Is Segregated Language Support Fit for Purpose? Insights From German Language Support Classes in Austria

<p style="text-align: justify;">In Austria, segregated German language support classes (GLSC) were introduced in the school year 2018/19 to intensively support students who had previously little or no contact with German, the official language of instruction. These classes have been widely criticised; however, a formal evaluation of their effects has yet to be published. In absence of this evaluation, this article describes the language support model as it currently exists in Austria and reviews existing evidence about its efficacy. The literature review synthesises findings from educational research undertaken in other contexts that offer insight into features of ‘good practice’ in language support models. The article then explores the extent to which GLSC comply with these features. As such, this review allows insights into ways of ensuring students’ language and socio-emotional development – all central aspects of academic success – in language support models. It therefore allows research-informed understanding of the effects of the newly implemented model of German support classes in Austria and makes recommendations for further development.</p>

Score Use and Interpretation of First Signed Language Assessments

This chapter provides a critical examination of the different uses of test scores; their interpretation by test administrators, educators, professionals, and researchers; and the implications these scores may have for test-takers. Before discussing the issues of test scores, an overview of the complexities involved in defining the L1 of deaf signers will be shared. Understanding the potential pitfalls of signed language assessment with a diverse background of L1 users is emphasized. Four sections address critical issues on scoring and interpreting assessments: purpose, consistency, norming and scoring, and interpreting the results beyond the score. Conducting valid and reliable language assessment is critical to establishing a baseline for intervention, education or research, monitoring an individual’s language competency and growth, justifying the need for additional language support, and providing accurate reporting to parents and administrators.

The lawmaking linguistic and expert support: European and Ukrainian examples

The article aims to study the role and importance of an expert and linguistic support of law drafting as a mean of improving the national legislation of Ukraine. The work is based on the application of descriptive, systematic, logical-legal, hermeneutic, statistical, comparative-legal methods of legal research and the method of alternatives. The research materials include normative legal acts regulating the activity of expert and linguistic support of lawmaking in Ukraine, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, and Poland. The circle of the main executors of expert and language support of lawmaking in the specified countries, for the definition of their efficiency according to the Rule of Law Index as an indicator of the quality of the legislation, is allocated. The nature of the influence of expert and linguistic support of lawmaking of the analyzed states and their Rule of Law Indices is established.

Students’ perceptions of digital storytelling in primarily asynchronous EFL classes at a Japanese university

This study aims to analyse the initial use of Digital Storytelling (DS) in primarily asynchronous classes in order to yield results and recommendations for future courses. All participants were students in elective English courses at a Japanese university in Spring, 2020. Due to COVID-19, the courses were redesigned and conducted remotely with the use of pre-recorded materials. Data were collected through a post-questionnaire. This short paper reports what was found from the data by analysing the questionnaire with CALL evaluation criteria developed by Jamieson, Chapelle, and Preiss (2005). From the post-questionnaire, it was revealed that the DS assignment was perceived positively to some extent in remote learning settings. However, it also highlighted the need for further in-depth technical and language support and interactive learning opportunities.

The Effects of a Multitiered System of Language Support on Kindergarten Oral and Written Language: A Large-Scale Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose: The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effects of a multitiered system of language support (MTSLS) on kindergarteners' narrative retelling, personal stories, writing, and expository language. Method: Participants were 686 kindergarten students from four school districts in the United States. Twenty-eight classrooms were randomly assigned to treatment ( n = 337 students) or control ( n = 349 students) conditions. The treatment group received 14 weeks of oral narrative language instruction using Story Champs, a multitiered language program. Classroom teachers delivered large group (Tier 1) instruction for 15–20 min a day for 4 weeks. After this short-duration whole-class instruction, speech-language pathologists began small group Story Champs (Tier 2) intervention with a random sample of students who did not make adequate progress from the large group instruction ( n = 49). These students received Tier 2 intervention for 20 min twice a week in addition to continued Tier 1 instruction. Results: Results indicated that the students in the treatment group had significantly higher scores on all outcome measures compared to the students in the control group. Analyses of outcomes from the 49 students who received Tier 2 intervention compared to a matching sample of at-risk control students revealed that the treatment group had significantly higher scores on narrative retells, personal stories, and expository retells. When compared to matched average-performing and advanced-performing control peers, the students who received Tier 2 intervention had significantly higher narrative retell scores and no longer had significantly lower personal story, expository, or writing scores. Conclusion: This effectiveness study demonstrated that MTSLS can lead to meaningful improvements in kindergarteners' oral and written language skills, even helping at-risk students catch up to high-achieving peers.

Examining the Language Learning Potential of a Task-Based Approach to Synchronous Computer-Meditated communication

<p>This study investigates the influence of two task implementation features, the level of task structure and the use of language support, on learner language production during task-based text synchronous computer-mediated communication (text-SCMC) interactions. The study draws on two theoretical sets of claims concerning the process of second language acquisition (SLA). The first, broadly described as cognitive accounts of language learning, the Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2001b, 2003b, 2005) and the Trade-off Hypothesis (Skehan, 1998, 2009), has generated a large body of research on the role of implementation features (a means of varying task complexity) in influencing learner language production. The second, the Interactionist Approach (Gass & Mackey, 2006) has also claimed the facilitative role of interaction in promoting second language production. Most of the studies in both these areas were conducted in face-to-face settings (e.g. Gilabert, 2007b; Michel, Kuiken & Vedder, 2007; Robinson, 2007b; Tavakoli & Foster, 2008; Tavakoli & Skehan, 2005). Because SCMC is growing more pervasive in academic and professional communication, it is timely for empirical research into the effect of task complexity on interaction and language production to be conducted in this setting (Lee, 2008; Smith, 2008). It is this gap that the current study aims to address. The participants were 96 engineering learners at a technical university in Malaysia in an English for Professional Communication course. Using a 2x2 experimental design, the learners were placed in one of four experimental groups defined by high or low task structure (+TS or -TS), and with or without language support (+LS or -LS). Each group was subdivided into teams of four. In each team, the students engaged in a 45-minute chat session performing a simulation of a decision-making task on an engineering problem. The chat exchanges were captured and then analyzed to determine the role of these task implementation features on the occurrence of focus on form sequences and on the accuracy, complexity, and quantity of language produced during the tasks. Results showed that the two task implementation features (+/-TS and +/-LS) influenced the occurrence of language-related episodes (LREs), accuracy, complexity and quantity of output. The findings on the effects of task structure (TS) revealed that the learners engaged in more LREs and their output was more accurate when task performance was highly structured (+TS). However, task structure did not have a significant effect on the structural and lexical complexity of the output nor on the amount of language produced and equality of participation. The findings on the effects of language support (LS) demonstrated that the participants engaged in more LREs and their language use was more accurate when performing the task with language support (+LS) than without it (-LS). In contrast, they produced more complex language when performing the task without language support (-LS). Without language support (-LS), the learners were also found to produce fewer turns but with more words per turn. The finding for equality of participation was non-significant which suggests that participation was not affected by language support. To summarize, the current study lends qualified empirical support to the Interactionist Approach (Gass & Mackey, 2006) and the trade-off effects proposed by Skehan (1998, 2009) in that cognitively simple tasks promoted more accurate, but less complex production than cognitively complex tasks as they apply to taskbased interactions in a text-SCMC context. Additionally, the finding demonstrates partial support for the Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2001b; 2003b, 2005) in that increasing task complexity along the resource-dispersing dimension decreased the accuracy of language production. The visual salience of language in a text-SCMC setting may be an important explanatory factor in accounting for this finding. The study, therefore, provides evidence that the nature of text-SCMC may be facilitative to L2 learning, particularly as a medium for learning of form during communicative practice.</p>