Development of second language speech fluency in foreign language classrooms: A longitudinal study

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110086
Author(s):  
Keiko Hanzawa
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Academic Year

Although several researchers have demonstrated that foreign language (FL) learning experience has a limited effect on the short-term development of second language (L2) fluency, recent studies have suggested that learners can gain long-term (over one year) benefits from FL learning experiences. As a part of the present study, 50 Japanese university students were exposed to L2 learning experience over the course of one academic year to monitor its impact on L2 fluency measures (i.e. speed, breakdown, and repair fluency) in FL context. The relationship between the development of L2 fluency measures and learners’ learning experiences inside and outside the classroom was also investigated. The results showed a significant decrease in the length of between-clause and within-clause pauses that learners made. Furthermore, the correlational analysis showed that their L2 learning experience was uniquely associated with the development of between-clause pause frequency and repair frequency. These findings suggest that, while relatively long-term FL learning impacts the development of L2 fluency, it produces a unique pattern, whereby the effectiveness of FL learning is influenced by how students make the best use of their learning experiences.

scholarly journals The role of input in second language oral ability development in foreign language classrooms: A longitudinal study

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuya Saito ◽  
Keiko Hanzawa
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
First Year ◽  
Continuous Change ◽  
First Semester ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Foreign Language Classrooms ◽  
Academic Year

The current project longitudinally investigated the extent to which first-year Japanese university students developed their second language (L2) oral ability in relation to increased input in foreign language classrooms. Their spontaneous speech was elicited at the beginning, middle and end of one academic year, and then judged by linguistically trained coders for pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary and grammar qualities. According to the statistical analyses, the total amount of input (operationalized as number of English classes taken and L2 use outside of classrooms) was significantly related to the participants’ quick and immediate development of fluency and lexicogrammar during the first semester. Their pronunciation development was mixed, either subject to continuous change over two academic semesters (for prosody) or limited within the timeframe of the study (for segmentals). Similar to naturalistic L2 speech learning, the findings support the multifaceted role of input in different areas of oral proficiency development in foreign language classrooms.

Second language learning via syntactic priming: The effects of modality, attention and motivation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Coumel ◽  
Ema Ushioda ◽  
Katherine Messenger
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Input Modality ◽  
Online Study ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
High Motivation

We examined whether language input modality and individual differences in attention and motivation influence second language (L2) learning via syntactic priming. In an online study, we compared French L2 English and L1 English speakers’ primed production of passives in reading-to-writing vs. listening-to-writing priming conditions. We measured immediate priming (producing a passive immediately after exposure to the target structure) and short- and long-term learning (producing more target structures in immediate and delayed post-tests without primes relative to pre-tests). Both groups showed immediate priming and short- and long-term learning. Prime modality did not influence these effects but learning was greater in L2 speakers. While attention only increased learning in L1 speakers, high motivation increased L2 speakers' learning in the reading-to-writing condition. These results suggest that syntactic priming fosters long-term L2 learning, regardless of input modality. This study is the first to show that motivation may modulate L2 learning via syntactic priming.

scholarly journals The relationship between phonotactic awareness and pronunciation in adult second language learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-214
Author(s):  
Hanna Kivistö-de Souza
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
L1 English ◽  
L2 Pronunciation

Abstract: This study examined to what extent L1 Brazilian Portuguese (BP) EFL learners are aware of L2 phonotactics and whether there would be a relationship between L2 phonotactic awareness and L2 pronunciation accuracy. The language learners were tested regarding their awareness of L2 onset consonant clusters with a lexical decision task presenting nonword stimuli with legal and illegal onset clusters. L2 pronunciation was measured with a Foreign Accent Rating Task. The results showed that L1 BP participants showed a high awareness concerning L2 phonotactics, not differing from L1 English speakers, t(86)=.20, p =.83. Furthermore, high phonotactic awareness was found to be related to higher accuracy in L2 pronunciation (r= -.46, p <.001). The results suggest that phonotactics should be taught in foreign language classrooms since increasing learners’ awareness might be beneficial for the accuracy of their L2 pronunciation.

scholarly journals FGF21 Levels in Pheochromocytoma/Functional Paraganglioma

Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judita Klímová ◽  
Tomáš Zelinka ◽  
Ján Rosa ◽  
Branislav Štrauch ◽  
Denisa Haluzíková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 ◽  
Tumor Removal ◽  
Anthropometric Indices ◽  
Secondary Diabetes ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Patients With Diabetes ◽  
Biochemical Measurements ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Relationship

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a hepatokine with beneficial effects on metabolism. Our aim was to evaluate the relationship between the serum FGF21, and energy and glucose metabolism in 40 patients with pheochromocytoma/functional paraganglioma (PPGL), in comparison with 21 obese patients and 26 lean healthy controls. 27 patients with PPGL were examined one year after tumor removal. Basic anthropometric and biochemical measurements were done. Energy metabolism was measured by indirect calorimetry (Vmax-Encore 29N). FGF21 was measured by ELISA. FGF21 was higher in PPGL than in controls (174.2 (283) pg/mL vs. 107.9 (116) pg/mL; p < 0.001) and comparable with obese (174.2 (283) pg/mL vs. 160.4 (180); p = NS). After tumor removal, FGF21 decreased (176.4 (284) pg/mL vs. 131.3 (225) pg/mL; p < 0.001). Higher levels of FGF21 were expressed, particularly in patients with diabetes. FGF21 positively correlated in PPGL with age (p = 0.005), BMI (p = 0.028), glycemia (p = 0.002), and glycated hemoglobin (p = 0.014). In conclusion, long-term catecholamine overproduction in PPGL leads to the elevation in serum FGF21, especially in patients with secondary diabetes. FGF21 levels were comparable between obese and PPGL patients, despite different anthropometric indices. We did not find a relationship between FGF21 and hypermetabolism in PPGL. Tumor removal led to the normalization of FGF21 and the other metabolic abnormalities.

scholarly journals Comparison of the Corrosion Behavior of Tank 51 Sludge-Based Glass and a Nonradioactive Homologue Glass

1996 ◽  
Vol 465 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Nuñez ◽  
W. L. Ebert ◽  
S. F. Wolf ◽  
J. K. Bates
Keyword(s):  
Corrosion Behavior ◽  
Lower Solution ◽  
Solution Ph ◽  
Consistency Test ◽  
Glass Corrosion ◽  
Dissolution Tests ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Solution Volume

ABSTRACTWe are characterizing the corrosion behavior of the radioactive glass that was made with sludge from Tank 51 at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) and a nonradioactive glass having the same composition, except for the absence of radionuclides. Static dissolution tests are being conducted in a tuff groundwater solution at glass surface area/solution volume ratios (S/V) of 2000 and 20,000 m−1. These tests are being conducted to assess the relationship between the behavior of this glass in a 7-day Product Consistency Test and in long-term tests, to assess the effects of radionuclides on the glass corrosion behavior, and to measure the disposition of radionuclides that are released as the radioactive glass corrodes. The radioactive glass reacts slower than the nonradioactive glass through the longest test durations completed to date, which are 140 days for tests at 2000 m−1 and about 400 days for tests at 20,000 m−1. This is probably because radiolysis results in lower solution pH values being maintained in tests with the radioactive glass. Rate-affecting alteration phases that had formed within one year in tests with other glasses having compositions similar to the Tank 51 glass have not yet formed in tests with either glass.

Bringing Cross-Cultural Communication Analysis Into Foreign Language Classrooms

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-97
Author(s):  
Trudy O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Language Classrooms

The teaching of a second or foreign language has always incorporated some aspect of cultural information, but the full and rather complex nature of cross-cultural and intercultural communication has not always been an explicit pedagogical focus. The chapter outlines the key components of cross-cultural and intercultural communication (CCC/ICC), and reviews some major theories that have dominated the area. It is suggested that providing explicit instruction in CCC/ICC to language learners will prepare them for interacting appropriately in the target language in whatever global context they may wish to use it. Learners need to be not only linguistically and pragmatically but culturally competent as well as they move into multicultural contexts of interaction in that language. Specific elements of cross-/intercultural communication with regards to linguistic features and potential points of confusion in the EFL (English-as-a-foreign language) classroom are discussed as accessible examples. The chapter then relates some ways that cross-/intercultural mindfulness and understanding can form an active part of the teaching of a second/foreign language in order to enhance the full language learning experience and subsequent entry to successful communication.

The role of (un)awareness in SLA

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald P. Leow ◽  
Lucia Donatelli
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Broad Perspective ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
L2 Learning

The construct ‘awareness’ is undoubtedly one of the more difficult constructs to operationalize and measure in both second language acquisition (SLA) and non-SLA fields of research. Indeed, the multi-faceted nature of awareness is clearly exemplified in concepts that include perception, detection, and noticing, and also in type of learning or learning conditions (implicit, explicit, incidental, subliminal), type of consciousness (autonoetic, noetic, anoetic), and type of awareness (language, phenomenal, meta-cognitive, situational). Given this broad perspective, this article provides, from a psycholinguistic perspective, a timeline on the research that addresses the role of awareness or lack thereof in second/foreign language (L2) learning.

The effectiveness of TBL with real patients in neurology education in terms of knowledge retention, in-class engagement, and learner reactions

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Kemal Alimoglu ◽  
Selda Yardım ◽  
Hilmi Uysal
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Retention Test ◽  
Knowledge Retention ◽  
Learner Engagement ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Exam Scores ◽  
One Year ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Real Patients

In our medical school, we changed from a lecture-based method to a team-based learning (TBL) method to teach “polyneuropathies” in the neurology clerkship starting from the 2014 to 2015 academic year. Real patients were used instead of written scenarios in TBL sessions. This study aimed to compare former lecture-based and the current TBL methods in terms of knowledge retention, in-class learner engagement, and learner reactions. First, we determined in-class engagement and satisfaction of the students for the lectures given in the 2013–2014 academic year. The following year, besides the same criteria, we also determined individual (IRAT) and group readiness test (GRAT) scores in the TBL group. End-of-clerkship exam scores for both groups were recorded. Additionally, opinions of patients about their experiences throughout the TBL process were determined. One year later (2015 for lecture and 2016 for TBL), both groups sat for an MCQ test to determine their knowledge retention levels. We found no difference between groups regarding end-of-clerkship exam scores. The mean knowledge retention test score of the TBL group was significantly higher than that of the lecture group (5.85 ± 1.74 vs. 3.28 ± 1.70). The differences between IRAT, GRAT, and retention test scores in the TBL group were significant. The mean student satisfaction score on a five-point scale was 3.01 ± 0.9 (median = 3) in the lecture group and 4.11 ± 1.1 (median = 4) in the TBL group. Our results seem encouraging for use of TBL performed with real patients in neurology education to achieve better long-term knowledge retention and higher in-class engagement and student satisfaction.

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