scholarly journals Second Language Acquisition and Form-Focused Instruction in Immersion: Teaching for Learning

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 388
Author(s):  
PhD T. J. Ó Ceallaigh

While research on language immersion education has highlighted a multitude of benefits such as<br />cognitive skills, academic achievement and language and literacy development, some studies have also<br />identified challenges to its effective implementation, particularly as they relate to language acquisition.<br />It has been suggested that the less than optimal levels of students’ immersion language “persist in part<br />because immersion teachers lack systematic approaches for integrating language into their content<br />instruction” (Tedick, Christian, &amp; Fortune, 2011, p. 7). Students’ interlanguage has aspects that are<br />borrowed, transferred and generalised from the mother tongue and differs from both the immersion<br />language and the mother tongue. After a period of sustained development, interlanguage appears to<br />stabilise and certain non-target like features tend to fossilise. Research has long suggested that<br />effective immersion pedagogy needs to counterbalance both form-oriented and meaning-oriented<br />approaches. This paper reviews the literature in relation to the linguistic deficiencies in immersion<br />students’ L2 proficiency and form-focused instruction is examined as a viable solution to this<br />pedagogic puzzle. Key instructional elements of form-focused instruction are unpacked and some<br />pedagogical possibilities are considered in an attempt to identify and discuss strategies that will enable<br />immersion learners to refine their grammatical and lexical systems as they proceed.

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally-Ann Robertson ◽  
Mellony Graven

AbstractThis article explores the power of language to either include or exclude certain groups of students from genuine opportunities for mathematical sense-making. The substantial increase worldwide in the number of students learning mathematics through a language other than their primary language makes this a particularly urgent issue. This paper focuses on the South African situation, where, because English is widely perceived as the language of opportunity, it is, by grade 4, overwhelmingly the chosen language of learning and teaching. The epistemological and pedagogical consequences of this choice are evidenced in the poor performance of the country’s students on national and international assessments of mathematical proficiency. Drawing on research literature around language immersion education models and the extent to which these align with certain key principles of second language acquisition, this position paper motivates for a stronger and more sustained commitment to providing students, particularly those from marginalized and vulnerable communities, with opportunities for becoming both bilingual and biliterate. Empirical data from two South African grade 4 mathematics classrooms are used to illuminate aspects of the mathematical sense-making challenges students and their teachers face without such commitment.


Sarwahita ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 140-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusup Supriyono ◽  
Nita Sari Narulita Dewi

ABSTRACT: Early English mastery for children is very urgent considering Indonesia has an important position in the world's interests, both economically, socially, culturally and politically. Therefore, the global communication capability is one of the national agenda which is affixed to the national curriculum which must be studied from elementary level to university. Local Language Wisdom Immersion approach based on Local Wisdom comes as an effort to face the challenge. The targets of this program are young learners, ranging in age from 10-12 years old, who sit at the elementary school level. Learners learn English using a mix of local and international content, enabling cross-cultural learning, and learning patterns using second language acquisition. Furthermore, the portfolio assessment is used for assessment, including test, questionnaire, observation, and documents. The advantages of English language immersion based on local wisdom, ie learners in addition to mastering basic English, they are also prepared psychologically, socially and culturally. Their future hopes will be the future of national communications capabilities of global communications capabilities.   ABSTRAK: Penguasan bahasa Inggris sejak dini menjadi sangat urgen mengingat Indonesia memiliki posisi penting dalam pencaturan kepentingan dunia, baik secara ekonomi, social, budaya maupun politik. Oleh karena itu, kemampuan komunikasi global menjadi salah satu agenda nasional yang dibubuhkan menjadi kurikulum nasional yang harus dipelajari mulai tingkat dasar sampai perguruan tinggi. Pendekatan English Language Immersion berbasis Kearifan lokal hadir sebagai upaya menghadapi tantang tersebut. Sasaran program ini adalah pebelajar muda (English young learners), dengan rentang usia 10-12 tahun, yang duduk ditingkat sekolah dasar. Peserta didik belajar bahasa Inggris dengan menggunakan perpaduan konten lokal dan internasional, sehingga memungkinkan akan adanya belajar lintas budaya, dan pola-pola belajar menggunakan teori pemerolehan bahasa kedua (Second language acquisition). Selanjutnya portfolio assessment digunakan untuk melihat kemampuan, kinerja dan prestasi yang terukur dengan menggunakan alat assessmen, diantaranya test, kuesioner, observasi, dan dokumen. Kelebihan dari English language immersion berbasis kearifan lokal, yaitu peserta didik disamping dapat menguasai bahasa Inggris dasar, mereka juga dipersiapkan secara psikologis, sosial dan budaya. Harapan kedepan mereka akan menjadi duta bangsa di masa depan yang akan menyampaikan pesan kepada dunia bahwa bangsa Indonsia adalah bangsa yang besar yang memiki keunggulan-keunggulan lokal yang dapat dinilai secara ekonomi maupun politik yang patut dibanggakan ditingkat dunia melalui kemampuan komunikasi global yang mereka kuasai.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Lindholm-Leary ◽  
Fred Genesee

This article examines international research on student outcomes in one-way, two-way, and indigenous language immersion education. We review research on first and second language competence and academic achievement in content areas (e.g., math) among both majority and minority language students. We also discuss the relationship between bilingualism and student outcomes and whether more exposure to the first or second language is associated with better outcomes. In addition, we highlight student background, methodological, and assessment issues and concerns, and suggest additional avenues of research on student outcomes


Author(s):  
Anahí Alba de la Fuente ◽  
Hugues Lacroix

AbstractIn foreign language classrooms we often find that, in addition to their mother tongue (L1), learners already speak – or are learning – at least one other language. As a result, they already have an array of linguistic and cognitive skills that may prove very useful if they are adequately exploited during the language learning process. However, in contrast with the growing interest displayed by researchers in the processes involved in the acquisition of a third or subsequent language (e.g.


2000 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 199-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merrill Swain

This review chapter addresses two questions: What has the recent research conducted in French immersion programs in Canada contributed to our understanding of second language acquisition (SLA)? What has it contributed to the broader field of applied linguistics? In this chapter, I also consider briefly what the research contributions of the coming decade might be and discuss some of the obstacles that may be faced in Canada in continuing to conduct research concerned with French immersion education.


1985 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 32-44
Author(s):  
P.J.M. Groot ◽  
G.C.J. Bourgonje

This paper argues that a) much of what is presented as Krashen's new theory on foreign (or second) language acquisition is not new but given a new name (e.g. "the affective filter" for motivational and attitudinal variables) and b) that what is new is not adequately substantiated by empirical evidence or maintained in spite of 'contrary evidence. The plausibility of the new part of the theory is questioned on various grounds, one of them being that it does not sufficiently take into account the possible implications (i.e. for the way a foreign language is mastered) of the differences between the various foreign language acquisition contexts such as age, goal and aptitude of the learner, the kind and/or degree of L2 exposure, formal vs. naturalistic acquisition etc. An example of the kind of research needed is reported viz. the data resulting from an investigation into the errors against adverbial placement rules made by EFL students with different mother tongues. The aim of the study was to collect data relevant to the question whether/ to what extent errors would be "universal" (i.e. the same for all learners irrespective of their L1) or language (one) specific. Finnish, Polish, German, French and Dutch E.F.L. learners took 4 tests operationalising knowledge of English adverbial placement in 4 different ways: acceptability judgements, "scrambled" sentences, placing the same adverb in syntactically different contexts and placing different adverbs in syntactically identical contexts. Since the investigation was mainly concerned with error patterns especially the test performance of the low scoring subjects was further analysed to determine the degree of language specificity of their errors. This analysis strongly suggested either direct or indirect mother tongue influence.


2005 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 26-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lourdes Ortega ◽  
Gina Iberri-Shea

Both common sense and expert knowledge tell us that learning a language other than the mother tongue is a complex process that happens through and over time. Time, indeed, is a construct implicated in many of the problems that second language acquisition researchers investigate. The purpose of this chapter is to survey longitudinal SLA research published in the last three years and to offer a critical reflection of best current longitudinal practices and desirable directions for future longitudinal SLA research. We highlight recent trends in longitudinal SLA research, paying particular attention to broad design choices and foci of research organized around four trends in SLA longitudinal investigation, and we describe key exemplary studies under each trend. We close by reflecting on some of the challenges and opportunities that await these longitudinal research programs in the future.


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