Search results for "second language learning"
showing 10 items of 37 documents
Affordances and constraints: Second language learning in cleaning work
2016
This paper examines opportunities for language learning in a cleaning job, which is a typical entry-level job for immigrants. An ethnographic case study approach is taken to investigate examples of the conditions that allow or prevent language learning for the focal participant, a sub-Saharan man who works as a cleaner in Finland. This case illustrates on a micro-scale the impact of the new economy on a worker in a company that has outsourced its cleaning services. Theoretically and methodologically, the study applies van Lier’s (2004) ecological approach to language learning and Scollon and Scollon’s (2004) nexus analysis. The analysis of interaction order shows that within outsourced clea…
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…
From canon to chaos management: blogging as a learning tool in a modern Finnish literature course
2015
This article is based on the teaching experiment implemented in summer 2013 in a modern Finnish literature course organised by the Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) and the University of Jyvaskyla Language Centre. In order to break away from the traditional conception of literature and text, students’ independent blogging was chosen as the final course assignment instead of a traditional final project. Our aim has been to determine what blogging as an activity can add to second-language learning (i.e. learning the language in a country where it is spoken as a native language) in the context of modern Finnish literature. Our special interest is how new learning environments and approa…
Refugee-background students negotiating academic literacy practices in L2: a dialogical and nexus analytical approach
2022
Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan pakolaistaustaisten opiskelijoiden osallistumista akateemisiin tekstikäytänteisiin toisella kielellä. Näillä opiskelijoilla oli myös aiempaa korkeakoulutusta. Ryhmä on jäänyt aiemmissa tutkimuksissa vähälle huomiolle. Tutkimuksen konteksti on uudenlainen korkeakoulutaustaisille maahanmuuttajille tarkoitettu koulutus, jossa yhdistyvät kieli- ja sisältöopinnot. Tutkin, miten kaksi avainosallistujaa ymmärtää ja ottaa haltuun suomenkielisen laskentatoimen kurssin tekstikäytänteitä osana koulutusta. Teoreettisesti ja metodologisesti tutkimus nojaa dialogiseen lähestymistapaan ja neksusanalyysin viitekehykseen. Ensisijainen aineisto koostui haastatteluista ja vide…
Valuing Variability: Dynamic Usage-based Principles in the L2 Development of Four Finnish Language Learners
2020
The general aim of this study is to trace the second language (L2) development of four beginner learners of Finnish over one academic year from a dynamic usage-based perspective. Contrary to many previous studies, this study starts out from meanings, not forms. In other words, an onomasiological approach is adopted. The aim is to investigate what kind of constructions the learners use to express 1) evaluation and 2) existentiality. In line with a dynamic usage-based approach, the goal is to investigate three aspects of development: 1) the interaction between different linguistic means used to express a certain meaning and between the instruction and learning trajectories, 2) variability pat…
Language learning strategies and teaching practices in adult L2 education : The case of Swedish for Immigrants
2019
This article highlights the use and co-construction of language learning strategies (LLS) in second language education for adults with short previous education. In a case study, we explore how LLS are used and co-constructed by one student and one teacher. The data for the article was created in an action research programme comprising two Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) schools, and the methodology used was classroom observation based in linguistic ethnography. In accordance with Griffiths (2013, p. 15) LLS are defined as “activities consciously chosen by learners for the purpose of regulating their own language learning”. For the analysis of LLS, Oxford’s (1990) taxonomy was chosen. In the ch…
Improving Textual Competence in a Second Language Initial Literacy Classroom
2019
The paper aims to illustrate some textual learning activities developed for an L2 Italian initial-literacy classroom, and, in particular, for illiterate plurilinguals (mostly unaccompanied foreign minors). The activities in question belong to an experimental proposal that consists of a specific textual teaching module integrated with a second-language initial literacy course employing the communicative/affective-humanistic teaching approach. Textual activities are normally proposed to intermediate and advanced level literacy learners in second- language classrooms, in order to fully develop reading and writing abilities (i.e. functional literacy). However, based on the importance of learner…
Understanding idioms : a comparison of Finnish third grade students of national senior secondary school and IB Diploma Programme
2006
Rajallinen työmuisti S2-oppijoiden puheenymmärtämisvaikeuksien selittäjänä
2019
Tässä artikkelissa käsittelen työmuistin rajallisuuden ja aikuisten suomenoppijoiden puheenymmärtämisvaikeuksien yhteyttä tarkastelemalla oppijoiden kuuntelutehtäväsuorituksia ja niitä seuraavia stimulated recall -haastatteluja. Lisäksi selvitän, millaisilla muistitoiminnoilla oppijat kompensoivat työmuistin rajallisuutta ja helpottavat ymmärtämistä. Tutkimukseen osallistui 12 arabiankielistä alkeis- ja perustason aikuista suomenoppijaa, ja aineisto koostuu oppijoiden kuuntelutehtäväsuoritusten ja stimulated recall -haastattelujen videotallenteista. Työmuistin rajallisuuden vaikutus ymmärtämisvaikeuksissa tuli esiin erityisesti silloin, kun yhteen sanaan tai ilmaukseen keskittyminen aiheutt…
The role and theoretical relevance of study choices in explaining social inequalities of educational outcomes
2005
05094http://www.equalsoc.org/paper_fetcher.aspx?id=27; The theoretical model mobilized for explaining the importance of socially diversified choices is most often the rational one. However, research has mainly concerned "vertical" choices, between clearly unequal paths. The presentation investigates whether some "horizontal choices" seem to exist in France today. We will show 1) that horizontal choices are mostly vertical ones : they matter mainly because they warrant access to some specific educational resources, leading to a better place in the file for the best subsequent tracks and so to the best jobs; 2) that some horizontal choices exist, as the differences in choices between boys and…