The use of computer games as foreign language learning tasks for digital natives

Bilingual experience may confer advantages in statistical language learning tasks. Given that SL tasks can measure different aspects of foreign language learning, which aspects benefit from bilingual experience is still largely unexplored. Here, we compared a Spanish monolingual and two (Spanish-Basque and Spanish-English) bilingual groups across three well-established SL tasks. Each task targeted a different aspect of foreign language learning as a proxy—i.e., word segmentation, morphological rule generalization, and word-referent learning. In Experiment 1, we manipulated sub-lexical phonotactic patterns to vary the difficulty of three SL tasks, and the results showed no differences between the groups in word segmentation. In Experiment 2, we included non-adjacent dependencies to target affixal morphology rule learning, and again there were no differences between the groups. Finally, Experiment 3 addressed word learning using a more challenging audio-visual SL task combining exclusive and multiple word-referent mappings. We observed a bilingual experience effect only for the exclusive mappings but not for the multiple mappings. These results suggest that bilingual experience might mainly exert influences on statistical language learning at the lexical level. We discuss these findings by contextualizing SL as a cognitive mechanism, an experimental task, and a proxy for foreign language learning, highlighting the strengths and limitations in detecting bilingual experience effects.

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Adapting Competitiveness and Gamification to a Digital Platform for Foreign Language Learning

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) ◽

10.3991/ijet.v15i20.16135 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (20) ◽

pp. 194

Author(s):

Norman Patrick Harvey Arce ◽

Ana Maria Cuadros Valdivia

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Virtual Environment ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Digital Natives ◽

Digital Tools ◽

Multicultural Environment ◽

Digital Resource ◽

Competitive Activities

Due to globalization growth, learning a second language is a necessity to develop in an increasingly demanding multicultural environment. However, at present we still find that some traditional methodologies are still being applied for teaching, which represents a problem for current students, also called digital natives, because these methodologies should adapt to this digital age of technology and knowledge. To solve this problem, a digital resource for foreign language learning was developed taking into account competitiveness and gamification as bases to motivate students and engage them into the course. The objective of this tool is to improve the processing of theoretical information obtained making use of a virtual environment which has competitive activities and gamification elements such as: obtaining medals for completing tasks, user's progress bar and ranking according to the scores obtained, so that students are motivated and improve their learning. This research seeks to analyze the effects of applying competitiveness and gamification in a virtual environment aimed at foreign language learning. It was found that 81.03% of students are more inclined to use gamified digital tools and also 82.76% of students feel more motivated to learn a second language using this methodology.

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Japanese and English Students Perspective on Social Media

KIRYOKU ◽

10.14710/kiryoku.v5i1.122-129 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 122-129

Author(s):

Fitri Alfarisy

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Japanese Students ◽

Learning Tasks ◽

New Generation ◽

English Students

Social media has created new possibilities for digitally native students to engage, interact and collaborate in learning tasks that foster learning processes and the overall learning experience. By using both qualitative and quantitative data, this article discusses the perspectives of Japanese and English students towards social media. As we know, foreign language learning is facilitated by social media and especially for a new generation of students. This paper contributes to an understanding of how language learners’ perspectives on social media. 52 English students and 18 Japanese students participate in the research as the sample. We found that most of the students aware of the benefit of social media for learning languages. Furthermore, the study showed that both English and Japanese students preferred to use English or Indonesian languages to do social media activities such as posting, writing a caption, or commenting than local language or Japanese language. Therefore, Japanese and English students should improve their awareness of social media for language learners.

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A STUDY ON THE ATTITUDE OF STUDENTS FROM THE NATIONAL SPORTS ACADEMY TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR FUTURE PROFESSIONAL REALIZATION

Proceedings of CBU in Social Sciences ◽

10.12955/pss.v1.52 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 88-92

Author(s):

Tatiana Hristakieva

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Computer Games ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Learning Needs ◽

Alternative Analysis ◽

Important Conclusion ◽

Language Courses ◽

Foreign Language Courses

The purpose of the research was to study the attitude of students from the National Sports Academy “V. Levski”, Sofia, to foreign language learning in connection with their future profession as sport specialists, and their interest in using interactive learning techniques in the foreign language courses of the Academy. An enquiry was conducted at the end of the winter term of 2019-2020 academic year with students in the undergraduate programs of the Faculty of Pedagogy and the Faculty of Sport of the National Sports Academy. A questionnaire was used with 12 questions related to the evaluation of students’ foreign language learning needs and the most appropriate sources and strategies for language acquisition. The subjects of the study were 65 students, 44 men and 21 women, at the age of 19-20. The statistical methods used for the research were alternative analysis, variance analysis and Pearson’s chi-squared test (x{\displaystyle \chi ^{2}}χ²).The results from the study show that students are mostly interested in the practical application of foreign language learning. They need to develop their productive language skills - oral communicative and writing skills, in order to use the language directly. Computer games and activities in the internet can act as a close to natural environment enhancing language acquisition. Another important conclusion from the survey is that students recognize using foreign languages as an important part of their professional qualification with reference to future career development.

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Kritische Materiaalanalyse Door Docenten Moderne Vreemde Talen

Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen ◽

10.1075/ttwia.63.05dri ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 63 ◽

pp. 41-48

Author(s):

Carla Driessen ◽

Jacques Haenen ◽

Gerard Westhoff

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Research Methods ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Function Form ◽

Foreign Language Teachers ◽

Learning Tasks ◽

Research Questions ◽

Insight Into

First, this article focuses on a model for the analysis, evaluation and revision of foreign language learning tasks that has recendy been developed. A description is given of the function, form and content of the model and examples are provided. Second, the article explains how the usability of the model for foreign language teachers will be investigated in terms of its accessibility and its relevance. The research methods proposed are mainly qualitative in nature. The research questions that will be answered are: 1. Can foreign language teachers work with the model in order to analyse, evaluate and revise foreign language learning tasks? 2. Do foreign language teachers evaluate positively the accessibility of the model? 3. Do foreign language teachers gain insight into the factors that influence the effective-ness of foreign language learning tasks? 4. Does the model make foreign language teachers critical of foreign language learning tasks?

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A Comparative Psycholinguistic Study on the Subjective Feelings of Well-Being Outcomes of Foreign Language Learning in Older Adults From the Czech Republic and Poland

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.606083 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Blanka Klimova ◽

Marcel Pikhart ◽

Anna Cierniak-Emerych ◽

Szymon Dziuba ◽

Krzysztof Firlej

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Czech Republic ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Computer Games ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Well Being ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

The Czech Republic ◽

Experimental Group

Positive psychology has recently seen unprecedented rise and has reached vast achievements in the area of quality of life (QoL) improvement. The purpose of this study is to show that there are different aspects of well-being that make healthy older people motivated to learn a foreign language at a later age. The research was conducted in the Czech Republic and Poland in two groups of learners aged 55 years and more. The experimental group consisted of 105 Czech respondents who were targeted with an online questionnaire with the aim to determine the level of FLL outcomes connected to QoL in healthy older adults in their L2 acquisition. The second experimental group (n = 100) was established of Polish seniors who attended similar language courses. The findings of the research clearly show that FLL has an irreplaceable role as one of several non-pharmacological strategies utilized to improve the aging process and reduce drawbacks of aging. The results indicate that seniors' overall satisfaction and subjective feelings of well-being are enormously high when attending foreign language classes at older age. FLL, therefore, creates an environment that can enhance QoL of older adults that can be supplemented by other means such as well-balanced diet, other social activities, sport and physical activity, music, or computer games. All these intervention methods can significantly improve QoL of older adults and the parties engaged and/or responsible for taking care of older generation should take it into serious consideration.

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