Mind Your Hashtags

2016 ◽  
pp. 33-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine Blattner ◽  
Amanda Dalola ◽  
Lara Lomicka
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
French Language ◽  
Communicative Practices ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
Social Media Service ◽  
Access Information ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores how French language learners in three different second and third year French courses (intermediate and advanced levels) understand and interpret hashtags using the popular microblogging tool Twitter. The present study highlights how this social media service may provide an authentic and dynamic platform that enhances the language learning experience, while developing students' multiliteracy skills in a second language (L2). Data from 18 students at a large southeastern university were examined via 579 analyzed tweets, 171 of which contained hashtags. In this project, we investigate the relationship between students' ability to access information in the hashtags and to understand the nature of the larger tweet in which it appears. The results of this study suggest that language learners have a tendency to glance over the hashtags and make guesses based on the information contained therein. The incorporation of cultural and linguistic elements linked to microbloggers' social tagging is an interesting and important aspect to add in foreign language classes. Learning about and understanding hashtags can promote the development of noticing cultural references, a skill that is indispensable for successful autonomous communication across national boundaries and for online communicative practices.

scholarly journals The relationship between language learning experience, motivation and some other individual variables of mature foreign language learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 69-79
Author(s):  
Zofia Chłopek
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Learner Motivation ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Individual Variables ◽  
The Relationship

The present paper investigates the issue of motivation of foreign language learners. The main research question, concerning a possible link between the amount of language learning experience and learner motivation, remains unanswered. However, it turns out that a few learner characteristics which some researchers believe to correlate with language learning experience can probably serve as good predictors of foreign language learners’ motivation.

Cinderella’s coach or just another pumpkin? Information communication technologies and the continuing marginalisation of languages in Australian schools

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindy Norris ◽  
Penelope Coutas
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Adverse Influence

The rhetoric around global connectedness and advances in information communication technologies (ICTs) suggests that: Professional life for the marginalised and isolated language teacher should beeasier; the experience of language learners in Australian schools should be more meaningful andbring them closer to the languages and communities that they are studying; and collectively thisshould be empowering for students and teachers and, in turn, empower the languages learning areawith respect to its status and place within the curriculum. This paper examines these assumptionsthrough a qualitative multiple case study investigation of the use of information communicationtechnologies (ICTs) in secondary school language classes. The study explores the perceptions andexperiences of early adolescent language learners and those of their teachers. It also identifies andexamines a range of contextual factors that both complicate and nuance the technology andlanguages learning nexus. The findings of the study question the assumption of “automaticity”associated with ICTs and an enhanced/improved language learning experience for all those involved.This study finds that experience with technologies can impact negatively on both learners andteachers. This, in turn, can have an adverse influence on perceptions about languages and theirstatus in schools. At a time when schools are investing heavily in information communicationtechnologies, and when they are having to manage the introduction of the Australian Curriculum:Languages, the findings of this study serve to highlight the place of the “critical” in terms of languagesin Australian schools.

Technology and Learner Autonomy: An Argument in Favor of the Nexus of Formal and Informal Language Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 52-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Lai
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Learning Contexts ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Technology Aids ◽  
Constructed Self ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article discusses some of the current research on technology in relation to learner autonomy, outlining major findings on the relationship between technology and learner autonomy in formal and informal learning contexts. Extant literature has discussed both teacher-initiated technology-enhanced formal learning environments and learner-constructed self-directed learning experience in informal learning contexts. Although valuable in the insights it provides into how technology aids learner autonomy, the two bodies of literature have largely been independent from each other, which may constrain our understanding.

Attitudes of Adult EFL Learners Towards Preparing for a Language Test via CALL

2019 ◽  
pp. 1730-1745
Author(s):  
Nilüfer Bekleyen ◽  
Serkan Çelik
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Language Test ◽  
State University ◽  
Adult Language Learners ◽  
Traditional Classroom Teaching ◽  
Higher Education Preparation

The present study focuses on the attitudes of adult language learners towards an Internet-based computer program designed to prepare the users for a language test. The participants were the attendees of a YDS (National Foreign Language Examination offered by the Turkish Council of Higher Education) preparation course which was conducted at a state university in Turkey. Sixty participants contributed to the study. Their attitudes towards Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) were measured via two different instruments: a questionnaire and an interview. The results indicated that lower level learners had significantly better attitudes towards CALL compared to higher level learners. In general, the participants found computers to be more interesting, motivating and encouraging but did not consider the traditional classroom teaching substitutable with CALL. The findings revealed no significant changes pertaining to the participants' attitudes towards CALL after their language learning experience with computers for four months.

Communication networks of Japanese language learners in their home country

2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Kurata
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Language Play ◽  
The Relationship

This paper deals with communication networks of four upper-intermediate level Japanese language learners with in-country experience who are studying at an Australian university, and it also examines the relationship between the learners’ networks and language learning. Utilizing Boissevain’s criteria for network analysis, I compared the characteristics of the informants’ current networks with those that existed prior to their in-country experiences. In addition, this study applied the framework of communicative competence developed by Hymes and Neustupny to analyse the informants’ language learning that occurred within their networks. The study found that a number of characteristics of the informants’ networks, such as their multiplex social roles and the variety of backgrounds of their Japanese network interactants, were probably related to the raising of the learners’ non-linguistic as well as linguistic awareness. It therefore appears that learners’ out-of-class communication networks with native speakers of the target language play an important role in terms of language learning.

scholarly journals Self-directed use of mobile devices for language learning beyond the classroom

ReCALL ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Lai ◽  
Dongping Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Mobile Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Learning Tasks

AbstractThe essence of mobile learning is learners’ agentic use of mobile devices to create learning experiences across time and space. Thus, understanding learners’ perceptions and preferred use of mobile devices for learning are critical to realizing the educational potentials of mobile learning. This study explored language learners’ self-directed use of mobile devices beyond the classroom through a survey and interview study with foreign language learners at a university in Hong Kong. A total of 256 learners were surveyed and 18 were interviewed to understand the nature of mobile language learning experiences that these learners engaged in autonomously beyond the classroom. Exploratory factor analysis yielded three dimensions of self-directed out-of-class mobile learning experience. Among the three dimensions, learners were found to use mobile devices more for facilitating the personalization of learning than for enhancing the authenticity and social connection in learning. This study further revealed that selective use was an outcome of the interaction between learner-defined affordances of the devices, their culturally informed and habitual use of the devices, their perceptions of the nature of the learning tasks, and the tempo-spatial circumstances of task implementation. The findings suggest that these factors need to be considered when designing mobile learning activities and educational interventions that promote mobile learning beyond the classroom.

scholarly journals A study of retrospective and concurrent foreign language learning experiences: A comparative interview study in Hungary

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-246
Author(s):  
Kata Csizér ◽  
Csaba Kálmán
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
English Language Teachers

Despite the fact that the influence of learning experiences on foreign language learning motivation has been widely acknowledged and emphasised, there are hardly any studies concentrating on these learning experiences. Hence, the aim of this study is to map the language learning experiences of former and current language learners in order to provide a detailed account of the possible components of the foreign language learning experience. Data were collected with the help of a qualitative interview schedule involving 22 language learners in two subsamples. Ten participants are English language teachers as former foreign language learners, while 12 students, current learners of English, have also been recruited. The most important result of our study is that foreign language learning experience seems to be a complex construct including immediate and present aspects as well as self-related components and attributions. Language learning success, the teacher’s personality, contact experiences, as well as attitudes towards the L2 seem to stand out as important components for both groups of learners. Apart from discussing the differences and similarities between retrospective and concurrent experiences, we will provide pedagogical and research-related implications as well.

scholarly journals WPŁYW UMUZYKALNIENIA NA PRZYSWAJANIE PODSYSTEMU FONICZNEGO U UCZĄCYCH SIĘ JĘZYKÓW OBCYCH: WYNIKI BADANIA

Neofilolog ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (43/2) ◽  
pp. 168-179
Author(s):  
Wioletta Piegzik
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Wilcoxon Test ◽  
Musical Ability ◽  
Music School ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect

This report presents the results of a study into the relationship between musical ability and the development of a phonological system by foreign language learners. Our own experiences both as a foreign language teacher and as a musical group leader have raised a number of questions and lines of enquiry. These challenge previous researchers’ findings concerning the allegedly absolutely positive effect of music on language learning and as a result this study has been undertaken.After a brief theoretical presentation, we describe the research project in which learners abilities to distinguish and produce different phonemes as well as the prosody of the language studying are analyzed. Two groups of learners were compared in this study. One group attended a music school. The second group had no musical experience. The study showed that receptive skills were not significantly different between the two groups. The group of learners with musical training was more articulate but this was the only difference. The statistical approach used in analysis of data was the Wilcoxon test.

The motivational self of the novice language learner

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-221
Author(s):  
Maria Villalobos-Buehner
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Language Class ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
Motivational Focus

Abstract Novice learners comprise the majority of language students in higher education, but very few decide to continue their foreign language education beyond the required credits. Educators must develop a deeper understanding of what motivates this group of students so they can design pedagogical practices that will help students shift from a checklist mindset to a lifelong commitment approach to language learning. This qualitative study examines the role that a motivational focus and future-self guides play in the language learning experience of novice language learners, taking a language class for the first time, from the USA, and the role that a grammar-based pedagogy has on the formation of those self-guides. Interviews with ten novice language learners showed that six students exhibited a strong promotion focus with an ideal L2 self available in their professional-self concept. Prevention-focused students with an available ought-to L2 self preferred classroom experiences centered around grammar topics while those with a promotional focus preferred culture-based lessons. This study makes recommendations on how language educators could maximize students’ level of engagement by knowing their students’ motivational focus.

An Investigation of the Relationship between Pragmatic Competence and Motivation for Non-English Majors

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 1308
Author(s):  
Xiaojing Chen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Learning Motivation ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Learning Motivation ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Relationship

Language is used for communication. Pragmatic competence, which is essential in English teaching, is an important component of communicative competence. The development of pragmatic competence will enhance that of foreign language learners’ communicative competence. This study discusses the relation between pragmatic competence and language learning motivation. Results show that students’ general pragmatic competence is at a low level. Most of the subjects hold instrumental motivation as their dominant motivation. Significant correlation has been found between pragmatic competence and language learning motivation (r=.582; p=.000). According to the survey results, the author provides several suggestions on cultivating and maintaining learners’ motivation in their pragmatic learning.

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