on Classroom Language Made by Pre-service Teachers of English Education Program UNP

This study aimed to analyse the errors on pre-service teachers’ classroom language while having field practice in senior high schools. The analysis was conducted by adapting James (1998) Target Modification Taxonomy. Classroom language including the simple instructions and the questions given by pre-service teachers. The participants of this research are five pre-service teachers from four different schools. This study was descriptive qualitative research. The instrumentation of this research were observation, document and interview. The study analyzed pre-service teachers’ classroom language by categorizing the errors into types followed by the causes of each error. Some problems related to pre-service teachers’ classroom language were also found. The problems found hindered the optimal use of classroom language. The findings of the research showed that there were grammatical and lexical errors occured. The grammatical errors were omission (50%), overinclusion (21.73%), misselection (8.70%) and misplacement (4.34%). Some ellipsis (15.21%) were also detected.

THE STUDY OF TEACHER TALK AND STUDENT TALK IN SPEAKING CLASS

The paper concerns with investigating classroom interaction especially the classroom language used by teacher and students in teaching learning process in one Junior High School in Indramayu. Teacher’s talk signals the classroom language that is used by the teacher in the classroom throughout the class periods. Meanwhile, students’ talk signal classroom language that is used by the students. The study employs qualitative interaction analysis method involving fifty nine students and two teachers in two different classrooms. The data are gathered through non-participant observation and video recording. Classroom observations were conducted to gain the data concerning classroom interaction in teaching learning process. The data collecting was separated into twelve categories and analyzed using Flint (Foreign Language Interaction analysis) system adopted from Moscowitz that is widely used to investigate classroom interaction. The findings of this study showed that there are various verbal interactions used in classroom interaction. The data showed that the use of classroom language motivate students to speak and encourage the students to share their idea. But the data also showed that there are many obstacles in using classroom language. So it needs more effort from teachers and students to make classroom language familiar in the classroom.

Language policy and practice between urban and rural schools in Galicia, Spain

Bilingual communities face many obstacles when considering the legal and applied aspects of language use in schools. Many bilingual countries exhibit the following linguistic spatial pattern: Prestigious state language is predominately spoken in cities and familial regional language is predominately spoken in the countryside. This study seeks to gauge language norms between urban and rural schools in Galicia, Spain by collecting self-reported classroom language use from Galician teachers and students across three urban and three rural school sites. Rural teachers and students reported more code switching behavior than those in urban schools. Furthermore, Galician subject teachers reported code switching more frequently than Castilian subject teachers regardless of locale. These findings show the common practice of code switching in Galicia is more prevalent in spaces of Galician speakership, and that Castilian is more readily utilized across locales despite sentiments directed at the need to preserve the Galician language.

Towards Dehegemonizing the English Language: Perspectives of a “Center” ResearcherWorking in the Periphery

This article takes as its starting point the phrase “towards dehegemonizing the English language”, used in the rationale for this conference and workshop. The presentation draws on the insights of Southeast Asian scholars including Tupas (Unequal Englishes), Lorente (the grip of English and Philippine language policy), and Noor Azam (It’s not always English: Duelling aunties in Brunei Darussalam). Noting with approval these examples of ‘periphery’ scholars writing back and exploring the ways in which English has become an Asian language, I offer examples of mixed and unmixed language use in language and content classrooms for collaborative analysis with the audience, and other spoken, written and social media texts for comparison and contrast. These should enable us to explore: whether classroom language use reflects the world outside; whether we can move towards a more accommodating multilingual model; whether this can help us to view local and global languages as complimentary The conclusion suggests a reconceptualization of Applied Linguistics and supports the development of theories arising from Southeast Asian multilingual contexts.

Beliefs about L1 use in teaching English: A comparative study of Polish and Spanish teacher-trainees

The study investigated the beliefs expressed by a sample of 206 Polish and Spanish teacher-trainees about the use of learners’ native language (L1) in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Quantitative and qualitative data from a questionnaire revealed considerable differences between the two nationality groups in their beliefs about both medium-oriented and framework-oriented functions of the L1 in an L2 classroom. Moreover, significant differences were found in the participants’ accounts of their prior EFL learning experience in terms of the L1–L2 proportion in teachers’ classroom language use. A possible interpretation of these findings relates trainees’ beliefs to the L2 educational cultures prevalent in different countries, pointing to a contextually-mediated complexity of teacher-trainees’ belief systems. The study adds to the existing research on the issues underlying L1 use in L2 teaching that are currently under debate by offering a cross-national comparison of teacher-trainees’ beliefs about the place of the L1 in L2 instruction.

Spanish use in the English classroom: a study of Dominican students in an English-only environment

The native language use in the target language classroom has recently gained the attention of second language acquisition research. This study analyzes such issue in the context of Dominican university students, ranging from 18 to 35 years old, studying in an English immersion program, who have been speaking their native language, namely, Spanish too often in their classrooms. This research focuses on identifying the causes for students to use their native language in the class, and their attitude towards both, Spanish and English, by implementing a survey to 37 of these students. To better understand the problem and create potential strategies to address it, firstly, literature has been visited by presenting relevant research related to second language learning and acquisition. Secondly, the methodology is explained so that the research context can be more readily understood. Subsequently, results from surveys are analyzed in the light of current second language acquisition research. As a conclusion, this study revealed that students use their native language primarily when prompted by their partners, when in need of clarification, when unable to understand a concept, and overwhelmingly as a means to making oneself clear. The teaching implications of these findings are also discussed in the end.

Examining linguistic interactions of dual language learners using the Language Interaction Snapshot (LISn)

The Language Interaction Snapshot (LISn) is an observational measure developed to document the quantity and quality of language use in early childhood classrooms with dual language learners (DLLs). This study detailed the ways in which LISn data describes the linguistic interactions of Spanish–English DLLs with their teachers and peers. Participants were 104 teachers and assistant teachers from 52 classrooms in preschool programs in California, Florida and North Carolina and 341 DLLs. During the fall and spring classrooms were observed with the LISn and children were assessed in English and Spanish using receptive and expressive vocabulary measures. The association between linguistic interactions, as measured by the LISn, and DLLs’ language outcomes was examined in about half the sample (in 26 classrooms). Results revealed that children had fewer language interactions with adults in Spanish than in English, even though there was at least one adult who spoke Spanish in every classroom, and they had few language interactions with any adult in either language. The language interactions children did have with teachers were generally of basic quality (i.e., giving directions and providing information) rather than complex quality (i.e., requesting language, using decontextualized talk, and reading aloud). Although children had somewhat more verbal interactions with peers, very few were sustained more than two turns. Associations were found between complex language interactions in English and children’s bilingual receptive vocabulary outcomes. This demonstrates that the LISn holds promise as a measure of language interactions in early childhood classrooms with DLLs.

Comparison of measurement systems for collecting teacher language data in early childhood settings

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of three measurement systems in capturing teacher language use in inclusive preschool classrooms. Specifically, this study evaluated the use of two discontinuous measurement systems (momentary time sampling and partial interval recording) in estimating the frequency and quality of teacher talk, as compared to a continuous measurement of teacher language (timed event recording). Sixteen, 20-min video samples of teacher–child interactions were collected in classrooms serving children with or at-risk for language delays. Samples were coded for teacher talk using momentary time sampling, partial interval recording, and timed event recording. Results indicated that the discontinuous measurement systems did not provide accurate estimates of teacher language, nor did they take considerably less time to complete compared to the continuous measurement system.

Análise da Conversa Etnometodológica e Educação Linguística: algumas contribuições para a formação de professores

Como uma tradicao em pesquisa que se desenvolveu na busca do entendimento das acoes humanas por meio da observacao e posterior sistematizacao e analise da conversa cotidiana, a Analise da Conversa Etnometodologica (ACE), como abordagem teorico-metodologica, tambem pode contribuir para a reflexao acerca da educacao linguistica e da formacao de educadores da linguagem. Embora essa nao seja a preocupacao central da ACE, diversos conceitos, analises e discussoes podem propiciar uma ampliacao de nocoes centrais para o ensino e a aprendizagem de linguas. Neste trabalho, o proposito e abordar algumas delas: a descricao de algumas caracteristicas da fala- -em-interacao de sala de aula; a nocao de participacao, seus modos e estruturas conversacionais e sua relacao com a construcao de contextos colaborativos de aprendizagem. Com base em dados de pesquisas anteriores (Bulla, 2007, 2014; Schulz, 2004, 2007), o trabalho procura demonstrar como, a partir de analises microetnograficas de dados de interacao de sala de aula, o professor pode repensar e ampliar nocoes como uso da linguagem em sala de aula, metodos de ensino, aprendizagem de linguas, modos de participacao e protagonismo na aprendizagem e colaboracao. Procuramos mostrar como a ACE pode ser de extrema relevância para professores experientes e em formacao, a fim de repensarem suas praticas pedagogicas, ampliarem o entendimento do que se faz em sala de aula e vislumbrarem modos de atualizacao da concepcao de educacao linguistica nas interacoes de sala de aula.Palavras-chave: educacao linguistica, Analise da Conversa Etnometodologica, formacao de professores.

Curriculum genres and task structure as frameworks to analyse teachers’ use of L1 in CBI classrooms

ABSTRACTContent-based education programmes, in which a second/foreign language (L2) is used as the medium of instruction when teaching non-language content subjects, aim at both content and L2 learning. With such dual goal in mind, and with the rapid expansion of the programmes to contexts where students might have only basic L2 proficiency, there have been consistent calls for reconsidering the roles of first language (L1) in the teaching and learning process. The functions of L1 in content-based classrooms have been well documented, but it is necessary to have a more systematic approach to planning and using L1. This paper seeks to address this gap by applying the notions of ‘curriculum genres’ and ‘task structure’ when analysing patterns of teachers’ use of L1 and L2 in a collection of content subject lessons observed in English-medium secondary schools in Hong Kong. With illustrative episodes presented in this paper, we would argue that ‘curriculum genres’ and ‘task structure’ can serve as useful tools for both researchers and teachers to analyse and critically reflect on patterns of pedagogic practices and language use in content-based classrooms. These will have significant implications for future research on using L1 and illuminate effective pedagogy in content-based education.

THE STUDY OF TEACHER TALK AND STUDENT TALK IN SPEAKING CLASS

The paper concerns with investigating classroom interaction especially the classroom language used by teacher and students in teaching learning process in one Junior High School in Indramayu. Teacher’s talk signals the classroom language that is used by the teacher in the classroom throughout the class periods. Meanwhile, students’ talk signal classroom language that is used by the students. The study employs qualitative interaction analysis method involving fifty nine students and two teachers in two different classrooms. The data are gathered through non-participant observation and video recording. Classroom observations were conducted to gain the data concerning classroom interaction in teaching learning process. The data collecting was separated into twelve categories and analyzed using Flint (Foreign Language Interaction analysis) system adopted from Moscowitz that is widely used to investigate classroom interaction. The findings of this study showed that there are various verbal interactions used in classroom interaction. The data showed that the use of classroom language motivate students to speak and encourage the students to share their idea. But the data also showed that there are many obstacles in using classroom language. So it needs more effort from teachers and students to make classroom language familiar in the classroom.

Creating an imaginary context: teacher’s use of embodied enactments in addressing learner initiatives in a beginner-level adult ESOL classroom

ABSTRACTPrevious research has illustrated that learner initiatives have the potential to generate learning opportunities in second language (L2) classrooms. Despite a small body of recent research indicating that teachers’ responses to learner initiatives play a significant role in facilitating learning opportunities in teacher–student interactions, more work is needed to understand the resources teachers draw upon in their responses. This study contributes to this by examining how a teacher employs what we term ‘embodied enactments’ as a pedagogical tool to contingently respond to learner initiatives. Using Conversation Analysis, we examine a single case taken from a corpus of video data collected in a beginner-level adult English for Speakers of Other Languages classroom in the United States. The findings reveal that the teacher contingently and multimodally enacts imaginary contexts which help students to understand how the target vocabulary and phrases can be used in everyday life. In doing this, the teacher and students are bridging the gap between classroom discourse and language use outside of the classroom, providing interactional space for promoting L2 learning.