Search results for "Foreign language"
showing 10 items of 414 documents
A metaphorical map of subtitling
2020
Abstract This study explores the metaphorical dimension of idioms in original filmic texts and their translations in subtitles, in order to shed light on strategies used in the translation process. The research focuses on a corpus of 20 films from the Library of Foreign Language Film Clips (LFLFC), at the Berkeley Language Center of the University of California, Berkeley. More specifically, I analyze films in German and Spanish with English subtitles from a cognitive and contrastive perspective. My goal is to explore how translation can affect understanding and reception by an audience with limited or no skills in the original language. Results of the analysis show a tendency towards reduct…
<em>(Inter-)Fonología del Español Contemporáneo</em> (I)FEC: Methodology of a research program for corpus phonology
2018
The present contribution describes and discusses the methodology of the corpus phonological research program (Inter-)Fonología del Español Contemporáneo —(I)FEC—, which aims to document both the phonic variation in the Spanish-speaking world and the pronunciation of Spanish as an L2 and a foreign language in different learner groups. Partly based on the methodology of the French research program (Inter)Phonologie du Français Contemporain —(I)PFC—, (I)FEC includes, in addition to a word list with several (potential) minimal pairs and a reading task, also a discourse completion task (DCT) aiming to collect data for the analysis of different intonational tunes. The paper offers a detailed desc…
CSCL – a tool to motivate foreign language learners: The Finnish application
2003
This article discusses the applications of the theory of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) to teaching and learning a foreign language, in this case, one of the ‘Less Commonly Taught Languages’, Finnish. The ‘Virtually Finnish’ project was based on the idea of creating a larger, virtual Finnish learning community among the second-year Finnish language students in five US universities during the fall semester, 2001. CSCL was chosen as a base, as its principal goal is to aid the learners in sharing and distributing their knowledge to the whole learning community. In addition to discussing the set up and the content of the project, the students’ feedback about their language lea…
Comparing speaking situations in three different language tests
2013
The purpose of this study was to compare learner outcome when five similar speaking situations were offered in the speaking subtest in Finnish, Swedish and English intermediate level tests in the Finnish National Certificates language testing system. The overall aim was to investigate the tasks by comparing learner outcomes across the three tests and to seek explanations for the outcome in the learners’ selfreported demographic, language, educational and professional background.The speaking situations were selected from the NC item bank meaning that they have undergone the Item Response Theory based analyses which indicate that the tasks function well in all tests. More information was need…
CLIL classroom discourse
2013
Under the label of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) the teaching of curriculum subjects through the medium of a foreign language has become a widely accepted feature in mainstream education systems in Europe and other parts of the world. After contextualizing its subject matter in CLIL research as a whole, this article focuses on research into classroom discourse. In order to unravel the complexities involved, three different takes on CLIL classroom discourse are discussed as an evidence-base for (a) language learning, (b) language use and social-interactional aspects of L2-interaction, and (c) processes of knowledge construction in and through a second or foreign language. T…
Language, culture and interculturality through narratives with learners of Spanish as a foreign language
2018
Aquesta investigació es basa en una experiència d’aula amb aprenents adults d’espanyol com a llengua estrangera. L’objectiu és aprofundir en el desenvolupament conjunt de competències lingüístiques, comunicatives i interculturals mitjançant l’escriptura. S’atendrà la competència comunicativa des d’una perspectiva intercultural, en un procés d’aprenentatge de l’idioma basat en reflexions socioculturals. El treball queda emmarcat dins el Projecte TALIS (Ensenyament i Adquisició de Competències Solidàries i Interculturals a través de les Llengües i de la Literatura). El resultat ha estat la publicació d’un volum de contes bilingües (espanyol-anglès), amb un enfocament lingüístic i intercultura…
Translaboration as legitimation of philosophical translation
2020
Abstract Even highly regarded translators cannot escape the common suspicion that philosophical ideas are not communicable in foreign languages – a suspicion that plagues philosophical translation. Translators effectively counter this distrust of translation when they explicitly claim to have collaborated with the author. This paper focuses on the Italian translation of Sein und Zeit (Being and Time) (first published in 1927; Heidegger 1986a), titled Essere e tempo (Heidegger 2006, trans. Marini), whose translator, Alfredo Marini, took particularly interesting measures to legitimate his work. This case is especially intriguing because Pietro Chiodi’s earlier translation (Heidegger 1953, 197…
Speed in cognitive tasks as an indicator of second/foreign language reading and writing skills
2013
In a cross-sectional study 823 Finnish school children were tested to examine the relation between speed of performance in cognitive and linguistic tasks and second/foreign language reading and writing. Participants were Finnish-speakers with English as foreign language and Russian-speakers with Finnish as second language which made it possible to compare the results across these two language groups. The Finnish group was furthermore divided into three groups by age to see how speed develops with age and education. Groups were tested with a number of cognitive instruments that included measures of speed of performance. Overall, performance on the speed measures improved with age; often, the…
Identity construction in ELF contexts: a case study of Finnish engineering students working in Germany
2010
This paper explores connections between identity and language use in lingua franca contexts by investigating identity construction among Finnish users of English as revealed in interviews conducted both before and after a period spent in Germany. The focus is on the users' own stories of their language use and learning, and on the discursive construction of identities. The study draws on poststructuralist theories of identity construction, combining them with research that focuses on language learners' identity construction or on identity issues in contexts with English as a lingua franca. This paper illustrates how language users actively draw on different discourses in constructing their …
Emotional intelligence as a mediator in the relationship between neuroticism and L2 achievement
2020
Abstract The present study investigates the interaction of the higher-order personality trait of Neuroticism and the lower-order personality trait of Emotional Intelligence (trait EI) in the context of foreign language acquisition (FLA). A mediation model was applied to explore the pathway from Neuroticism via trait EI to self-rated L2 skills. The reported results show that the trait EI is not only a significant predictor of the self-reported L2 speaking proficiency, but also a mediator in the relationship between Neuroticism and self-rated L2 speaking proficiency. Consequently, trait EI could be regarded as an important variable in the FLA context because its positive impact on self-percei…