scholarly journals Intersectionality in language trajectories: African women in Spain

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tulay Caglitutuncigil Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
African Women ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Temporary Migration ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Permanent Settlement ◽  
Female Immigrants ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Number Of Individuals

AbstractDuring the last decades, changing intra-state and inter-state immigrant profiles in Spain has generated an interesting landscape for sociolinguistics research. There has been a shift from temporary migration to permanent settlement, which means that there is an increasing number of individuals who need to speak the locally legitimate forms of language for different reasons. Apart from this, recent statistics indicate that female immigrants’ profiles are also changing, and they are becoming more and more forerunners and active participants in the formal Spanish labour market (Aja et al. 2011). Therefore, this dynamic, ever changing profile of female immigrants suggests that they move across existing boundaries, acquiring and developing their linguistic knowledge to access other forms of symbolic capitals in Spain. Building on my ethnography of two sites in Madrid and Barcelona between 2011 and 2014, I shall explain how African immigrant women become new speakers and how their language learning process intersects with socially constructed boundaries such as political, economic, and linguistic hierarchies and ascribed gender roles.

Autonomy and Motivation in Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 164-177
Author(s):  
Jonathan J. Felix
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Educational Experience ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Frames Of Reference ◽  
Disciplinary Knowledge ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Normative Practice ◽  
Learner Agency

Learner autonomy and motivation have been recognized by academics, researchers, and practitioners as both critical and problematic elements of linguistics and language learning, among other disciplines in higher education. The ongoing challenge lies at the heart of students exercising a critical sense of agency over their acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, educational experience, and applied practice. However, rather than being understood as a socially constructed action or outcome within limited frames of reference, learner autonomy and motivation may be viewed expansively as culture. Drawing on Raymond Williams's theory of culture and John Law's sociological concept of symmetry, this work attempts to explore how learner autonomy and motivation might be fostered and sustained, in an attempt to rethink how learner agency might be positioned as a normative practice.

Do second language learners acquire restrictive relative clauses on the basis of relational or configurational information? The acquisition of French subject, direct object and genitive restrictive relative clauses by second language learners

1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Hawkins
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Linear Ordering ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
The Way

Much of the work on the second language acquisition of restrictive relative clauses has made reference to the similarities between learners' order of diffi culty and Keenan and Comrie's (1977) typologically determined noun phrase accessibility hierarchy for relativisation (AH). There has been little considera tion, however, of whether this 'theory of markedness' (for that is the implica tion of citing the AH in the context of second language learning) actually determines the way that second language learners develop rules for restrictive relative clauses. The present study examines the way that learners of L2 French construct rules for French relativiser morphology from this perspective. It is found that there is no evidence to support the view that learners make use of a theory of markedness like the AH in constructing such rules. Rather, learners appear to construct rules on the basis of the linear ordering of the constituents of restrictive relative clauses in surface configurations. From the evidence it is suggested that 'markedness' in the development of L2 restrictive relative clauses is not a feature of the grammatical component of learners' linguistic knowledge, but is a feature of their L2 processing capacity.

scholarly journals Learning Effect of Implicit Learning in Joining-in-type Robot-assisted Language Learning System

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
AlBara Khalifa ◽  
Tsuneo Kato ◽  
Seiichi Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Robot Assisted ◽  
Positive Effects

The introduction of robots into language learning systems has been highly useful, especially in motivating learners to engage in the learning process and in letting human learners converse in more realistic conversational situations. This paper describes a novel robot-assisted language learning system that induces the human learner into a triad conversation with two robots through which he or she improves practical communication skills in various conversational situations. The system applies implicit learning as the main learning style for conveying linguistic knowledge, in an indirect way, through conversations on several topics. A series of experiments was conducted using 80 recruited participants to evaluate the effect of implicit learning and the retention effect in a joining-in-type robot-assisted language learning system. The experimental results show positive effects of implicit learning and repetitive learning in general. Based on these experimental results, we propose an improved method, integrating implicit learning and tutoring with corrective feedback in an adaptive way, to increase performance in practical communication skills even for a wide variety of proficiency of L2 learners.

scholarly journals Collaborative tasks and learning occasions in English as a foreign language

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 837-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marília dos Santos Lima
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Collaborative Dialogue ◽  
Learning English

The study reported here forms part of a program of qualitative research focusing on the use of collaborative tasks in learning English as a foreign language in Brazil. The research examines the concept of collaborative dialogue (SWAIN, 2000), understood as dialogue that constructs linguistic knowledge within a sociocultural view of language learning. The results indicated that the learners reflected upon the target language, tested hypotheses and reformulated their production in order to promote mutual comprehension in the learning process. The results also revealed that the interaction established during the production of the collaborative dialogue stimulated foreign language learning as the students noticed linguistic gaps in the target language, and sought solutions together.

Examining a mailing list in an elementary Japanese language class

ReCALL ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
MAYUMI HOSHI
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Interaction Analysis ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Mailing List ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
Language Class

This study examines the possible effects of a mailing list discussion on second/foreign language learning in the form of an explorative case study. Forty-six students in an elementary-level Japanese language class at a Canadian university participated. The study consists of three parts: interaction analysis, content analysis, and a student survey. The first two parts referenced the entire mailing list discussion archive. The number of the messages totaled 298. In order to analyze learner interaction, a map of interaction was designed and Levin, Kim and Riel’s (1990) Intermessage Reference Analysis (IRA) was applied. Content analysis was then carried out on the topics, context-type, and depth of learning process involved in each message. Lastly, a survey was distributed in order to discern participants’ perceptions towards the use of a mailing list for language learning. The results of the interaction and content analysis show how a mailing list discussion can provide a place to reflect on course content, enabling students to increase their linguistic knowledge through an exchange of ideas, thoughts, and opinions via student-centered interactions. The result of the participant survey shows that although the students’ participation in and perceptions towards the mailing discussion is not uniform, 35% of the students perceived the value of a mailing list discussion to be high. Through the examination of three different methods of analysis, the study concludes that there is a good potential for the use of mailing list discussions in second/foreign language learning. However, further research is necessary to determine which factors contribute to the successful use of this medium.

BAAL/CUP Seminar 2016: New plurilingual pathways for integration: Immigrants and language learning in the 21st century

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-296
Author(s):  
Nicola Bermingham ◽  
Gwennan Higham
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Round Table ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Round Table Discussion ◽  
Cost Action ◽  
Intercultural Studies ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
Intercultural Research

This seminar was held at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, on 27 May 2016. It was jointly organised by BAAL members Nicola Bermingham (Heriot-Watt University) and Gwennan Higham (Swansea University) in collaboration with COST Action IS1306 New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe: Opportunities and Challenges, and supported by the Intercultural Research Centre and the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University. Ten papers and two keynote speeches were given. The keynote speakers were Professor Alison Phipps (Glasgow University) and Professor Máiréad Nic Craith (Heriot-Watt University). A round-table discussion was also held, with invited speakers including Ms Mandy Watts from Education Scotland; Professor Bernadette O'Rourke, chair of COST Action IS1306; Dr Cassie Smith Christmas, University of the Highlands and Islands; and Dr Kathryn Jones, Director of Language Policy and Research at the Welsh Centre for Language Planning.

scholarly journals Challenges of the application of linguistic knowledge in the speech practice of the english language

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-193
Author(s):  
Z. Zhelyazkova
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Intensive English ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Classroom Processes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Practical Implications

The article attempts to outline the main characteristics and topics of English language teaching in the most recent historical period in the development of Bulgaria. It envisages the last two decades when intensive English language learning has become a priority, both social and institutional. Taking into account the nature of the language learning, the focus of interest is on the students' attitude to the subject, as well as the main difficulties experienced in the teacher-student interaction. The analysis of the data shows a balance between the teacher's intention and the learner's interpretation, which influences the end result – the actual mastery of the foreign language. The conclusion emphasizes the responsibility of the teacher to judge correctly what the student's expectations are, the freedom of variation that the curriculum gives them, as well as the practical implications of classroom processes for preparing the students for the outside world.

scholarly journals Foco na forma e o ensino de Inglês como L2/L3

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Maria Alejandra Saraiva Pasca ◽  
Karen Pupp Spinassé
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Similarities And Differences

Grammatical and lexical similarities between languages can help promote adult language learning. However, even when learners are provided with a lot of input in the L2, they may not notice certain similarities and differences between their L1 and the L2 in the classroom if the linguistic structure is not salient. The purpose of this article is to discuss the benefits of making grammatical and lexical comparisons among languages, such as proposed in the EuroCom Project, and the importance of using a Meaning and a Form Focused Instruction with corrective feedback when teaching L3 learners, based on different studies carried out with multilinguals. The more the Brazilian learners of English as a second or third language notice the similarities among English, Spanish and Portuguese, the more advantage they will take of their prior linguistic knowledge, facilitating the L3 learning process.

scholarly journals Bridging the Gap Between Discourse Analysis and Language Classroom Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Maha H. Alsoraihi
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Teaching Learning

This paper deals with the emergence of discourse analysis (DA), its significance and its application in the classroom environments. It also sheds light on (DA) dimensions and how its relevance to English language teaching (ELT) will enhance the quality of teaching/learning a language. This research paper supports the fact that language cannot be learned or taught in isolation. Effective language learning/teaching requires learners to be engaged in actual/social contexts in order to apply their knowledge and skills for achieving a successful communication which is the ultimate goal of learning a language. This paper discusses various associated applications of discourse analysis in language classrooms in an attempt improve the quality of language teaching/learning techniques and outcomes. The researcher also reviews the most prominent challenges that hinder the effective implementation of this approach and provide certain solutions that can be used in order to overcome these challenges. This paper assumes that learners who focus on relating linguistic knowledge to social and cultural contexts will demonstrate high levels of communicative performance and self-confidence.

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