scholarly journals Quantity and diversity: Simulating early word learning environments

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Montag ◽  
Michael N. Jones ◽  
Linda B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
School Achievement ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Critical Measure ◽  
The Many ◽  
Large Corpus ◽  
Do So

The words in children’s language learning environments are strongly predictive of cognitive development and school achievement. But how do we measure language environments and do so at the scale of the many words that children hear day-in and day-out? The quantity and quality of words in a child’s input is typically measured in terms of total amount of talk and the lexical diversity in that talk. There are disagreements in the literature whether amount or diversity is the more critical measure of the input. Here we analyze the properties of a large corpus (6.5 million words) of speech to children and simulate learning environments that differ in amount of talk per unit time, lexical diversity, and the contexts of talk. The central conclusion is that what researchers need to theoretically understand, measure, and change is not the total amount of words, or the diversity of words, but the function that relates total words to the diversity of words, and how that function changes across different contexts of talk.

Language Learning Environments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Benson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Do So

This book is the first in-depth examination of the application of theories of space to issues of second language learning. The author outlines a new conceptual framework for researching SLA that centres on the idea of 'language learning environments' and demonstrates that where people learn languages is equally as important as how they do so.

scholarly journals Methodological and conceptual challenges in rare and severe event forecast-verification

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Alexander Ebert ◽  
Peter Milne
Keyword(s):  
Skill Score ◽  
Forecast Verification ◽  
Avalanche Forecasting ◽  
Severe Event ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Do So

Abstract. There are distinctive methodological and conceptual challenges in rare and severe event (RSE) forecast-verification, that is, in the assessment of the quality of forecasts involving natural hazards such as avalanches or tornadoes. While some of these challenges have been discussed since the inception of the discipline in the 1880s, there is no consensus about how to assess RSE forecasts. This article offers a comprehensive and critical overview of the many different measures used to capture the quality of an RSE forecast and argues that there is only one proper skill score for RSE forecast-verification. We do so by first focusing on the relationship between accuracy and skill and show why skill is more important than accuracy in the case of RSE forecast-verification. Subsequently, we motivate three adequacy constraints for a proper measure of skill in RSE forecasting. We argue that the Peirce Skill Score is the only score that meets all three adequacy constraints. We then show how our theoretical investigation has important practical implications for avalanche forecasting by discussing a recent study in avalanche forecast-verification using the nearest neighbour method. Lastly, we raise what we call the “scope challenge" that affects all forms of RSE forecasting and highlight how and why the proper skill measure is important not only for local binary RSE forecasts but also for the assessment of different diagnostic tests widely used in avalanche risk management and related operations. Finally, our discussion is also of relevance to the thriving research project of designing methods to assess the quality of regional multi-categorical avalanche forecasts.

Effects of required and optional exchange tasks in online language learning environments

ReCALL ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Brandl
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Synchronous Mode ◽  
Online Language Learning ◽  
Beginning Learners ◽  
Task Types ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis study investigates the effects of an optional and required (jigsaw) task on learners’ quantity and quality of use of language under synchronous and asynchronous conditions. The question raised is: Does performing either of these task types under synchronous conditions cause a compounding effect that either positively or negatively impacts language production? Eighty-six beginning learners of German participated in this study. The results show that the optional task yielded significantly more learner output, both in terms of target language and c-unit counts. The impact of the condition appears to be mixed, favoring the synchronous mode. Regarding quality, students produced fewer errors when performing the required than the optional task. The results of this study have implications for task design and implementation in online learning environments.

ICT and Language Learning at Secondary School

2011 ◽  
pp. 84-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Huot ◽  
France H. Lemonnier ◽  
Josiane Hamers
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
School Students ◽  
Systematic Assessment ◽  
French And English ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
English Students

This chapter presents the key findings of a longitudinal study conducted with secondary school students over a period of five years to determine whether the use of ICT has an influence on the learning of L1 French and L2 English, on students’ motivation and attitudes, and on the quality of their written work. Three research questions were framed to provide (i) a description of the process of integrating ICT; (ii) measurements of student attitudes and motivation in relation to school, to learning and to ICT; and (iii) a systematic assessment of written work in French and English. Students in four learning environments were observed. Results include indications that, for students in the experimental environment, ICT use is closely linked to the pedagogical context; motivation and attitudes remain more stable than in the control groups; the texts they produce are significantly longer and contain more complex clauses.

The ecology of prelinguistic vocal learning: parents simplify the structure of their speech in response to babbling

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (05) ◽  
pp. 998-1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. ELMLINGER ◽  
Jennifer A. SCHWADE ◽  
Michael H. GOLDSTEIN
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Ambient Language ◽  
New Form ◽  
Utterance Length ◽  
Everyday Learning

AbstractWhat is the function of babbling in language learning? We examined the structure of parental speech as a function of contingency on infants’ non-cry prelinguistic vocalizations. We analyzed several acoustic and linguistic measures of caregivers’ speech. Contingent speech was less lexically diverse and shorter in utterance length than non-contingent speech. We also found that the lexical diversity of contingent parental speech only predicted infant vocal maturity. These findings illustrate a new form of influence infants have over their ambient language in everyday learning environments. By vocalizing, infants catalyze the production of simplified, more easily learnable language from caregivers.

A Review of Virtual Reality and English for Academic Purposes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-80
Author(s):  
Austin Pack ◽  
Alex Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
Conference Presentations ◽  
The Many

Virtual reality (VR) has garnered increasing attention as a pedagogical tool for language learning. Yet, despite the many affordances of using virtual reality learning environments (VRLEs), there remains a paucity of research investigating the use of VRLEs for English for academic purposes (EAP). While BALEAP '19 conference presentations related to VR were well attended, suggesting there is interest in VR and EAP, many practitioners and researchers may be hesitant to explore using VR for EAP due to difficulties in selecting suitable equipment, understanding VR related terminology, and selecting or creating appropriate VRLEs for their pedagogical and research purposes. The objective of this article is to reduce the difficulty of some of these initial obstacles by providing overviews of relevant literature, VR terminology, technology, and software, as well as providing examples of potential uses of VR for EAP and a framework for investigating VR in EAP pedagogy and research.

Parent-child interaction during storybook reading: wordless narrative books versus books with text

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Abigail PETRIE ◽  
Robert MAYR ◽  
Fei ZHAO ◽  
Simona MONTANARI
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Storybook Reading ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Child Interaction ◽  
Shared Storybook Reading ◽  
Book Versus ◽  
Grammatical Complexity ◽  
And Function ◽  
Parent Child

Abstract This study examines the content and function of parent-child talk while engaging in shared storybook reading with two narrative books: a wordless book versus a book with text. Thirty-six parents audio-recorded themselves reading one of the books at home with their 3.5–5.5-year-old children. Pragmatic and linguistic measures of parental and child talk during both narrative storytelling and dialogic interactions were compared between the wordless and book-with-text conditions. The results show that the wordless book engendered more interaction than the book-with-text, with a higher rate of parental prompts and responsive feedback, and significantly more child contributions, although lexical diversity and grammatical complexity of parental language were higher during narration using a book-with-text. The findings contribute to research on shared storybook reading suggesting that different book formats can promote qualitatively different language learning environments.

scholarly journals Editorial

2013 ◽  
pp. 227-235
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Guest Editor ◽  
Journal Editor ◽  
Strategic Learning ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Great Pleasure ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Many

As Guest Editor for this special issue of SiSAL, in which the themes are accessing and accessorising for self-access language learning (SALL), it gives me great pleasure to welcome readers, old and new, whether veterans in the field of SALL, or relative novices. While any journal editor is both facilitated and limited by the range and quality of submissions that are received for a special issue such as this one, my hope from the outset was to be able to bring together a collection in which the various strands and threads of knowledge and experience related to self-access which writers had to offer would weave together to create a web of fabric which would be varied and colourful and aesthetically pleasing and, at the same time, interesting and intellectually satisfying. My desire for an issue which would genuinely add to our knowledge of self-access, which would highlight some key but neglected SALL areas, and which would be suitably globally representative and geographically diverse in relation to SALL activity, may even have been surpassed. In the December 2012 issue of SiSAL Journal, edited by Heath Rose, in my featured article, I suggested that it was time to re-think the meaning of the term self-access and of how it is placed in relation to strategic learning and autonomy in language learning (Everhard, 2012). To this end, I talked about the many misconceptions that exist in relation to self-access language learning and offered a historically-based explanation as to why they have arisen. These misconceptions have to some extent been aided and abetted by the ‘mysteries’ which still surround autonomy and the practices which promote it, although, thankfully, we have the likes of Little (1997; 2013) who continues to further our understanding of autonomy and its relationship with self-access. Although cooperation, interdependence and relatedness are nowadays considered to be the key issues for autonomy, to be able to ‘nurture…its unfolding’ (Noels, 2009, p. 302), like Riley (1997, p. 116) and Little (1997, p. 36), I continue to insist that ‘access to self’ is the essential ingredient in the autonomy – self-access mix (Everhard, 2012, pp. 379-380) and this has been my guiding principle in the selecting and arranging of submissions.

Zijn er Nog Problemen? Betekenisonderhandeling in de Multiculturele Taalklas

1997 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 19-32
Author(s):  
Kris Van den Branden
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Hot Spots ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Multicultural Classroom ◽  
Education Needs ◽  
Radical Revision ◽  
Do So

Negotiation of meaning is thought to promote language acquisition in various ways. Paradoxically, both the quantity and quality of negotiation of meaning in the multicultural classroom has been shown to be poor. Particularly non-indigenous pupils with a lower level of language proficiency receive few opportunities to negotiate the meaning of input and produce output, and are not 'pushed' to do so. This seriously undermines their chances of acquiring the medium of instruction. A radical revision of language education is called for. Education needs to be learner-centred rather than teacher-dominated, tasks need to be challenging and motivating rather than oversimplified and trivial, heterogeneity among pupils in terms of language proficiency needs to be exploited, and the problems that learners experience while trying to comprehend input and produce output need to be given more attention. Rather than being regarded as instances of improper student behaviour, problems should be seen as 'hot spots' for language learning.

scholarly journals Editorial

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-489
Author(s):  
Mirosław Pawlak
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
English Reading ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Very High

The present issue of Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching is the last in the 2021 volume and concludes the eleventh year of the existence of the journal. Looking back, it has been an exceptionally good year for SSLLT. First, we have been receiving a constantly increasing number of submissions and, what is of paramount importance for any journal, most of these submissions have been of very high quality. Second, we are very happy with the scope and quality of the papers that have been published, including those comprising the special issue on teaching English reading and writing to young learners, which was guest-edited by Barry Lee Reynolds and Mark Feng Teng. Third, and perhaps most importantly, not only has SSLLT been finally indexed in the Web od Science, but it is also listed among the 20 best journals in linguistics (18/193), with the impact factor of 3.036 (Q1) (JCR). Achieving this status has been a long and arduous process but at the same time an extremely rewarding journey. Obviously, this undeniable success would not have been possible without all of those who have lent their support to the development of SSLLT from the get-go. My sincere thanks go to Associate Editors, all the guest editors of special issues, members of the Editorial Board, the many hundreds of reviewers and, first and foremost, to all the amazing authors who have chosen SSLLT as a venue for their work. I can assure all of you that we will not be resting on our laurels and will do everything in our power to keep up the good work to further enhance the position of SSLLT in the field. We are also hoping to be able to celebrate its success with a face-to-face conference to be held in Kalisz, Poland in October 2022. We are currently working on the call for papers and we are planning to send it out in the next month or so.

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