“I Understand English But Can't Write It”: The Power of Native Language Instruction for Adult English Learners

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marguerite Lukes
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Adult English Learners ◽  
Native Language Instruction

scholarly journals The effect of using the native language as a pedagogic intervention on Iranian EFL learners' complexity of English oral productions

2021 ◽  
pp. 83-99
Author(s):  
Zahra Alimorad ◽  
Mohammad Sadegh Zare Bidoki
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Treatment Results ◽  
Female Adult ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Adult English Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Grammatical Complexity

The present study aims at investigating the effect of using the native language as a pedagogic intervention on the complexity of Iranian EFL learners' English oral productions. A sample of 39 male and female adult English learners of B1 and B2 CEFR proficiency levels was recruited to participate in this study. They were placed into two intact classes (i.e., as already determined by the institution’s authorities) and each class was randomly chosen to serve as either the experimental (EG) or the control (CG) group. Improving the learners’ speaking ability was the focus of both groups while only the EG was asked to orally produce the equivalents of Persian sentences presented to them. In order to measure the lexical and grammatical complexity of oral productions of the learners, two parallel speaking tests of IELTS 10, in the form of two oral interviews, were used as pre- and post-test oral interviews. A MANCOVA test was run to compare the performance of the two groups in terms of their lexical and grammatical complexity after the treatment. Results indicated that the EG's lexical and grammatical complexity improved as compared to the CG, and the improvement in both of these variables was statistically significant.

scholarly journals Regular and Novel Metonymy: Can You Curl up with a Good Agatha Christie in Your Second Language?

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roumyana Slabakova ◽  
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro ◽  
Sang Kyun Kang
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Second Language ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Psychological Reality ◽  
Experimental Support ◽  
Agatha Christie

Abstract This article presents results of two off-line comprehension tasks investigating the acceptability of unconventional and conventional metonymy by native speakers of Korean and Spanish who speak English as a second language. We are interested in discovering whether learners differentiate between conventional and unconventional metonymy, and whether the acceptability of metonymic expressions in the native language has an effect on learners’ judgments in the second language. The findings of this study constitute further experimental support for the psychological reality of the distinction between conventional and unconventional metonymy, but only in English. Learners of English at intermediate levels of proficiency exhibit transfer from the native language in comprehending metonymic shifts of meanings. Restructuring of the grammar is evident in later stages of development. Finally, complete success in acquiring L2 metonymic patterns is attested in our experimental study. Implications for L2A theories and teaching practices are discussed.

scholarly journals Bilingual Brains Learn to Use L2 Alliterations Covertly like Poets: Brain ERP Evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siqin Yang ◽  
Xiaochen Zhang ◽  
Minghu Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Native Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Unrelated Word ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Modulation Effect ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
English Translations ◽  
High Level

Bilinguals were documented to access their native or first language (L1) during comprehension of their second languages (L2). However, it is uncertain whether they can access L2 when reading their first language. This study used the event-related potential (ERP) technique to demonstrate the implicit and unconscious access to English words when Chinese–English bilinguals read words in Chinese, their native language. The participants were asked to judge whether the Chinese words presented in pairs were semantically related or not, meanwhile unconscious of the occasional alliteration (repetition of the first phoneme) if the Chinese words were translated into English. While the concealed prime in English translations failed to affect the reaction time, the alliteration significantly modulated N400 among advanced English learners, especially for semantically unrelated word pairs. Critically, this modulation effect was discrepant between bilinguals with high-level and normal-level English proficiency. These results indicate that L2 activation is an unconscious correlate of native-language processing depending on L2 proficiency.

scholarly journals IPad Acceptance by English Learners in Saudi Arabia

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Barry A. M. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Second Language Instruction ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Behavioral Intention To Use ◽  
Educational Potential

<p>This study used the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT; Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, &amp; Davis, 2003) model to investigate factors predicting the acceptance of iPad tablets by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a technical vocational college in Saudi Arabia. An online survey was conducted on 199 male learners, and a simultaneous multiple regression analysis was conducted on the data. The results indicated that a belief in the device’s educational potential, a sense that it was straightforward to use, and the perception that the infrastructure would support usage were all significant predictors of the behavioral intention to use iPads. Social factors did not indicate an acceptance of the device. The findings highlighted areas of importance for educators intending to adopt mobile devices in second language instruction and partially supported the application of the UTAUT.</p>

Majority language instruction as a basis for plurilingual education – Mehrheitssprachenunterricht als Basis plurilingualer Erziehung (MARILLE)

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-406
Author(s):  
Klaus-Börge Boeckmann
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Language Of Instruction ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Project Title

This project is unusual as an ECML project in that it explicitly does not deal with foreign or second languages. Our working term ‘majority language’, used in the project title, denotes a language variously referred to as a ‘national’ or ‘official’ language, a ‘language of instruction’ or a ‘language of education’ in Beacco & Byram's 2007 report (http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/guide_niveau3_EN.asp), but that has recently been termed a ‘language(s) of schooling’ in the 2009 project of that name by the Council of Europe's Language Policy Division (www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Schoollang_EN.asp). Such a language is usually the native language of a majority of pupils in a country, but not necessarily in an individual class or school, where many other native languages might be represented.

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