Search results for "Second-language acquisition"

Cultural Background and Second Language Acquisition

1988

Abstract Knubb‐Manninen, G. 1988. Cultural Background and Second Language Acquisition. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 32, 93‐100. The article examines – on the basis of a research study carried out in Swedish‐speaking schools in Finland – the significance that cultural conditions, such as gender and social background, have for second language learning. A model with gender and social background serving as the exogenous factors, school learning capacity and language use as the intervening variables, and proficiency in Finnish (second language) as a dependent variable was tested by means of the Lisrel method. The findings indicate that social background influences the learning of…

Introduction: On the Complex Ecology of Language Learning ‘in the Wild’

2019

This introduction explicates the central issues informing the chapters in the volume. We outline the epistemological development of Second Language Acquisition research as it has evolved from being predominantly individual-cognitive to a more pluralistic endeavor in which social approaches to cognition and learning are becoming central. Social interaction has been recognized as key to language learning since the 1970’s but the field is still lacking in research that studies the everyday social-interactional ecology in which the L2 speaker acts. We argue that it is time to broaden contexts for empirical investigations to study language learning in the full ecology of ‘the wild’, that is, in …

THE IMPACT OF ANXIETY ON SPEAKING IN ADOLESCENT AND ADULT GROUPS OF ENGLISH LEARNERS

2018

Aim: The aim of this article is to investigate the interdependence between adolescent and adult students’ anxiety and their foreign language speaking achievements. It has been proved that there is no correlation between adolescent learners’ anxiety and their speaking attainments in a foreign language as well as that there is a weak correlation between adult students’ anxiety and their speaking achievements.
 Method: The author of the study employed quantitative research. Data was collected from anxiety questionnaires completed by the students and from achievement sheets filled in by the English teacher based on five-minute speeches performed by adolescent and adult students.
 Conc…

Studying Second Language Acquisition from a Qualitative Perspective

2014

Part I Introducing Qualitative Research.- Sociological and Educational Roots of Qualitative Research in Applied Linguistics.- Are the Only Things That Count the Things That Can Be Counted? On Modeling as a Cognitive Tool in the Field of Foreign Language Learning and Teaching.- Part II Qualitative Methods in Studying Second Language Acquisition.- Pronunciation Learning Strategy Chains: A Qualitative Approach.- Fostering Strategy Use in a Reading-Based Course in EFL Academic Context: Students' Perspectives.- Reflective Teaching in an English Primary Classroom.- Junior High School Learners' Ability to Reflect in the Process of Keeping a Diary in a Foreign Language.- Qualitative Evaluation of E…

Finnish and Estonian in Second-Language Acquisition Research

2011