New Approaches to Literature for Language LearningLiterature, Spoken Language and Speaking Skills in Second Language Learning

Although being scripted, film dialogues are claimed to mirror natural spoken language. Exposing second language (L2) learners to instances of authentic language is reported to be stimulating and enjoyable. Amongst others, natural spoken discourse is hallmarked by discourse markers, which are small words, or prefabricated units, which constitute the bulk of native-like conversation. Helping students become acquainted with the small words of natural language can increase their perceived proficiency. In light of these argumentations, this paper is aimed at presenting a trial lesson with sixteen young adults who participated in a 2-hour class. During the class, they became acquainted with discourse markers, which were sourced from film dialogues. Students had firstly to infer their meanings and propose coherent translation candidates by recurring to their interlanguage. Then, they were prompted to search for translations in online language platforms. The paper findings highlight that the trial lesson was not only enjoyable and stimulating, but students felt that their L2 knowledge increased. Furthermore, they were stimulated by the inferring tasks and appreciated the word search. In some instances, students' inferences outperformed dictionary results and online suggestions.

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Mobile-assisted second language learning: Speaking a second language with auditory stimuli

Issues in Language Studies ◽

10.33736/ils.1652.2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Choy Khim Leow ◽

Wan Ahmad Jaafar Wan Yahaya ◽

Mariam Mohammad ◽

Songhao Liu

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Mental Representation ◽

Second Language Learning ◽

International Schools ◽

Visual Stimuli ◽

Cognitive Learning ◽

Physical Nature ◽

Auditory Stimuli ◽

Speaking Skills

Research on Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) has mostly focused on investigating the effectiveness and physical nature of mobile technology or the psychological conditions of learners. Studies of MALL that associate the fundamental principles of the human cognitive learning process is comparatively less common. Despite years of formal instruction, speaking a second language remains a challenge for beginner learners of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) in Malaysian International Schools. To help explain this, a framework of Mobile-Assisted Second Language Learning (MASLL) is developed to explain the cross-channel mental representation process in acquiring the speaking skills of a second language, using mobile phones. A total of 30 middle-year school learners from Malaysian International Schools underwent a quantitative, quasi-experimental pilot study. Learners with only the auditory stimuli outscored learners with the auditory-visual stimuli, with a mean difference of 4.87 in the gain scores. Whilst recognising the importance of auditory-visual stimuli during the learning phase, these findings highlight the importance of activating cross-channel mental representation during the interface and acquisition phases. A larger sample is needed to further validate these findings. Future studies on neuroscience, which localise the brainwave analysis, will be useful in providing visual explanation of the human cognitive processes and memory coding in acquiring the speaking skills of a second language.

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