scholarly journals Fatal attraction: inheritance and collostruction in the ihjel-construction

1970 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Ebensgaard Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Fatal Attraction ◽  
Language Description

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. Firstly, it presents an argument for usage-based inheritance models over complete inheritance models in construction grammar. It is argued that, with the principle of inductive language learning as their foundation, usage-based inheritance models allow for redundancies and incongruities in construction networks which enables linguists to take into account details of language use, which would otherwise not be facilitated in complete inheritance models. Secondly, making use of the method of collostructional analysis, the article offers a corpus-based description of the use of the Danish ihjel-construction which accounts for patterns of attraction of construction-verb attraction, patterns of productivity, and various types of subconstructions, including item- and item-class-based ones and metaphorical extensions. The description of the ihjel-construction should also illustrate the superiority of usage-based inheritance models over complete inheritance models in construction grammar-based language description.

You’ve got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette. Linguistic complexity and instruction in SLA

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick De Graaff
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Linguistic Complexity ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Instructed Second Language Acquisition ◽  
The One

In this epilogue, I take a teaching practice and teacher education perspective on complexity in Instructed Second Language Acquisition. I take the stance that it is essential to understand if and how linguistic complexity relates to learning challenges, what the implications are for language pedagogy, and how this challenges the role of the teacher. Research shows that differences in task complexity may lead to differences in linguistic complexity in language learners’ speech or writing. Different tasks (e.g. descriptive vs narrative) and different modes (oral vs written) may lead to different types and levels of complexity in language use. On the one hand, this is a challenge for language assessment, as complexity in language performance may be affected by task characteristics. On the other hand, it is an opportunity for language teaching: using a diversity of tasks, modes and text types may evoke and stretch lexically and syntactically complex language use. I maintain that it is essential for teachers to understand that it is at least as important to aim for development in complexity as it is to aim for development in accuracy. Namely, that ‘errors’ in language learning are part of the deal: complex tasks lead to complex language use, including lexical and syntactical errors, but they are a necessary prerequisite for language development.

Multimodal constructions in children

Gesture ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Andrén
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Developmental Progression ◽  
Traditional Sense ◽  
Theoretical Question

Swedish children’s use of the headshake from 18 to 30 months shows a developmental progression from rote-learned and formulaic coordination with speech to increasingly more flexible and productive coordination with speech. To deal with these observations, I make use of the concept of multimodal constructions, to extend usage-based approaches to language learning and construction grammar by inclusion of the kinetic domain. These ideas have consequences for the (meta‑)theoretical question of whether gesture can be said to be part of language or not. I suggest that some speech-coordinated gestures, including the headshake, can be considered part of language, also in the traditional sense of language as a conventionalized system.

scholarly journals Ideologies of language at Hippo Family Club

Pragmatics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-227
Author(s):  
Chad Nilep
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Approach To Learning ◽  
Japanese Schools ◽  
State Language

Ethnographic study of Hippo Family Club, a foreign language learning club in Japan with chapters elsewhere, reveals a critique of foreign language teaching in Japanese schools and in the commercial English conversation industry. Club members contrast their own learning methods, which they view as “natural language acquisition”, with the formal study of grammar, which they see as uninteresting and ineffective. Rather than evaluating either the Hippo approach to learning or the teaching methods they criticize, however, this paper considers the ways of thinking about language that club members come to share. Members view the club as a transnational organization that transcends the boundaries of the nation-state. Language learning connects the club members to a cosmopolitan world beyond the club, even before they interact with speakers of the languages they are learning. The analysis of club members’ ideologies of language and language learning illuminates not only the pragmatics of language use, but practices and outcomes of socialization and shared social structures.

scholarly journals Raising Collocational Awareness with Humour

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-113
Author(s):  
Tünde Nagy
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Easy Task ◽  
Specific Meaning ◽  
Linguistic Structures

AbstractDespite the increased interest that collocations have received in EFL methodology lately, making language learners aware of these multiword constructions continues to represent a challenge for teachers. While there may be different ways of teaching collocations, finding activities that raise collocational awareness efficiently is no easy task. Collocational awareness can be defined as the ability of language learners (and users) to use and acknowledge word combinations in their entirety. Humour can be useful in this regard as it not only ensures a more relaxed atmosphere in the classroom but can also help students to acknowledge and remember specific linguistic structures (among them, also collocations) more easily. In line with Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995, 1997, 2006), it is believed that collocations are to be treated as constructions, pairings of form with a specific meaning and varying degrees of predictability – teaching them as such can contribute to a better understanding and acquisition of these constructions. After offering a brief overview of the characteristics of collocations and reflecting on the possible advantages of using humour in class, the paper shows possible ways of teaching collocations with humour. The exercises and activities suggested focus on both the productive and receptive competence of language learners and also incorporate the necessary skills required in the language learning process: listening, reading, writing, and speaking.

scholarly journals Cross-cultural Training and Second Language Learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Zhonghao Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Training ◽  
Cross Cultural Training ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Culture Teaching ◽  
Culture And Language

Culture and language are inseparable, and cultures as groups adopt particular practices and norms of behavior. Culture teaching is a long and complex process concerning something more than language use itself. The two popular theories influencing practice today are the Constructivist and the Creative Constructionist approaches, and the technique for conveying cultural awareness is cultural assimilator, which has been designed for specific cultures around the world. Cross-cultural training can be used to promote cultural awareness, that is, sensitize people to the influence of culture on people’s values and behaviors and help them recognize and accept the existence of cultural differences.

scholarly journals An investigation into teacher’s L1 and L2 use in Indonesian EFL classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-79
Author(s):  
A Amriana
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Research Result ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Teaching Approach ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
L1 And L2

Teacher’s L1/L2 use in Indonesian EFL classroom has been the object of debate among practitioners of a second language and foreign language teaching. Despite the considerable amount of the research that has been conducted on the phenomenon, the focus has often been the advantages and disadvantages. This study reports on a study that investigated subject teacher’s language use on Indonesian EFL classroom. It reports research conducted in a private secondary school in Makassar. An Ethnography research has been employed to collect data on how the teacher perceives the L1/L2 use and the extent to which the approaches they adopt impact on students’ achievement. The research result demonstrates that the more active the teacher in promoting L2 learning, the more he is aware of the teaching practices used in the classroom. Also, the research result also reveals that the more he improves the quality of his teaching approach, the better language learning his students acquire.

On the roles of repetition in language teaching and learning

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Larsen-Freeman,
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
The World ◽  
Mutable State ◽  
Exact Replication ◽  
Language Teaching And Learning

AbstractRepetition is common in language use. Similarly, having students repeat is a common practice in language teaching. After surveying some of the better known contributions of repetition to language learning, I propose an innovative role for repetition from the perspective of complexity theory. I argue that we should not think of repetition as exact replication, but rather we should think of it as iteration that generates variation. Thus, what results from iteration is a mutable state. Iteration is one way that we create options in how to make meaning, position ourselves in the world as we want, understand the differences which we encounter in others, and adapt to a changing context.

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