Foreign Language Development Research Articles

Functional Literacy of a Foreign Language Teacher Issues and Development Opportunities

Functional Literacy of a Foreign Language Teacher Issues and Development Opportunities

APPLICATION OF "DIALOGUE OF CULTURES" APPROACH IN THE COURSE OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT AMONG MILITARY STUDENTS OF HIGHER MILITARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

The relevance of the article is substantiated by the development of intercultural competence which is assumed to be the required quality for military personnel nowadays.The article considers the analysis of features and prospects of "dialogue of cultures" educational approach application through the intercultural competence development among military students of higher military educational institutions in the course of foreign language training. The concept of dialogue and its role in the development of foreign language and intercultural competence is defined. The necessity to develop the dialogic speech competence with the use of other cultures interaction is substantiated.The article analyzes the basic principles of "dialogue of cultures" approach, which were established in the late 20th century based on the ideas of dialogue of cultures school by the philosopher B. Bibler. The article elicits a number of modern teaching approaches, which in combination with the technology of "dialogue of cultures" will help to form the necessary competencies of cadets of higher military educational institutions for professional communication. The algorithm of introduction of technology of "dialogue of cultures" provided in four stages is offered: diagnostics of readiness of cadets for communication, search of motivating factors, application of system of exercises for communicative interaction between cadets in the form of dialogue, providing feedback.It was found that the use of "dialogue of cultures" approach promotes developing a number of key competencies, i.e. the development of speech skills and critical thinking, the ability to search for information and use it in the speech, the enhancement of teamwork skills, and training through dialogue. Such competencies development is the condition to form intercultural competence, which enables servicemen to solve their professional tasks, as they affect the formation of cultural policy during international communication with representatives of various strata of society.

English foreign language teachers’ awareness of childhood language impairment

ABSTRACT The increasing number of children with Language Impairment (LI) globally, and practitioners’ limited knowledge and specialized training can have a serious effect on foreign language learning and development. The present study proposes useful and meaningful practices in the area of raising awareness and alerting a wide range of stakeholders in the field of language education. More specifically, the study concentrates on foreign language secondary school pre-service teacher trainees and their knowledge regarding a) students’ problems in language understanding, b) why LI occurs and, c) LI intervention. This work aims to encourage collaboration among speech therapists and teachers, to foster a better understanding of each other’s expertise, and create communication-friendly classrooms that will enhance foreign language development in a supportive and inclusive learning environment.

Foreign Language Development During Temporary School Closures in the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic

This report assesses effects of temporary school closures during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic in Germany on early foreign language development among primary-school learners of English. We analyze English vocabulary and grammar skills before and after fifteen weeks of school closures and the subsequent suspension of foreign-language (FL) instruction. In addition, we compare data from 141 students who experienced interruptions in schooling in 2020 to a matched group of 128 students who had received continuous instruction in the previous school year. The study did not find any negative effects of instructional suspension on FL vocabulary or grammar. Moreover, variance between students did not increase, and the effect structure of cognitive predictors of FL skills remained the same. Overall, temporary suspensions of FL instruction of the nature and length experienced during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic did not appear to have detrimental effects on general foreign language learning among young students.

Enhancing students motivation in Learning English Language for non-philology students

We all know that ensuring the quality of foreign language teaching of the younger generation, radically improving the system of training specialists fluent in foreign languages, the development of foreign languages ​​that meet international educational standards. Training is one of the goals of the ongoing educational reform in our country. In order to identify and identify opportunities for language teaching, the teacher's knowledge, creativity, ability to arouse students' love for their subject, to establish a cooperative relationship with the student requires modern requirements. The decision is aimed at further development of foreign language teaching, implementation of measures to improve the level and quality of training of highly qualified teachers of foreign languages ​​for secondary schools, vocational colleges and academic lyceums, higher education institutions in accordance with international standards. At the same time, it should be noted that each language studied has its own rules and secrets. In order to become a professional who meets international standards, the learner is required to ignore the most delicate layers of language.

Wykorzystanie techniki swobodnych tekstów C. Freineta dla wspomagania rozwoju mowy i myślenia w języku obcym u studentów neofilologii

In everyday practice, the university has a task of shaping the intellect and developing the mental culture of students. The creative and active character of a person's personality is manifested and shaped in the process of exteriorization and expression. Based on the concept of language and thinking, attention should be paid to the particular importance of verbal expression. The basis here is the hypothesis that thought is realized in a word. As we develop a language, we also increase opportunities for externalization and improvement of thought. The article emphasizes values of verbal expression and its role in the personal experience and assimilation of the world, in shaping creative attitudes. The author recommends linking creative work of neophilology students to the mastery of a foreign language with the formation of their intellect and humanistic attitudes. Such conditions enabling, on the one hand, the improvement and enrichment of language skills and, on the other hand, free expression of one's thoughts are created by learning based on the technique of free text developed by French educator C. Freinet. The article shows how the technique of free text can not only be an auxiliary element, but can become a starting point and crucial issue in the work on the practical mastery of a foreign language and intellectual development of students, as well as how to anchor the improvement of language skills in intelligence, dynamics and expression of future language teachers.

Collaborative foreign language learning practices and design principles for supporting effective collaboration in a blended learning environment

ABSTRACT This paper describes a research study that investigated foreign language students’ collaborative practice in a blended, authentic learning environment. A group of intermediate and advanced level students of Italian at an Australian university interacted and collaborated with each other and with a group of native speaker mentors through a web-based learning management system and in face-to-face mode. As part of the project, students were required to complete two authentic tasks designed according to an authentic learning framework. In order to complete these tasks, students assigned themselves into small collaborative groups and negotiated their roles and responsibilities with little or no intervention from the class teacher apart from the requirement that communication took place in the target language. This paper describes the different phases of the collaborative process and the strategies employed by learners to overcome some of the challenges and problems encountered. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations for language educators seeking to support student collaboration and foreign language development in a blended language learning environment.

THE USAGE OF MIND-MAPS FOR THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AT HIGH SCHOOL

Despite profound objective and subjective differences, the development of the educational systems of different countries takes place in a single direction – the search for the new values and aims of education. If we take a look at the modern school (educational) programs and books, we will observe the sudden increase of information volumes, first of all, through complication and enrichment of conceptual apparatus. This is a result of the wish of modern education to exclude any lagging behind development of the science, which, in its turn, facilitates and speeds up the development of production, and education. Such a rapid development of modern society leads to emerging of serious contradictions in the system of national education. These contradictions confirm that the extensive way of the education development can’t be too long. As one of the instruments to modernize the education the mind-maps are viewed. The top priority in the development of modern humanitarian education and foreign languages lies in its communicative focus. All the members of the educational process are personally interested in the guaranteed high-quality results, which can be achieved through the technological approach during the high school classes. The necessity of the methodologic solution of the increasing results of educational process, conditioned by the requirements to the class, which have changed and the desire to overcome the contradictions mentioned above facilitated the choice of the topic: "The use of mind-maps for studying foreign languages at high school". The technology of creative multilevel information encoding (analogous to sign-and-symbol activities) is made up of method: mind mapping. Mind maps focus on structuring the contents of a text making use of the principles of information encoding to create a text gestalt by means of encoding verbal information in terms of images, specially designed abbreviations and shortenings. Mind maps can be used for pretty much any thinking or learning task, from studying a subject (such as a new language) to planning your career or even building better habits. They're great for teams to use as well, for group brainstorming and interactive presentations. The methodological base of the research is a psychological concept of the age peculiarities of a personality, the theory of the creative educational activity, the theory of creativity, the thesis of the of Gestalt psychology on the integral perception (gestalt); innovational educational technologies, the theory and methodology of teaching foreign languages of national an foreign scientists. The mind map is the external mirror of your own radiant or natural thinking facilitated by a powerful graphic process, which provides the universal key to unlock the dynamic potential of the brain. In the context of overloading pupils with academic information the issue of applying effective means of its mastering, namely mind maps (mastery learning) allowing of gaining deep and lasting proficiency in academic material in a compressed, verbal and image form, becomes especially relevant.

The Effects of Referential Questions in Pre-writing Activities on Students’ In-class Participation and Written Production

Types of teacher questions play a crucial role in students’ foreign language development. Among teacher questions, referential questions asked to enable students to provide data not known by the teacher, express their views and exchange personal information and ideas are particularly important as they can affect students’ in-class participation and language production. Writing is a complex production process and pre-writing activities are defined to be an essential step to improve writing performance. In these activities, referential questions may act as effective means to encourage students’ in-class participation and written production. However, referential questions in pre-writing activities in English language teaching have not yet been investigated. This study aims to investigate the forms and functions of referential questions in pre-writing activities and teacher and student views about their effects on students’ in-class participation and written production. 63 English language learners and their writing instructor participated in the study. The data were collected by classroom observations and teacher and student interviews and analysed via conversation and thematic analysis. The findings showed that referential questions were used in a variety of forms and had productive, communicative, pedagogical and motivational functions. The teacher and students emphasized that referential questions had substantial impacts on in-class participation and written production. They were reported to attract students’ attention, enhance their motivation to speak, promote oral participation and lead to complex responses. Also referential questions were stated to provide guidance for the production of written outputs generated with the help of collaboratively constructed content in the classroom.

Foreign language and intercultural development in the Japanese context – a case study

ABSTRACT Recently, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has produced several internationalisation policies to develop their notion of guroubaru-jinzai (global human resources). However, a lack of clear direction regarding theories and approaches about how to achieve these initiatives has created a gap in the research. Therefore, this paper seeks to fill that gap by introducing an interdisciplinary approach towards creating a foreign language and intercultural development framework. A case study results suggest that the framework can be useful to encourage students’ attitudes and perceptions of foreign language and intercultural development towards developing global human resources.

МЕТОДИ НАВЧАННЯ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ МОВИ ЗА ПРОФЕСІЙНИМ СПРЯМУВАННЯМ В ЕРУ ЦИФРОВИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ

The article deals with the issue of adjusting modern teaching methods of teaching English for specific purposes to digital era challenges.According to the authors’, modern teaching methods of communicative approach ought to adopted to be used in the virtual classes. Moreover, there is a number of benefits, which should be taken into consideration whist conduction online classes.It is highlighted that the students of Z generation have developed certain psychological peculiarities. As a result, they affect the methods and techniques that the teacher has to apply for successful professional foreign language development. This competence is developed along with subject information competence.

Exploring affective barriers in virtual exchange: the telecollaborative foreign language anxiety scale

The technological revolution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has brought about new learning scenarios as well as new professional requirements, such as the development of intercultural and Foreign Language (FL) skills. In this regard, Virtual Exchange (VE) projects provide students with learning opportunities through online social interaction and collaboration (Dooly, 2017); allowing authentic intercultural experiences for students who do not have the opportunity of travelling (O’Dowd, 2016) and promoting 21st-century skills development (Jager, Kurek, & O’Rourke, 2016). However, interacting online in the FL with a person from a different culture can entail an affective challenge for students and might give rise to Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA). FLA is a dysphoric and situational anxiety suffered by one out of three FL students which inhibits communication and learning (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). Due to the impossibility of finding an available tool to investigate the presence and effects of FLA in VE environments, the Telecollaborative FLA Scale (T-FLAS) was designed. This article presents the development of the T-FLAS, a 21-item questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale, aiming to provide researchers and practitioners with a tool to explore FLA in VE.

Problematika Pembelajaran Kitabah dan Tarjamah di Madrasah Ibtidaiyah

The Arabic language is one of the competencies that must be mastered by the elementary school (Madrasah Ibtidaiyah/MI) students. However, in the course of learning Arabic, there are still various learning problems, especially in writing and translating Arabic. Speaking about the problem of learning Arabic, which was the object of research, the writers hoped to solve that problem or at least could reduce the gap. This study aimed to describe the learning patterns of writing skills and the ability to translate Arabic in MI, problems and find the right solution to support the learning of writing skills and the ability to translate Arabic in MI involving all components in the school, namely teaching materials, teachers, the principal's learning and policy process. This research is a qualitative study using descriptive-qualitative methods. The data used include two things, namely primary data and secondary data. Data collection technique was in the form of documentation. The researchers were trying to collect data relevant to learning Arabic in MI systematically, which were then analyzed by theory. The data analysis technique used grounded research in which the researchers analyzed the data and existing problems with the theory used. This research takes focus on the students of Class V Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Al-Jihad Karanggebang Jetis Ponorogo. Based on the data analysis, it was concluded that learning to write and translate Arabic in MI had been going well. However, there were still problems including lack of student interest, students' negative assumptions about Arabic, and students who were still at the level of reading (iqra'). Teachers' efforts in overcoming these problems included familiarizing students with the Arabic vocabulary (mufrodat) used in learning materials through the translating method and extra activities in the form of Foreign Language Development Programs.

CONSCIOUS EDUCATION: THE CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES OF TEACHING EASTERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES

e 21st century debate on the role of humanities in the contemporary world and the necessity to teach a wide range of disciplines (among which literature, culture, aesthetics, philosophy and others) has caused serious tension among humanity scholars. In many developed countries the presence of humanities in the educational priorites has shrinked substantially. In the present paper I will discuss the interconnection and interdependence of language and culture education with concrete examples from the Bulgarian school of Eastern Studies in order to rethink Aristotle’s legacy – “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all”. The current paper introduces the concept of “conscious education” as a key factor for the development of 21st century foreign language and culture education. Conscious education is based on an analysis of the needs and aims and strives to build mutual awareness within all parties involved in the education process to make learners adaptive and adequate to the surrounding environment. The theories of A. Maslow, Ch. Darwin, M. Gladwell, K. Ishikawa are brought together and through analysis of the current state of the Japanese Studies in Bulgaria, I try to raise important questions about the role of foreign language education in 21st century. I contribute to the dispute by reporting results from current projects conducted by the Japanese Studies at Sofia University, which I believe relate to a much wider audience, involved in the education of young people nowadays.

Phonological memory training and its effect on second language vocabulary development

Recent studies highlight the important contribution of phonological working memory (PM) in the early stages of both native and foreign language development. However, research on the effects of PM training on language development is very limited. This study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of a PM training educational intervention as a means of fostering vocabulary development in beginner-level young learners of English as a second/foreign language (L2). A double-blind pretest–posttest quasi-experimental design was adopted, with an experimental group ( n = 50) and a matched active control group ( n = 47). All participants were initially assessed with an English-sounding nonword repetition test and an English language vocabulary test (receptive and productive). In addition, the experimental group students participated in the PM training (33 sessions of 15-minutes length within 12 weeks), while the control students participated in non-phonological-memory related English language activities. After the conclusion of the intervention, PM and L2 vocabulary were reassessed in both groups. Results confirm previous findings on the significant relationship between PM and L2 vocabulary size and provide evidence for PM trainability, as well as on resultant L2 productive vocabulary gains. No effect of PM training was detected on receptive vocabulary development. Results are discussed with regard to their theoretical implications, and to possible applications of PM training as a method for supporting vocabulary development in the L2 classroom.

The role of group dynamics in low‐achieving EFL students’ speaking development

Exploring group dynamics in a foreign language classroom has not yet received ample consideration in mainstream research, notably their specified role in foreign language development. The study reported presently sought to document the particularity of this effect on an uncommonly chartered segment of the low‐achieving students in an intermediate‐level class. Following a time‐series design in which they performed watch‐and‐tell speaking tasks in a 14‐week experimental process, analysis considered audio‐recorded data from 15 participants after being transcribed and coded. While the results confirmed the positive relationship between the maturity of group processes and the participants’ willingness to communicate, they suggested slight to moderate improvement in their speaking skill development which in turn revealed a consistent use of processing patterns uncommon to group‐excepted students.

Teacher Belief of Corrective Feedback in Grammar Teaching: Current Status and Future Prospects

Having been generally believed to impact on teachers’ practice, teachers’ belief has been studied for several decades, most of which concentrates on grammar teaching and learning. Moreover, the role of corrective feedback (CF) in second language acquisition has received considerable attention over the past decades. The studies concentrated on the overall effect of feedback on second and foreign language development, including the occurrence and effects of different types of feedback, leaners’ perception of CF, etc. In general, having been divided into three major categories (grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation), CF has been proved to have a positive effect on overall language learning. However, despite numerous studies on CF from various perspectives, the researches on teachers’ CF beliefs are fewer and that on CF beliefs in relation to practices are even scantier. As both teachers’ belief and CF are drawing greater attention, some researchers suggested making a combination between them. But up to now, few studies have focused on senior high school teachers’ CF belief on practices in EFL contexts, making it hard to figure out the significance of the relationship between CF belief and practice, and the factors that impact the relationship. Hence, this paper aims at exploring the history of the development of teachers’ belief and instructional practices of CF in grammar teaching at home and abroad, aiming at deepening the understanding of teachers’ underlying thoughts and providing suggestions for teacher education and future study orientation.

Разработка учебного курса профессионального иностранного языка в аграрном вузе на основе модели интегрированного предметно-языкового обучения

Content and language integrated learning is a new innovative approach to professional foreign language teaching in an agrarian university. Its distinctive feature is the dual purpose of teaching – the simultaneous teaching students a foreign language and a profile specialty. Developed on the basis of actualizing reliance on intersubject connections, the course of a professional foreign language is aimed at intraprofile specialization of students and the development of a number of general professional and professional competencies in them. At the same time, the full-fledged implementation of content and language integrated learning requires appropriate changes both in the planning of a professional foreign language course and in the development of educational materials new in content and orientation. In the work, we consider the definition and main provisions of content and language integrated learning, analyze the works devoted to the courses development for English for specific purposes, offer the author’s stages of course development of a professional foreign language based on the model of content and language integrated learning. These stages include: 1) an assessment of the students’ needs; 2) determination of the goals and objectives of the course; 3) determination of course topics or content and thematic modules; 4) determination of subtopics of each content and thematic module; 5) selection of foreign texts of a professional orientation; 6) the development of problem tasks of a foreign speech and professional orientation; 7) course assessment. The work describes in detail all the stages.

Teaching Writing In A Foreign Language To Law Students Using Authentic Internet Resources

The article is devoted to the development of foreign language writing skills of students of the direction of training “Jurisprudence” in the framework of professional education. The features of the process of teaching written business communication in a foreign language as an important component of the professional competence of a practicing lawyer are shown. The study suggests that with the help of authentic Internet resources, optimal conditions are created not only for acquaintance with written forms of communication adopted in the professional legal community: within the framework of the discipline “Foreign language in the field of professional communication” intercultural foreign language communicative competence of students is formed and improved.

Развитие умений иноязычной письменной речи у учащихся старших классов

Развитие умений иноязычной письменной речи у учащихся старших классов