Supporting foreign languages in an Anglophone world

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-239
Author(s):  
Alison Porter ◽  
Florence Myles ◽  
Angela Tellier ◽  
Bernardette Holmes

Abstract Foreign language (FL) learning in English primary schools, statutory provision for most schools since 2014, has been characterised by distinct challenges. The first issue, peculiar to Anglophone settings, concerns how language learning is valued when ubiquitous English learning rationales of economic and social capital are unhelpful. Other challenges, shared globally, relate to provision and practice such as: the importance of progression, motivation, age-appropriate pedagogy and contextual factors. Successful policy implementation in England remains elusive and continues to be characterised by a lack of cohesion, coordination and forward planning. Provision and practice are problematic and linked to deficits in curriculum time, teacher linguistic expertise, planning and progression. This article will explore how both language and broader education policy in England have created conflicting forces for the sustainability of the foreign languages initiative in primary schools. It will examine how networks of researchers, teachers, educationalists and policy makers are supporting implementation through national and local education stakeholder engagement. Through collaboration and co-construction, research-informed practical suggestions are promoted, coupled with the development of solution-focused research agendas.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1478
Author(s):  
Maryam Cheraghi Shehni ◽  
Tahereh Khezrab

The improvement in learning English is based on how students are enthusiastic about the subject of English. Learning languages, mainly English, is a great need, even for our primary students who have the responsibility to develop in the globalized world (Muñoz, 2002). These traits are the critical parts of one’s personality because they make him unique, and what psychologists have desired to study and measure in the process of learning English as the foreign or second language. Indeed, the variations between individuals, their learning situations and the contexts where they learn are some features that can illustrate the complexity of learning a foreign language. Conversely, in research on the acquisition of foreign languages, it is essential to consider the differences between individuals, their different ways of learning styles and the environment where they are involved.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-422
Author(s):  
María Del Pilar García Mayo ◽  
M. Juncal Gutierrez-Mangado

The early introduction of foreign languages, mainly English, in pre-primary and primary education in different parts of the world is an undisputable fact in today’s world, as clearly illustrated in Enever (2018). One of the reasons for this educational change is the belief in “the earlier the better” notion, which has already been shown not to hold true when linguistic outcomes are assessed in foreign language settings (see García Mayo & García Lecumberri, 2003; Huang, 2015). Age is just one variable among many others that need to be taken into account when assessing child language learning in educational contexts (see Butler, 2019), and that is the reason why more research on identifying those other variables is necessary.


Author(s):  
Olena Ivashko

The article tackles the problem of teaching foreign languages to seniors. The general trends in FL education for the third-age learners are outlined. The institutions in which seniors can study foreign languages in Poland are enumerated. The psychological, physiological, methodological and social peculiarities of teaching a foreign language to the third agers are analyzed. Special emphasis is laid upon educational needs of the Third Age learners. Some language learning strategies which help seniors’ foreign language learning are suggested.


2014 ◽  
Vol 971-973 ◽  
pp. 2677-2680
Author(s):  
Di Jiao

Factors affecting students’ English learning performances are always debated among language researchers. This research is carried out in art colleges to figure out the students’ preferences in learning styles and learning strategies as well as the relationship between them. Questionnaires have been applied and data have been dealt with by SPSS. This research has shown that students in the art college tend to be visual and individual learners, and thus they prefer to adopt metacognitive, memory and affective strategies.


1979 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. Rodgers

My intent in this short piece is to provide a context for consideration of learner variables in foreign language learning. I first propose a question set outlining the major issues, as I see them, arising in the design of learner-based foreign language learning systems. I then present a simplified three-part design model comprising knowledge considerations (language needs assessment), instructional considerations (learning access alternatives) and learner considerations (characteristics of learners). A review of some recent work in the first two of these prefaces the discussion of the third, learner considerations. A brief state of the art report on research in learner variables is followed by some speculation on next directions in the determination and description of learner variables within a general design model for learning foreign languages.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tecnam Yoon

<p><em>The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of virtual simulation-based language learning in a foreign language class in Korea. Total 35 1st-year university students in Korea participated in this research to figure out the effect of simulations. A virtual English learning community, ‘Cypris Chat’ in Second Life was selected as a learning tool. For the data collection, a survey questionnaire was distributed and analyzed quantitatively. The result shows that the majority of the students had a positive attitude toward using a virtual simulation in English learning and had better understanding in learning English by experiencing an authentic practice. The first section of this paper provides a general overview of simulations in educational settings through an insightful literature review of the current research in the area. The review includes a comprehensive outlook on simulations, an example of successful classroom integration and some of the considerations researchers have found for their implementation. The latter section addresses the research method, results and conclusions.</em></p>


Author(s):  
N. Zaichenko

The article deals with modern views on the concept of “nationally oriented foreign language teaching”, presented in the linguo-didactic discourse of domestic and foreign scholars of the last decades. The author reveals and characterizes its evolution as one of the basic concepts of Russian and Ukrainian language education as foreign languages. It is found that they relate to the subject matter, content, and operational components of this phenomenon. There are significant changes in the views of scholars on taking into account students’ native language in teaching these languages by speakers of languages with different systems. There is a growing interest in didactic and linguistic data processing of the analysis of Chinese and Russian (Ukrainian) languages and their practical implementation. In terms of content, priority is given to culturally oriented and ethno-psychological aspects of mastering foreign language in a monocultural and multicultural educational environment. The innovative approach to this issue is also manifested in the increasing attention of researchers to the peculiarities of cognitive, mental and educational activities of Chinese-speaking students, formed by the national linguistic and methodological tradition, which is radically different from the national communicative and active lingvodidactic paradigm and needs appropriate methodological correction. Prospects for further study of the issues raised in our investigation are related to the research of a number of “new” terms in the terminological field of the basic concept of “nationally oriented foreign language learning”, as well as from the normative and codification side.


2021 ◽  
pp. 73-78
Author(s):  
Валерия Алексеевна Петрова

Рассматривается процесс изменения вектора государственной политики в сфере изучения иностранного языка в 30-е годы ХХ века. Показано, что после революции 1917 г. изучение иностранного языка было прекращено, потому что расценивалось как пережиток прошлого, антагонистического общества с ярко выраженным и непримиримым классовым неравенством. Однако в 1923 г. Н. К. Крупская в статье «О преподавании иностранных языков» доказательно опровергла необходимость изучения эсперанто и четко обосновала свою позицию по поводу изучения иностранных языков, описала практическую значимость, обозначила основную цель и показала приоритетный метод их преподавания, заложив тем самым основы изучения иностранных языков в нашей стране на многие десятилетия. Рассматривается ряд постановлений Центрального комитета Коммунистической партии Советского Союза от 1929 и 1932 гг., направленных на усиление изучения иностранного языка в городских школах второй ступени, техникумах и вузах, фабрично-заводских семилетках. Приводятся размышления общественных и политических деятелей, педагогов, публицистов, филологов о культурологическом потенциале иностранных языков. Показана цель их изучения в 30-е годы ХХ века. The article deals with the process of changing the vector of state policy in the field of foreign language learning in the 30s of the XX century After the October Revolution, they stopped the study of a foreign language because they regarded it as a relic of the past, an antagonistic society with a pronounced and irreconcilable class inequality. However, in 1923, Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya denied the need to study Esperanto on a national scale in her article “Teaching Foreign Languages” and described the practical significance, main goal and priority method of teaching a foreign language and more than that her own position about the role of foreign languages, thereby laying the foundation for its study for many decades. The 1927 became a further important step in the history of teaching a foreign language in the country of the Soviets. The People’s Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR adopted a special decree on the study of a foreign language in all city schools of the second level, starting a large campaign “Foreign languages to the masses”. It considers a number of resolutions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1929 and 1932, aimed at strengthening the study of a foreign language in all city schools, technical schools and universities, and Factory Seven-Years. The article gives the reflections of public and political figures, teachers, publicists, philologists on the cultural potential of foreign languages. It shows the purpose of foreign language study in the 30s of the XX century.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 795-843
Author(s):  
Luca Botturi ◽  
Daniela Kapler ◽  
Lucio Negrini

This article presents the design, implementation and outcomes of AlpConnectar, a Swiss project that exploits technologies for digitally-supported language exchange (LE) in primary schools. Launched in 2013, the project involves three Swiss cantons where different languages are spoken (namely German, French and Italian) and respectively taught as foreign languages since the third grade of primary school. In the first section of the paper the linguistic composition of Switzerland is briefly presented and the current methodologies and approaches in foreign language teaching in the country are introduced. After a literature review of online LE practices, the AlpConnectar project is presented, along with a LE example to illustrate how it works. The final sections present the results of the project, based on data collected from both pupils and teachers. The results seem to suggest that while digital technologies offer significant benefits for LEs, they are no silver bullet, and their impact depends on a number of contextual variables.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-104
Author(s):  
Józef Jarosz

Abstract The contemporary teaching of foreign languages assumes the development of the ability to use a foreign language in different communication situations. Apart from language competence, also the cultural competence is developed as it is a necessary component of communication. A successful transfer of knowledge and language skills in the process of foreign language learning is determined by a textbook (in addition to other factors). The goal of this article is to analyze the content and assess three Danish textbooks, which were published in Germany in the years 2008-2010. The textbooks are examined in terms of knowledge about Danish life and institutions, the transfer of intercultural competence and the presence of stereotypes. The textbooks were studied based on the list of criteria and it resulted in stating that the textbooks fulfill the objective of providing the knowledge about the country to a great degree. The intercultural component and the issue of stereotypes are dealt with in a different manner.


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