scholarly journals The learner as lexicographer: using monolingual and bilingual corpora to deepen vocabulary knowledge

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina HMELJAK SANGAWA
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Challenging Tasks ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Bilingual Corpora ◽  
The University ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge ◽  
Selection Of

Learning vocabulary is one of the most challenging tasks faced by learners with a non-kanji background when learning Japanese as a foreign language. However, learners are often not aware of the range of different aspects of word knowledge they need in order to successfully use Japanese. This includes not only the spoken and written form of a word and its meaning, but also morphological, grammatical, collocational, connotative and pragmatic knowledge as well as knowledge of social constraints to be observed. In this article, we present some background data on the use of dictionaries among students of Japanese at the University of Ljubljana, a selection of resources and a series of exercises developed with the following aims: a) to foster greater awareness of the different aspects of Japanese vocabulary, both from a monolingual and a contrastive perspective, b) to learn about tools and methods that can be applied in different contexts of language learning and language use, and c) to develop strategies for learning new vocabulary, reinforcing knowledge about known vocabulary, and effectively using this knowledge in receptive and productive language tasks.

scholarly journals Mandarin Language Students Illocutionary Acts in Japanese Language Learning at the University of Sumatera Utara

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-11
Author(s):  
Taulia Taulia ◽  
Laraiba Nasution
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Mandarin Language ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Recorded Data ◽  
Directive Speech Acts ◽  
The University ◽  
Department Faculty

Speech acts play an essential role in language learning as an aspect that can improve a learner's ability to speak orally. In this research, illocutionary speech-acts  were described in the Japanese language learning process for students of the Mandarin Language Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, University of Sumatera Utara. This research is qualitative. The data are speech acts in the lecture process in class, especially in the discussion. The data sources were 40 fourth-semester students of the Mandarin Language Department. The theory used was the Searle speech act theory. Data collection techniques were carried out through observation, recording , and note-taking techniques. Data analysis techniques were carried out applying Miles & Huberman's opinion by condensing data through transcription of recorded data into written form, identifying forms, speech act functions, data presentation, and concluding. As a result, there were forms of illocutionary speech acts, namely directive, expressive, and declarative. Furthermore, the purpose used in class was in directive speech acts which were to order, ask, invite (engage). In other words, in expressive speech-act was praising, and in declarative speech-act was prohibiting. In conclusion, Japanese speech acts in Japanese class occured between lecturers and students and only consisted of several types of speech acts due to students' limited mastery of Japanese.

scholarly journals L2 VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION

Diacrítica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-247
Author(s):  
Daniel Reschke Pires ◽  
Celso Henrique Soufen Tumolo
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Vocabulary Instruction ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Smartphone Applications ◽  
Mobile Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Written Form ◽  
L2 Vocabulary

The advancements in mobile technology have made smartphones more accessible and more powerful, and this has led to the growth of the field of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL). Because of this and considering that most smartphone applications for English learning have activities designed to instruct vocabulary (Kim & Kwon, 2012), this study aimed at analyzing the instruction of vocabulary in the three most used applications for language learning until the end of 2018. More specifically, it investigated: a) what aspects of word-knowledge the applications develop; b) whether they provide a number of encounters with the target vocabulary and whether they are massed or spaced; and c) the nonverbal representations employed by the applications. The results showed that the applications: a) instruct the spoken and written form of words, but often neglect other aspects of word knowledge; b) provide multiple, massed encounters with the target vocabulary; and c) employ images and videos as nonverbal representations that are not always relevant to the instruction of target vocabulary. From the analysis, we concluded that the applications can be used as a tool to assist the instruction of vocabulary in spite of limitations such as the lack of chances for language production and decontextualized instruction.

scholarly journals VOCABULARY SIZE AT FOUR STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Daskalovska
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
School Students ◽  
Authentic Texts ◽  
The Difference

One of the main aims of language learning is developing communicative competence, or the ability to communicate effectively in everyday situations. In order to achieve that, besides grammar knowledge, learners need to acquire enough vocabulary knowledge that would enable them to use the language outside the classroom, which requires acquiring significant receptive and productive word knowledge in order to be able to participate in various communicative situations. Research shows that the most frequent 2000 words comprise about 85% of the words in any text regardless of the topic, and that learners need to know at least 3000 word families in order to be able to use the language successfully and to be able to read authentic texts with understanding. However, experience shows that acquiring a large vocabulary is one of the biggest obstacles that language learners face in the process of language acquisition. Nevertheless, since vocabulary knowledge is the key component of the overall communicative competence, is it necessary to invest time and effort to learn the most frequent words in the language. The aim of this study is to determine the vocabulary size of language learners at four stages of language development. In addition, the study attempts to determine the difference between receptive and productive knowledge of vocabulary, as well as the difference between knowledge of words seen in isolation and in context. The participants were four groups of learners, of whom three groups comprised elementary and secondary school students and one group were university students. The results showed that during the first five years of learning the vocabulary knowledge increases at a greater rate, that learners have better receptive than productive knowledge of words, and that seeing words in context helps learners demonstrate greater receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0725/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

scholarly journals RECEPTIVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN CLIL INSTRUCTION

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilsah Kalay
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Before And After

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has recently attracted the attention of practitioners in the language teaching field. As the name suggests, CLIL is an approach built upon teaching content-based area through a language as a medium. For such a language learning process, one of the important language aspects is vocabulary. The number of words language learners know - vocabulary size - and how well they know those words - vocabulary depth - (overall, the receptive dimension of word knowledge) are crucial foci to consider in language learning. Therefore, the primary concern of the present study is to examine the effects of the CLIL approach on the receptive vocabulary knowledge of university students in a state university. Accordingly, Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) by Schmitt, Schmitt and Clapham (2001) and Word Association Test (WAT) by Read (2000) are administered to the participants before and after CLIL treatment. The findings indicated that the subjects’ size of vocabulary knowledge has significantly differed with CLIL instruction in time, which means that CLIL instruction has been found to be successful for developing both general and academic vocabulary knowledge. Similarly, an increase in the depth of vocabulary knowledge of participants alongside with the CLIL instruction has been observed, indicating that participants’ quality of vocabulary knowledge evaluated through WAT seems to have improved with CLIL treatment. Further research including less frequent words as well as the productive aspect of word knowledge might shed light on the impacts of CLIL treatment on vocabulary development of language learners, especially university students. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0726/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

scholarly journals Finding the sweet spot: Learners’ productive knowledge of mid-frequency lexical items

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110204
Author(s):  
Ben Naismith ◽  
Alan Juffs
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Lexical Development ◽  
University Of Pittsburgh ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Word Families ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
The University

Research into vocabulary knowledge often differentiates between breadth (how many words a person knows) and depth (how well the words are known). Both theoretical categories are essential for understanding language learners’ lexical development, but how the different aspects of vocabulary knowledge interconnect has not received the same attention as each individual dimension, especially in terms of productive knowledge. This study analyses lexis from mid-frequency lemmas in the K3–K9 frequency bands from the learner corpus PELIC (The University of Pittsburgh English Language Corpus). Critically for learners, mastery of lexis in this frequency range is essential for achieving the English proficiency required for university study. From these mid-frequency items, a dataset of 7,554 tokens were collected from word families with multiple derivations and manually annotated. The findings showed high rates of collocational and derivational accuracy for the forms learners opted to use. However, compared to expert speaker texts in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), learners overused the verb forms and underused the noun forms of these lexical items. These patterns provide evidence of the interplay between breadth and depth in learners’ productive vocabulary usage, suggesting that increased lexical depth will naturally lead to greater lexical breadth and vice versa. Pedagogical implications reaffirm the importance of developing learners’ explicit morphological awareness and collocational accuracy. Suggestions for mid-frequency lexical items to prioritize in language learning are also provided, with a view to helping learners achieve academic readiness.

scholarly journals Individual Differences in Children’s (Language) Learning Skills Moderate Effects of Robot-Assisted Second Language Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rianne van den Berghe ◽  
Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz ◽  
Josje Verhagen ◽  
Susanne Brouwer ◽  
Mirjam de Haas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Phonological Memory ◽  
Robot Assisted ◽  
Experimental Conditions

The current study investigated how individual differences among children affect the added value of social robots for teaching second language (L2) vocabulary to young children. Specifically, we investigated the moderating role of three individual child characteristics deemed relevant for language learning: first language (L1) vocabulary knowledge, phonological memory, and selective attention. We expected children low in these abilities to particularly benefit from being assisted by a robot in a vocabulary training. An L2 English vocabulary training intervention consisting of seven sessions was administered to 193 monolingual Dutch five-year-old children over a three- to four-week period. Children were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: 1) a tablet only, 2) a tablet and a robot that used deictic (pointing) gestures (the no-iconic-gestures condition), or 3) a tablet and a robot that used both deictic and iconic gestures (i.e., gestures depicting the target word; the iconic-gestures condition). There also was a control condition in which children did not receive a vocabulary training, but played dancing games with the robot. L2 word knowledge was measured directly after the training and two to four weeks later. In these post-tests, children in the experimental conditions outperformed children in the control condition on word knowledge, but there were no differences between the three experimental conditions. Several moderation effects were found. The robot’s presence particularly benefited children with larger L1 vocabularies or poorer phonological memory, while children with smaller L1 vocabularies or better phonological memory performed better in the tablet-only condition. Children with larger L1 vocabularies and better phonological memory performed better in the no-iconic-gestures condition than in the iconic-gestures condition, while children with better selective attention performed better in the iconic-gestures condition than the no-iconic-gestures condition. Together, the results showed that the effects of the robot and its gestures differ across children, which should be taken into account when designing and evaluating robot-assisted L2 teaching interventions.

Education 4.0 revolution: transformative approaches to language teaching and learning, assessment and campus design

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Learning Assessment ◽  
Digital Space ◽  
Campus Design ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
The University ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Language Teaching And Learning

This edited collection presents a selection of contributions made to the 13th eLearning Symposium, held at the University of Southampton, in January 2020. Our theme was ‘Education 4.0 revolution: transformative approaches to language teaching and learning, assessment, and campus design’, and attendees engaged in rich discussions around the challenges of fast-paced digital change. Contributors to this volume are educators from higher education across the world and topics include innovation in physical and digital space, effective blended language learning, and digital story-telling. We hope that this volume will inspire practitioners in the innovative use of technology for education.

scholarly journals Technology as a Source of Language Input and Practice and its Influence on the Vocabulary Development of University EFL Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-30
Author(s):  
Adela Talbi Hassani
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Language Resources ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
The University

This paper addresses the extent to which technology-based language resources and tools influence the vocabulary development among University students learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The vocabulary development of 184 undergraduate students at the University of xxxxxxxx (xxxxxxx) is studied in terms of the growth of their receptive vocabulary size as well as their use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) across three years, and any possible correlation between this development and the use of technology is analysed. Findings reveal that for the majority of the population, the highly frequent use of multimedia tools was largely confirmed; however, for most students there was no significant correlation between the use of such resources and the growth pattern of their vocabulary knowledge. Only the low-intermediate students who had just joined the university were the exception, as their use of Internet to search for information or to communicate with others seemed to be significantly correlated to their vocabulary development. These findings have interesting implications for the classroom as they show the high potential of technology-based resources in developing vocabulary especially in environments in which English is taught as a foreign language (FL), and used only in classroom contexts. Learners appear to be "connected" enough and avid of technology based tools; however, they seem to need assistance from instructors to maximize the positive support of such tools on their language learning in general and vocabulary development in particular.

Tertiary English-majored Students’ Perceptions toward the Role of Pronunciation in English Language Learning and their Practicing Strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-279
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
The University

Accurate pronunciation has a vital role in English language learning as it can help learners to avoid misunderstanding in communication. However, EFL learners in many contexts, especially at the University of Phan Thiet, still encounter many difficulties in pronouncing English correctly. Therefore, this study endeavors to explore English-majored students’ perceptions towards the role of pronunciation in English language learning and examine their pronunciation practicing strategies (PPS). It involved 155 English-majored students at the University of Phan Thiet who answered closed-ended questionnaires and 18 English-majored students who participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that students strongly believed in the important role of pronunciation in English language learning; however, they sometimes employed PPS for their pronunciation improvement. Furthermore, the results showed that participants tended to use naturalistic practicing strategies and formal practicing strategies with sounds, but they overlooked strategies such as asking for help and cooperating with peers. Such findings could contribute further to the understanding of how students perceive the role of pronunciation and their PPS use in the research’s context and other similar ones. Received 10th June 2019; Revised 12th March 2020; Accepted 12th April 2020

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