The effect of teacher language use in Spanish EFL classrooms

The present study examined the roles that language of assessment, language dominance, and teacher language use during instruction play in Dual Language Learner (DLL) science scores. A total of 255 Head Start DLL children were assessed on equated science assessments in English and Spanish. First overall differences between the two languages were examined, then associations between performance on science assessments were compared and related to children’s language dominance, teacher quantity of English and Spanish, and teachers’ academic science language. When examined as a homogeneous group, DLLs did not perform differently on English or Spanish science assessments. However, when examined heterogeneously, Spanish-dominant DLLs performed better on Spanish science assessments. The percentage of English and Spanish used by teachers did not affect children’s science scores. Teachers’ use of Spanish academic science language impacted children’s performance on science assessments, but English did not. The results have implications for the assessment of DLLs and teacher language use during instruction.

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Closing the Gap: Student Attitudes Toward First Language Use in Monolingual EFL Classrooms

TESOL Journal ◽

10.1002/tesj.272 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 314-341 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Georgios Neokleous

Keyword(s):

Student Attitudes ◽

Language Use ◽

First Language ◽

Closing The Gap ◽

Efl Classrooms

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Pragmatics in Teacher Talk: The Case of Pre-Primary Education

English Language Teaching ◽

10.5539/elt.v13n8p168 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 168

Author(s):

Júlia Barón ◽

Helena Roquet ◽

Natalia Evnitskaya ◽

Noelia Navarro

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Primary Education ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Language Use ◽

Speech Act ◽

Primary Teachers ◽

Teacher Talk ◽

Pragmatic Competence ◽

Efl Classrooms ◽

L1 English

This study aims to explore how the speech act of requesting is performed in Catalan (L1), English (L1) and EFL classrooms by pre-primary teachers. The study examines transcripts of 40-minute video-recorded lessons (six in Catalan/L1, six in English/FL, and three in English/L1) collected in several pre-primary schools in Catalonia, Spain. Recall interviews with the teachers were also conducted in order to examine their perceptions of their pragmatic performances in the classroom. Results show that teachers predominantly use imperatives in the three groups (Catalan L1, English L1 and EFL); however, a wider variety of requesting strategies is used in the L1 lessons. The study concludes with reflections on the pedagogical implications of the findings and calls for the need to raise teachers’ awareness about the effect their language use might have on the development of learners’ pragmatic competence both in the L1 and the foreign language.

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3. Teacher Language Use

Sociolinguistic Variation and Acquisition in Two-Way Language Immersion ◽

10.21832/9781783096381-003 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 21-53

Keyword(s):

Language Use ◽

Teacher Language

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First and second language use in English medium instruction contexts

Language Teaching Research ◽

10.1177/1362168818783231 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 382-402 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Ernesto Macaro ◽

Lili Tian ◽

Lingmin Chu

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Use ◽

First Language ◽

Target Language ◽

Academic Disciplines ◽

Chinese University ◽

English Medium Instruction ◽

Efl Classrooms ◽

Academic Content

Although there is a wealth of research on the use of the first language (L1) in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms, there is as yet very little research of this kind in classrooms where the prime pedagogical objective is to teach academic content through English as a second language (English medium instruction; EMI). It is important to begin filling this gap because a purported aim of content-based programs is to expose students to large quantities of the target language. We investigated the practices of five EMI teachers in a Chinese university and measured the reactions of their students both quantitatively and qualitatively. Our findings show that these teachers switched to the L1 rarely (although with considerable differences among the teachers) and mostly to explain both simple and complex concepts in their academic disciplines. Although students were unperturbed by the switches to the L1, some felt that the teacher could have made more of an effort to explain it in L2 first.

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Arguing for a knowledge-base in language teacher education, then (1998) and now (2018)

Language Teaching Research ◽

10.1177/1362168818777534 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 5-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Donald Freeman

Keyword(s):

Teacher Education ◽

Knowledge Base ◽

English Language ◽

Language Use ◽

Language Teaching ◽

English Language Teaching ◽

Teacher Language ◽

Language Teacher Education ◽

Language Teacher ◽

Professional Confidence

This article examines how the concept of a knowledge-base in language teacher education has changed since the 1998 proposal. Arguing that a knowledge-base evolves in two ways: through changes in the field of knowledge, and through changes driven by the work that knowledge supports, I describe two problems: ‘translating’ theory into practice and the ‘positionality’ of those defining what counts as knowledge. The 1998 proposal outlined a work-driven framework in response to the former without fully acknowledging the latter: who is doing English language teaching, with whom, and to what ends. Revising the knowledge-base now depends on taking that positionality into account. With this in mind, I suggest three concepts – of teacher language use (English-for-Teaching), participation and agency, and professional confidence as a measure of outcome – as work-driven alternatives to our present thinking.

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ELT Prospective Teachers’ Beliefs About Target Language Use in EFL Classrooms

Anadolu Journal Of Educational Sciences International ◽

10.18039/ajesi.874181 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 684-703

Author(s):

Şule ÇELİK KORKMAZ

Keyword(s):

Prospective Teachers ◽

Language Use ◽

Target Language ◽

Teachers Beliefs ◽

Efl Classrooms

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Heritage language use and maintenance in multilingual communities

Applied Linguistics Review ◽

10.1515/applirev-2014-0019 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 425-440 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maria Juan-Garau

Keyword(s):

Heritage Language ◽

Language Use ◽

Special Issue ◽

Teacher Language ◽

Developmental Patterns ◽

Short Account ◽

Cultural Experiences ◽

Main Factors ◽

Language Competencies ◽

The Impact

AbstractOver the last decades, the amount of research on heritage language (HL) use and maintenance has increased exponentially, and a picture is beginning to emerge of the developmental patterns that are seen to take place and of the main factors that impinge on HL use and maintenance in increasingly multilingual settings. The present paper aims at providing a short account of relevant findings in this area and situating the studies in this special issue against that background. More specifically, we will consider the difficulties associated with HL maintenance at home, the impact of the different linguistic and cultural experiences HL learners go through on their identity, cross-linguistic influence between HLs and other languages present in the community, and issues related to HL education, particularly teacher language competencies.

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