Search results for "Foreign language"
showing 10 items of 414 documents
Introduction to Beliefs about SLA revisited
2011
Abstract This article serves as an introduction to this second special issue of System on Beliefs about Second Language Acquisition (SLA) held by learners and/or teachers of foreign languages in a variety of contexts all over the world, and it compares and contrasts the empirical studies included in the issue. In sharp contrast to the first special System issue on beliefs about SLA, most of the studies reported in this issue draw on sociocultural theory, make use of more than one type of data, and can be characterized as qualitative in nature. In addition, the studies tend to view beliefs as variable and fixed, and focus on changes in these and/or on the interaction between beliefs and lear…
Exploring and Reshaping Learners’ Beliefs About the Usefulness of Corrective Feedback : A Sociocultural Perspective
2016
A number of studies have shown that learners’ beliefs about the usefulness of corrective feedback for improving their L2 (a second or a foreign language) use influences the extent to which learners can utilize that same feedback. It seems, then, that changing some of these beliefs could benefit the L2 learning process. The present article reports on two small-scale studies, both drawing on a sociocultural perspective on the development of beliefs. Changes in learners’ beliefs about corrective feedback were observed both within a period of six months (Case study) and over the course of one research interview (Group study). The studies exemplify how the interplay of one’s own and other’s expe…
Internationalization of Finnish higher education — is language an issue?
2012
Finland is among the countries with the highest amount of English-taught programmes in higher education in Europe (Wächter and Maiworm 2008). This article analyses, how the higher education language situation of a small country with a marginal majority language (Finnish) and an official bilingual status (Finnish and Swedish) has historically developed from the setting of “drawing the line” between Finland and Sweden or Finland and Russia (Harle and Moisio 2000) in the 19th century and the early 20th century (nationalism), towards drawing the line between Finnish/Swedish and English in the late 20th century (globalization). It then continues to present a case of foreign language (in practice…
“But big is a funny word”: a multiple perspective on concept formation in a foreign-language-mediated classroom
2015
In recent years, foreign-language mediated instruction (immersion, content-based language learning and teaching) has been studied from various perspectives. In the following study, a single event from a Finnish third-grade EFL-mediated geography lesson is studied by combining insights from three research approaches: sociocultural, socio-cognitive, and discourse-pragmatic. The data analysis focuses on how during concept formation, the participants use commonplace means present in every classroom – textbook and chalkboard, spoken and written, verbal and nonverbal communicative means – to construct knowledge and its social context. The results indicate that there exist strong parallels among t…
Teaching linguistic politeness: a methodological proposal
2003
The aim of this article is to explore theoretical and methodological aspects of the teaching of pragmatics in a second language. Taking as point of departure the pragmatic continuum, which includes pragmalinguistics and sociopragmatics, we focus on the promotion of sociopragmatic knowledge in classroom contexts. More specifically, it is argued that a revised contextual and interactional view of Brown and Levinson¿s (1987) model of linguistic politeness, related to such notions as genre and politeness systems, offers suitable tools of pragmatic description for use in teaching and learning second languages. We start with a brief overview of linguistic politeness from a socio-cognitive framewo…
La traducció en l'ensenyament de llengües : un recurs exclòs de les aules del mètode directe?
2022
Tradicionalment s'ha pensat que la traducció com a eina a l'aula de llengües estrangeres va quedar desaconsellada en el mètode directe. Així, des de llavors, molts docents han defensat la idea que la traducció és un recurs nociu per ensenyar idiomes, encara que, segons Cook (2010), no hi ha evidències que ho hagin provat científicament. Abans de continuar acceptant aquesta creença heretada del mètode directe, pensem que és necessari revaluar si la traducció va ser rebutjada per tots els seus exponents i si va ser realment possible excloure-la de les aules del moment. Per tant, l'objectiu d'aquest article és dur a terme una revisió teòrica sobre què va ser, quan i per què va sorgir el mètode…
Constructing practical knowledge of teaching: eleven newly qualified language teachers' discursive agency
2011
This paper explores the professional development of 11 newly qualified foreign language teachers. It draws on a qualitative longitudinal study conducted at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland between 2002 and 2009. The paper concentrates on the personal side of teacher development by analysing participants' discourses concerning language teaching. The study shows important differences in teachers' ways of conceptualising their environment and constructing practical knowledge on teaching. Teachers' sense of agency is identified as a major factor contributing to their professional development.
Literatura y cultura para una didáctica intercultural del español como lengua extranjera (ELE)
2016
This work evolves around a main purpose: to analyze the role of literature in the pedagogy of Spanish as a Foreign Language from an intercultural perspective. From this standpoint, we reflect about the importance of the term Spanish Literature to defend the different literatures implied in the syntagm; hence, we study how comparative literature becomes the main tool to understand linguistic, cultural and literary diversity. We consider that these two ideas should be in the pedagogical profile of the Spanish as a Foreign Language professor.
HACIA EL EEES: CAMBIOS EN METODOLOGÍA Y EVALUACIÓN EN LA ASIGNATURA ALEMÁN COMO SEGUNDA LENGUA EN LA UNIVERSITAT DE VALÈNCIA (ESPAÑA)
2006
El presente trabajo analiza los cambios en metodología y evaluación introducidos en la asignatura Alemán como segunda lengua con el fin de adaptar la enseñanza universitaria al futuro Espacio Europeo de Enseñanza Superior (EEES). Los cambios en metodología se basan en un enfoque más práctico y participativo de la asignatura. Este cambio metodológico está estrechamente relacionado con un cambio en el sistema de evaluación. Se optó por la evaluación continua, que consistía en una serie de pruebas escritas, trabajos, ejercicios, redacciones y un proyecto. Para llevar a cabo dichos cambios nos apoyábamos en las TIC. El éxito de las innovaciones se refleja tanto en las opiniones favorables de lo…
L2 English derivational knowledge : Which affixes are learners more likely to recognise?
2016
Knowledge of derivational morphology is considered an important aspect of vocabulary knowledge both in L1 (mother tongue) and L2 (second or foreign language) English language learning. However, it is still not clear whether different derivational affixes vary in their (learning) difficulty. The present study examines whether Bauer and Nation’s (1993) teaching order of L2 English affixes can account for the difficulty learners have with recognising the affixes. The participants in the study were L1 Estonian and Russian learners of English at upper-secondary schools in Estonia (n = 62). Their performance was measured on a word segmentation task. There were significant differences in the numbe…