Second Language Learning Process Research Articles

Perspectives on ESL Acquisition for Adult Learners in Romania

The present paper aims at catching a glimpse of the process of second language learning and acquisition among adult learners in Romania. When talking about adult learners, the focused age group comprises individuals over 24 years old who are no longer enrolled in any type of educational system. On the contrary, they already have jobs, families and lead a busy life. The paper comprises four parts – the introduction presents some factors, like age, psychological and environmental components, which interact in the process of successful language acquisition. The second part discusses motivation which has a pivotal role in the process of language acquisition while in the next part some difficulties Romanian adult learners face when learning English are presented. The paper ends with conclusions, emphasizing that the process of second language acquisition is not at all a simple one, it is a bouquet of factors which influences the final result.

Japanese scientists’ English for research publication purposes

Abstract Error Analysis was developed by early Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers as a way to investigate interlanguage and better understand the second-language learning processes. While it is no longer an active branch of research in SLA, it remains a useful tool for those concerned with accuracy in language use. Given the elevated importance of accuracy in English for Research and Publication Purposes (ERPP), this may be one area where Error Analysis may continue to inform research and praxis. The high degree of language precision demanded in ERPP contexts can be a source of frustration for many engaged in scholarly publication, especially those for whom English is an additional language, such as the Japanese scientists studied in this paper. For Japanese scientists and possibly others, an empirical profile of their most frequent error patterns may help them to better deal with accuracy in research writing. With this motivation, this study applies a corpus-assisted error analysis framework to quantify sentence-level grammar errors and identify the most frequent error patterns in the research article manuscripts of Japanese scientists. A corpus of 53 research article manuscripts with 4,495 errors comprises the primary data. Additionally, two raters and a comparison of errors from scientists from six different L1 backgrounds are employed to triangulate the data and investigate the reliability and generalizability of the findings. Findings reveal that the top ten most frequent errors comprise 52.9%, or half of all errors in the corpus, and are dominated by errors with determiners and prepositions.

Delayed Exposure to Second Language Acquisition: The Robustness of Critical Period Hypothesis and the Limitations of the Plasticity Theory

Studies of language acquisition have shown that language learning ability declines with age. It has been documented that the overwhelming majority of learners who begin the process of second language (L2) learning after passing the critical period — after a certain age – cannot attain native-like competence (underlying knowledge of language) at the end state. There is a universal folk belief, shared by almost all psycholinguists, that at an early age, the brain is plastic; it can modify its own structure, organization and function as a direct consequence of experiences and learning. According to this belief, the plasticity of the brain fades with age and with the increasing specialisation of the different hemispheres and areas of the brain. However, recently neuroscientists, equipped with the complementary aid of brain neuroimaging, have discovered that mature brain is far from being fixed as previously thought; it has the ability to continuously adapt its structure and function based on internal and external environmental changes and/or input such as experience, ageing, illness, injury and learning, meaning that the brain remains plastic throughout life. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to illustrate that the theory about the loss of brain plasticity during natural maturation is not valid in explaining the question why L2 learning is affected by delayed exposure to a language? It should be mentioned here that until now, the overwhelming majority of L2 researchers tend to think of plasticity as a phenomenon confined to early development; and therefore, evidence supporting plasticity is generally ignored.

Individual differences in computer-assisted language learning research

In the era of rapid technological expansion, the integration of various technologies into the process of second and foreign language (L2) learning and teaching has become pervasive, making computer-assisted language learning (CALL) a well-established field (Golonka et al., 2014). There is now a consensus that individual differences (IDs) significantly influence the process and product of L2 learning (Pawlak, 2020). With a plethora of technology-based options and functionalities, CALL provides learners with a high degree of autonomy (Pawlak et al., 2016), making it an environment that is ripe for capitalizing on learners’ individuality (p. 17). However, despite their critical role, IDs have not garnered the attention they genuinely merit in this context (Pawlak, 2022). To address this issue, Mirosław Pawlak and Mariusz Kruk put together the volume Individual Differences in Computer-Assisted Language Learning Research, providing timely and insightful guidelines for the exploration of IDs in CALL and the broader realm of second language acquisition (SLA) research.

Affective Factors and Pedagogical Implications in Young Learners’ English Learning

The process of second language learning involves both objective and affective factors. Based on Krashen’s theory on affective filter, the present paper sets Chinese young English learners as a specific object and argues how to use affective factors in second language teaching to improve young learners’ engagement. By analyzing this topic, some useful results and implications have been found and can be used for future teaching by specific groups of teachers.

Формирование метакогнитивных стратегий учебно-познавательной деятельности у студентов-мультилингвов в курсе немецкого как второго иностранного языка в языковом вузе

The paper discusses the idea of teaching multilingual students the second foreign language at a language university based on the activation of their cognitive activities in the process of joint study of language and culture. The aim of the research is to determine the role and essence of metacognitive strategies of educational-cognitive activities (comparison, transfer and switching) in the process of second foreign language learning by multilingual students. The scientific novelty of the research lies in defining metacognitive strategies of educational-cognitive activities as a tool for activating students’ cognitive resources, as methods and techniques for performing language and speech tasks in second foreign language learning by multilingual students at a language university, which contribute to a deeper perception, understanding, memorization and reproduction of new linguistic and cultural information. As a result, the paper showed how the formation of metacognitive strategies – comparison, transfer and switching – can be carried out through the introduction of specially selected didactic content (multilingual texts) and contrastive tasks and exercises for these texts into the process of second foreign language learning (using the example of the grammatical topic “Future Tense” studied by multilingual students in the “German as the second foreign language” course).

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE

<p><span>Teachers have spent a lot of time researching the best and most accurate ways to evaluate pupils since there are so many different ways to assess tasks and because doing so can have an impact on the students. According to Heydarnejad, Tagavipour, Patra, and Farid Khafaga (2022) only a few empirical studies have attempted to determine how performance-based assessment (PBA) can affect reading comprehension (RCA), academic motivation (AM), foreign language anxiety (FLA), and students’ self-efficacy despite the significant role that PBA plays in influencing second language learning processes (SS-E). </span></p><p><span><strong><span>Keywords: </span></strong><span>RCA, AM, FLA, PBA, SS-E, curriculum, morphology, teaching, assessment, etc.</span></span></p>

The Effect of Learning a Second Language at an Early Stage

Globalization is an international situation and is more and more widely accepted by people. With increasing globalization of the world economy, bilingualism is more and more widely used today as well. The effects of children learning a second language are hotly contested today. Through reviewing the previous studies, this paper aims to find out the positive and negative impacts on children of second language acquisition at the early stage. On the one hand, the benefits of learning a second language could help promote cognitive for example, memory, attentional ability and creativity. On the other hand, losing one’s native language might happen if a second language is learned too early and native language not normally used. Apart from that, extra academic burden and tuition fees also could hinder the process of second language learning. Overall, this paper illustrates positive and negative impacts of learning a second language early that help their teachers and parent’s bilingualism education of children. However, as of the relent previous studies and articles are limited that most of investigation lose sight of individual difference of interviewees and they are all conducted by earlier time from now, for the further research, it could be conducted by empirical research to update the new findings.

Teacher’s personality and cultural identity impacting students’ motivation. Effective dialogue/discourse in the classroom

Hewstone and colleagues (2005, p. 294) define personality as a set of individual differences which are affected by the development of an individual: values, attitudes, personal memories, social relationships, habits, and skills. Those values and skills can in turn have a tremendous impact on students’ motivation and generally, the whole process of second language learning. Out of many theories of personality available, the article focuses on presumably the most recognised, i.e. Eysenck’s theory based on the distinction of two dimensions: extraversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability, psychoticism/normality which are called superfactors (Eysenck, 1994). The taxonomy differentiates between four personality types: an extrovert and introvert in two variants: stable and unstable and can also be analysed in terms of the correlation between traits, personality types and superfactors. The article discusses the concept of a teacher’s personality and cultural identity and its potential impact on students’ motivation, which, in turn, may trigger the development of dialogue and classroom interactional competence (CIC). It also provides some evidence showcasing certain divergence between students’ perceptions and opinions on the most motivating traits of a teacher’s personality and the factual character features that may boost their CIC.

Second-language phoneme learning positively relates to voice recognition abilities in the native language: Evidence from behavior and brain potentials.

Previous studies suggest a relationship between second-language learning and voice recognition processes, but the nature of such relation remains poorly understood. The present study investigates whether phoneme learning relates to voice recognition. A group of bilinguals that varied in their discrimination of a second-language phoneme contrast participated in this study. We assessed participants’ voice recognition skills in their native language at the behavioral and brain electrophysiological levels during a voice-avatar learning paradigm. Second-language phoneme discrimination positively correlated with behavioral and brain measures of voice recognition. At the electrophysiological level, correlations were present at two time windows and are interpreted within the dual-process model of recognition memory. The results are relevant to understanding the processes involved in language learning as they show a common variability for second-language phoneme and voice recognition processes.

Traveling by Headset

In line with the 2021 CALICO Conference theme “Global realities,” we presented a plenary on how immersive virtual reality (IVR) could be used for second language learning by allowing learners to virtually travel around the globe via headset. The main affordances of virtual reality (VR) technology include immersing learners in an authentic cultural context almost anywhere on the globe, while manifesting a strong sense of presence and enabling learning through embodied cognition, which involves kinesthetic engagement. In this article, we first review current models of immersive learning and note how certain processes of second language and culture learning are missing in these models. Using some examples of IVR apps for second language learning, we discuss the research to date that focuses on the affordances of the technology for languaculture learning and propose how the effectiveness of these apps could be studied, expanding on the cognitive-affective model of immersive learning (CAMIL, proposed by Makransky & Petersen, 2021) to include social factors. We conclude with some recommendations for the development of future IVR apps for languaculture learning that follow our expanded theoretical model.

Use of Music and Songs as Pedagogical Tools in Teaching English as Foreign Language Contexts

The purpose of this research paper is to demonstrate how music can be used in the classroom by describing several methods and providing resources, as well as to demonstrate why music can benefit foreign language learning by reviewing research on the impact of music-related methods on EFL learning and teaching. The researchers relied upon the previous studies and critical and scholarly texts. This study adopts a descriptive study design, which is comprised of a quantitative study in various contexts. The results demonstrated that the complexity found in the foreign language teaching process emerges from the social and cognitive needs of the EFL learners that in most cases are ignored intentionally or unintentionally. Moreover, the process of second language learning comes with a lot of anxiety and peer pressure. Hence, it is concluded that song and music can certainly be considered as one of the useful language learning tools that aid second language teaching without putting a lot of academic pressure on the learners. The implication that can be inferred is that English teachers need to offer a learning environment that is anxiety free and at the same time serves the purpose of learning through fun activities. Songs and music can be proven to be an effective listening activity that has multiple benefits to offer. Particularly in the case of young and elementary learners, music has been used widely to teach important concepts in a fun way by second language teachers.

Interference in Japanese Learning by First-Year Students of Hospitality Department in State Polytechnic Of Bali

The second-language learning process is often constrained by the influence of mother tongue or first language-Acquisition learners, which is called interference. Interference is principal language irrelevance in bilingual due to one or more language to be introduced or Speech Communication. Based on its phenomenon, students of State Polytechnic of Bali are considered passive interference learners, putting their mother tongue (Javanese and Balinese) elements and Indonesian Language in Japanese consciously or intuitively. This study aims to disclose the type of interference by the hospitality program students for those studying Japanese in State Polytechnic of Bali and explain its factors. The method used is Descriptive Qualitative, which is concerned with taking document field notes and literature Review to represent the real phenomenon of passive Interference types. The population in this study were all students in State Polytechnic of Bali in Japanese class. In contrast, the sample was taken from the results of purposive sampling based on their 100% attendance. There were about 65 first-year or second Semester students in Japanese Class and showed their Interferences. The study results showed that about 75 Passive Interference has commonly occurred in grammatical cases, such as phonetics, morphology, and syntax. Moreover, the occurrence factors of Passive Interference are distinctive Phonetic Features, The Language pattern differences between Mother Tongues (Local Languages) – Japanese, and lack of Japanese Language Proficiency skills and its dictions.

Interference in Japanese Learning by First-Year Students of Hospitality Department in State Polytechnic Of Bali

The second-language learning process is often constrained by the influence of mother tongue or first language-Acquisition learners, which is called interference. Interference is principal language irrelevance in bilingual due to one or more language to be introduced or Speech Communication. Based on its phenomenon, students of State Polytechnic of Bali are considered passive interference learners, putting their mother tongue (Javanese and Balinese) elements and Indonesian Language in Japanese consciously or intuitively. This study aims to disclose the type of interference by the hospitality program students for those studying Japanese in State Polytechnic of Bali and explain its factors. The method used is Descriptive Qualitative, which is concerned with taking document field notes and literature Review to represent the real phenomenon of passive Interference types. The population in this study were all students in State Polytechnic of Bali in Japanese class. In contrast, the sample was taken from the results of purposive sampling based on their 100% attendance. There were about 65 first-year or second Semester students in Japanese Class and showed their Interferences. The study results showed that about 75 Passive Interference has commonly occurred in grammatical cases, such as phonetics, morphology, and syntax. Moreover, the occurrence factors of Passive Interference are distinctive Phonetic Features, The Language pattern differences between Mother Tongues (Local Languages) – Japanese, and lack of Japanese Language Proficiency skills and its dictions.

THE IMPACT OF TEACHER SELF-EFFICACY ON TEACHING TECHNIQUES: TRADITIONAL OR CONTEMPORARY?

There are countless factors that impact the process of second language learning and teaching in both positive and negative ways. These factors are not limited to only student-oriented factors since some of them might stem from teachers themselves as well. One of the teacher-oriented factors that shape the learning/ teaching process is teacher’s levels of self-efficacy. For decades, teacher self-efficacy has been holding its position as being one of the most popular topics of investigation. Many studies have been conducted to further understand its effect on classroom environment. These studies have put forward a great deal of invaluable findings. However, only a few examined its effects on teaching methods and techniques used in the classroom. The present study set out to investigate this issue by collecting data from 64 EFL teachers, using both quantitative and qualitative methods with a three-staged survey. The findings showed: 1) Turkish EFL teachers have moderately high teacher self-efficacy, 2) age and gender are not factors affecting teacher self-efficacy while teaching experience is, 3) teachers with high self-efficacy use more modern techniques in their lessons and 4) high self-efficacy leads teachers to more implementations of communicative and collaborative tasks. The findings have numerous implications for further research that will be conducted in Turkey as they shed light on the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and teaching methods. Teachers of foreign languages should also be aware of the teaching implications that have been suggested throughout the study and criticize their teaching techniques in terms of traditional or contemporary, by bearing in mind their levels of self-efficacy. 
 
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Diatopia, competenze passive e didattica della L2: Riflessioni teoriche e proposta di descrittori. I casi dello spagnolo (ELE) e del francese (FLE)

Spanish and French are both languages which have a long-standing monocentric linguistic standardization tradition, however they also possess polycentric features, clearly visible - albeit incomplete and largely insufficient - in glottodidactics and related materials. This paper aims to raise awareness of the sociolinguistic dimension in second language teaching, by first providing a thorough theoretical outline surrounding the issue, followed by scale descriptors referring to the introduction of diatopic variations during the second language learning process, with differentiated issues in Spanish an French by considering intrinsic specificities of each language.

THE EFFECT OF TASK PLANNING DURATION ON THE STUDENTS ABILITY OF SPEAKING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS

This study was to find out the extent to task planning duration is applicable and influenced students’ oral presentation in terms of fluency, complexity and accuracy in English as a second language learning process. This study is a qualitative research method. The data were gathered through observation and documentation. The data was analyzed qualitatively by investigating the level of fluency, complexity and accuracy on students’ speech after being given a specific duration of task planning. Then, analyzed data was presented formally and informally.The subjects in this study were 25 learners of an English course institution in Denpasar, at the level of basic-4. Based on the analysis, it was found that task planning duration affects the fluency and accuracy of oral presentation. The longer the duration of the task planning, the higher level of fluency and accuracy of the language will be used by learners. This is caused by the time owned by the learners to plan ideas that would be presented related to the given topic and to formulate these ideas into correct sentences. However, the length of task planning does not affect the complexity of the language used by learners because of the complexity of the language depends on language competence possessed by learners. Although the duration of task planning was increased, the level of complexity of the language used did not change. Keywords : task planning, oral presentation, language learning

Impacts of dyadic interaction on second language writing: A study with eight bilingual primary school students in Singapore

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of pair interaction on the process and product of collaborative writing through analysing Language Related Episodes (LREs) and students’ writing products. Four pairs (nine to 11 years old) represented four different patterns of interaction. The results show that the pattern of dyadic interaction influenced the quantity and quality of LREs and associated post-writing. When learners engaged in collaborative or expert/novice patterns of learning, they were likely to produce more LREs and attain higher quality in the post-writing. Both a novice learner and a passive learner benefitted from collaborative writing by watching how the other student wrote. However, students who showed a dominant role had the least improvement in the post-writing. The findings of the study suggest that the interaction patterns affect both the process of collaborative dialogue and second language learning itself.

HOW TEACHERS DEAL WITH INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM: RESULTS OF A STUDY

The process and outcome of second or foreign language (L2) learning are mediated by an array of variables, the most important of which are perhaps individual difference (ID) factors (cf. Dörnyei, 2005; Dörnyei, Ryan, 2015; Pawlak, 2012a, 2017a). It is therefore not surprising that such factors have been addressed by hundreds, if not thousands, of studies in the last several decades, and while the foci or methodology of such research have inevitably been subject to change, the role of individual variation in L2 has been taken for granted. Apart from illuminating the role of various ID factors, researchers have also attempted to draw up recommendations concerning how what we know about these factors can inform classroom practice. A question arises, though, about teachers’ awareness of different facets of individual variation, the steps they take to capitalize on learners’ individuality in providing instruction, and the degree to which they can be expected to successfully deal with ID factors in the classroom. The paper tackles these issues by reporting on a questionnaire study which involved 37 Polish teachers of English at different educational levels. The results indicate that, while the respondents are cognizant of individual differences and address them in teaching practice, their understanding thereof is limited and so are the actions they embark on in this respect.

Processes of Acquisition a Second Language and Learning a Foreign Language: Terminology Standardisation and Harmonization

The article analyzes microgroup of terms relating to the process of second language acquisition or foreign language learning (language aptitude, interlanguage, language competence, language performance, language proficiency). The semantics of this group is analyzed and some aspects of normalization (compliance with linguistic and terminological norms) and harmonization (compliance with variants that function in English) are proposed.
 The difference between the terms of language acquisition and language learning is specified. The author of the article proves the idea that the acquisition of the second language is an unconscious process of producing the language, when a person implicitly assimilates speech samples and produces them intuitively. Learning a foreign language is a conscious process of producing a language when a person explicitly learns speech samples and produces them consciously.
 Language aptitude denotes the innate ability of a person which develops with the experience of communication, and it is a kind of mechanism that allows the mental and physiological levels to master the language.
 It is revealed that bilingualism (natural and educational) can be the result of different strategies of language mastering and thus there are various mechanisms for its formation. It is found out that interlanguage is a language that is characterizing a person who learns a new language, and it is the result of the interaction of language systems, rules, norms of native language and the language which is learned. It is dynamic and reflects the appropriate level of language proficiency.
 The relationship between terms language competence (a set of language knowledge), language performance (production and comprehension of language), and language proficiency (ability of an individual to speak or perform in a language according to the aim of communication) is determined. These terms are at the stage of entry into Ukrainian science.