Foreign Language Learning in the Elementary Schools: A Comparison of Three Language Programs

This chapter reported on the construction and development of the metacognitive knowledge (MCK) about web-based distance language learning of two adult English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in China. Drawing upon theories and research in metacognition, self-regulated second/foreign language learning, and distance language learning, the authors investigated adult Chinese EFL learners' knowledge about themselves as online distance language learners, the nature and demands of online distance English learning, and how to best approach their learning in this program. They identified changes in these learners' MCK over the 16 week semester and discussed how a number of contextual factors, including the pre-determined learning structure, teacher-led instructional sessions, and peer interaction opportunities, were significant in shaping and influencing learners' adjustments and revisions of their MCK about online distance language learning. Findings from this study have important implications for the design and implementation of web-based distance language programs for adult learners.

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UZBEKISTAN MOD FOREIGN LANGUAGE APTITUDE TEST: A CRITICAL EVALUATION

10.36078/987654354 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 138-151

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Critical Evaluation ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Daily Basis ◽

Language Programs ◽

Foreign Language Aptitude ◽

Foreign Language Programs

Globalization has entailed a growth in importance of the second/foreign language teaching and learning all over the world with the number of both voluntary and involuntary language learners increasing on daily basis. There is, however,a widely attested discrepancy in actual results achieved by those engaged in second/foreign language learning usually explained by means of invocation of a specialized talent that certain individuals have, whilst others lack. Such a talent is thought to be measurable and the results obtained are regarded as valid predictors of success for intensive foreign language programs. The present article deals with critical appraisal of one of such instruments in terms of both its theoretical and practical validity. A number of points to be addressed for the purpose of the instrument improvement are demonstrated via referral to both basic statistic techniques and scientific consensus in the field of language learning aptitude research.

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Task-based Language Learning in Bilingual Montessori Elementary Schools: Customizing Foreign Language Learning and Promoting L2 Speaking Skills

Linguistik Online ◽

10.13092/lo.54.284 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 54 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Jana Winnefeld

Keyword(s):

Elementary Schools ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Information Exchange ◽

Language Production ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Negotiation Of Meaning ◽

L2 Learning ◽

L2 Production ◽

Speaking Skills

Foreign language learning has been a part of German elementary schools for several years now. Montessori schools focusing on individual learning, i.e. mostly independent from the teacher and based on auto-education, interest, and free choice, are also asked to teach an L2. The original lack of a concept of L2 learning for this environment has brought forth different approaches. Bilingual education seems to be feasible and applicable in Montessori education. The downside to this is that even in a bilingual classroom the Montessori way of learning may not allow for very much oral production of the foreign language. The role of L2 production (cf. Swain 1985, 1995, 2005) for language acquisition has been theoretically claimed and empirically investigated. Output can have a positive influence on L2 learning (cf. e.g. Izumi 2002, Keck et al. 2006). This also applies to interaction (cf. Long 1996), where negotiation of meaning and modified output are factors supporting L2 development (cf. e.g. de la Fuente 2002, McDonough 2005). Task-based Language Learning (TBLL) presents itself as one way to promote oral language production and to provide opportunities for meaning-negotiation. Especially tasks with required information exchange and a closed outcome have been shown to be beneficial for the elicitation of negotiation of meaning and modified output. This paper argues that TBLL is a promising approach for the facilitation of L2 production and thus the development of speaking skills in a Montessori context. It also hypothesizes that TBLL can be implemented in a bilingual Montessori environment while still making the Montessori way of learning possible. Different tasks on various topics, examples of which are presented in this article, can lay the foundation for this. Offering such tasks in a bilingual Montessori elementary classroom promises to foster language production and the use of communication strategies like negotiation of meaning, both being facilitative for L2 acquisition. This hypothesis remains to be tested in future research.

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Students’ Points of View About Learning English as a Foreign Language Through Communication and Interaction in 9-Year Elementary Schools (Albanian Context)

European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies ◽

10.26417/ejms.v1i2.p110-116 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 110

Author(s):

Evis Kapurani

Keyword(s):

Elementary Schools ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Teaching Methods ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Theoretical Point ◽

Traditional Methods ◽

Points Of View ◽

Learning English

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an interactive method which helps learning English language through communication, in a theoretical point of view CLT is a more effective method compared with traditional methods such as Grammar Translation Method and Audio lingual Method, and it is a preferred method to be used nowadays in foreign language learning. This is a descriptive study which aims to analyze and discover the 9-year elementary schools students’ opinions and points of view about learning a foreign language based on the principles of contemporary interactive student-centered methods and traditional ones. It is introduced a theoretical analyses about methods of language teaching in general, characteristics description and principles of CLT, accuracy and fluency in CLT, teacher and student role, communicative competence, CLT application, significance, impact, comparison of CLT with traditional methods. The data are collected from students of 9-year elementary schools on sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth grades through a survey questionnaire. Questions on the questionnaire are focused on finding students’ opinions and points of view about language learning in a certain context in practice, according to their needs and preferences on learning a language based on CLT premises about communication, accuracy, fluency, learning grammar and vocabulary, teacher roles etc. and principles of other traditional methods. Results are converted into percentages which show students preferences about the way they are used to, need and want to learn a foreign language and with which principles of the foreign language teaching methods they agree or not. Findings are described and analyzed according to their relation with theoretical issues. From the analyses it results that using CLT may prove to be a very successful method in both learning and teaching because students welcome the principles used in this method despite their “attachment” to the principles of previous teaching methods that they are used to.

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Virtual Frontiers: How Online Spaces are Redefining the Value and Viability of Performative Foreign Language Learning

Scenario: A Journal for Performative Teaching, Learning, Research ◽

10.33178/scenario.11.1.7 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol XI (1) ◽

pp. 79-93

Author(s):

Catherine Van Halsema

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Language Education ◽

Foreign Language Education ◽

Online Classroom ◽

Language Programs ◽

Online Spaces ◽

Foreign Language Programs ◽

The University

This paper will seek to contrast the rapidly growing commercial industry of digitally-mediated foreign language education with the gradually diminishing support for foreign language programs in American universities. After first analyzing evidence that justifies the need for foreign language education at the university level, it then digs deeper to locate the characteristics of those most successful online classroom models. It will finally draw on theories of language, teaching, and performativity in an effort to explore how digital spaces have and will shape the relationship between instructor and student and the performance of foreign language learning.

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