scholarly journals A Corpus-based Study of Lexis in L2 English Textbooks

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 463
Author(s):  
Cathrine Norberg ◽  
Marie Nordlund
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
Word Selection ◽  
General Service ◽  
Selection Of

Despite the fact that textbooks are central in foreign language learning, only limited research has explored to what extent L2 textbooks support language learning and whether the content in them is relevant from a vocabulary perspective. This study investigates the vocabulary in seven English textbooks used in Swedish primary schools. A corpus has been constructed based on the words in the textbooks. By means of a concordancing software tool, the material has been analyzed by comparing the vocabulary between the books and to words on the New General Service List and in the VP-Kids corpus. The analysis shows that many words in the textbooks occur only occasionally in common everyday language use. It also demonstrates that there is great variation in the number and selection of words across the books indicating that there does not seem to be a common thought behind word selection in textbooks used in Swedish schools.

scholarly journals Ideologies of language at Hippo Family Club

Pragmatics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-227
Author(s):  
Chad Nilep
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Approach To Learning ◽  
Japanese Schools ◽  
State Language

Ethnographic study of Hippo Family Club, a foreign language learning club in Japan with chapters elsewhere, reveals a critique of foreign language teaching in Japanese schools and in the commercial English conversation industry. Club members contrast their own learning methods, which they view as “natural language acquisition”, with the formal study of grammar, which they see as uninteresting and ineffective. Rather than evaluating either the Hippo approach to learning or the teaching methods they criticize, however, this paper considers the ways of thinking about language that club members come to share. Members view the club as a transnational organization that transcends the boundaries of the nation-state. Language learning connects the club members to a cosmopolitan world beyond the club, even before they interact with speakers of the languages they are learning. The analysis of club members’ ideologies of language and language learning illuminates not only the pragmatics of language use, but practices and outcomes of socialization and shared social structures.

An investigation into the relationship of foreign language learning motivation and sign language use among Deaf and hard of hearing Hungarians

2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edit H. Kontra ◽  
Kata Csizér
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Learning Motivation ◽  
Language Learning Motivation ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The aim of this study is to point out the relationship between foreign language learning motivation and sign language use among hearing impaired Hungarians. In the article we concentrate on two main issues: first, to what extent hearing impaired people are motivated to learn foreign languages in a European context; second, to what extent sign language use in the classroom as well as outside school shapes their level of motivation. The participants in our research were 331 Deaf and hard of hearing people from all over Hungary. The instrument of data collection was a standardized questionnaire. Our results support the notion that sign language use helps foreign language learning. Based on the findings, we can conclude that there is indeed no justification for further neglecting the needs of Deaf and hard of hearing people as foreign language learners and that their claim for equal opportunities in language learning is substantiated.

English language learning and teaching styles in two Turkish primary schools

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 1117-1128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilknur Pekkanli Egel
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teaching Style ◽  
Teaching Styles ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Primary School Students ◽  
School Students

Foreign language learning styles are aimed at facilitating students' learning and therefore the teaching style used is important in terms of matching learners' styles to their educational needs. The present study was aimed at investigating several dimensions of primary school students' language learning styles and the ways in which certain styles are shaped and favored by teachers' teaching styles. The primary aim was to find out whether or not the measures taken by the Turkish Ministry of Education regarding rectifying the shortage of teachers of English as a foreign language have had an effect on the learning styles of primary school students. The secondary aim was to examine the varying learning styles of EFL students in two primary schools and to establish whether or not there has been a change in these learning styles. Finally, the researcher examined whether or not the economic conditions of the schools had an influence on the students' learning styles.

scholarly journals Sixteenth-Century Italian, French, Spanish and English Language Learning Material. A Bibliographical Study

Sederi ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 139-158
Author(s):  
Rocío G. Sumillera
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
English Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Learning Material ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Selection Of

This bibliographical study offers a list of the first printed language manuals in Western Europe expressly designed to teach a particular foreign language to speakers of a particular tongue. Hence, the study lists references to sixteenth-century grammars, dictionaries and language handbooks with the possible linguistic combinations of Italian, French, Spanish and English, the first three being the most popular modern languages in sixteenth-century Western Europe and hence the most representative ones offering an insight into the foreign language learning map of the time. The bibliographical study is preceded by an introduction to the manner in which foreign tongues were taught and learned in the early modern period, and is completed by a selection of references to secondary sources that have been researched on each linguistic combination.

scholarly journals Mining foreign language teaching manuals for the history of pragmatics

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola McLelland
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
History Of ◽  
Knowledge Of Language ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour

Abstract Foreign language learning manuals can be valuable sources for the history of pragmatics and historical pragmatics. They may contain explicit guidance on pragmatics not found in native-speaker grammars. For example, accounts of German forms of address in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English–German manuals provide evidence of changing views on the appropriateness of ihr and Sie earlier than does the “native” grammatical tradition. The bilingual model dialogues that are typical of such manuals may also implicitly model appropriate linguistic behaviour, demonstrated here by examining the communicative genre of bargaining in a series of three related English–Dutch language manuals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Furthermore, the dialogues may provide metalinguistic comment on linguistic behaviour – for example, by criticizing the culture of excessive negative politeness. Such sources can enrich our knowledge of language use and attitudes to language use in the area of politeness, complementing the evidence to be gleaned from mainstream native grammars, civility manuals, merchants’ guides, and the like.

scholarly journals Language policies in Brazil and the epistemology underlying the selection of foreign language textbooks

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-74
Author(s):  
Gicele Vieira ◽  
Kyria Rebeca Finardi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Learning Policies ◽  
Development Of Students ◽  
Selection Of

The aim of this paper is to discuss language policies in Brazil, especially in relation to the way they are implemented in the guidelines for the selection of textbooks for the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language (EFL). To subsidize the reflection herein proposed, the study analyzed the main principles and set of criteria used by the National Textbook Program (PNLD) to assess the textbooks designed for Brazilian secondary education. The results of the qualitative analysis carried out revealed a straightforward connection among modern foreign language learning policies in Brazil and the epistemology underlying the evaluation and choice of textbooks. The study concludes that a wider perspective on EFL teaching in Brazil is necessary, taking into account the need for the development of students' speaking skills required in the exercise of a global citizenship.

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