Factors in Codeswitching in a Japanese University Context

In order to develop communication skills in English as a foreign language (EFL), learners and instructors are generally expected to use English as the main language and avoid speaking Japanese in English classes in principle (MEXT, 2014). In tertiary educational contexts, as many English classes are taught by teachers from other countries, the main language used in the class is likely to be English. However, codeswitching frequently occurs in bilingual and multilingual contexts (Jenkins, 2015). Therefore, codeswitching can be found even in classes with ostensibly English-only instruction. Possible factors need to be explored because it is essential to understand the sociocultural factors within the foreign language classroom that underline codeswitching and this will aid educators in realising the positive use of the first language in specific situations. This paper uses a descriptive case study involving 20 first-year university students in order to explore the factors underlying codeswitching in two 90-minute ‘English-only instruction’ classes, by analysing class observations and voice-recorded classroom data. Results illustrated that both students and the instructor changed their codes for particular purposes. Therefore, codeswitching can have an effective role in having longer conversations between students and disciplining students in English classes. 中等教育と高等教育を含め、英語のみで行う授業の概念の普及により、学習者と指導者は原則英語を主要な言語として用い、日本語の使用を避ける必要があると考えられている。しかしながら、コードスイッチングは第二言語環境もしくは多言語環境下で頻繁に起きるものである (Jenkins,2015)。従って英語のみで行う授業内でおいてもコードスイッチングは見られ、その要因を調査する必要がある。本研究では主に大学での授業見学と録音資料を用いて 2 回の 90 分授業内に起きるコードスイッチングの要因を調査した。結果として、学習者たちと指導者の両方が特定の目的をもってコードスイッチングを使用した。以上のことからコードスイッチングは学生間の会話を長くすることと授業内において学生たちを指導する際に効果的な役割を担っていることが分かった。

Download Full-text

Factors in Codeswitching in a Japanese University Context

Nagoya JALT Journal ◽

10.37546/jaltchap.nagoya1.1-7 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 43-57

Author(s):

Naoya Shibata

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

First Language ◽

Sociocultural Factors ◽

First Year ◽

Descriptive Case Study ◽

English Only ◽

English Classes ◽

Effective Role ◽

First Year University ◽

Main Language

In order to develop communication skills in English as a foreign language (EFL), learners and instructors are generally expected to use English as the main language and avoid speaking Japanese in English classes in principle (MEXT, 2014). In tertiary educational contexts, as many English classes are taught by teachers from other countries, the main language used in the class is likely to be English. However, codeswitching frequently occurs in bilingual and multilingual contexts (Jenkins, 2015). Therefore, codeswitching can be found even in classes with ostensibly English-only instruction. Possible factors need to be explored because it is essential to understand the sociocultural factors within the foreign language classroom that underline codeswitching and this will aid educators in realising the positive use of the first language in specific situations. This paper uses a descriptive case study involving 20 first-year university students in order to explore the factors underlying codeswitching in two 90-minute ‘English-only instruction’ classes, by analysing class observations and voice-recorded classroom data. Results illustrated that both students and the instructor changed their codes for particular purposes. Therefore, codeswitching can have an effective role in having longer conversations between students and disciplining students in English classes. 中等教育と高等教育を含め、英語のみで行う授業の概念の普及により、学習者と指導者は原則英語を主要な言語として用い、日本語の使用を避ける必要があると考えられている。しかしながら、コードスイッチングは第二言語環境もしくは多言語環境下で頻繁に起きるものである(Jenkins,2015)。従って英語のみで行う授業内でおいてもコードスイッチングは見られ、その要因を調査する必要がある。本研究では主に大学での授業見学と録音資料を用いて 2 回の 90 分授業内に起きるコードスイッチングの要因を調査した。結果として、学習者たちと指導者の両方が特定の目的をもってコードスイッチングを使用した。以上のことからコードスイッチングは学生間の会話を長くすることと授業内において学生たちを指導する際に効果的な役割を担っていることが分かった。

Download Full-text

Thai Undergraduate Student Awareness of Regular and Irregular Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondence

Journal of English Teaching and Learning Issues ◽

10.21043/jetli.v4i1.9839 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

David D. Perrodin

Keyword(s):

General Education ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Private University ◽

First Year ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Data Set ◽

English Classes ◽

Frequency Occurrence ◽

First Year University ◽

Letter Sound

Recent events in Thailand in reference to the teaching of phonics for better comprehension of English vocabulary have highlighted the overuse of identifying letter-sound relationships in English by utilizing the familiar Thai orthography to assist developing Thai EFL learners. This paper investigated the long-term effects of using such pedagogy on recognizing regular and irregular Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondences (GPC) in English by Thai undergraduate students. To address this matter, the study used a convenience sampling of 373 first-year university students from 11 general education English classes at a mid-sized private university near Bangkok, Thailand. The familiar English poem I Take It You Already Know was employed for data collection, for it consists of a practical ratio of frequent and infrequent English grapheme-phoneme correspondences. Extensive lists of recognized grapheme-phoneme correspondences were used to identify the frequent or regular, and the infrequent or irregular main phoneme present in each of the 60 most frequently queried content words of the poem. Point-Biserial Correlation was employed to measure the strength of association between the frequency occurrence of the most queried content words from the data set, and the examined weighted word frequency data. The findings suggest that, in general, the Thai undergraduate students demonstrated an overall lack of recognition of regular and irregular Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondences of English.

Download Full-text

An investigation of body image concern and the effects of sociocultural factors among UK first year university students

Public Health ◽

10.1016/j.puhe.2012.01.011 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 126 (4) ◽

pp. 365-367 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kanokrat Luevorasirikul ◽

Helen Boardman ◽

Claire Anderson

Keyword(s):

Body Image ◽

University Students ◽

Sociocultural Factors ◽

First Year ◽

Body Image Concern ◽

First Year University

Download Full-text

The ‘unforgettable’ experience of foreign language anxiety

Journal of Education Culture and Society ◽

10.15503/jecs20151.120.128 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 120-128

Author(s):

Morana Drakulić

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Language Anxiety ◽

Foreign Language Anxiety ◽

First Year ◽

Learning Context ◽

Language Classroom ◽

First Year University

Foreign language anxiety (FLA) has long been recognized as a factor that hinders the process of foreign language learning at all levels. Among numerous FLA sources identified in the literature, language classroom seems to be of particular interest and significance, especially in the formal language learning context, where the course and the teacher are often the only representatives of language. The main purpose of the study is to determine the presence and potential sources of foreign language anxiety among first year university students and to explore how high anxiety levels shape and affect students’ foreign language learning experience. In the study both the questionnaire and the interviews were used as the data collection methods. Thematic analysis of the interviews and descriptive statistics suggest that most anxiety-provoking situations stem from the language classroom itself.

Download Full-text

Metaphor Comprehension and Engineering texts: Implications for English for Academic Purpose (EAP) and First-year University Student Success

TESL Canada Journal ◽

10.18806/tesl.v37i1.1332 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Tina Beynen

Keyword(s):

Engineering Students ◽

First Language ◽

Family Relationship ◽

Diagnostic Assessment ◽

First Year ◽

Test Analysis ◽

Metaphor Comprehension ◽

Metaphoric Language ◽

Transition From High School ◽

First Year University

One of the challenges that students face during the transition from high school to university is mastering discipline-specific academic expectations and norms. From a language perspective, they may encounter new academic and disciplinary vocabulary, some of which will be metaphoric in nature. However, some students whose first language is not English may struggle, as metaphoric competence is not often a consideration in ESL/EAP classrooms (Littlemore & Low, 2006). Among the supports that postsecondary institutions have implemented to improve students’ chances of success are diagnostic and post-entry language assessment (Read, 2016). This mixed methods study investigated the comprehension of metaphoric language in first-year engineering reading materials using diagnostic assessment. First, a corpus of first-year engineering texts was qualitatively explored, finding personification and family/relationship metaphors. Subsequently, a metaphor comprehension test was designed using content from the corpus and administered as a reading task in an existing diagnostic assessment for first-year engineering students. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and t-test analysis of the responses revealed that English first-language (L1) students outperformed English second/additional (L2) language students. Further, those who performed poorly on the diagnostic assessment tended to also struggle with the metaphor comprehension task. Implications are discussed for EAP and first-year university classrooms. Un des défis auxquels les étudiants font face lors de la transition entre l’école secondaire et l’université est la maîtrise des attentes et des normes universitaires propres à chaque discipline. Du point de vue de la langue, il se peut qu’ils rencontrent du vocabulaire nouveau lié à l’université et à une discipline, dont une partie sera de nature métaphorique. Cependant, certains étudiants, dont la première langue n’est pas l’anglais, peuvent éprouver des difficultés, puisque la compétence métaphorique n’est pas souvent prise en considération dans les cours d’ALS/EAP (cours d’anglais académique) (Littlemore & Low, 2006). Parmi les soutiens que les institutions postsecondaires ont mis en place pour améliorer les chances de réussite des étudiants, on trouve des évaluations langagières diagnostiques après l’admission à l’université (Read, 2016). Cette étude, à l’aide de diverses méthodes, a enquêté sur la compréhension du langage métaphorique dans les ouvrages de lecture de première année d’ingénierie en utilisant une évaluation diagnostique. Tout d’abord, on a évalué la qualité d’un corpus de textes d’ingénierie de première année pour y trouver des métaphores liées à la personnification, à la famille et aux relations. Par la suite, on a conçu un test de compréhension des métaphores tirées du corpus et on l’a administré comme une tâche de lecture dans un test d’évaluation diagnostique déjà existant pour les étudiants en première année d’ingénierie. Des statistiques descriptives, des corrélations et une analyse test-t des réponses ont révélé que les étudiants dont la première langue était l’anglais (L1) avaient mieux réussi que les étudiants dont l’anglais était la seconde langue ou la langue supplémentaire (L2). De plus, ceux qui n’avaient pas obtenu de bons résultats au test diagnostique, avaient aussi eu des difficultés dans la partie de compréhension des métaphores. On discute des implications pour les cours d’anglais académique et les cours de première année d’université.

Download Full-text

Community, Connections and Innovation in Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning

10.46679/978819484836306 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 141-168

Author(s):

Sandra Healy ◽

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

University Students ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Online Courses ◽

Tertiary Education ◽

First Year ◽

Academic English ◽

Community Connections ◽

First Year University ◽

The Impact

The emergence of the Covid-19 virus had an enormous impact on all of our lives and significantly affected the lives of first-year university students in Japan who began their tertiary education during the initial lockdown. This chapter examines the impact the move online had on these students by analysing videos created by them as part of their academic English as a Foreign Language (EFL) coursework. The videos were analysed, and 12 themes emerged which were used as a foundation for new practices focusing on the development of community and connections in online courses, particularly the use of e-mentors.

Download Full-text

The Use of First Language in Teaching ESP Vocabulary to Engineering Students at a Technical College

English Literature and Language Review ◽

10.32861/ellr.52.17.26 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 17-26

Author(s):

Le Van Tuyen ◽

Le Bich Van

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Technical College ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

First Language ◽

Ho Chi Minh City ◽

English Only ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Practical Implications

There has been a long-standing debate over the issue of including or excluding the student’s mother tongue (L1) in English as a foreign language (L2) classrooms. There are two opinions in this regard: monolingual approach and bilingual approach. While advocates of monolingual approach suggest that learning is determined by the exposure to L2, those advocating the bilingual approach think that L1 makes a valuable contribution to the learning process. Despite the widespread English-only use in EFL classes, the use of L1 is still a perennial topic. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the use of L1 in English for specific purposes (ESP) classes at a Technical College in Ho Chi Minh City-Vietnam (Henceforth called TC). More specifically, it attempts to explore the extent to which L1 is used and the reasons why L1 is used, and discover what attitudes engineering students have towards the use of L1 in the process of teaching ESP vocabulary to students. The instruments used for collecting data were questionnaires and class observations. The participants were 8 EFL teachers and 314 students at TC. The findings of the study indicated that all the teachers of English overused L1 in teaching ESP vocabulary. The study also revealed that the ESs had supportive attitudes towards their teachers’ use of L1 in teaching ESP vocabulary. Based on the findings, the study provided practical implications in order to help both EFL teachers and engineering students to improve their teaching and learning ESP at vocational training colleges in the Vietnamese context.

Download Full-text

Attitudes and Motivation of Turkish Undergraduate EFL Students towards Learning English Language

Studies in English Language Teaching ◽

10.22158/selt.v2n3p314 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 314 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Fatma Tokoz Goktepe

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

English Language ◽

Motivational Orientation ◽

Family Influence ◽

Background Information ◽

First Year ◽

Integrative Motivation ◽

First Year University ◽

Learning English

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes and motivation of first-year Turkish undergraduates toward English language learning as a foreign language. The study was carried out with 90 students majoring in business studies at Cag University, Mersin in Turkey by administering a survey designed on a five-point Likert scale with 43 items including demographic questions about the learners’ background information such as gender, age, and how long they have been learning English. The items on the survey were chosen from Dörnyei and Csizér (2006) in a variety of Hungarian researches and from a recently designed questionnaire by Ryan (2005). The domains used for the purpose of the study were: integrativeness, attitudes to L2 community, cultural interest, attitudes to learning English, criterion measures, ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, family influence, instrumentality (promotion and prevention), and fear of assimilation. The data collected were analysed through descriptive statistics in SPSS statistical program. The results revealed that Turkish first-year university students learn English as a foreign language mostly for instrumental reasons, and it also showed that integrative motivation is dominant motivational orientation for the participants in some degree.

Download Full-text

Het Bepalen Van De Moedertaalbeheersing Van Brugklassen In Het Kader Van Een Onderzoek Naar De Effekten Van Luistervaardigheidstraining

Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen ◽

10.1075/ttwia.26.06gra ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 70-79

Author(s):

Martina van de Graaf ◽

Ed Volkerts

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Foreign Language ◽

First Language ◽

The Other ◽

First Year ◽

Onderzoek Naar ◽

The One

The achievement of a foreign language in instructional education appears in the presence of an established first language. The purpose of the present study was to determine the level of first language development of Dutch schoolchildren in the first year of three hierarchical secondary schooltypes, M.A.V.O., M.A.V.O./ H.A.V.O., H.A.V.O./V.W.O. respectively. Two tests of a test bat-tery were used. The one assessed the vocabulary and the other the powers of abstraction in the first language. Extensive differences in performance between the different school types were found on both tests.

Download Full-text