Autistic People's Access to Bilingualism and Additional Language Learning: Identifying the Barriers and Facilitators for Equal Opportunities

Bilingualism is a valuable tool that enriches and facilitates cultural, social and lived experiences for autistic and non-autistic people alike. Research consistently finds no negative effects of bilingualism and highlights the potential for positive effects across cognitive and socio-cultural domains for autistic and non-autistic children. Yet parents of autistic children remain concerned that bilingualism will cause delays in both cognitive and language development and are still frequently advised by practitioners to raise their child monolingually. Evidently, findings from research are not reflected in practice or subsequent advice, and it is essential to identify ways to ensure equal access to additional language learning. We briefly summarise the existing literature on bilingualism and autism, considering perspectives from the bilingual autistic community, and experimental research. We identify the most pertinent barriers to participation for autistic bilingual children in terms of familial, clinical and educational perspectives. We propose novel solutions to promote additional language learning and suggest changes to practice that will contribute to an evidence base for families and practitioners. This commentary makes innovative recommendations at both the individual and societal level to ensure that autistic bilingual people have equal rights and opportunities to language learning and are optimally supported in accessing them.

Moving Beyond the Native-Speaker Bias in the Analysis of Variable Gender Marking

In the current study, we respond to calls for reform in second language acquisition that center on the field’s preoccupation with native-speaker and prescriptive targets as a benchmark for additional-language learning. In order to address these concerns, we examine the use and development of grammatical gender marking in additional-language Spanish in a prescriptive-independent manner. Specifically, we depart from previous analyses that have centered on accuracy and targetlikeness and we shift the object of analysis to the linguistic forms (i.e., feminine and masculine modifiers) that additional-language participants use. We adopt a variationist approach to explain how participants vary their use of modifier gender and how this use changes longitudinally. We argue that such an approach to studying additional languages allows us to offer new insights about the acquisition of grammatical gender marking in additional-language Spanish. We end by critically reflecting on some of the challenges that we encountered in trying to integrate this paradigm shift into the examination of a well-studied grammatical structure.

Autistic people’s access to bilingualism and additional language learning: identifying the barriers and facilitators for equal opportunities.

Bilingualism is a valuable tool that enriches and facilitates cultural, social and lived experiences for autistic and non-autistic people alike. Research consistently finds no negative effects of bilingualism and highlights the potential for positive effects across cognitive and socio-cultural domains for autistic and non-autistic children. Yet parents of autistic children remain concerned that bilingualism will cause delays in both cognitive and language development and are still frequently advised by practitioners to raise their child monolingually. Evidently, findings from research are not reflected in practice or subsequent advice, and it is essential to identify ways to ensure equal access to additional language learning.We briefly summarise the existing literature on bilingualism and autism, considering perspectives from the bilingual autistic community, and experimental research. We identify the most pertinent barriers to participation for autistic bilingual children in terms of familial, clinical and educational perspectives. We propose novel solutions to promote additional language learning, and suggest changes to practice that will contribute to an evidence base for families and practitioners. This commentary makes innovative recommendations at both the individual and societal level to ensure that autistic bilingual people have equal rights and opportunities to language learning and are optimally supported in accessing them.

Translation studies in German as a foreign language (GFL) in Africa (Nigera): A tool against "waiting room dangers"

The importance of translation in Additional Language Learning (ALL) cannot be overemphasized, as there exist of late various studies in support of this fact. Extant studies on this issue have dealt with various aspects of translation in language learning in Europe, Canada, Australia and in the United States, although studies in this regard are not limited to these geographical boundaries. Moreover, these studies do not only focus on the impact of translation on ALL but also on various other issues like plurilingualism as it relates to translation in ALL. However, research in this regard are relatively scarce in the African context. As such, many studies done in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, are limited in scope when it comes to the relevance of translation in learning German as a Foreign Language (GFL). This study therefore seeks to shed more light on how translation studies in GFL lessons in Nigeria could be useful as a tool against “waiting room dangers”. In this sense, I mean the (in)security issues encountered in places of temporary localisations.

Examples of cross-linguistic influence in learning German as a foreign language

The present study sheds light on cross-linguistic influence and language transfer in third or additional language learning and explores the factors affecting the learning of third or additional language in a multilingual context. It aims at investigating the extent to which the typologically more similar language influences the language being learned. This study was carried out with the participation of 30 third-year students in the foreign languages stream at Al-Kawakibi Secondary School-Touggourt in Algeria. The participants had Arabic as L1, French as L2, English as L3 and they were learning L4 German. The instruments included two translation tasks and a paragraph writing in German, in addition to a questionnaire about learners' self-rated language proficiency of their non-native languages. The findings show that students tend to translate into the language which is typologically more similar to German, in this case English, that influences learning L4 German the most.

Positive Psychology and Mastery of the L2 Academic Self

In order to determine how best to prepare students for university and to participate meaningfully in the activities of their intended academic discourse community (ADC), the influential model proposed by Anne Beaufort in 2007 suggests that this can only occur once a learner has mastered the domains of knowledge pertaining to the target ADC, including those of subject matter, genre, rhetorical techniques and the writing process. However, this article will argue that mastery of a domain and entry into an ADC involves more than this; both of these things can occur only once a student has been able to ‘master’ him/herself. In order to address the question of the nature of ‘self-mastery’ and how to guide students towards achieving it, this article draws upon theories from the emerging field of positive psychology, showing how notions such as self-efficacy, mindfulness and flow can be interwoven with concepts more commonly associated with English for Academic Purposes or ‘EAP’ (e.g. learner autonomy, motivation and noticing) to provide insights into how mastery of the second/additional language learning (L2) academic self can be facilitated. The application of these proposed strategies in the classroom is intended to give students the tools to not only to enter their chosen ADC but also to leave their mark on it.

”Snakke med ved? Snakke med maskin?” Voksne flyktningers narrativer om norskopplæring

I denne artikkelen har vi en talerfokusert tilnærming til det å lære språk i voksen alder. Målet vårt er å svare på en oppfordring fra flere forskere om at taleres egne erfaringer med og perspektiver på språkinnlæring bør komme fram i andrespråksforskningen. Fokuset vårt er rettet mot en gruppe voksne flyktninger fra Den demokratiske republikken Kongo, og vi ser på hvordan de opplevde den norskopplæringen de fikk som nyankomne til Norge. Et kjennetegn ved disse personene er at de er svært flerspråklige; de hadde allerede bred erfaring med å lære nye språk da de begynte å lære norsk. Vi har studert et utvalg narrativer der de forteller om sine erfaringer fra norskopplæring. Temaene for narrativene er kartlegging for kursplassering, lærernes kvalifikasjoner, antall timer per kurs og norskpraksis på arbeidsplass. Deltakerne stiller seg kritiske til flere aspekter ved den opplæringen de fikk. De fremstår som selvsikre språkinnlærere og framforhandler ulike identiteter. Narrativene gir et innblikk i disse personenes verden, deres egne behov og refleksjoner rundt norskopplæring for flyktninger. De minner oss på det mangfoldet av opplevelser som finnes blant målgruppen for andrespråksopplæring.Nøkkelord: narrativer, norsk som andrespråk, talerfokuserte tilnærminger, identitet, voksne flyktninger“Talk to the wood? Talk to the machine?”Adult refugees’ narratives from Norwegian classesAbstractIn this article, we have a speaker-centered approach to adult additional language learning. Our aim is to answer the call from several researchers to take learners’ own perspectives and experiences into account in research on learning. Our focus is on how a group of adult refugees from the Democratic republic of Congo experienced the language program they attended when they arrived in Norway. A characteristic of the participants is that they are extremely multilingual, and had already extensive language learning experience when they started to learn Norwegian. Our data are narratives where they tell about their experiences from Norwegian classes. The topics of the narratives are assessment, teacher qualifications, number of teaching hours and language internships at workplaces. The participants express criticism towards several aspects of the programs they attended. They seem to be self-confident language learners and negotiate different identities. The narratives give us an insight into their worlds, needs and reflections on education for refugees. They remind us of the multitude of experiences that exist among members of the target group of language education programs.Keywords: narratives, additional language learning, speaker-centered approaches, identity, adult refugees