scholarly journals Trayectorias: A new model for online task-based learning

ReCALL ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
CRISTINA ROS i SOLÉ ◽  
RAQUEL MARDOMINGO
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
New Literacy ◽  
Reading Processes ◽  
The One ◽  
The Web

This paper discusses a framework for designing online tasks that capitalizes on the possibilities that the Internet and the Web offer for language learning. To present such a framework, we draw from constructivist theories (Brooks and Brooks, 1993) and their application to educational technology (Newby, Stepich, Lehman and Russell, 1996; Jonassen, Mayes and McAleese, 1993); second language learning and learning autonomy (Benson and Voller, 1997); and distance education (Race, 1989; White, 1999). On the one hand our model balances the requirements of the need for control and learning autonomy by the independent language learner; and on the other, the possibilities that online task-based learning offer for new reading processes by taking into account new literacy models (Schetzer and Warschauer, 2000), and the effect that the new media have on students’ knowledge construction and understanding of texts. We explain how this model works in the design of reading tasks within the specific distance learning context of the Open University, UK. Trayectorias is a tool that consists of an open problem-solving Web-quest and provides students with ‘scaffolding’ that guides their navigation around the Web whilst modelling learning approaches and new learning paradigms triggered by the medium. We then discuss a small-scale trial with a cohort of students (n = 23). This trial had a double purpose: (a) to evaluate to what extent the writing task fulfilled the investigators’ intentions; and (b) to obtain some information about the students’ perceptions of the task.

scholarly journals Investigating the Influence of Setting on Language Learning: The Case of Bahdini Kurdish Learners of English

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 272
Author(s):  
Ivan Hasan Murad ◽  
Khalif Abdulrahman Al-Jumah ◽  
Hozan Gorgeen Othman
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Academic Setting ◽  
Colloquial Language ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Observation Results ◽  
Learning English

It was argued that those learning the language while mingling with the community are better learners than those learning in the academic setting where they only opt to use the academic language. The current small scale study investigates the influence of the setting on two BahdiniKurdish learners of English living in the UK in two different contexts. One of the learners has been learning English in an academic setting, while the other has been learning English through daily interactions with the community in a non-academic setting. Data were collected through interviews and observation. Results revealed that both learn English effectively for the context where their language will be used. However, the academic language learner was capable of expressing himself more than the one learning the colloquial language. The academic leaner could use a variety of strategies to express different situations and had a clearer language than the one learning the colloquial language even though the academic language learner did not mingle with academicians like the colloquial leaner did with the community.

scholarly journals GaeltechVR: Measuring the Impact of an Immersive Virtual Environment to Promote Situated Identity in Irish Language Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoise Collins ◽  
Brian Vaughan ◽  
Charlie Cullen ◽  
Keith Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Irish Language ◽  
Design Based Research ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Situated Identity ◽  
The Impact

This study investigates how a design-based research methodology is best suited to measuring the impact of a designed virtual reality experience to improve situated identity in Irish learners focusing on their attitudes, motivation, and confidence as Irish language learners. This paper describes the design of GaeltechVR: an immersive Irish language VR experience designed for the VIVE Pro. It also gives the results of a mixed-methods study to measure the impact in a local adult Irish language learner context. A questionnaire on situated attitudes and motivation to language learning (Ushioda & Dörnyei, 2009) was adapted for the Irish context to investigate a small scale sample of the local context’s attitudes to Irish language learning. The participant’s gameplay was recorded for analysis along with questionnaires on presence (Witmer & Singer, 1998), simulator sickness and an adapted questionnaire on their attitudes after the intervention.Using best practice in design-based research experiments (Nelson, Ketelhut, Clarke, Bowman, & Dede, 2013) the study had two main goals: To investigate the usability of the design of GaeltechVR and to measure the impact of the intervention on attitudes, identity and motivation in the local Irish language learning context.

scholarly journals Observing EFL teachers' use of formulaic language in class

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Ton Nu Linh Thoai
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Classroom Interaction ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Formulaic Language ◽  
Formulaic Sequences ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
The One

Mastering formulaic language is said to be crucially important in second language (L2) learning as it showcases the L2 user’s different levels of competency: linguistic, psycholinguistic, and communicative. Frequent use of these formulaic sequences also makes an L2 speaker sound more native–like. In a language teaching and learning context where English is a foreign language (EFL), the language teacher is the one major resource of spoken language exposure. Therefore, the quality of teacher’s instructions in an EFL classroom clearly has effects on the learner’s language learning process. Mercer (2001) puts it, “[a]ll […] aspects of teacher’s responsibility are reflected in their use of language as the principal tool of their responsibilities” (p. 243). A great deal of research has been devoted to L2 learners and the acquisition of formulaic language, and classroom interaction, but very little attention has been paid to teachers’ use of formulaic sequences in their classrooms. This paper presents a descriptive study with analytical discussion of extracts from four video–recorded lessons conducted by school teachers in different South–east Asian countries. This small-scale study attempts to explore to what extent non–native EFL teachers are familiar with and use formulaic language during class time.

A Preliminary Analysis of Lecturers’ Empathy in Mitigating Challenges of Developing English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) Assessment Materials

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-30
Author(s):  
Norkhairi Ahmad ◽  
◽  
Ahmad Mazli Muhammad ◽  
Syafini Ismail ◽  
Harmi Izzuan Baharom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Course Outcomes

Running English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) courses at tertiary institutions is becoming more challenging due to a number of factors and it leaves impact on lecturers’ emotions. Emotional dimension is among the aspects that significantly influences the way lecturers view assessments and their choice of assessment practices. This paper specifically looks at empathy as one emotional aspects present within lecturers as they undertake tasks of developing assessment materials and mitigate the challenges that they encounter. Six senior ESAP lecturers teaching engineering students at two engineering related universities reflected on this scenario via interviews and self-reflections. Their empathy in planning and developing assessment materials were elicited and scrutinised via qualitative approaches. All the lecturers exuded empathy based on professional grounds and directed towards essential learner factors and the intended ESAP course outcomes attainment. Empathy was found to be consistently demonstrated towards language learner factors and their language learning context that comprise aspects like background of students, language proficiency level, familiarity with language materials, current knowledge and skills required for test-taking. Such empathy for the best interest of the learners have induced careful and selective practices among the lecturers when preparing assessment materials. The presence of empathy in assessment practices appeared to be second nature to the lecturers and it helps to complement assessment best practices and upholds quality delivery of the ESAP courses. Empathy at a positive level has enabled the lecturers to embrace the spirit of assessment for learning where more time and efforts were devoted towards planning suitable assessments that promote understanding and mastery of the language, before going for the assessment of learning or summative assessments.

scholarly journals Category building of international students as language learners in two secondary schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Filipi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
International Student ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Development ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Language Deficit ◽  
Membership Categorization

This paper reports on a small scale study of category building in the context of English language learning. The data for the current study is derived from the interviews with two students, one from China and the other from Mongolia, in two schools in Melbourne. The study uses Membership Categorization Analysis to give an account of identity by examining how categories of English language learner emerge and shift during the course of the interviews. The categories established by the participants in the two interviews were constructed around different sorts of attributes belonging to the category of international student. These emerged as a series of categorical binaries including international student and local student, language competence and language deficit, mainstream English and English as an Additional Language (EAL), and home country and Australia. As the participants took part in the interview, they moved towards accounts that integrated multiple viewpoints resulting in dynamically shifting categorisations. Through these categories, it was also possible to show how students were invited to display their learning and knowledge of English, and to give accounts of their English language development.

scholarly journals Statistical language learning: computational, maturational, and linguistic constraints

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELISSA L. NEWPORT
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Speech Stream ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Language Universals ◽  
The One ◽  
Do So

abstractOur research on statistical language learning shows that infants, young children, and adults can compute, online and with remarkable speed, how consistently sounds co-occur, how frequently words occur in similar contexts, and the like, and can utilize these statistics to find candidate words in a speech stream, discover grammatical categories, and acquire simple syntactic structure in miniature languages. However, statistical learning is not merely learning the patterns presented in the input. When their input is inconsistent, children sharpen these statistics and produce a more systematic language than the one to which they are exposed. When input languages inconsistently violate tendencies that are widespread in human languages, learners shift these languages to be more aligned with language universals, and children do so much more than adults. These processes explain why children acquire language (and other patterns) more effectively than adults, and also may explain how systematic language structures emerge in communities where usages are varied and inconsistent. Most especially, they suggest that usage-based learning approaches must account for differences between adults and children in how usage properties are acquired, and must also account for substantial changes made by adult and child learners in how input usage properties are represented during learning.

scholarly journals Investigating Indonesian EFL Teachers’ Perceptions on Blended Learning Strategy Amid Post-Covid-19 Era

2022 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Kristian Wijaya
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Good News ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
The Government

One of the good news of the new normal era is all humankind’s sectors are opened gradually by following the restricted health protocols. Without an exception, the educational sector is also allowed by the government to open schools in the green zone. As a result, a blended learning strategy is inevitably essential to support this post-covid-19 era. Blended learning strategy is a novel pedagogical approach where the online and offline systems are combined to promote more purposeful, organized, and meaningful learning dynamics for learners. This current small-scale qualitative study aimed to investigate the specific benefits of a blended learning strategy based on Indonesian EFL teachers’ perceptions. Thus, 5 open-ended written narrative inquiry questions were sent to two randomly invited Indonesian EFL teachers working in different elementary school institutions. The obtained research results unveiled that the effective utilization of blended learning strategy had successfully promoted more meaningful language learning enterprises, elevated EFL learners’ learning motivation, and increased their proactive learning behaviors. However, it should also be pondered carefully that the more contextualized language learning approaches, as well as stable internet connection, are urgently needed to strengthen the effectiveness of this learning approach. Due to the obtained research results, it is reasonable to be expected that Indonesian EFL experts, teachers, practitioners, and policy-makers can establish more collaborative networking to better design more qualified and meaningful blended learning activities in the future.  

scholarly journals How Does She Learn English? A Case of a Successful Blind Language Learner

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Sakineh Jafari ◽  
Samaneh Jafari ◽  
Reza Kafipour
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Learner Identity ◽  
High Motivation ◽  
Insight Into

<div><p class="StyleABSTRAKenCambria">This study reports on a case study of a blind EFL learner. The purpose of the study was to explore a detailed situated data to examine to what extent it is feasible to be a successful language learner despite being visually impaired and lacking some learning resources.  Interview data and the narratives of this EFL learner have revealed that her success was mainly based on her agentic interaction with the environment and learning context, her high motivation and strategic behavior, and her sustained efforts. The findings provide further insight into the role of learner in exerting control over contextual resources that frame learning and on how different factors interact with each other in the language learning process in the construction of learner identity and the strategies used by learners.</p></div>

scholarly journals Category building of international students as language learners in two secondary schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Filipi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
International Student ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Development ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Language Deficit ◽  
Membership Categorization

This paper reports on a small scale study of category building in the context of English language learning. The data for the current study is derived from the interviews with two students, one from China and the other from Mongolia, in two schools in Melbourne. The study uses Membership Categorization Analysis to give an account of identity by examining how categories of English language learner emerge and shift during the course of the interviews. The categories established by the participants in the two interviews were constructed around different attributes belonging to the category of international student. These emerged as a series of categorical binaries including international student and local student, language competence and language deficit, mainstream English and English as an Additional Language (EAL), and home country and Australia. As the participants took part in the interview, they moved towards accounts that integrated multiple viewpoints resulting in dynamically shifting categorisations. Through these categories, it was also possible to show how students were invited to display their learning and knowledge of English, and to give accounts of their English language development.

scholarly journals Multimodal Composing and Traditional Essays: Linguistic Performance and Learner Perceptions

RELC Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-100
Author(s):  
YouJin Kim ◽  
Diane Belcher
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Multimodal Composing ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Effective Role

Over the past decade, digital multimodal composing (DMMC) in the language learning context has received growing attention. DMMC entails teaching writing as the social practice of meaning making using various semiotic tools (Siegal, 2012). Despite its potential benefits as a way to teach a meaning-making process in the current digitalized era, much concern regarding a lack of language focus has been expressed. The current small-scale exploratory study compared Korean EFL learners’ writing for DMMC and traditional essay writing in terms of syntactic complexity and accuracy as well as the learners’ perceptions of the two composing tasks. Using a within group comparisons design, 18 university students in Korea completed both DMMC and traditional writing on the same topic of their choice as a part of their required writing class. The findings revealed that traditional writing elicited syntactically more complex writing than DMMC using two measures (i.e. the number of words per T-unit, the number of clauses per T-unit). However, there was no significant difference in the accurate clause rate between the two conditions. Students had generally positive perceptions of DMMC, particularly regarding its effective role in meaning making. However, mixed perceptions were found in terms of helpfulness in improving writing skills. Pedagogical implications for English for academic purposes (EAP) contexts are discussed.

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