Chapter 4. Exploring interaction between heritage and second language learners in the Spanish language classroom

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Fernández-Dobao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Language Classroom

scholarly journals Improving English as a Second Language Learners’ Attitudes to Pronunciation through Motivation

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. p56
Author(s):  
Ameen Akeem ◽  
Noor Zainab Bt. Abdul Rasak
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Motivational Strategies ◽  
Perceived Difficulty ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
The Subject

Pronunciation is an important aspect of English learning. It is however one of the most abandoned or half taught. This is usually due to perceived difficulty in its teaching and learning. Hence, unfavorable attitudes set in, especially in English as a second language situation. In most cases, due to poor technique and methodology employed by the teachers of English, the students are not encouraged to learn pronunciation like other aspects of the subject. This attitude goes a very long way in determining their communicative competence as poor pronunciation could lead a breakdown in communication. It is thus the responsibility of the teachers to help the students learn. This paper thus advocates and presents some motivational strategies that could be employed by the teachers of English to improve the learners’ attitude to learning pronunciation in English as a second language classroom.

Pair versus individual writing: Effects on fluency, complexity and accuracy

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Wigglesworth ◽  
Neomy Storch
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Single Text ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Language Writing

The assessment of oral language is now quite commonly done in pairs or groups, and there is a growing body of research which investigates the related issues (e.g. May, 2007). Writing generally tends to be thought of as an individual activity, although a small number of studies have documented the advantages of collaboration in writing in the second language classroom (e.g. DiCamilla & Anton, 1997; Storch, 2005; Swain & Lapkin, 1998). Particularly in university contexts, group or pair assignments are widely used in many disciplines. In addition, collaborative writing could be used in second language classroom assessment contexts as formative assessment. However, research which compares texts produced by learners collaboratively to texts produced individually, and the implications of this for assessment practices, is rare. This study is a first step in the investigation of using collaborative writing in second language contexts and comparing the performance of two groups of second language learners: one group worked individually, and the other group worked in pairs. When writing in pairs, each pair produced a single text. All participants completed one writing task: an argumentative essay. The performances of the individuals (N = 48) and the pairs (N = 48) were compared on detailed discourse analytic measures of fluency, complexity and accuracy. This comparison revealed that collaboration impacted positively on accuracy, but did not affect fluency and complexity. A detailed analysis of the pair transcripts recorded during the writing activity provides insights into the ways in which pairs work together, and the foci of their endeavour. The implications of these findings for in-class assessment of second language writing are discussed.

“I Think That Sounds Right”

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-368
Author(s):  
Laura Walls
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Language Courses ◽  
Spanish Classroom

Many studies have demonstrated the benefits of learner-learner interactions in the second language classroom; however, despite the growing number of heritage language learners (HLLs) that enroll in language courses, only recently have researchers begun to examine interactions among second language learners and HLLs. Still, HLL-HLL interactions go unexamined. The present study fills this gap in the literature by analyzing HLL-HLL interactions during collaborative writing activities in a Spanish classroom. Results indicate that learners resolve lexical, grammatical, and orthographic issues accurately in most cases. It also shows that learners rely heavily on their strengths in Spanish and thus, utilize their implicit knowledge of the language. Their intuition enables them to critically assess the appropriateness of certain words and structures according to their needs and intentions; however, it also means that they tend to not fully utilize the resources at their disposal. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Classroom Participation as a Performative Act of Language Learners’ Identity Construction

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-84
Author(s):  
Rea Lujić
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Classroom Participation ◽  
Learner Identity ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
L2 Learners

Abstract In the first part of this study, we briefly present different approaches used to define the concept of second language learners’ identity. Then we introduce Butler’s theory of performativity (1988) and we attempt to apply its main concepts as tools for describing L2 learners’ identity. In the second part of the study, we try to answer the following question: What are typical performative acts of a good and a poor language learner in the language learning classroom? Our research suggests that performing a good language learner identity refers to the learner’s frequent and repetitive participation in utterances whose content is related to the language classroom, regardless of the chosen communicative resources. As for performing a poor language learner identity, it appeared that it refers to the learner’s repetitive and frequent participation in utterances whose content is not related to the language classroom, regardless of the chosen communicative resources.

scholarly journals Second Language Learners' Strong Preference for Self-initiated Self-repair: Implications for Theory and Pedagogy

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 541
Author(s):  
Simin Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Current Development ◽  
Conversational Interaction ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Second Language Education ◽  
Language Classroom

This study employs a theoretical framework informed by Conversation Analysis to analyse the self-repairs of a particular group of teenage Chinese EFL learners. With an aim to report on the current development of the participants in using English socially in terms of managing repairs, this study explores their second language (L2) discourse in three communicative tasks. Audio-recorded conversations were analysed and searched for the four sequences of repair. Comparison of the participants' preference for repair sequence to native speakers shows that they can manage repairs and maintain conversation interactively and socially just as native speakers. This suggests that they should be treated as normal social beings in the language classroom and not to be interrupted by the teacher when troubles arise from conversational interaction. Thus, this study provides an account of the current development of these young learners in using the L2 interactively and socially, which holds implications for research on second language education as well as for classroom teaching.

scholarly journals German discourse particles in the second language classroom

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-210
Author(s):  
Andreas Trotzke ◽  
Ermenegildo Bidese ◽  
Manuela Caterina Moroni
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Modal Particles ◽  
Discourse Particles ◽  
Cohesive Devices ◽  
Language Classroom

Abstract One of the main pedagogical objectives for language learners at high proficiency levels is to use ‘cohesive devices’ when writing a text or conducting a conversation. Usually, curricula stress the importance of clause-internal cohesion (by means such as connectives: and, but, when, because, etc.). By contrast, we stress the importance of cohesion at the level of the dialogue and in this context focus on discourse (aka ‘modal’) particles as a means to yield cohesion at that level. In this domain, German discourse particles represent a challenging learning objective for second language learners of German. This paper explores some production patterns of German discourse particles in L2 German by L1 Italian learners. We show that looking at those elements can provide new insights because these elements allow us to tease apart problems within syntax as compared to the lexicon-pragmatics interface in second language learning.

scholarly journals A Pilot Study on the Use of Pronouns in Oral Productions of Spanish as a Second Language

10.29007/4bkm ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Collewaert ◽  
An Vande Casteele
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Null Subject ◽  
French And English ◽  
Subject Pronoun

In this paper, some preliminary results on the use of pronouns in oral discourse of language learners of Spanish will be discussed. The article mainly focuses on the use of different kinds of personal pronouns and the pro-drop phenomenon, namely the existence of a null subject, typical of the Spanish language. The absence of an explicit subject due to a rich verbal conjugation opposes Spanish to other languages, such as French, English and Dutch, where an explicit subject pronoun is obligatory.As to investigate the use of the pronouns by language learners of Spanish, we compiled a corpus of oral productions of second language learners of Spanish who are all native speakers of Dutch and also learned French and English, which means that for them the pro-drop phenomenon is new. We will investigate which kinds of pronouns are used in which syntactic contexts and indicate in what contexts the use of a pronoun is not required. Next to this, we observe in our learners’ corpus an unnecessary repetition of proper names and an over-use of personal pronouns as subjects. This can be related to the concept of "over-explicitation" or "overspecification", whereby learners of a second language tend to use more explicit forms than necessary.

A longitudinal ERP study of language effects in beginning second language learners

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine J. Midgley ◽  
Laura N. Soskey ◽  
Phillip J. Holcomb ◽  
Jonathan Grainger
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Language Effects
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