scholarly journals Learning Japanese: observations from a lifelong experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 61-64
Author(s):  
H. Kitabayashi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Previous Knowledge ◽  
Reading Competence ◽  
Language Needs ◽  
The Relationship

This paper discusses the author’s first encounter with the Japanese language at the age of 23 and documents his continuing response to it up to the present time. At first, the language learning methodology he had used before failed and proved to be inappropriate for learning Japanese. Then came the realization that learning a foreign language needs some previous knowledge to build on. The search for the most efficient way to master Japanese brought the author to receptive multilingualism, which by chance opens up new vistas for the aspiring learner to improve listening skills. The physicality of speech and the consequent importance of some form of outside stimulation for its development are discussed. Mention is made of how he came upon the idea of adapting childhood techniques in learning how to read to the acquisition of reading competence in the Japanese language. In connection with this, the author makes another digression on the relationship he perceives as existing between active and passive language skills, and from this proceeds with the mention of how this might be applicable to his progress to date in learning Japanese and why, for better or worse, this would not normally apply to classroom acquisition of Japanese either inside or outside of Japan today

scholarly journals TEACHING LISTENING COMPREHENSION AT A NON-LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY: FACILITATION THROUGH INTERNALIZATION OF CONNECTED ENGLISH SPEECH FEATURES

2018 ◽  
pp. 183-189
Author(s):  
I. N. Kosheleva
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Phonological Features

Listening is not only one of the most important language skills, which is necessary for everyday communication, but an integral part  of foreign language learning. It is evident that the students need an  effective training in building auditory skills. However, proper  attention is seldom paid to the process of listening to the English  speech, altering phoneme recognition in the stream of speech, which  often causes difficulties in audio-comprehension. The subject  of this research is facilitation of teaching listening comprehension to  the students of non-linguistic universities. The purpose of the article is to identify the core phonological features of coherent  English speech and provide the examples of activities aimed at their  recognition. The methodological framework of the conducted  research is represented by bottom-up approach to teaching listening  and the tenet that speech perception and comprehension by ear is a  process. Therefore, the ability to correctly decode phonemes, words,  phrases and infer meaning plays an utmost role. In thiscontext the students’ wrong answers should be analyzed, it contributes to determining the point of misunderstanding. It is  shown that making students aware of phonological features  of  coherent English speech helps them to overcome difficulties in  audiotext perception and thus enhances teaching listening  comprehension. The results of the research can be of interest to  both foreign language teachers and to the researchers dealing with  English phonetics learning. Finally, the conclusions are drawn that a  successful development of listening skills requires a combination of  the bottom-up and top-down approaches. This enables teaching staff  to create favorable conditions for acquisition of one of the most challenging language skills.

scholarly journals Grammar Efficacy and Grammar Performance: An Exploratory Study on Arabic Learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 123-128
Author(s):  
Nik Hanan Mustapha ◽  
Nik Farhan Mustapha
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Public University ◽  
Sentence Construction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Previous research has clearly documented that self-efficacy in language learning positively affects students′ performance in acquiring language skills. While much research has studied grammar efficacy indirectly as part of writing efficacy, none of these focuses on Arabic language learning. Considering the impact of self-efficacy on language learning, as well as the important role of grammar in Arabic learning, this study examines the relationship between grammar efficacy and grammar performance among students learning Arabic as a foreign language in Malaysian public universities. Specifically, it intends to determine the relationship between grammar efficacy and grammar performance among Arabic learners on three aspects: Correction of grammar errors, vocalization of words, and construction of sentences. Using a newly-developed questionnaire, 140 students majoring in Arabic language from a public university in Malaysia participated in the study. The questionnaire covers three important aspects in Arabic grammar learning: Correction of grammar errors, vocalization of words, and construction of sentences. This study showed a moderate correlation between grammar efficacy and grammar performance. Efficacy of sentence construction appeared to correlate the highest among the three aspects. Teachers′ awareness on the importance of heightening students perceived confidence in accomplishing grammar tasks will eventually promote better learning among students.

Synthetic Speech in Computer-Enhanced Foreign Language Learning

2011 ◽  
pp. 227-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Kang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Natural Speech ◽  
Synthetic Speech ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Comprehension Ability ◽  
The Relationship

The goal of this chapter is to explain several experiments carried out by our research group to explore whether synthetic speech can be currently used to replace natural speech in listening materials for foreign language learning or not. For CALL purposes, synthetic speech in English was evaluated from the viewpoints of both foreign language learners and teachers. We conducted several surveys: (a) to find out if the synthetic speech generated by current TTS engines is as efficient as natural speech in training listening skills, (b) to identify the specific ways in which the evaluated synthetic speech is as good as natural speech, (c) to determine the relationship between changes in individual listening comprehension ability and the results of the quality evaluations of synthetic speech, and (d) to discuss the possible approaches for using synthetic speeches.

British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Students’ Manual: A Critical Analysis of the Coursebook Taught at Pakistani Universities

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Teaching Principles ◽  
Language Needs

English for Academic Purposes course focusing on the academic language needs of students is a subfield of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It is a type of specialized course to integrate specific subject matter, language content, and material based on learners’ needs. The study aims to evaluate the British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) coursebook in terms of content, sequencing, learners’ autonomy, motivation, feedback and focus on language skills. Furthermore, the study tries to provide a general perception of the usefulness and effectiveness of the coursebook for undergraduate students. The EAP Students’ Manual coursebook is used as a primary source for the data collection. The researcher has chosen Nation & Macalister (2010) model of language teaching principles to analyze and discuss the data. The study found the coursebook a useful, effective and an appropriate source of English language learning in terms of the investigated aspects of the book. The findings report that the coursebook provides practice and practical usage in all domains of the academically required English language skills. It helps the students to build language competency and to be more independent learners. In addition, it provides an opportunity to the learners to think in the target language, use the language more practically and learn it in a natural type of environment. The study concludes and suggests that the content needs to be supplemented with English language audios and videos presenting the students relevant documentaries and helping material in order to make the coursebook and the learning process more useful, effective, interesting and motivating. Furthermore, the study recommends that while choosing /designing a coursebook for a certain course, it needs to be evaluated following the various criteria and language-teaching-principles suggested by different language researchers.

scholarly journals Inverse translation and the language student: A case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-193
Author(s):  
Lucía Pintado Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Inverse Translation ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article explores the agency of the student in translation in language teaching and learning (or TILT). The purpose of the case study discussed here is to gain an overview of students’ perceptions of translation into the foreign language (FL) (also known as “inverse translation”) following a module on language and translation, and to analyse whether there is any correlation between students’ attitude to translation, its impact on their language learning through effort invested, and the improvement of language skills. The results of the case study reveal translation to be a potentially exciting skill that can be central to FL learning and the analysis gives indications of how and why language teachers may optimise the implementation of translation in the classroom. The outcome of the study suggests that further research is needed on the impact of translation in the language classroom focussing on both teachers’ expectations and students’ achievements.

The Impact of Foreign Language Learning Style on Strategies Preferences in Art Colleges

2014 ◽  
Vol 971-973 ◽  
pp. 2677-2680
Author(s):  
Di Jiao
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Factors affecting students’ English learning performances are always debated among language researchers. This research is carried out in art colleges to figure out the students’ preferences in learning styles and learning strategies as well as the relationship between them. Questionnaires have been applied and data have been dealt with by SPSS. This research has shown that students in the art college tend to be visual and individual learners, and thus they prefer to adopt metacognitive, memory and affective strategies.

Towards a Model of Learner Variation in Autonomous Foreign Language Learning

1979 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Learning Systems ◽  
Design Model ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
The Third ◽  
Short Piece ◽  
Language Needs

My intent in this short piece is to provide a context for consideration of learner variables in foreign language learning. I first propose a question set outlining the major issues, as I see them, arising in the design of learner-based foreign language learning systems. I then present a simplified three-part design model comprising knowledge considerations (language needs assessment), instructional considerations (learning access alternatives) and learner considerations (characteristics of learners). A review of some recent work in the first two of these prefaces the discussion of the third, learner considerations. A brief state of the art report on research in learner variables is followed by some speculation on next directions in the determination and description of learner variables within a general design model for learning foreign languages.

scholarly journals Strategy Instruction and Transfer in the EFL Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Najar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Mixed Design ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Learning Instruction ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Task

This study examines the generalizability of research in the areas of instruction; learning; and transfer of learning to the role these play in the area of the use of strategic competencies in foreign language contexts (FLC). While previous studies have tended towards a focus on learner variables, this study includes the conditions of applicability with a task that can impact learning and transfer as well. The contributions of both variables, learner and task, were investigated through note-taking strategy instruction and transfer, to ascertain the effect on reading comprehension of textual materials in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. Learning was measured as a precursor to transfer. In order to investigate the role of instruction and transfer in the transfer of strategy use, a mixed design using both qualitative and quantitative approaches for design and analysis was used. Findings suggest that the relationship between instruction and transfer as represented by strategy use and task performance is a multidimensional one, and that there are implications for language learning instruction in the foreign language classroom.

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