Search results for "Comprehension approach"
showing 7 items of 27 documents
Hands-on tasks in CLIL science classrooms as sites for subject-specific language use and learning
2015
This paper is concerned with content and language integrated learning (CLIL), i.e. classrooms where a foreign or second language (L2) is used as the means of instruction and where content and language learning objectives merge. More specifically, it explores the potential of hands-on tasks in CLIL chemistry and physics lessons to serve as sites for using and learning subject-specific language, conceptualised as both special concepts and terminology as well as subject-specific ways of constructing meaning. Using discourse analysis, attention was directed to hands-on tasks as well as pre-task and post-task phases. The findings indicate that despite the evident content orientation in the tasks…
Partial repetitions as other-initiations of repair in second language talk: Re-establishing understanding and doing learning
2014
Abstract This conversation analytical paper examines other-initiated repair sequences in everyday interactions between first and second language speakers of Finnish. More specifically, it focuses on sequences that are initiated by a second language speaker by repeating a part of the trouble source turn and shows that the repetitions are recurrently treated as actions indicating specific language-related problems of understanding. The analysis suggests that the linguistic asymmetry in second language interactions is a resource that is drawn upon in situations in which other resources for action formation and recognition are not sufficient. In addition, the analysis illustrates why and how ce…
Proactive and reactive dimensions of life-course agency: mapping student teachers’ language learning experiences
2014
Although the concept of agency has received a lot of interest in recent educational research, its significance in language learning biographies as well as contextual and relational aspects of learner agency are still little studied. This paper aims at a more thorough understanding of agency by studying student teachers’ previous language learning experiences. This paper is based on a dialogical analysis of 12 student teachers’ biographical essays describing their relationship with English as a foreign language. The participants are students in a Finnish class teacher and language teacher education programme that uses English as the primary medium of instruction. The study proposes a tripart…
Intercultural Communication in Teaching Chinese to European Students
2015
Abstract The major goal of the present study is to highlight to tight connection and interdependency between language and culture from both theoretical and applied perspectives, with special focus on the reciprocal influence and impact on teaching Chinese language and literature to foreign students, particularly in the European context. Famous scholars have wisely noted the sine-quanon relation of society, culture, history, geography and language evinced in the process of communication, at large, and most notably in translation, literary studies and language learning, which are complex processes requiring a thorough and conscious immersion in the context of the language. The paper also incl…
The Technical Language in the Practice of the Students Learning the French Language
2012
Abstract The technical language is a basic element in the practice of the students in the modern organizations. At present moment the situation of the technical language acquired by the students is rather uncertain, because in universities there is the tendency to teach the classical French language, based on literary texts. In this context, they are only few teachers having a cognitive and lexical knowledge which includes the technical specialized language.The objectives of our study dedicate themselves to the discovery of new strategies and didactic methods in order to make easier the study and the education of the technical vocabulary. We worked with a group of 87 students of French lang…
Design perspectives on technology, language teaching and language teacher education
2012
Despite the national strategies and major efforts to promote pedagogical use of ICTs in education, training programs for in-service teachers have often failed to develop sustainable pedagogical practice. For sustainable development, teachers need to be offered opportunities to explore the role of technology in relation to their concept of language and learning, and reforms should be designed in negotiation with teachers and students. In teacher education, aspiring teachers are being informed of the latest research results, but bringing the theory down to practice is a major task that calls for development work soundly based on research. In this paper we suggest that design-based research (D…
Approaching pedagogical language knowledge through student teachers: assessment of second language writing
2015
The article examines student teachers' pedagogical language knowledge. The analysis is based on data from an applied task in which Finnish student teachers (n = 221) of 16 school subjects assessed second language (SL) learners' writing skills. First, we briefly discuss subject teachers' role in language and literacy teaching in the multilingual and multicultural classroom. Our findings indicate that the student teachers use a range of criteria but focus mainly on word-level assessment when assessing writing samples, and that their assessment orientation varies from technical to analytical. Finally, we discuss the challenges of developing teacher education to promote pedagogical language kno…