scholarly journals Student Perspectives on Language Learning in a Study Abroad Context

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie A. Pellegrino

This chapter offers an overview of research that has been performed over the past 35 years concerning study abroad participants’ perceptions of language and language learning, the role of the language classroom, the influence of the social environment, and the study abroad experience as a whole. The impact of students’ perceptions on the language learning process and the value of student perspective research in the field of SLA are also considered.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 376-380
Author(s):  
Nuriye Değirmenci Uysal ◽  
Fatih Yavuz

This study presents a review of the literature regarding the impact of drama on dimensions of second/ foreign language learning. The paper first discusses the importance of integrating drama into the second/ foreign language learning process and the role of teachers and students in the learning process. Then, after introducing the pedagogical and linguistic aspects of using drama techniques in the language classroom in a broader perspective, it focuses on the drama-oriented verbal and nonverbal exercises. Next, the paper reviews the studies on the language learning through drama, and concludes that using drama in language teaching would facilitate emotional and social development in addition to language development of students while it points out that the number of studies on the issue is limited. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng-Hsun Lee

AbstractMany study abroad researchers recruit genres, such as diary, interview, and questionnaire, to study memories of study abroad experience and their relationship with language learning. Whether quantitative or qualitative, much emphasis is on individual representations and circulation of past experience, not the here-and-now, nor the impact a person’s study abroad memories has on their subsequent life practices. In this study, I draw on sociocultural theory to analyze study abroad experiences recounted in various types of language classroom activity. I show that memory is constantly (re)shaped by intermental, interactional, and institutional forces, as when students are mediated at lexical, grammatical, and discursive levels to reconstruct their experienced past vis-à-vis goal-directed activity in class. I highlight discursive practices rememberers adopt to render their version of the past credible and authentic, and explain how such practices create opportunities for mediation in the classroom. The findings demonstrate that contextualized remembering is a mediated process of objectifying personal experience, and that memory discourse is a mediating tool for transforming mental and social activity. Thus, remembering is not simply the retrieval or circulation of individual subjectivities, but also an active social practice.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiri Lev-Ari

AbstractPeople learn language from their social environment. Therefore, individual differences in the input that their social environment provides could influence their linguistic performance. Nevertheless, investigation of the role of individual differences in input on performance has been mostly restricted to first and second language acquisition. In this paper I argue that individual differences in input can influence linguistic performance even in adult native speakers. Specifically, differences in input can affect performance by influencing people’s knowledgebase, by modulating their processing manner, and by shaping expectations. Therefore, studying the role that individual differences in input play can improve our understanding of how language is learned, processed and represented.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 915-919
Author(s):  
Krasimira Stefanova Petrova

Pre-school age is an intensive period in the life of a person which offers great potential for development. The dimensions of the impact of the social environment (children, parents and other adults) on the child’s personality are multifaceted. This accounts for the emphasis on social norms, goals and ideals. Education is the one factor that can best provide the socialization of adolescents.The changes in modern society have led to redefining the parenting patterns for bringing up children. The role of the family as an environment for transferring social experience has never lost its significance. Children need continuous care in order to handle societal failures; they need support for mastering the culture of behavior, as well as timely and appropriate help for ensuring conflict-free communication and for enabling them to take responsibility for their own choices and actions.Psychological studies show that various factors influence both the upbringing of children as well as the parents’ attitudes towardsthem. The relevant factors include: the childhood experiences of the parents; the unrealized needs of the parents; interpersonal relations in the family that are characterized by emotional depth and style that are considered to have established "a standard".The parameters of the actuality of the research problem are based on the interrelationship of the social and educational aspects that are related to the position of the child and his personal assertion in society:- Atpre-schoolage, thechildgraduallyfitsintothesocialsystem, whichistheresult of learningexperiences, actionsandrelationships, awarenessandrediscovery of theselfandtheworld of otherpeople.- Thechildbecomesaware of thenorms of behaviorandthemeaning of actions–their ownandother people’s - andlearns to takeresponsibilityfortheiractions.- Oneyearbeforeschool starts, the childdevelopstheability to accepttheposition of othersand to takeintoaccounttheirownandothers’perspective.- For a successfulpersonalrealization, itisimportantforchildren to havetheskills to worktogetherandcommunicatein a group. Thisisthecompetencethatdirectstheirbehaviortowardsco-ordination, co-operationandsynergy.The abovementioned specific features of the child's personality are the result of the intentional educational interactions between the kindergarten and the family and are related to the acquisition of knowledge, rules and norms, and of value-oriented patterns that define behavior. The foundations for thisare laid during the pre-school age and are considered the most stable and lasting, often referred to as the "basic personality structure". Along with them, the "behavioral potential" of the child, which is demonstrated at different ages, is shaped and developedthrough upbringing. Consequently, behavior is seen as a specific manifestation of the personality associated with its selective attitude towards the influence of various factors in the social environment. The direction of the educational activitiesinspires the motivation for personal behavior aiming at growth and self-actualization. Hence, the presence of a certain skill level which imposes a new approach to learning - replacing the mechanical reproduction with the acquisition of competences for and attitudes towards interaction in a changing environment. What is appropriate for achieving these goals is the applicationof functional models for cooperation, individualization and differentiation of the educational process. These ensure that the child is provided with conditions for activity and for mastering basic, sustainable rules for conscious participation and development that are important for the success of each of his activities. This is a type of social education that is achieved through exploring the social fabric andacquiring the skills for learning, choosing and communicating.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 791-809
Author(s):  
Heath Spong

AbstractIn this paper a sophisticated conception of individuality is developed that extends beyond simple heterogeneity and is consistent with the approach of institutional economics. Studies of human biological and psychological development are used to illustrate the foundations of human individuality and the impact of the social environment on individual development. The link between the social environment and ongoing agential properties is established through the role of habits, which provide some continuity to individual personalities over time and assist them in navigating the social context they inhabit. Reflexivity is established via an agency-structure framework that endows individuals a changeable self-concept and an ability to interpret their relationship to the social context. The coordination of different individuals is explained not simply through reference to institutional structure, but also through the agent-level properties of shared habits. While reducing differences between individuals to one of degrees, shared habits are shown to be particularly important in the context of agent-sensitive institutions. Finally, the potential for different institutional experiences to impact the reflexivity of individuals is explored.


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Dewaele

Emotions are at the heart of the foreign language learning process. Without emotion, boredom would reign and very little learning would take place. I report on some recent work that has investigated the role of emotion in the foreign language classroom, both positive (foreign language enjoyment) and negatives ones (foreign language anxiety). It seems that both learners and teachers play a crucial role in managing emotions in the classroom. I also report on the difficulties associated with the communication of emotions in a foreign language and on their relative absence in foreign language course books and during classes. This leaves learners ill-prepared to recognise and express emotions appropriately in a foreign language, which is an essential part of sociopragmatic competence. 外国語学習過程の中心には「感情」がある。感情がなければ飽きるのも早く、学びも限られてしまう。本論では、外国語の授業で感情が果たす肯定的な(例:外国語学習の楽しみ)および否定的な(例:外国語学習不安)役割について報告する。そして最近の研究を基に、いかに学習者と教員双方がクラスでの感情のコントロールに深くかかわっているかを考察する。また、外国語で感情を伝えることの難しさについても触れ、外国語の教科書や授業で感情表現が扱われることの少なさが、社会語用論的能力の主な要素である感情表現の理解不足につながっていることを指摘する。


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-338
Author(s):  
Zulfiqar Ali ◽  
Farzana Masroor ◽  
Tariq Khan

The role of a teacher is crucial for language learning specifically in English language classrooms. An important variable in this regard is the gender of students. This study investigates the impact of gender on language learning motivations of students studying at the undergraduate level in the City University of Science and IT and Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar. Questionnaire data were collected from 175 students. The variables of the study include gender and its relationship with language attitudes and motivation. The results revealed that there exists the relationship between gender differences in variables under consideration. Female students had more expectations as compared to their male fellows. The study has useful pedagogical implications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 317 ◽  
pp. 03010
Author(s):  
Novia Permata Silviandari ◽  
M. Suryadi

The Covid-19 pandemic brings a heartbreaking story for all people in the whole world. This pandemic situation emerged in early 2020 and caused a significant impact on human life. In living a new normal life during a pandemic, people must have a tough life and a high spirit of life. In this study, the researcher using the Mimesis theory in the poem Invictus by William Ernest. The statement of this research is to find out the impact and the role of William Ernest’s Invictus poem on the sociological conditions of society during the pandemic. The data analysis method that is used is the descriptive method. This poem will be analyzed based on Mimesis theory by Plato and Aristoteles. The results show that William Ernest’s poem Invictus contributes and relates to giving power of life to the social environment during the pandemic.


Author(s):  
Mark Sanders

When this book's author began studying Zulu, he was often questioned why he was learning it. This book places the author's endeavors within a wider context to uncover how, in the past 150 years of South African history, Zulu became a battleground for issues of property, possession, and deprivation. The book combines elements of analysis and memoir to explore a complex cultural history. Perceiving that colonial learners of Zulu saw themselves as repairing harm done to Africans by Europeans, the book reveals deeper motives at work in the development of Zulu-language learning—from the emergence of the pidgin Fanagalo among missionaries and traders in the nineteenth century to widespread efforts, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, to teach a correct form of Zulu. The book looks at the white appropriation of Zulu language, music, and dance in South African culture, and at the association of Zulu with a martial masculinity. In exploring how Zulu has come to represent what is most properly and powerfully African, the book examines differences in English- and Zulu-language press coverage of an important trial, as well as the role of linguistic purism in xenophobic violence in South Africa. Through one person's efforts to learn the Zulu language, the book explores how a language's history and politics influence all individuals in a multilingual society.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Farzana Sharmin Pamela Islam

As 21st century is the era of modern technologies with different aspects, it offers us to make the best use of them. After tape recorder and overhead projector (OHP), multimedia has become an important part of language classroom facilities for its unique and effective application in delivering and learning lesson. Although in many parts of Bangladesh, a South Asian developing country, where English enjoys the status of a foreign language, the use of multimedia in teaching and learning is viewed as a matter of luxury. However, nowadays the usefulness and the necessity of it are well recognized by the academics as well as the government. The study aims to focus on the difference between a traditional classroom void of multimedia and multimedia equipped classrooms at university level by explaining how multimedia support the students with enhanced opportunity to interact with diverse texts that give them more in-depth comprehension of the subject. It also focuses on audio-visual advantage of multimedia on the students’ English language learning. The study has followed a qualitative method to get an in-depth understanding of the impact of using multimedia in an English language classroom at tertiary level. For this purpose, the data have been collected from two different sources. Firstly, from students’ written response to  an open ended question as to their comparative experience of learning  lessons with and without multimedia facilities; and secondly, through  observation of English language classes at a private university of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The discussion of the study is limited to  the use of multimedia in English language classroom using cartoons, images and music with a view to enhance students’ skills in academic writing, critical analysis of image and critical appreciation of music. For this purpose, cartoons in English language, images from Google and music from You Tube have got focused discussion in this paper.


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