scholarly journals JALT2014 Plenary Speaker article: Investigating concepts of desire, gender, and identity in language learners

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Michi Saki

An interview with Kimie Takahashi, International Christian University, Tokyo Sponsored by the Gender Awareness in Language Education (GALE) SIG Over the course of her international career as a sociolinguist, Kimie Takahashi has spent many years working in Australia and Thailand. She has published widely on gender, race, and language learning, which she addresses in her new book Language Learning, Gender and Desire: Japanese Women on the Move (2013, Multilingual Matters). Takahashi is also the co-founder of the sociolinguistics website Language on the Move <languageonthemove.org>. In this interview, Takahashi discusses the motivation behind her research and the concept of akogare and its relationship with second language learning. With many of our students learning English being women, the concepts behind Takahashi’s research is of great interest to any language teacher—male or female. Such knowledge can help deepen our understanding of language learning and of our students. The title of her JALT2014 talk is Gendering Intercultural Communication—Asian Women on the Move. Takahashi completed her doctorate with the University of Sydney in 2006, and is now Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Society, Culture, and Media at the International Christian University, Tokyo. Takahashi’s research interests focus on gender, race, bilingualism, and second language learning and use in transnational contexts.

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Clea Schmidt ◽  
Ellen Pilon ◽  
J.E. King

Reviews of: 'Language Learners as Ethnographers,' by Ana Barro, Michael Byram, Shirley Jordan, Celia Roberts and Brian Street; 'An Intercultural Approach to English Language Teaching,' by John Corbett; 'Critical Pedagogy: Political Approaches to Language and Intercultural Communication,' by Manuela Guilherme and Alison Phipps; 'Test It Fix It: English Verbs and Tenses Pre-intermediate,' and 'Test It Fix It: English Verbs and Tenses Intermediate,' by Kenna Bourke; and 'Silence in Second Language Learning: A Psychoanalytic Reading,' by Colette A. Granger.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 453-469
Author(s):  
Patrizia Giampieri

Abstract The World Wide Web has often been considered too vast to be consulted for linguistic purposes or for language learning. This paper will explore whether second language learners can be taught how to navigate the web (i.e., how to perform Google linguistic research, or “Googleology”), in order to improve their language skills. To this aim, a 2 h trial lesson was organized. The trial lesson was delivered to 78 apprentices, divided into groups of 10–15, over a period of six months. During the lesson, the participants were taught how to work with Google Advanced Search syntax. At the end of the lesson, they applied the newly-acquired skills by completing a few tasks concerning term and/or collocational search. The paper findings will highlight that, despite initial hesitation or inaccuracies in completing the exercises, the tasks were performed well. The participants considered the lesson interesting, useful and enjoyable. They felt engaged irrespective of the level of their second language (L2) knowledge, and were more confident in approaching Google Search for linguistic purposes.


Author(s):  
Vehbi Turel

The objective of this chapter is to clearly demonstrate through concrete examples how affective and efficient post-listening tasks for autonomous intermediate and upper-intermediate (intermediate) language learners can be designed and created in interactive multimedia listening environments (IMLEs) as a part of foreign/second language learning (FLL/SLL) process. Thus, in this chapter, firstly the definition of autonomy is slightly touched on. Secondly, the categorisation of autonomy is briefly explained. Thirdly, a separate part on multimedia listening environments and the nature of the listening stages and tasks in such environments is presented. Mainly and finally, what need to be taken into account in order to be able to design and create pedagogically and psychologically effective and useful post-listening tasks for autonomous intermediate language learners in IMLEs is accounted for in detail.


Author(s):  
Shaoqun Wu ◽  
Ian H. Witten

We use digital library technology to help language learners express themselves by capitalizing on the human-generated text available on the Web. From a massive collection of n-grams and their occurrence frequencies we extract sequences that begin with the word “I”, sequences that begin a question, and sequences containing statistically significant collocations. These are preprocessed, filtered, and organized as a digital library collection using the Greenstone software. Users can search the collection to see how particular words are typically used and browse by syntactic class. The digital library is richly interconnected to other resources. It includes links to external vocabularies and thesauri so that users can retrieve words related to any term of interest, and links the collection to the web by locating sample sentences containing these patterns and presenting them to the user. We have conducted an evaluation of how useful the system is in helping students, and the impact it has on their writing. Finally, language activities generated from the digital library content have been designed to help learners master important emotion related vocabulary and expressions. We predict that the application of digital library technology to assist language students will revolutionize second language learning.


Author(s):  
Mai Samir El-Falaky

Second language learning requires more than memorizing rules and vocabulary detached from contexts. Language teachers have to encourage the exposure to real context to enable their students to ‘acquire' the language in the same way they acquire their first language. This could entail an unconscious induction called ‘analogy'. Analogy may enable language learners to create neologisms for the purpose of communicating. This could also enable them to obtain a better understanding of lexical items in context. This chapter highlights the benefits of direct exposure to neologisms in journalistic texts, which influences learners' morphological choice. Mass media in general and journalism in particular are thought to be a perfect means of learning any language in its natural context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 134-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sible Andringa ◽  
Aline Godfroid

AbstractIn this final contribution to the issue, we discuss the important concept of generalizability and how it relates to applied linguists’ ability to serve language learners of all shades and grades. We provide insight into how biased sampling in Applied Linguistics currently is and how such bias may skew the knowledge that we, applied linguists, are building about second language learning and instruction. For example, our conclusions are often framed as universally-applying, even though the samples that have given rise to them are highly specific and Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD; Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010). We end with a call for research and replication in more diverse contexts and with more diverse samples to promote progress in the field of Applied Linguistics as ARAL celebrates its 40th anniversary.


1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Cotterall

Strategy training appears to be a promising means of assisting second language learners. However, strategy training operates within a context. If factors in that context are not considered, the training will not be successful. This paper discusses a number of insights highlighted by a reading strategy training study conducted in a second language (L2) setting. It cautions against the uncritical adoption of strategy training as a panacea for learning difficulties, and stresses the importance of recognising and taking account of factors in the second language learning context which may suggest modifications to procedures carried out successfully in first language (L1) settings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zana Ibrahim

Motivational surges in language learning occur when a number of personal and contextual parameters come together to induce intense and long-term motivational experiences. In the second language learning literature, this phenomenon is known as the directed motivational current (Dörnyei, Muir, & Ibrahim, 2014). As a novel concept in the field, little is known about what might induce this extraordinary motivational surge. The current study empirically examined the parameters of nine participants who provided accounts of the conditions around the initial stages of their motivational currents. The qualitative analysis found that five factors triggered the motivational currents in the participants: emergent opportunities, negative emotion, moments of realization/awakening, new information, and meeting others who shared the goal. The study also revealed two main conditions necessary for a DMC to begin: goal/ambitions and perceived feasibility. The final section of this paper presents practical implications of the current findings in relation to how second language teachers and educators might benefit from the findings to help incite motivational surges in their language learners.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-451
Author(s):  
Dalal Moh'd Al-Assaf

This study aims to investigate the challenges that learners and teachers of a language face during distance learning classes, especially learners and teachers of the Arabic language as a second language, based on the results of a distance learning experiment on non-native speakers of the Arabic language at the University of Jordan during the second term of 2019-2020. The study seeks to introduce the proper solutions that may mitigate these challenges to achieve the educational goals through distance learning while teaching the Arabic language as a second language. This study used the applied descriptive approach in identifying these challenges. It concluded that these challenges significantly impact the language learning process, including mastering it, the extent of benefit, and the influence on students' linguistic progress. This study recommends that these challenges are considered when adopting distance learning as a language education method at teaching language classes as a second one. These challenges need to be considered when planning for direct and indirect lessons in Arabic language educational classes, primarily via the Internet.


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