Hogyan lehet támogatni a (nyelv)tanulást a fejlesztő értékelésen keresztül?

Tanulmányunk célja, hogy áttekintést adjon a fejlesztő értékelés különböző értelmezéseiről, a nyelvtanulás kontextusát külön is kiemelve. Bemutatjuk az osztálytermi értékelés megítélésének változását az elmúlt közel 30 év alatt, és hogy a fejlesztő értékelés miért kapott egyre több figyelmet napjainkra. Értelmezésünk szerint az értékelés átszövi az osztálytermi gyakorlat egészét, és jelentősen befolyásolhatja a diákok tanulási motivációját és magabiztosságát, melyek egyaránt döntő hatással lehetnek a tanulás eredményességére. Bemutatjuk a fejlesztő értékelés három megközelítését: a tanulást támogató értékelést, a dinamikus értékelést és a tanulás-orientált értékelés. Mindhárom felfogás rendelkezik sajátos jegyekkel, de abban egységesek, hogy az értékelést a tanítás szerves részének tekintik. Végül rövid kitekintést adunk a fejlesztő értékelést vizsgáló magyarországi kutatások eredményeit illetően. A közoktatás keretében zajló angolórák osztálytermi értékelési gyakorlatáról kibontakozó kép egyértelműen alátámasztja a szemléletváltás szükségességét.

Diachronic investigation of learner language

Corpus linguistics studies have by now become a staple of linguists and teachers worldwide. Even practitioners who are not directly involved with corpus development or analysis are increasingly aware of this domain and its results. Thus, we can say that the time has come to investigate the long-term effects of the findings connected to corpus linguistics. This paper focuses on a specific sort of corpus: the learner corpus. It argues that what used to be a more traditional approach represented in the EFL (English as a foreign language) discipline has evolved into a perhaps more appropriate one represented in ELF (English as a lingua franca) partly because of the work of learner corpus research. To demonstrate any existing long-term effects of work with learner corpora on language education, an L2 corpus, the JPU Corpus, is presented. Five of the ten hypotheses originally set up in the early 2000s are revisited and critiqued by applying both quantitative and qualitative investigations. The results indicate that a diachronic learner corpus approach further establishes the shift from EFL to ELF approaches, a potentially useful and relevant change for students and their teachers across the world, especially within the framework of writing pedagogy.

Imagined future teacher self at the point of entry to teacher education

TA growing body of literature has focused on teacher identity development, but very few of these target students at the beginning of their studies. This article discusses the future teacher selves that first-year undergraduates imagine for themselves before receiving any instruction on teaching-related subjects. Results suggest that students are, nevertheless, able to envisage a surprising variability and detail in their essays that underwent mix-method analysis. The most commonly occurring traits were grouped under five larger themes, focusing on personality and teacher self, teacher-student interaction, classroom teaching abilities, becoming members of a community of teachers, and altruistic goals. These teacher selves are mostly realistic and positive, with a clear understanding of the dynamism that teacher identity is formed as on ongoing process. It is argued that learning about freshly admitted students’ views related to teaching serves as valuable information to enhance pre-service teacher education programs.

Language learning and learning strategy use in international university students’ English as a lingua franca communication

English as a lingua franca (ELF) has received wide interest in the past decades from researchers, teachers, and users of English in general. The present study investigates whether or not speakers of English approach ELF contexts not only as contexts for communication, but also as contexts for language learning. Interview data was collected from 12 international university students in Czechia and Hungary to explore if indeed they believe they are using ELF communication for their own language learning, and if so, what learning strategies they use. Results show that these English speakers are indeed learning in these contexts and employ a variety of strategies to do so. Implications for how secondary school English language instruction might prepare students for learning while using English as a lingua franca are discussed

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.

University students’ preferences on English teachers’ nationality and teaching style

Inspiration dynamics between students and teachers have great impact on learners’ perceptions, attitudes and psychological well-being in the ESL classroom. Gender-based differences in opinions about foreign-language acquisition often shape students’ approaches and learning structures. Nowadays, great emphasis is placed on the presence of native English-speaker teachers in English language teaching institutions. However, such teachers may struggle to understand local students’ attitudes. Seventy-four university students were asked about their perceptions and preferences on English teachers’ nationality and teaching-style in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. The data were analysed according to gender-based differences in opinions. The findings reveal that, in general, students have no preference for native or non-native teachers, yet prefer educators who teach exclusively through the medium of English. Female students expressed less self-confidence, more need for continuous reinforcement and social interaction in the classroom, while male students displayed more self-confidence, more autonomy and the need for practical knowledge-focused learning content and strategies.

Language learning experience of first year English majors as they see it

The results of previous surveys carried out at the Department of English Language Teacher Education and Applied Linguistics of the University of Szeged show that the majority of English majors is not prepared enough for their studies, their level of proficiency and study skills are often not satisfactory, and they have difficulty in assessing their own strengths, weaknesses and the reasons for being unsuccessful (Doró, 2010). Arising from the previously mentioned conclusions, the present paper aims to find out more about first-year English majors’ study skills, strategies and self-perception in the form of five semi-structured group interviews. The students’ answers shed light on what aspects of studying students have problems with, how they monitor and adjust their own studying process, what their goals are and what methods they use to become more fluent speakers and better students.

Assessment and final reports in foreign language lessons

Psycholinguists are interested in how words are stored in human memory. The question as to whether words are stored as single root words or whether they are stored along with the affixes still remains a controversial issue. Aitchison (1987) believes that each word has a separate entry. Mackay (1978) and Taft (1981) hold that words are made of constituent morphemes. When we listen, we decompose the morphemes and when we speak, we combine them to make multimorphemic words. The decomposition view claims that only the root is stored in memory. To test this claim, a group of 50 intermediate level students at the preparatory department of a state university situated on the western coast of Turkey were selected. They were taught 10 pseudo root nouns and verbs and 10 psuedo complex nouns and verbs. To see how the morphological complexity affected lexical access and which type of words were better remembered, they were tested on these words. Then the same group was given 10 root and 10 complex words in their mother tongue and their answer times were compared. Students recalled the root words more easily and accurately.The results shed light on the validity of the decomposition theory, showcasing we remember the words in roots better.

English teacher trainees’ changing views concerning the effective language teacher

This paper reports on the reflections of a group of fourth year EFL teacher trainees on the changes they and their peers have experienced concerning their views on what constitutes an effective language teacher. The data collection from semi-structured interviews supports previous findings according to which teachers’ beliefs are continuously formed throughout their years of teacher training. Results suggest a mixture of influencing factors, including earlier school experiences, content delivered in methodology classes, their own student experiences at the university, their school visits and classroom observations and their early teaching experiences. These first-hand experiences shape both their student selves and emerging teacher selves. Trainees seem to be critical towards the negative models they see, but they also start viewing the positive examples as possible models to follow.