Language Acquisition Learning Research Articles

Breaking Barriers, Elevating Performance: Microsoft Teams and the Writing Proficiency of EFL Jordanian Students

Microsoft Teams is a popular educational online communication and collaboration software. Microsoft Teams centralizes interactions, information, and applications. It lets students and instructors interact and exchange material in real time. Thus, this research examines how Microsoft Teams affects EFL Jordanian writers. Microsoft Teams' collaborative learning, feedback, and practice may enhance EFL Jordanians' writing abilities. The research divides students into control and experimental groupsObjective: In Jordan, Language learning and writing abilities are evolving in tandem with advancements in educational technology. Microsoft Teams, a popular online communication, and collaboration software is at the forefront of this transformation. Thus, this research examines how Microsoft Teams affects Jordanian EFL writers.Methods: Separating 30 EFL Jordanian students into two groups: a control group and an experimental group, the study employed (Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory and Davis’s Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Then a Quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test control group design has been conducted to compare the traditional teaching methods with Microsoft Teams-assisted collaborative writing.Results: The experimental group outperformed the control group in content and grammar. Microsoft Teams may help Jordanian EFL writers improve. The research reveals that Microsoft Teams might help EFL Jordanians write better. Thus, instructors should use Microsoft Teams to increase students' writing abilities. Technology-enhanced learning's long-term impacts on language competence require more study.Conclusions: In conclusion, this research examined how Microsoft Teams affects EFL Jordanians' writing. Microsoft Teams users had much better writing performance than non-users. The experimental group outperformed the control group in content and grammar. Microsoft Teams may help Jordanian EFL writers improve. Based on socio-cultural theory, the research stresses social interaction and collaborative learning in language acquisition. Socio-cultural theory supports student cooperation and communication using Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams' ability to allow students to interact with classmates and instructors and get feedback boosts writing skills.

Under the Vision of Situated Learning: Analysing the Influence of Educational Video Games on English Vocabulary Retention in Chinese Childrens Second Language Acquisition

This study will analyze the influence of educational video games on English vocabulary retention in Chinese childrens second language acquisition. This study base on the situated learning theory and the ABC reading which is both mobile and web-based is adopted as educational game in this research. This experiment takes the Chinese primary school students with an average age of 9-10 years old as experimental subjects, and set three groups of these Chinese students including the control group. By comparing the amounts of words they can remember at different times after learning, researchers can judge whether the educational video games have any influence on students' language learning. Through the experiment, We hypothesis that the video games will have a positive effect on childrens second language learning acquisition. On this basis, video games can be used as tools for language learning to provide more effective learning methods during the process of studying.

EXPRESS: The Dynamics of Multiword Sequence Extraction.

Being able to process multiword sequences is central for both language comprehension and production. Numerous studies support this claim, but less is known about the way multiword sequences are acquired, and more specifically how associations between their constituents are established over time. Here we adapted Rey et al.'s (2020) Hebb naming task into a Hebb lexical decision task to study the dynamics of multiword sequence extraction. Participants had to read letter strings presented on a computer screen and were required to classify them as words or pseudowords. Unknown to the participants, a triplet of words or pseudowords systematically appeared in the same order and random words or pseudowords were inserted between two repetitions of the triplet. We found that RTs for the unpredictable first position in the triplet decreased over repetitions (i.e., indicating the presence of a repetition effect) but more slowly and with a different dynamic compared to items appearing at the predictable second and third positions in the repeated triplet (i.e., showing a slightly different predictability effect). Implicit and explicit learning also varied as a function of the nature of the triplet (i.e., unrelated words, pseudowords, semantically related words, or idioms). Overall, these results provide new empirical evidence about the dynamics of multiword sequence extraction, and more generally about the role of statistical learning in language acquisition.

A Task-based learning application in Higher Education, for future teachers of primary and preschool education

Task-based learning is a technique often applied in language classes to enhance language acquisition in learners. We show that the same method has several benefits when applied to other subject of learning, having a very formative component by being a student-centered technique. The present study was conducted with high education undergraduate students studying didactics of mathematics, in the program that prepares teachers for primary and kindergarten education. By conducting various tasks, students have perceived the importance of the subject, have constructed applications that can be used in the teaching activity and have discussed which teaching methods are best applied in the topics that are taught in primary and preschool education. The finds show that tasks are enjoyable, well perceived by students, engaged multiple emotions and developed much needed skills for a 21st century teacher. In addition, by working in groups, discussing the best way to conduct tasks, motivation can be boosted and support the learning processes.

LEVERAGING MOCK IPL AUCTION PERFORMANCE TO ENHANCE BUSINESS VOCABULARY IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

This research study examines the impact of using mock IPL (Indian Premier League) auctions as a teaching tool in language learning, with particular focus on business vocabulary development and understanding of business concepts among undergraduate business administration students. The study included 45 participants who met specific inclusion and eligibility criteria. It uses a research design that includes a mock IPL auction performance evaluation conducted before and after the intervention. Assessment methods include pre- and performance tests that assess speaking skills, vocabulary quizzes that measure business-related vocabulary development, and surveys that gather qualitative feedback on participants' experiences. Findings reveal significant improvements in speaking skills, significant improvements in business-related vocabulary, and positive qualitative perceptions of the IPL simulation. This study supports the hypothesis that exposing language learners to mock IPL auction performance contributes not only to improved vocabulary but also to a deeper understanding of business concepts. This highlights the potential synergies between the IPL bidding environment and language education, emphasizing the value of experiential learning in language acquisition and business-related learning.

Explicit and Implicit Language Learning in Language Acquisition

Explicit and Implicit Language Learning in Language Acquisition

Engaging in English language Learning-Acquisition Using Edmodo and Telegram Among Open Distance Learners (ODLs)

Distance education differs from normal face-to-face classroom situation in terms of a learner or teacher’s physical presence. It is crucial for the distance teachers to provide optimal learning support to ODLs (open distance learners) and prepare them for educational changes. The use of Web-Mobile Platforms (WMPs); Edmodo and Telegram in English language learning-acquisition among the undergraduate ODLs enabled learners and educators to stay connected regardless of physical space and time constraint. This study aims to generate insights and sharing through online questionnaire on Edmodo and Telegram to seek and identify learners’ perceptions in terms of language learning-acquisition process in both contexts. The WMPs were used to accommodate learners’ language learning materials and online discussion forums thus functioned as the scaffolding to facilitate learners’ language learning-acquisition process. The study employs purposively sampling involving eleven undergraduate ODLs from a Malaysian university. The findings are presented in a narrative manner to illustrate the emerging themes and the pedagogical implications pertaining to how the WMPs provided learners access to English learning resources beyond the classroom learning time and opportunities to interact with their peers suggesting practicality and convenient ways of engaging in language learning-acquisition via the WMPs while complementing the existing face-to-face learning mode.

Instruction Tools Recommended for Second Language Acquisition for Learners with SEN

The second language teaching methods applied with categorization strategies, cognitive styles, and behavioral skills are aimed at providing widespread vistas of the language learning domain. Thereupon the skills have got more scope in acquiring the second language (L2) amongst children with SEN. This proposed research paper sheds light on the relationship between cognitive styles (Field dependence- Field independence and certain language learning). The learning disabilities of learners need to be addressed at the early stage with an intervention plan which in turn promotes cognitive growth, hence the modified instruction materials and the categorization styles should be kept in mind at the time of selecting teaching strategies while developing educational curriculum which would help in setting targets and fixing time frame to achieve them. In addition to this blended teaching which is inclusive of teacher-guided, assignment based, use of behavioral perspectives, can be engaged meaningfully with an intervention of a tool called 'mastery learning' tool which can facilitate assessment driven, evidence based teaching and learning with deeper learning at own pace. The research attempts to define the challenges faced by instructors and suggests ways and means to improve teaching of English. The novel ways focus on students learnability and allow students to explore new vistas of education.

Task-induced brain functional connectivity as a representation of schema for mediating unsupervised and supervised learning dynamics in language acquisition.

IntroductionBased on the schema theory advanced by Rumelhart and Norman, we shed light on the individual variability in brain dynamics induced by hybridization of learning methodologies, particularly alternating unsupervised learning and supervised learning in language acquisition. The concept of “schema” implies a latent knowledge structure that a learner holds and updates as intrinsic to his or her cognitive space for guiding the processing of newly arriving information.MethodsWe replicated the cognitive experiment of Onnis and Thiessen on implicit statistical learning ability in language acquisition but included additional factors of prosodic variables and explicit supervised learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed to identify the functional network connections for schema updating by alternately using unsupervised and supervised artificial grammar learning tasks to segment potential words.ResultsRegardless of the quality of task performance, the default mode network represented the first stage of spontaneous unsupervised learning, and the wrap‐up accomplishment for successful subjects of the whole hybrid learning in concurrence with the task‐related auditory language networks. Furthermore, subjects who could easily “tune” the schema for recording a high task precision rate resorted even at an early stage to a self‐supervised learning, or “superlearning,” as a set of different learning mechanisms that act in synergy to trigger widespread neuro‐transformation with a focus on the cerebellum.ConclusionsInvestigation of the brain dynamics revealed by functional connectivity imaging analysis was able to differentiate the synchronized neural responses with respect to learning methods and the order effect that affects hybrid learning.

Universality and variation in language

AbstractThis article discusses language universality and language variation, and suggests that there is no feature variation in initial syntax, featural variation arising by metamorphosis under transfer from syntax to PF-morphology. In particular, it explores the Zero Hypothesis, stating that Universal Grammar, UG, only provides two building elements, Root Zero and Edge Feature Zero, zero, as they are purely structural/formal elements with no semantic content in UG. Their potential content is provided by the Concept Mine, a mind-internal but language-external department. UG and narrow syntax has access to the Concept Mine, and this Syntax-Concept Access is unique to humans, a prerequisite for the evolution of language (Section 1). A related idea (also inSection 1) is coined the Generalized Edge Feature Approach, GEFA. It states that Merge always involves at least one edge feature, which precludes symmetric structures and enables Simplest Merge (no Pair-Merge, no Hilbert epsilon operator). The article advocates that there is no syntactic feature selection (Section 2), all syntactic features being universally accessible in the Concept Mine, via Root Zero and Edge Feature Zero. In contrast, there is feature selection in PF (including morphology), yielding variation (Section 3), Gender being a clear example (Section 4). However, there is a widely neglected syntax-to-PF-morphology metamorphosis (Section 5), such that morphological features like [past] are distinct from albeit related to syntactic features like Speech Time. Parameters operate on selected PF features, and not on purely syntactic features, so parameter setting is plausibly closely tied to the syntax-to-PF-morphology metamorphosis (the concludingSection 6). It is suggested that parameters are on the externalization side of language, part of or related to the sensory-motor system, facilitating motoric learning in language acquisition.

Second language acquisition effects of a primary physical education intervention: A pilot study with young refugees.

BackgroundA physical education (PE) intervention for young refugees was designed combining physical activity within the context of primary PE games with second language learning activities in German. The intervention was based on theoretical implications from the field of second language acquisition and evidence for positive effects of physical activity on cognitive outcomes (e.g. language acquisition). The aim of this study was to analyze short term effects on second language acquisition.MethodsSixty-one young refugees were included in the study (age: 8.5 ± 1.4 years). The intervention group participated in language-enriched PE lessons based on an elaborated approach to second language learning acquisition. The control group did not receive any treatment. Both groups were pre-and post-tested in domain specific vocabulary, listening comprehension and use of local prepositions within the context of primary PE games.ResultsResults from linear mixed-effect modelling suggest that the intervention group significantly improved domain specific vocabulary and listening comprehension in comparison to the control group.ConclusionsThe intervention was successful since the PE lessons contributed to the second language acquisition of young refugees. Therefore, this learning approach might also be useful for physical activity based second language learning activities in other PE contexts for early second language learners in primary school.

The state of the article

English articles represent one of the most challenging areas of second language acquisition for learners whose L1 lacks articles. The two studies presented here examine the developmental sequence of acquisition, the first through a cross-sectional analysis of Thai learners at different levels of overall English proficiency, the second through a longitudinal experiment in which learners were exposed to semantically-tailored tokens of article use, but without any explicit or meta-linguistic instruction. It is argued that the data do not show evidence of abrupt parameter resetting. Instead, the developmental patterns fit well with Yang’s variational model of acquisition. Keywords: L2 acquisition; article systems; determiners; definiteness; specificity

Is statistical learning constrained by lower level perceptual organization?

In order for statistical information to aid in complex developmental processes such as language acquisition, learning from higher-order statistics (e.g. across successive syllables in a speech stream to support segmentation) must be possible while perceptual abilities (e.g. speech categorization) are still developing. The current study examines how perceptual organization interacts with statistical learning. Adult participants were presented with multiple exemplars from novel, complex sound categories designed to reflect some of the spectral complexity and variability of speech. These categories were organized into sequential pairs and presented such that higher-order statistics, defined based on sound categories, could support stream segmentation. Perceptual similarity judgments and multi-dimensional scaling revealed that participants only perceived three perceptual clusters of sounds and thus did not distinguish the four experimenter-defined categories, creating a tension between lower level perceptual organization and higher-order statistical information. We examined whether the resulting pattern of learning is more consistent with statistical learning being “bottom-up,” constrained by the lower levels of organization, or “top-down,” such that higher-order statistical information of the stimulus stream takes priority over perceptual organization and perhaps influences perceptual organization. We consistently find evidence that learning is constrained by perceptual organization. Moreover, participants generalize their learning to novel sounds that occupy a similar perceptual space, suggesting that statistical learning occurs based on regions of or clusters in perceptual space. Overall, these results reveal a constraint on learning of sound sequences such that statistical information is determined based on lower level organization. These findings have important implications for the role of statistical learning in language acquisition.

Learning about sounds contributes to learning about words: Effects of prosody and phonotactics on infant word learning

This research investigates how early learning about native language sound structure affects how infants associate sounds with meanings during word learning. Infants (19-month-olds) were presented with bisyllabic labels with high or low phonotactic probability (i.e., sequences of frequent or infrequent phonemes in English). The labels were produced with the predominant English trochaic (strong/weak) stress pattern or the less common iambic (weak/strong) pattern. Using the habituation-based Switch Task to test label learning, we found that infants readily learned high probability trochaic labels. However, they failed to learn low probability labels, regardless of stress, and failed to learn iambic labels, regardless of phonotactics. Thus, infants required support from both common phoneme sequences and a common stress pattern to map the labels to objects. These findings demonstrate that early word learning is shaped by prior knowledge of native language phonological regularities and provide support for the role of statistical learning in language acquisition.

From symbol grounding to socially shared embodied language knowledge

Much language-related research in cognitive robotics appeals to usage-based models of language as proposed in cognitive linguistics and developmental psychology [1, 2] that emphasise the significance of learning, embodiment and general cognitive development for human language acquisition. Over and above these issues, however, what takes centre stage in these theories are social-cognitive skills of “intention-reading” that are seen as “primary in the language acquisition process” [1] – and also as difficult to incorporate into computational models of language acquisition. The present paper addresses these concerns: we describe work in progress on a series of experiments that take steps towards closing the gap between ‘solipsistic’ symbol grounding in individual robotic agents and socially framed embodied language acquisition in learners that attend to common ground [3] with changing interlocutors.

The Effects of Using English TV Commercials in L2 Vocabulary Learning

This study set out to examine ways English TV commercials can influence on language acquisition of learners in English as Foreign Language (EFL) contexts, especially their vocabulary acquisition through survey, interview, and pre- and post-tests on target vocabulary items. The results showed that there was some positive impact of using advertisement on the learners’ vocabulary acquisition: they revealed that they not only gained the knowledge of the target vocabulary items, but also increased the awareness of cultural differences between their native language (L1) and English language (L2). This study also indicates that employing advertisements were able to have very positive impacton the learners’ motivation for language study and the introduction of different cultural aspects. For the implications of using English TV commercials, it was suggested that students needed to get involved in their own learning by having an experience creating their own TV commercials.

Spreken is Goud?

This paper aims to examine the existence of silence in language acquisition for learners in a multilingual environment using a survey conducted among the Dutch population in Sweden. The objective of the study was to investigate the extent to which children learning Dutch from their parents in a predominantly Swedish environment experience a silent period. The results show that a large proportion of the participants exhibit a silent period before the age of six. Furthermore, the most important influence on the children's acquisition of the minority language, Dutch, is the choice parents make with regard to the languages they use within the family, rather than any outside influences.

Neural plasticity in speech acquisition and learning

Neural plasticity in speech acquisition and learning is concerned with the timeline trajectory and the mechanisms of experience-driven changes in the neural circuits that support or disrupt linguistic function. In this selective review, we discuss the role of phonetic learning in language acquisition, the “critical period” of learning, the agents of neural plasticity, and the distinctiveness of linguistic systems in the brain. In particular, we argue for the necessity to look at brain–behavior connections using modern brain imaging techniques, seek explanations based on measures of neural sensitivity, neural efficiency, neural specificity and neural connectivity at the cortical level, and point out some key factors that may facilitate or limit second language learning. We conclude by highlighting the theoretical and practical issues for future studies and suggest ways to optimize language learning and treatment.

Structural Priming as Implicit Learning in Language Acquisition:The Persistence of Lexical and Structural Priming in 4-Year-Olds

Savage et al. (2003) found that 4-year-old children are subject to sentence-level structural priming in conditions of high lexical overlap between prime and target. The present study investigated whether the process of priming also leads to significant implicit learning. Forty-four English-speaking 4-year-old children were asked to describe a prime picture by repeating a passive sentence, and then they were left to their own devices to describe a target picture. Some children were exposed to a prime set consisting of identical passive sentences across items, whereas others received varied passive sentences (using different verbs) across items. There were 2 main findings. First, varied primes were significantly more effective than identical primes in eliciting passive sentences from the children, showing both a greater immediate effect and a longer lasting effect (varied primes, but not identical primes, were still effective after a week). Second, the effect of the varied primes persisted for up to a month, but only for those children who received the opportunity to name pictures at the 1-week interval (reinforcement). These results provide the first evidence that priming in young children is sensitive to variation across the prime set and that it can be quite long lasting, suggesting that during the priming session children are also learning and so modifying their linguistic representations.

Endogenous constraints on inductive reasoning

Abstract It is widely recognized that computational theories of learning must posit the existence of a priori constraints on hypothesis selection. The present article surveys the theoretical options available for modelling the dynamic process whereby the constraints have their effect. According to the ‘simplicity’ theory (exemplified by Fodor's treatment), hypotheses are preference‐ordered in terms of their syntactic or semantic properties. It is argued that the same explanatory power can be obtained with a weaker (hence better) theory, the ‘minimalist’ theory, which dispenses with the preference ordering. According to the ‘finitistic’ theory, the learner is capable of generating only finitely many hypotheses for evaluation. Chomsky maintains that the occurrence of errorless learning in language acquisition necessitates a finististic explanation. Once again, there is a weaker theory that explains the same data. Finally, Goodman's argument to the effect that there cannot be a computational theory of learni...