Target Language Country Research Articles

Some factors which may affect the attainment of implicit and explicit knowledge in learning English as a second or foreign language

This article is an attempt to shed some more light on certain factors, related to individual differences in the process of second/foreign language acquisition/learning, proven by previous research in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). These are factors which may affect the final attainment of adult learners’ implicit and explicit knowledge of English as a second/foreign language and their proficiency. A study based on empirical data collected from a sample of 103 participants, through a battery of tests, aimed at tapping into the attainment of implicit or explicit knowledge of ESL/EFL, was conducted to explore certain factors such as: starting age of learning; length of exposure to English as a second/foreign language in a target language country; length of learning and type of input received, which have a statistically significant impact on attainment and on ESL/EFL proficiency. The results were analysed using SPSS software.

Country Stereotypes and L2 Motivation:A Study of French, German and Spanish Language Learners

The purposes of this study (N=80) were: 1) to explore stereotypes about a target language (TL) country and TL learning motivation among beginner learners of French, German, and Spanish in a big public university in Malaysia, and 2) to examine whether there were relationships between the country stereotypes and the students’ motivation to learn a TL. To collect data, this study administered a questionnaire to the participants. To achieve the first research purpose, this study employed content analysis, which revealed that the respondents had diverse and overwhelmingly positive images about the TL countries. Interestingly, there were some differences in stereotype content across the three TL countries. For example, while technology-related images were prominent in the data collected from the learners of German, such references lacked among the images reported by the participants learning Spanish or French. As to the second research purpose, the findings of statistical analyses indicated that there were statistically significant and positive relationships between country stereotypes and TL learning motivation. The study concludes with discussing implications of the finding for L2 education.

The Multicultural Self-organization of the Student’s Linguistic Identity in the Context of Extended Foreign Language Training

The article discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of the multicultural self-organization of the student’s linguistic identity in the context of extended foreign language training. According to the authors’ point of view the methodological basis of the dialogue of cultures is presented by the philosophy of mutual understanding, mutual relationships in the global environment today. The change of the paradigm of the socio-cultural context of foreign language training allows one to choose multicultural (learning a foreign language on a “native culture – the culture of the target language country – world cultures” principle) and activity (the development and functioning of an individual in the activity process where the starting point is the inclusion of individuals into the world of culture and their self-development) approaches as priorities. The content of extended training is oriented at the anticipatory reflection of the problems of society, industry, science, culture and other spheres of social practice and it is based on the principles of humanism and diversification. The authors present an experience of the scientific and methodical development and implementation of extended foreign language training system, providing the multicultural self-organization of the student’s linguistic identity on the basis of the Department of Foreign Languages and Teaching Methods at the Yelets State Ivan Bunin University. The description of retraining program “The Multicultural Self-organization of the Specialist in Business, Management and Tourism (the English language)” intended for students of non-linguistic majors. The article has shown a positive dynamics of the foreign language proficiency, the development of the linguistic identity’s global attitude to the culture and his/her cultural identity. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s4p47

Introduction: The Crucial Role of Peer-Learning in Language Learning Spaces

Welcome to the second instalment of the Language Learning Spaces: Self-Access in Action column. While the first instalment examined the process of establishing facilities, this second instalment focuses on the role learners themselves play in the ecology of a self-access centre. When the self-access movement first started, many facilities were labelled Resource Centres and centred around providing physical resources (mainly books and audiovisual materials) for self-directed learning for individuals. In recent years, the rise of the Internet, which provides easy access to learning materials and authentic audio and visual from target language countries has challenged proponents of physical self-access spaces to assert their relevance to learners (Reinders, 2012). These technological advances, in addition to the growing recognition of the social dimension of both language learning and learner autonomy (Murray, 2014), have stimulated a shift from a resource-focused approach to self-access language learning, to one which emphasises the social aspect of learning. In some cases, the term self-access has been rejected altogether, in favour of social learning spaces (Murray, Fujishima & Uzuka, 2014). The previous column in SiSAL documented one such reinvention of a resource-based self-access centre into a social space (Allhouse, 2014).

Cultural Transformation in the Lingua-didactical Dimension

The concept of “culture” is viewed from a lingua-didactical position as transformation of cultural facts with original contours, specific content and distinctive features, such as: transformation of cultural facts relevant to the cultural approach to teaching foreign languages; transformation of cultural facts of the target language's country; transformation of students’ country cultural facts; transformation of the facts of two contacting cultures which are characteristic for the teaching of foreign social-bicultural competence. Relative-comparative analysis of cultural transformations is described as the teaching method for the formation of foreign language social-bicultural competence.

How long is long enough? L2 English development through study abroad programmes varying in duration

The current study analyzes the oral production of advanced learners of English who have Catalan and Spanish as their first languages. Subjects participated in study abroad (SA) programmes in English-speaking countries as part of their undergraduate studies. A role-play task was used to elicit speech from learners prior to SA and upon arrival from SA. We analyze two groups of learners who participated in a three-month stay (N = 33) and a six-month stay (N = 14). Their oral production is measured on the basis of syntactic complexity, and overall accuracy and fluency. Native speakers of English (N = 24) performed the same role-play task so as to provide a baseline. Statistical analyses show a significant advantage of the three-month stay in the target language country over the six-month stay in terms of accuracy and fluency, areas in which, nevertheless, native speakers outperformed both groups at pre- and post-test, regardless of length of stay (LoS).

"Great Technology, Football and...": Malaysian Language Learners' Stereotypes about Germany

This study focuses on stereotypes about Germany, its culture and people, held by learners of German in a big public university in Malaysia. It examines not only the stereotypical representations of the target language country but also assesses its favourability and salience, which has not been done previously. The findings revealed that the students' stereotypes about Germany were varied and diverse. Also, they were overwhelmingly positive. The top three salient categories of images about Germany were related to technology, famous personalities - for the most part football players and scientists - and cars. The findings also indicated that very few references had been made to German culture and to its great cultural figures. The results of the present study suggest that students could benefit from a wider and deeper exposure to German culture in the language classroom.

Die Einbeziehung landeskundlichen Wissens in die Entwicklung sprachlichen Fähigkeiten

Integrating cultural knowledge for skills development language among GFL students
 The development of foreign language skills through cultural studies means the expansion, deepening and, above all, the precise understanding of the vocabulary. The cultural-semantic level of the vocabulary is also taken into account in the text and this is the area of cultural studies. For this reason, a brief overview of cultural studies - semantics - relationship must be given. This article examines whether foreign language teaching with regard to the inclusion of cultural content meets the requirements of the Higher eduaction system such as the development of the learner's personality, the connection of cultural material to the world of experience of the learners, the promotion of motivation for independent employment with cultural Content, search and use of all possibilities for encountering the target language country and culture.

Foco no Brasil: imagens do país por estudantes malaios de Português do Brasil

This study explores images about Brazil held by learners of Brazilian Portuguese in a big public university in Malaysia. It employs a mixed methods approach for this purpose. In the qualitative component of the study, the students’ images about Brazil were explored by analyzing their responses to an open-ended question and grouping the resultant images into categories. In the quantitative strand, favourability of the images about Brazil was accessed using the ratings that each respondent had assigned to his or her images about Brazil. The findings revealed that references to football and sporting events made up the largest share in the kaleidoscope of images about Brazil. For the most part, the students’ images about the target language country, culture and people were highly positive. At the same time, the findings indicated that the students’ mental pictures about Brazil were limited to popularly held country stereotypes. The article concludes with a discussion on pedagogical implications of the findings. Keywords: country image, foreign language education, Brazilian Portuguese, foreign language learners, mixed methods, applied linguistics.

Do MFL Learners in Malaysia Need ‘Mandarin for Travelling’?

Tourism is an important part of foreign language learning as visiting the target-language country will provide the best environment for learners to use the language. ‘Mandarin for travelling’ which focuses on the travelling purposes in China, is one of the popular themes of Mandarin learning for specific purposes for adult MFL (Mandarin as a foreign language) learners from different countries of the world. However, ‘Mandarin for travelling’ has not been offered as an individual subject for MFL learning in any of the tertiary institutions in Malaysia. Hence, this paper aims to investigate whether there is a need to include ‘Mandarin for travelling’ in the MFL curriculum in Malaysia. A large number of samples totalling 2,534 student-respondents from five public universities in Malaysia, namely UiTM, UPM, USM, UKM and UM, were invited to fill out the questionnaires. The results of the investigation indicate that half of the MFL learners in Malaysia showed no interest in visiting China. The majority of the other half wished to visit China for travelling purposes, and joining a tour was their preference. With all arrangements done by a tour guide, ‘Mandarin for travelling’ may not be useful to learners, and indirectly the learning of vocabulary for travelling purposes is not very important to MFL learners in Malaysia. Since the findings imply that majority of the MFL learners in Malaysia did not intend to use Mandarin in China, ‘Mandarin for travelling’ will not be important for MFL learners in Malaysia either in the short or long term.

The intercultural approach in a Hong Kong academic setting

This article examines the various educational paradigms used in the design of a European studies undergraduate programme in Hong Kong to enhance the acquisition of intercultural competences (IC) among students. The intercultural approach is supported by intensive foreign language (FL) learning and is motivated by a compulsory full year academic stay in the target language country. The article focuses on the importance of contextualising FL teaching by presenting the multifaceted aspects of identity, languages and the learner's profile in Hong Kong's societal environment. This perspective incorporates the multidimensional aspects of the concept of ‘culture’, while also recognising the dynamic process of the context and (social) identity for the learner. In the present case study, Hong Kong students' IC are developed along the dual educational axis of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages: a vision of the learner as a social agent and an action-oriented approach. The development of IC is also enhanced by a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach in language courses. Some recently introduced concepts in Hong Kong higher education (HE) are envisaged as springboards for including the intercultural approach in academic programmes. Finally, the article advocates cross-disciplinarity and synergy in Hong Kong HE for the development of students' IC.

Developing new ‘thinking-for-speaking’ patterns in Greek as a foreign language: the role of proficiency and stays abroad

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of first language thinking-for-speaking patterns on the acquisition of Greek as a second language (L2), as well as to determine whether proficiency level and stays in the target-language country have an effect on such influence. The participants (N=50) were Spanish/Catalan learners of Greek who belonged to different proficiency groups (from A2.1 up to B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference) and had had stays in Greece of various durations (from a few weeks up to several years). The participants performed two tasks in their L2: a grammaticality judgement task and a picture description task, which included expressions that are encoded as a single verb in Greek but as a periphrasis in Spanish/Catalan, as well as in English (e.g. to be hungry, to be sleepy, to be embarrassed, etc.). A group of Greek native speakers (N=15) also did the same tasks. The results indicate that L1 patterns were transferred to the L2 and that the performance of the L2 learners was significantly different from that of the native speakers'. Moreover, proficiency and time in Greece played a significant role in the acquisition of the patterns under analysis.

Impact of Training Through Language Laboratory on Intonation and Retention of IXth Graders of Kashmir Valley

In today’s competitive world nobody can afford to neglect the need and importance of recent technologies and innovations happening all around. Today besides possessing good qualifications in hand still a lot of youths are facing unemployment. The reason behind if thought properly, is that majority of them are not able to present themselves in a desirable manner. And the worst thing happening because of this is that a lot of misfits are being found at different profession, who had compromised to curb their unemployment. No doubt education is termed as one of the basic requirements on which great nations are built. It is also stated as an investment that takes its time to pay dividends and can generate the highest returns when compared to any other avenues, where resources can be committed. In developing countries, where a large population lives at subsistence levels, primary education is a major tool for enriching human capital. Now the question arises, has education been able to justify its functional nature and if the educators are equipping their students and future citizens of country with this indispensable skill of self expression in proper way? In this regard, computer studies or ICT (information and communication technologies) becomes immensely important as “diverse set of technological tools and resources are used to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information.”As a remedy for this problem in many countries language teachers have been using technological aids for many years, some of which have been around since the beginning of the 20th century. These include:  Radio  Television(terrestrial)  Language lab  Computer & internet  Satellite television  Mobile phone/personal digital assistant(PDA) All of these devices and media can present sound and most of them can also present video. Sound is indispensable because teaching a language without offering the learner the opportunity of hearing native speaker’s voices is unthinkable. Video offers additional opportunities for enhancing the learner’s experience, ranging from presenting a “talking head” so that the learner can see how lip movements and gestures relate to the spoken language, to films on life and culture in the target language country (Hill 1999).Also extensive trend of using Language labs by foreign educators had proved that language can best be taught to students by following basic laws of linguistics through language laboratories. As such labs were initially perceived as a solution to the problem of teaching a language to a large number of learners in a short time, and undoubtedly were a worthwhile invention but in our Indian context it somehow failed specifically in small towns. The main reasons for the lab’s failure to achieve expected outcomes, however, were:  Lack of proper training for teachers wishing to use it,  Lack of imagination in devising activities other than drills. Nowadays the language lab is no longer seen as the panacea, but rather as one of the many technological aids that the language teacher can choose to use to enhance teaching and learning. But still its awareness among common people is very less. Therefore through this paper my intention is to present the condition of language laboratories in Srinagar, the summer capital of J&K state and its impact on developing various linguistic skills like Intonation which somehow ultimately affects the achievement & retention levels of the child.

The Effect of Context on the L2 Thinking for Speaking Development of Path Gestures

Author(s): Lewis, Tasha N | Abstract: Different languages inherently present different thinking for speaking patterns, targeting different meaning components for expression. Previous research has demonstrated that second language learners largely tend transfer their first language thinking for speaking pattern to their second language, however, this paper presents evidence to the contrary. Second language learners studying in the target language country demonstrate an unexpected thinking for speaking pattern. The data indicate that learners mainly use second language gesture patterns related to path when communicating in the second language. The findings also support the notion that there are considerable linguistic benefits to study abroad that include more than just second language verbal developments; they also consist of the subtler aspects of language such as second language gesture usage.

The cultural dimensions of language teaching and learning

Language teaching and learning has many different cultural dimensions, and over the years more and more of these have been the subject of research. The first dimension to be explored was that of content: the images of target language countries and the world that were offered in textbooks and presented in class. The next dimension was that of the learner: the (inter)cultural learning, competence and identity of the learner or subject. The next dimension was context: the situation and role of language teaching and learning in society and in the world.

The effect of context and input conditions on oral and written development: A Study Abroad perspective

This article aims at describing and explaining the effects of a period of Study Abroad spent in the target language country (SA) on foreign language development. Such effects are analysed in the short- and mid-term and in contrast with the impact of a period of formal instruction (FI) previously spent in the home country (AH). It is hypothesised that because each of the two contexts has differential patterns of input exposure, both quantitatively and qualitatively, their effect on the participants' communicative and motivational development will also be different. The learners' abilities to avail themselves of opportunities for contactwith the target language that the SA context provides are also taken into account. For this purpose, a sample of Catalan/Spanish EFL undergraduates who spent a compulsory three-month sojourn in an English-speaking university was analysed longitudinally over a period of three years. Intensive testing of the learners' oral and written abilities was carried out, and both global and fine-grained measurements were applied to the data. Comparisons were also drawn between the sample of non-native English speaking learners (NNSs) and baseline data from a similar sample of native English-speaking (NSs) exchange students.

Promoting cross‐cultural awareness and understanding: incorporating ethnographic interviews in college EFL classes in Taiwan

The emergence of the incorporation of culture into EFL education is a growing trend in Taiwan. The purpose of the study was to examine: (1) the effects of the ethnographic interview project on Taiwanese students' cognitive development in understanding native English speakers and their cultures; (2) changes in students' self‐awareness and understanding of both the target culture and their own; and (3) students' perceptions of the ethnographic interview project employed in EFL college classes. Data were collected through pre–post questionnaires, oral and written reports, classroom observation and interviews. Results indicated that participation in the ethnographic interview project helped facilitate the development of cross‐cultural awareness and communication skills by providing opportunities for students to gain insight into the values of target language countries, learn to view their own culture in new ways, increase their confidence in using English to communicate and view authentic communication as the goal of EFL learning. The majority of the participants saw the ethnographic interview project as an effective means of facilitating intercultural/interpersonal communication and understanding.

Integrating Emerging Technologies in the Foreign Language Classroom: A Case Study

Advances in Internet technology have broadened access to video documents for foreign language instruction. This is of particular benefit for language students in countries which are remote from the target language country. The exposure to authentic language materials provides a cultural and linguistic context for language learning and motivates learners’ interest in the subject. This case study describes receptive and productive use of video in a German language classroom: language practice with a German television soap opera, and language production through the creation of a German YouTube soap opera. While the first part was based on conventional comprehension and practice tasks, the second part promoted a learner-centred learning style, which was supported by social software. Feedback from seven students addresses the use of authentic video and Internet-technologies (blog, wiki, YouTube) for language learning. The study discusses the benefits of using authentic video, the development of learner collaboration through wiki-activity and the implications of collective learning for foreign language education.

FAX-Technology for Essay Exchanges with German Students as an Enhancement of "c"-Culture

During the past few years, the advent of the so-called electronic has greatly enhanced teaching in the humanities. This is particularly true in foreign languages, and at The Pennsylvania State University an equipment grant from IBM helped establish a classroom equipped with state-of-the-art technology to enhance the writing process in the major languages offered. New rooms seat up to 24 students in clusters of three around computer stations that include interactive software to assist each group in the analysis of written work with the help of various programs. With these tools, students discuss and correct each group's assignments, which the instructor can then project onto a screen for further, plenary analysis. Since all our students now have a computer account, e-mail communication among participants in intermediate language courses as well as between student and teacher has become an integral part of instruction at this level and provides the foundation for frequent exchange of and feedbackon written work and on student queries.1 Beyond such intra-institutional use of e-mail communication, access to the Internet has facilitated the teaming up of entire language classes at numerous schools and institutions all across the US with peer groups in the target language country, thereby adding a new dimension to writing in the foreign language that allows for almost instant response. Such e-mail exchanges have greatly increased students' interest in the fourth and most difficult skill in linguistic instruction; the motivation to communicate with partners on a different continent in the target language has strongly enhanced the relevance of foreign language teaching.2 Despite the opportunities inherent in such exchanges, there are drawbacks to the use of e-mail, especially in lower-level language instruction where the correct use of the German diacritical marks is important. The lack of these languagespecific signs, the less than ideal page layout, and the lack of transmitting facilities for anything like line drawings, pictures, or other signs of additional creative activity shown by participating students convinced me that the use of FAX transmissions in

Rapid translation of quality of life measures for international clinical trials: avoiding errors in the minimalist approach.

There is a growing demand for tools to assess outcomes multinationally for use in international clinical trials. This has been accompanied by the need to produce valid and reliable questionnaires in a multiplicity of languages within a short time frame. We present an eight-step protocol for rapidly translating a quality of life (QOL) questionnaire into multiple languages, and demonstrate the protocol's utility and effectiveness by evaluating the translations for reliability and validity. The rapid translation protocol represents a minimalist approach to QOL questionnaire translation. Although this minimalist approach is not considered a recommended methodology, it may represent a feasible mechanism for questionnaire translation under certain circumstances. Most of the steps were completed in the USA, including a translation and back-translation by bilingual translators who were native speakers in the target-language, a test-retest of the translated instrument on five bilingual respondents to establish language and cultural equivalence and review of the translation by and editorial review board. The translated instrument was performance tested in the target language country on a pilot population of patients to determine its reliability and validity. Based on the findings, the instrument was further refined for use in the clinical trial.