Search results for "Foreign language"
showing 10 items of 414 documents
Children show right-lateralized effects of spoken word-form learning
2017
It is commonly thought that phonological learning is different in young children compared to adults, possibly due to the speech processing system not yet having reached full native-language specialization. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms of phonological learning in children are poorly understood. We employed magnetoencephalography (MEG) to track cortical correlates of incidental learning of meaningless word forms over two days as 6±8-year-olds overtly repeated them. Native (Finnish) pseudowords were compared with words of foreign sound structure (Korean) to investigate whether the cortical learning effects would be more dependent on previous proficiency in the language rather than ma…
Linguistic relevance of duration within the native language determines the accuracy of speech-sound duration processing.
2003
As indexed by electrophysiological measures, in native speakers of a language with linguistically significant opposition between short and long phonemes, the pre-attentive detection accuracy of duration changes in speech sounds was tuned in comparison with that in non-speech sounds. This was not observed in advanced second-language users of the same language, suggesting that second-language acquisition does not lead to speech-specific tuning of the duration processing as does native language acquisition in early childhood.
The role of musical aptitude and language skills in preattentive duration processing in school-aged children
2009
We examined 10-12-year old elementary school children's ability to preattentively process sound durations in music and speech stimuli. In total, 40 children had either advanced foreign language production skills and higher musical aptitude or less advanced results in both musicality and linguistic tests. Event-related potential (ERP) recordings of the mismatch negativity (MMN) show that the duration changes in musical sounds are more prominently and accurately processed than changes in speech sounds. Moreover, children with advanced pronunciation and musicality skills displayed enhanced MMNs to duration changes in both speech and musical sounds. Thus, our study provides further evidence for…
Access to eHealth language-based services for multinational patients
2015
In more and more countries the number of citizens with double nationality is growing substantially. In their developing stage, current eHealth technologies are oriented towards helping the native patients rather than those speaking a foreign language that limits an access to the medical care. Nowadays, most people search the web for the medical symptoms of their disorders before going to the General Practitioner (GP), however multinational patients have limited chance to access eHealth care services not only owning to the lack of medical knowledge, but specifically due to their language barriers. In this study we investigate eHealth services on multilingual information access and online com…
Accelerating decoding-related skills in poor readers learning a foreign language: a computer-based intervention
2013
The results of Fast ForWord® training on English decoding-related skills were examined. Finnish fifth-grade students were identified as having reading fluency problems and poor skills in English as a foreign language learned at school and were randomly assigned to either a training group (TRG) or a control group. The TRG (n = 13) received 50 min of daily computer program-based training for a period of approximately 10 weeks. Students in the first control group (n = 11) received the school’s regular instructional programme. A second control group was composed of 14 average readers. The students’ English skills were examined in pre-test, post-test and follow-up measurements. The TRG students …
Thinking and Content Learning of Mathematics and Science as Cognitional Development in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): Teaching Thro…
2005
This paper presents a study on thinking and learning processes of mathematics and science in teaching through a foreign language, in Finland. The entity of thinking and content learning processes is, in this study, considered as cognitional development. Teaching through a foreign language is here called Content and Language Integrated Learning or CLIL. CLIL refers to all those diverse programmes, including some forms of immersion and bilingual education, where a foreign language is a medium of instruction, affecting the entire learning process of the learner. Thinking and content learning in CLIL manifests itself as analogical CLIL reasoning systems, based on two languages, and is assumed t…
¿Y dónde está la gracia? El humor en el aula de ELE
2017
Resumen : El presente trabajo muestra el fenomeno pragmatico del humor como un instrumento idoneo para suscitar la reflexion sobre el uso y funciones del lenguaje en los estudiantes de ELE. Una vez expuestas las referencias al humor verbal y a la ironia por parte del Marco Comun Europeo de Referencia y el Plan Curricular del Instituto Cervantes , ofreceremos una propuesta didactica cuyo objetivo es la activacion y desarrollo de la competencia comunicativa. Muestras humoristicas como el monologo pueden contribuir a mejorar las destrezas linguisticas y pragmaticas en ELE desde niveles iniciales. Palabras clave: Humor, Competencia metapragmatica, ELE, Propuesta didactica. Abstract: This paper…
Some Implications for Developing Learners’ Figurative Language Competence Across Modalities: Metaphor, Metonymy and Blending in the Picture Modality
2014
The paper argues for developing learners’ figurative language competence across modalities. Specifically, focusing on the picture modality, the article attempts to show the importance of figurative thinking in the new media age multimodal communication. The sample analysis of pictures and images representing the recent issue of the EU crisis addresses the significance of three conceptual phenomena, namely, metaphor, metonymy, and blending, in the conceptualization of such a highly abstract phenomenon. In general, it is argued that language users almost invariably turn to figurative language resources to conceptualize abstract phenomena that cannot be conceptualized by means of literal langu…
Effects of Mobility Programmes on University Students' Academic Performance
2018
The number of students participating in mobility programmes has increased enormously over the years. The reasons are diverse and may range from personal growth to better employability prospects, together with improvement in foreign language skills and intercultural awareness. Mobility programmes receive generous funding from the European Commission, therefore their outcomes should be measured and evaluated. This paper focuses on a specific one: the academic effects of mobility programmes. We analyse whether there is an improvement in the academic performance of the students who participate in mobility programmes and, if this is the case, whether it is sustained over time. We use a broad dat…