Search results for "Language Acquisition"
showing 10 items of 219 documents
Why we need TI-Oriented Language Learning and Teaching
2021
The teaching of foreign languages to students in Translation and Interpreting (TI) programmes should be framed within the field of Language for Specific Purposes (LSP). This would make it possible to pinpoint specific curricular content and methodological traits that contribute to the enhancement of the communicative competence and initial development of TI competences. This paper analyses the students’ perspectives on L2 teaching in a TI programme and how it should be undertaken to best comply with the linguistic demands imposed by translation and interpreting. A thematic analysis of 117 open questionnaires returned by students from Austria, Slovenia and Spain identified five areas to whic…
Practice and assessment of oral skills in developing online preparatory materials through the InGenio authoring shell
2012
The practice of oral skills is a basic requirement of learning or teaching a new language, as one of the main goals in the field of language learning is developing oral communicative competence, especially needed in contexts where the students¿ L2 is the vehicular language and therefore the main means of interaction. The InGenio online authoring tool allows designers of new materials, as well as language teachers and students, to rethink and imagine new ways of dealing with practice and assessment of listening and speaking skills thanks to the flexibility of its templates, resources and tools. This article explores the ways in which the InGenio utilities, solutions and learning materials ar…
“Too much grammar will kill you!” Teaching Spanish as a foreign language in Norway: What teachers say about grammar teaching
2019
Exam results show that many Norwegian students lack communicative competence in their second foreign language. This study investigates Spanish language instruction in Norway, in particular Spanish teachers’ opinions about grammar teaching, and why and how grammar is taught in lower and upper secondary school. Furthermore, the study explores whether common grammar teaching approaches are primarily explicit (rules provided) or implicit (rules not provided), inductive (language first) or deductive (rules first), and whether the language of instruction is primarily Norwegian or Spanish. The data comprise interviews with teachers and classroom observations, as well as teaching plans and other ma…
What Does it Feel Like to Use English? Empirical Evidence from EFL Students
2013
Recent studies concerning foreign language learning and teaching do not focus exclusively on the cognitive processes of the parties involved, but also on their emotional states, which are intricately interwoven with language learning and use. To date, many researchers have focused on the effects of language anxiety on the learners’ development of communicative competence. However, apart from anxiety, humans experience a wide range of other emotions that foreign/second language use evokes across many learning and communicative contexts. Research on affect in foreign language learning has been growing steadily and has been concerned not only with foreign language anxiety, but also with positi…
New Perspectives on Individual Differences in Language Learning and Teaching
2012
Changing Perspectives on Individual Learner Differences.- Cognitive Factors and Instructed Language Acquisition.- Affective and Social Factors in Language Learning.- Individual Differences in Learning and Teaching Practices.
Metalinguistic Development in First-Language Acquisition
1997
At a very early age, the child is able to manipulate language appropriately, both in its comprehension and its production. Later comes the ability to reflect upon and deliberately control its use. The emergence of these metalinguistic abilities must be distinguished from that of ordinary verbal communication. The key questions concerning this topic are: What is metalinguistics? What knowledge do metalinguistic abilities require? Are they conscious activities? And how do they develop? (also see the review by Tunmer in Volume 2 and by Nicholson in this volume.)
Learning paths on elementary university courses in Finnish as a second language
2015
Along with the growing degree of internationalisation, Finnish university education needs to address issues related to learning and teaching Finnish as a second language. From the perspective of teaching Finnish and related pedagogical development, it is essential to recognise when, where and for which purposes learners need Finnish at the various stages of the language acquisition process. This article focuses on the learning paths of three international students who studied Finnish on a one-term elementary course at the University of Jyvaskyla Language Centre. The article is based on a socio-cultural and ecological view on language learning and teaching. The data consist of learning diary…
Pronunciation Learning Strategy Chains: A Qualitative Approach
2014
Language learning is a daunting process frequently enhanced by a number of factors, for example, language learning strategies deployed in an orchestrated manner (Oxford 1990). Similarly, pronunciation learning may be supported by effective strategies used either separately or in logically combined chains. However, little attention has been given so far to the strategies L2 learners employ when learning the target language pronunciation, not to mention pronunciation learning strategy chains. Hence, there have been a limited number of empirical investigations into pronunciation learning strategies (PLS) in general and in particular the ones following the qualitative design (cf. Bukowski 2004;…
Grammar is the heart of language : grammar and its role in language learning among Finnish university students
2015
This article presents and discusses views on grammar and its role in formal language learning amongst Finnish university students. The results are based on a questionnaire which was distributed to students at the University of Jyväskylä as part of institutional action research. The background to the project was a feeling amongst some teachers of increased divergence between student respectively language teacher understandings of the role of grammar in language teaching. This concern raised the need to find out how students view grammar. The knowledge about thoughts on grammar amongst students would then help teachers to adjust and adept the way grammar is used in language teaching. The main…
Language Learning Methodology for Adults: A Study of Linguistic Transfer
2014
Abstract The purpose of the present research is to bring together the evidence on transfer in adult L2 and L3 language acquisition and investigate the use and the relationship between languages in contact. The role of linguistic transfer ( Odlin, 1989 ) i.e. the imposition of previously learned patterns onto a new learning situation, has a facilitation or inhibition effect on the learner's progress in mastering a new language (L2 or L3). Our findings reveal that the cross-linguistic influence occurs both from the direction of the L2 to the L3 and from the L3 to the L2 ( Odlin, 2003 , Jarvis and Pavlenko, 2008 ). In the case of our participants, in the acquisition of L2 as the foreign langua…