scholarly journals Inequalities of Education as Consequences of Grouping Arrangements in Language Classes of Disadvantaged Children

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Furcsa
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Ability Grouping ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Disadvantaged Children ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Comprehensive Picture

This paper describes the potential effects of grouping arrangements (in particular ability grouping) for language education in classes for disadvantaged children in Hungarian primary schools. The findings of the present paper are based on a larger study which aimed at identifying the major problems faced by disadvantaged foreign-language learners and their teachers. The paper aims to construct a detailed and comprehensive picture of the process of language learning perceived by both the children and their teachers. The main research tool was in-depth interviewing, combined with classroom observations. The research used purposive sampling and focused on rural primary schools attended by a considerable number of disadvantaged children situated in Hungary. The findings indicate that ability grouping for language instruction is a prevalent form of arrangement; however, it seems to have long-lasting negative effects on the achievement of the children in lower ability levels.

National Standards: Research into practice

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen W. Glisan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
National Standards ◽  
The Impact

The Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (SFLL) (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project [NSFLEP]), originally published in 1996, were envisioned by many as the panacea for providing a new and exciting direction for foreign language education in the United States. The perceived impact of these National K-16 Student Standards has been witnessed throughout more than a decade by scholarly works that have acknowledged their role as ‘a veritable change agent’ (Sharpley-Whiting 1999: 84), ‘a vision for foreign language education in the new century’ (Allen 2002: 518), and, more recently, as ‘a blueprint and framework for change’ (Terry 2009: 17). The research that has been done on the Standards since their inception has attempted to provide concrete ways for the field to embrace this new framework and thereby realize a Standards-based curriculum and perhaps even revolutionize language education. This work has consisted largely of (1) implementational research (both with and without experimental design) that proposes specific strategies for addressing the Standards in planning, teaching, and assessment (Schwartz & Kavanaugh 1997; Abbott & Lear 2010); (2) survey research that analyzes self-reported information regarding teachers' pedagogical beliefs about the Standards and ways in which they claim to be addressing Standards in their classrooms (Allen 2002; ACTFL 2011), and (3) White papers that disseminate opinions and insights by leaders in the field regarding the impact that the Standards are having in areas such as language instruction, curriculum and course design, and educational policy (Sharpley-Whiting 1999; Donato 2009; Glisan 2010).

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.

scholarly journals Sensory Emotion in Words: Evidence From an ERP Study in Light of the Emotioncy Model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahar Tabatabaee Farani ◽  
◽  
Reza Pishghadam ◽  
Azin Khodaverdi ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Materials Development ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Critical Words

Introduction: Delving into the prominent role of emotions and senses in the realm of language is not something new in the field. Thereupon, the newly developed notion of emotioncy has been introduced to the foreign language education to underscore the role of sense-induced emotions in the process of language learning and teaching. Methods: The present study implemented ERPs to provide evidence to the significance of employing emosensory instructional strategies in teaching vocabulary items. Hence, eighteen female participants were randomly instructed six English nouns toward which they had no prior knowledge and received no instruction for the other three words. Then, while the participants’ EEG was being recorded, they took a sentence comprehension task. Results: Behavioral results demonstrated significant differences among the avolved, the exvolved, and the involved nouns. However, ERP analyses of target words indicated the modulations of N100 and N480 components while no significant effect was observed at P200. Further, the analysis of sensory N100 for the critical words revealed no significant effect. Conclusion: In conclusion, the emotioncy-based language instruction could affect neural correlates of emotional word comprehension from the early stages of EEG recording. The findings of this study can shed light on the importance of including senses and emotions in language teaching, learning, and testing, along with materials development.

Lubnani,Libanais, Lebanese: Missionary Education, Language Policy and Identity Formation in Modern Lebanon

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deanna Ferree Womack
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Foreign Missions ◽  
The Usa

This article examines language instruction and religious and socio-political identity formation in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American Protestant and French Jesuit missionary institutions in Lebanon. It compares French, English and Arabic language education policies at Saint Joseph University (Université Saint-Joseph), Syrian Protestant College (now the American University in Beirut) and the American Syria Mission schools under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the USA. The article considers the mutual transformations in the encounter between missionaries and Lebanese students and addresses the relationship between language learning and educational, literary and nationalist development in the Middle East. Emphasising the agency of Arabic-speaking Ottoman subjects and their reciprocal relationship with missionaries, it argues that before the turn of the century, those individuals who acquired a foreign language and excelled in literary Arabic charted the course toward social, cultural and political change in the twentieth century.

Foreign Language Anxiety: Past and Future

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 442-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Luo
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Emotional Reaction ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Foreign Language Learners

Abstract This paper gives a comprehensive review of studies on foreign language anxiety. Foreign language anxiety has been recognized in the past few decades as a situation-specific emotional reaction that potentially impedes foreign language learning. Research has shown that foreign language anxiety is not only prevalent among foreign language learners, but also has various negative effects on foreign language learning. In order to help learners cope with this problem, researchers have identified a large number of sources of foreign language anxiety, which generally fall into four major categories, namely, the classroom environment, learner characteristics, the target language, and the foreign language learning process itself. Researchers have also investigated quite a number of factors associated with foreign language anxiety (including categorical background variables and quantitative learner variables) and have produced mixed results. Based on a thorough review of foreign language anxiety, the paper concludes with recommendations for future studies on foreign language anxiety.

Improving Online Readability and Information Literacy

2011 ◽  
pp. 284-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Paul Loucky
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Media Literacy ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Online Reading ◽  
Foreign Language Learners

This chapter integrates important challenges of how to improve accessibility, readability and learnability of online content. It is concerned with issues of how to create effective and enjoyable contents for online learning that is linguistically accessible, textually comprehensible and readable for foreign language learners. Information literacy is an umbrella term encompassing computer, critical, digital, and media literacy. Yet a crucial area for research is the overlap of traditional reading literacy and new forms of online and digital library literacy. This area seems to have been largely overlooked and under-researched. This chapter elucidates how various threads can be more skillfully woven together so as to enhance online reading and language learning skills. The aim is to gain insights that enhance online learning and integrate information literacies in foreign language education.

scholarly journals Sustainability in Lifelong Learning: Learners’ Perceptions from a Turkish Distance Language Education Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5284 ◽  
Author(s):  
İlin
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Education Program ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Distance Education Program ◽  
Statistical Program ◽  
Group Interviews

This descriptive study, which adopts a mixed-methods approach, investigates whether the language learning component of the distance education program at a vocational school of higher education contributes to the students’ lifelong learning propensities, 21st-century skills and sustainability of their language education. A questionnaire eliciting answers from four standpoints were administered to students receiving English language instruction in the program. As for the qualitative side of the study, group interviews were held with volunteers. The quantitative data were analyzed by a statistical program while the interview data were subjected to content analysis. The findings reveal that although the students have a positive attitude toward language learning in a distance education program, they frequently refer to the need for the presence of a teacher for a variety of reasons. On the other hand, it appears that the requirements of the language component of the program contributed to the students’ plans for sustainability of their education after graduation. The results further indicate a need for more interaction and collaboration to be incorporated in the activities and that the philosophy underpinning the program, curriculum and materials need to be reconsidered to equip the students to compete with the dynamics of the educational world.

The Involvement of Native Speakers in Teaching and Learning Japanese Language at UiTM

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Choong Pow Yean ◽  
Sarinah Bt Sharif ◽  
Normah Bt Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Lexical Density

The Nihongo Partner Program or “Japanese Language Partner” is a program that sends native speakers to support the teaching and learning of Japanese overseas. The program is fully sponsored by The Japan Foundation. The aim of this program is to create an environment that motivates the students to learn Japanese. This study is based on a survey of the Nihongo Partner Program conducted on students and language lecturers at UiTM, Shah Alam. This study aims to investigate if there is a necessity for native speakers to be involved in the teaching and learning of Japanese among foreign language learners. Analysis of the results showed that both students and lecturers are in dire need of the Nihongo Partner Program to navigate the learning of the Japanese language through a variety of language learning activities. The involvement of native speaker increases students’ confidence and motivation to converse in Japanese. The program also provides opportunities for students to increase their Japanese language proficiency and lexical density. In addition, with the opportunity to interact with the native speakers, students and lecturers will have a better understanding of Japanese culture as they are able to observe and ask the native speakers. Involvement of native speakers is essential in teaching and learning of Japanese in UiTM.

Didattica delle lingue in prospettiva interculturale: innovazione e potenzialità

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 189-198
Author(s):  
Manuela Derosas
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Vast Literature ◽  
The Creation

Since the early ’80s the adjective "intercultural" in language learning and teaching has seemed to acquire a remarkable importance, although its meaning is strongly debated. As a matter of fact, despite the existence of a vast literature on this topic, difficulties arise when applying it in the classroom. The aim of this work is to analyze the elements we consider to be the central pillars in this methodology, i.e. a renewed language-and culture relation, the Intercultural Communicative Competence, the intercultural speaker. These factors allow us to consider this as a new paradigm in language education; furthermore, they foster the creation of new potentialities and configure the classroom as a significant learning environment towards the discovery of Otherness.

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