scholarly journals Assessing the effectiveness of a web-based tutorial for interlanguage pragmatic development prior to studying abroad

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 69-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Russell ◽  
Camilla Vásquez
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
First Language ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Development Data ◽  
Spanish Language Learners

This manuscript reports the results of a research study that investigated the effect of a web-based tutorial (WBT) on 13 Spanish language learners’ pragmatic development during the semester prior to studying abroad in Spain. Students who anticipate living abroad with a host family may be particularly motivated to acquire pragmatic competence in order to better assimilate into the target language culture. The WBT was designed to teach the speech acts of complaints and requests to Spanish language learners whose first language is English. The content in the WBT is based upon available empirical evidence at the time of development. Data were collected at pretest and posttest and the analysis employed a mixed methods approach. The results revealed that the WBT was more effective with intermediate- than with novice-level learners of Spanish. In addition, learners’ comprehension gains were greater than their production gains. In other words, learners improved in their ability to recognize appropriate pragmatic strategy use; however, they still had difficulty producing pragmatically appropriate features after completing the WBT. It is possible that pragmatic awareness may precede learners’ ability to use appropriate pragmatic strategies in their linguistic output.

Dynamic Assessment of Learners of a Spoken Language

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-99
Author(s):  
Natalie Hasson
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Test Taker ◽  
Learning Potential ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Assessment Of Learning ◽  
Language Difficulties

Dynamic assessment (DA), or the assessment of learning potential, is becoming recognized as an alternative method that has wide application within the assessment of language. In moving away from comparison to normative data, the assessment enables a wider range of children to be assessed, including all of those for whom the norms do not apply, such as children with autistic spectrum conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), hearing loss, and bi- or multilingual children. In addition to differentiating language difficulties due to lack of experience with the target language from developmental language disorders (DLD), the DA procedure contributes a considerable amount of qualitative information about the learning skills of the test-taker. This chapter reviews the multiple models and methods of DA and the work that has been done to develop tools to assess language skills in first language learners.

scholarly journals Communicating with Islamic Communication and Broadcasting English Language Learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Lina Masruuroh ◽  
Lyla Anggerwina Kusuma
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Teacher Talk ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Communication Style ◽  
Effective Teacher ◽  
Language Classroom

Proper Teacher Talk (TT) used in the EFL classroom contributes to the effective communication in  TEFL. Teachers who are expected to implement proper and effective teacher talk are apparently seeing this as one of the most complicated elements to be appropriately integrated in EFL class due to the different context between target language and first language and also the excessive target language exposure that is given by English teacher to the students as one of authentic learning process in the classroom. Many research focus on researching effective TT strategy in general EFL classroom, however, there is ony limited number of them that focuses on researching this concept in Islamic classroom with its Islamic culture, Islamic learners and Islamic situations. This descriptive qualitative study discussed and proposed the effective teacher talks in supporting the success of teaching english as a foreign language classroom in Islamic context. This article had anaysed the interview result from 7 English-Islamic lecturers in Islamic Broadcasting and Communication Learners (KPI) major and used TT features which later focussed on its ammount, diction and questioning type under SLA theory. This article aims to explain why and what types of language of the proper communication style and strategies should be applied by the English lecturers in Islamic higher education for having the effective teacher talk to English-Islamic  learners, specifically to Islamic Broadcasting and Communication Learners, that could contribute to a professional development in English Language Teaching.

“Mum, Sister Hit Me”: Interlanguage Complaint Strategies of Cantonese Learners of English from Childhood to Their Teens

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Lee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
Spoken Discourse ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison ◽  
Single Strategy ◽  
Similar Range

The act of complaining takes place in home and institutional settings in many forms every day. However, it is an under-represented speech act compared with the wealth of studies on other speech acts such as requesting, apologising, refusing and responding to compliments. The recent studies on complaint making have concentrated on the discussion about the nature of the act, identification of its communicative features and interlanguage or cross-cultural comparison among adult speakers or second language learners at different proficiency levels. Very little is known about the strategy preferences and realisation patterns of the act made by young and teenage second language learners.This study attempts to provide a fuller picture of how a complaint is realised in an oral-production task by learners of English from childhood to their teens. Based on the transcribed spoken discourse of 176 and 156 young and teenage Cantonese learners of English in Hong Kong primary and secondary schools, it was found that their complaints were moderate in terms of directness and severity. There was a significant decreasing use of direct strategies but a growing sociopragmatic awareness and flexibility in the use of a direct single strategy towards less direct combined strategies according to age and level of study. Pragmalinguistically, the learners used a similar range of intensifiers and softeners. The teenage groups are, however, better at increasing or mitigating the force of the act through the use of supportive moves, descriptions and requesting. The study has demonstrated some evidence for the interlanguage pragmatic development of Cantonese learners of English in the act of complaining.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Social Identity and Foreign Language Learning Motivation: The Sustainability of Heritage Language Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13102
Author(s):  
Luis Miguel Dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
University Environment ◽  
Spanish Language Learners ◽  
The Relationship

This study aimed to explore the relationship between social identity and language learning motivations of a group of heritage Spanish language learners in a university environment in the United States. Based on the qualitative research inquiry with semi-structured interview and focus group activity tools, a group of 78 Spanish language learners in one university environment in the United States were surveyed. Under the open-coding and axial-coding techniques, the finding of this study indicated that the three main motivations were Latinx Americans with dual identities, interests in career development, and surrounding environments and individuals. Department heads, non-profit organisation managers, and researchers may use this study as the blueprint to reform and polish the current foreign language teaching and learning programmes, courses, and policies to meet the expectations of multilingualism.

scholarly journals Second Language Acquisition and Mother Tongue Influence of English Language Learners – A Psycho Analytic Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.36) ◽  
pp. 497
Author(s):  
A. Delbio ◽  
R. Abilasha ◽  
M. Ilankumaran
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Second Language Learner

Language is a tool used to convey one’s thoughts, feelings and needs. Mother tongue is the language acquired by everyone ever since his birth. A learner encounters mother tongue influence while learning or speaking a foreign language or target language. Mother tongue influence is something that affects a person’s thought process in a sense that he thinks in mother tongue and expresses in English or a second language. People use incorrect pronunciation of words while communicating in English language as they are influenced by the sound patterns of their mother tongue. A second language learner has an unconscious preference to convey his customs from his first language to the target language. The influence of mother tongue has become a significant region and is generally referred to as ‘Language Interference’. Every language learner comes across this issue. Students, sometimes, use words from their parent language while communicating in English. This paper speaks about the difficulties faced by the learners of the second language and the causes of first language influence. This paper attempts to bring out the ways to avoid the overwhelmed influence of mother tongue and gives some notions to the students to develop their second language skills.  

scholarly journals Transitioning to emergency online teaching: The experience of Spanish language learners in a US university

System ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 102684
Author(s):  
Ana Ruiz-Alonso-Bartol ◽  
Diane Querrien ◽  
Shelley Dykstra ◽  
Paloma Fernández-Mira ◽  
Claudia Sánchez-Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Language Learners ◽  
Us University
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