Ecological perspectives on foreign language education

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Kramsch
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Ecological Perspective ◽  
Ecological Approach ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Institutional Contexts

Ecological approaches to language learning and teaching have captured the interest of language educators as both native and non-native speakers find themselves operating in increasingly multilingual and multicultural environments. This paper builds on Kramsch & Whiteside (in press) to conceptualize what an ecological perspective on foreign language education, based on complexity theory, would look like. It first explains some of the major tenets of complexity theory, and analyzes transcriptions of exchanges taking place among multilingual individuals in multicultural settings using the ecological approach offered by complexity theory. Based on what these analyses reveal about the ability of these individuals to shape the very context in which language is learned and used, it discusses the notion of ‘symbolic competence’ recently proposed by Kramsch (2006) and explores how symbolic competence might be developed through foreign language education in institutional contexts.

scholarly journals On the Construction of College English Listening and Speaking Ecological Classroom From the Perspective of Eco-Linguistics

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1295-1299
Author(s):  
Xiaojing Chen
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Ecological Perspective ◽  
College English ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Listening And Speaking

Ecological approaches to language learning and teaching have captured the interest of language educators as both native and non-native speakers find themselves operating in increasingly multilingual and multicultural environments. Based on ecolinguistics, this paper describes what an ecological perspective on college English listening and speaking class would look like. It first explains some major concepts related to ecolingustics, and analyses problems on current ecological imbalances in college English and speaking classrooms and proposes strategies for building a harmonious ecological classroom through language education in institutional contexts.

scholarly journals C2+-DaF-Lernende reflektieren über eine perfekte Sprachbeherrschung – ist diese vor dem Hintergrund der postulierten funktionalen Mehrsprachigkeit in Alltag und Beruf künftig noch gefragt?

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Schumacher
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Oriented Approach

AbstractBy adopting “functional plurilingualism” – a recurring concept in its new curriculum, “Lehrplan 21” – Switzerland is pursuing new avenues in foreign language education. The term refers to a goal-oriented approach to foreign language learning and teaching in primary and secondary schools, and implies that barriers to communication can be overcome by exploiting the sum of the individual’s linguistic capacities. In future, language learners will be expected to build on the interrelatedness of languages instead of developing abilities in languages that they keep separate from one another. This view of foreign language education coincides with the recommendations of the Council of Europe’sHaving reached the highest level specified by the CEFR, some learners continue their studies, seeking to maintain or reinforce their competences or to address individual weaknesses. In this article, a group of C2+ learners of German as a foreign language reflect on their desire for linguistic perfection and the notion of “functional plurilingualism” against the background of their own biographies. These learners have a high awareness and knowledge of German (often their third language) and of the learning process, which allows them to make informative statements. The data was analysed qualitatively and subjective theories were reconstructed – an approach that took account both of the multiperspectivity of the topic and of the uniqueness of the individual cases.

scholarly journals Shaping the quality of second language learning: Students’ perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 01071
Author(s):  
Irina M. Solodkova ◽  
Elena V. Grigorieva ◽  
Liliya R. Ismagilova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Learning And Teaching

The paper dwells on the problem of identifying the most crucial factors affecting the quality of foreign language learning from the students’ perspective. Quality foreign language education is a disputable issue in 21 century due to the increased global workforce competition. Human capital has a great impact on education as an important factor in shaping a new quality of country’s economy and well-being of society. Foreign language skill is an integral component of highly qualified professionals as the global economic processes make them participate in cross-border business communication. In these conditions the aim of higher education establishments is to provide quality of language learning and teaching that allows future specialists not to distort the meaning in written and oral communication within their professional framework. The two-phase survey conducted among 67 students of the Institute of Management, Economics and Finance of the Kazan Federal University provided with quantitative data. The respondents ranked differently the factors determining the quality of language learning and teaching responses after two years of completing their foreign language education and were generally satisfied with the quality of service rendered. The obtained results give optimistic forecasts regarding the improvement of foreign language education and help reconsider the way of teaching a foreign language basing on the chosen factors.

Research on foreign language teaching and learning in Turkey (2005–2009)

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cem Alptekin ◽  
Sibel Tatar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Education In Turkey

This is an overview of research on applied linguistics and foreign language education in Turkey, surveying nearly 130 studies from the period 2005–2009. Following a brief presentation of the history and current sociopolitical situation of foreign language education in Turkey, the article focuses on research that characterizes the most common interests of academics and practitioners in the following areas: foreign language teaching and teachers, foreign language learning and learners, foreign language teacher education, the four language skills, measurement and evaluation, and the relationship between language and culture. Our discussion of each area is based on information extracted from local professional journals, conference proceedings and papers and Ph.D. dissertations. The studies examined reveal that, in general, practical concerns assume priority over theoretical issues, a substantial proportion of research being conducted on EFL learning and teaching.

scholarly journals Technologically Enhanced Language Learning and Instruction: Подорожі.UA: Beginners’ Ukrainian

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Olena Sivachenko ◽  
Alla Nedashkivska
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Pedagogical Design ◽  
Face To Face Learning ◽  
Learning And Instruction

This article reports on the development of a new blended-learning model for beginners’ Ukrainian language learning and instruction, an innovative approach in foreign language education. This model is a combination of face-to-face and online learning and is a response to new realities in education, and language learning in particular, in our fast-paced, technologically enhanced everyday life. The authors focuses on the design of their new blended-learning textbook Подорожі.UA (Travels.UA), which contains a considerable online component, closely interconnected with in-class, or face-to-face, learning and teaching materials. They discuss their approach to the pedagogical design of this new model, used in the textbook, and also address piloting challenges. The study concludes with a report on the overall success of this project and invites others who teach Ukrainian at postsecondary levels to pilot the project in their institutions.

scholarly journals Literature, challenge, and mediation in 21st century language learning

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-13
Author(s):  
Geoff Hall
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Education Field

New directions in language learning and teaching are evident today. Students bring transnational, multicultural, multilingual, and digitally mediated experiences and identities into classrooms still sometimes too much modelled on outdated one-language-one-culture-one nation ideologies. Literature’s value in these new circumstances is to challenge readers to independent interpretations, learning, and creativity, with refreshed understandings of what language, culture or indeed literature might be. In this paper I review some relevant recent interventions into the foreign language education field, including a reference to the Council of Europe’s (2018) Companion . I then give a brief example from my own use of a literary text in China.

scholarly journals Preparing teachers for the application of AI-powered technologies in foreign language education

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Pokrivcakova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Adaptive Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract As any other area of human lives, current state of foreign language education has been greatly influenced by the latest developments in the modern information communication technologies. The paper focuses specifically on the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI), which includes a wide range of technologies and methods, such as machine learning, adaptive learning, natural language processing, data mining, crowdsourcing, neural networks or an algorithm, into foreign language learning and teaching. First, the paper is concerned with changes brought to foreign language education specifically through the application of AI-powered tools and discusses ICALL (intelligent computer assisted language learning) as a subset of CALL. Second, it summarizes eight types of AI-powered tools for foreign language education and related results of the existing research, however scarce it is. Third, it discusses the frame for effective preparation of foreign language teachers in order to integrate AI-powered tools into their teaching to make it easier, less time-consuming and more effective. The author argues for reconsideration of the existing frames of requirements for CALL teachers.

Compelled digitalization of language education: challenges of foreign language learning in the electronic environment

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
Liudmila Vladimirovna Guseva ◽  
Evgenii Vladimirovich Plisov
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Electronic Environment ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Effective Use

The article defnes the role of digital means in foreign language learning, establishes the reasons for the effective use of digital means and digital technologies, identifes challenges in mastering a foreign language in an electronic environment, as well as the prospects for the digitalization of foreign language education. When studying the issues of emergency off-campus learning organization, the results of surveys of teachers and students conducted in April 2020 at Minin University were used. image/svg+xml

scholarly journals Helga Tschurtschenthaler: Drama-based foreign language learning. Encounters between self and other.

2016 ◽  
Vol X (1) ◽  
pp. 107-110
Author(s):  
Barbara Schmenk
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
The Impact

Book reviews reflect the views and opinions of the respective reviewers and do not necessarily represent the position of SCENARIO. Helga Tschurtschenthaler’s study is one of the most important scholarly contributions in recent years to the field of drama-based foreign language teaching. She conducted her research in an EFL class in an upper secondary school in multilingual South Tyrol and presents a plethora of data that demonstrates the impact of drama in foreign language education on students’ sense of self as emerging multilingual subjects (Kramsch 2009). What stands out about this study, besides its detailed presentation and analysis of student data, is the fact that Tschurtschenthaler succeeds in connecting recent theoretical contributions to the fields of language education and identity to more practical considerations. Overcoming the gap between theory and practice in this domain is one of her signal achievements. “You are not you when you speak Italian. It’s as if you become someone else when you change into Italian. You don’t only sound different, but you even behave differently. Then, you’re not the person I know.” (11) These are the opening lines of the book, leading the reader directly to its main subject. Tschurtschenthaler explains that it was a ...

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF VIDEO CONFERENCING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AMONG YOUNG STUDENTS

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 493-497
Author(s):  
Branko Medic
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Video Conferencing ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Philip Pullman ◽  
Multimodal Interactions

During the coronavirus pandemic research on video conferencing effects on young language learners is more than ever relevant. During the sharp transition, educators need to fully understand the benefits and possible pitfalls of video conferencing, but also overcome resistance to change through knowledge. As author Philip Pullman rightly points out, “You cannot change what you are, only what you do.” This article summarised key research and provided evidence for and against the use of video conferencing in foreign language education. Thus, it gives food for thought and reflection, as well as directions for possible interventions.  However, the research was limited in terms of time and available literature, and the topic certainly requires more attention. In future, it is recommended to further research the use of multimodal interactions (sound, audio, text) in video conferencing, as well as coping strategies for dealing with the lack of interaction in the video conferencing-enabled classroom.

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