scholarly journals Second Language Learners Making Video in Three Contexts

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelleen Toohey ◽  
Diane Dagenais ◽  
Elizabeth Schulze

We describe videomaking projects in Canada, India, and Mexico in which second language learners were asked to show the children in the other countries what their lives were like. We consider how this form of expression might contribute to second language learning and allow children to make use of in and out-of-school resources. We also raise questions about the affordances and constraints of the videomaking process and explore how teachers might approach such multimodal literacy activities with children.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 453-469
Author(s):  
Patrizia Giampieri

Abstract The World Wide Web has often been considered too vast to be consulted for linguistic purposes or for language learning. This paper will explore whether second language learners can be taught how to navigate the web (i.e., how to perform Google linguistic research, or “Googleology”), in order to improve their language skills. To this aim, a 2 h trial lesson was organized. The trial lesson was delivered to 78 apprentices, divided into groups of 10–15, over a period of six months. During the lesson, the participants were taught how to work with Google Advanced Search syntax. At the end of the lesson, they applied the newly-acquired skills by completing a few tasks concerning term and/or collocational search. The paper findings will highlight that, despite initial hesitation or inaccuracies in completing the exercises, the tasks were performed well. The participants considered the lesson interesting, useful and enjoyable. They felt engaged irrespective of the level of their second language (L2) knowledge, and were more confident in approaching Google Search for linguistic purposes.


1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Cotterall

Strategy training appears to be a promising means of assisting second language learners. However, strategy training operates within a context. If factors in that context are not considered, the training will not be successful. This paper discusses a number of insights highlighted by a reading strategy training study conducted in a second language (L2) setting. It cautions against the uncritical adoption of strategy training as a panacea for learning difficulties, and stresses the importance of recognising and taking account of factors in the second language learning context which may suggest modifications to procedures carried out successfully in first language (L1) settings.


Author(s):  
Jialei Jiang

Scholarship in cloud pedagogy has provided intriguing lenses through which researchers enhance pedagogical approaches for digital composition classrooms. However, there is a lack of discussion on how cloud pedagogy could be employed to benefit second language learners of writing. Scholars in both digital and translingual areas of research have touched on conceptualizing their theories through multimodal, collaborative, and ecological perspectives of writing. Therefore, this article looks into the theories and practices of translingualism, and explore how translingual writing can be merged and integrated into the multimodal applications of cloud-based learning. Following and expanding the practices of digital composition, this paper aims to argue for an ontological shift to a translingual view of cloud-based writing and examine how it informs second language learning.


2020 ◽  
pp. 818-832
Author(s):  
Jialei Jiang

Scholarship in cloud pedagogy has provided intriguing lenses through which researchers enhance pedagogical approaches for digital composition classrooms. However, there is a lack of discussion on how cloud pedagogy could be employed to benefit second language learners of writing. Scholars in both digital and translingual areas of research have touched on conceptualizing their theories through multimodal, collaborative, and ecological perspectives of writing. Therefore, this article looks into the theories and practices of translingualism, and explore how translingual writing can be merged and integrated into the multimodal applications of cloud-based learning. Following and expanding the practices of digital composition, this paper aims to argue for an ontological shift to a translingual view of cloud-based writing and examine how it informs second language learning.


2014 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Maria Nordrum

In this paper I will analyze the four Natural Perfectives of the simplex verb путатьipf ‘tangle up’, namely впутатьpf, спутатьpf, перепутатьpf and запутатьpf. According to Janda et al. (2013:103), “prefix variation” is a phenomenon that applies to 27% of all Russian verbs and is caused by the ability of prefixes to “focus the meanings of a simplex verb in different ways” (op. cit.:162). My question is: Is it possible to predict the choice of prefix when there is prefix variation? And, if yes: How? My hypothesis is that the choice of prefix largely depends on the construction in which the verb appears and the semantics of its internal argument. Thus, I consider two factors in my analysis: Factor 1 Constructions and Factor 2 Semantics of the Internal Argument. My findings indicate that both factors are vital and, more specifically, that the choice of prefix for this verb to a large extent can be predicted by six tendencies that I will discuss thoroughly.I will argue that these six tendencies are of great relevance to second language learners, like myself, who often find themselves confused at the number of prefixes and, more specifically, Natural Perfectives available for a given verb. The topic of this paper has been born from a desire to gain insight with practical value in second language learning.


1994 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang Lee ◽  
Catherine Ann Cameron ◽  
Murrary J. Linton ◽  
Anne K. Hunt

ABSTRACTThis longitudinal study examines the acquisition of English articles by three 6-year-old, second language learning children whose native tongue is Chinese, a language without articles. Brown's coding scheme and an extended coding scheme were used in scoring the corpora of children's responses to a Syntax Elicitation Task. Results revealed that the Chinese children's acquisition of the definite article differed from- what had been previously found using Brown's coding scheme with English as first language learners and second language learning children of other native language origins. Chinese children's use of the definite article developed through an unmarked phase, a referential place-holding phase, a marked phase, and a referential substitution phase before the definite article was fully acquired. The acquisition of the indefinite article, on the other hand, was similar to the acquisition pattern already reported for children learning English as a first language or as a second language. It is suggested that referential place-holding, as well as referential substitution, might not be a Chinese-specific second language learning phenomenon; rather, they might be derived from a universal referential strategy for learning articles.


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT J. HARTSUIKER ◽  
SARAH BERNOLET

According to Hartsuiker et al.'s (2004) shared-syntax account bilinguals share syntactic representations across languages whenever these representations are similar enough. But how does such a system develop in the course of second language (L2) learning? We will review recent work on cross-linguistic structural priming, which considered priming in early second language learners and late second language learners as a function of proficiency. We will then sketch our account of L2 syntactic acquisition. We assume an early phase in which the learner relies on transfer from L1 and imitation, followed by phases in which language- and item-specific syntactic representations are added and in which such representations become increasingly abstract. We argue that structural priming effects in L2 (and between L1 and L2) depend on the structure of this developing network but also on explicit memory processes. We speculate that these memory processes might aid the formation of new representations.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Fatimah Almutrafi

The primacy of speech in second language learning and the relative lack of importance of the written form have triggered a continuous debate in the field of language teaching methodology. The various approaches which have been developed throughout the years emphasise the importance of the spoken language. Therefore, the written form has been taken for granted in most teaching methodologies. This paper considers the question of whether second language learners learn best through spoken or written language. It reviews the literature with regard to how speaking and writing have been taught in the last two decades. In addition, it describes the differences between spoken and written forms of languages. The paper then presents some characteristics and features of both language forms and states the situation of teaching English in a foreign language context. The paper concludes that both spoken and written aspects of any language are important in language learning and they both complement one another. Second language learners need to learn both aspects in order to master the language. The degree of exposure to spoken or written language is yet determined by the learners’ purpose for learning the language.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gergana Vitanova

The paper contextualizes the concepts of dialogue and dialogism, as outlined by Bakhtin’s framework, in the fields of second language acquisition and applied linguistics. Specifically, it shows how dialogism could be applied to three distinct, but interconnected contexts: the context of immigrant second language learners, second and foreign language teacher education, and the increasingly important area of English as an international language. The paper argues that viewing language learners’ and their teachers’ identities as dialogic constructions and, particularly, the texts they produce as examples of active dialogic activities can help researchers and practitioners understand the active, agentive nature of the process of language acquisition better.


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