scholarly journals Attitudes and Motivation in Early Foreign Language Learning

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-74
Author(s):  
Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović

This paper focuses on young foreign language learners’ attitudes and motivations. An overview is given of the main issues in this research area, based on key European studies. Approaches to studying these af-fective learner characteristics are described. Some attention is devoted to data elicitation techniques and the importance of triangulation. Research findings are presented through overviews of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies carried out in different European settings. The latter are presented in more detail, because their findings seem to be more revealing of the early foreign language learning process. The overall conclusion of this review paper is that young foreign language learners’ attitudes and motivations are not stable learner characteristics but change over time, creating layers of  complexity that warrant further research. Suggestions about possible future directions in researching young foreign language learner attitudes and motivations, and the application of its findings are also made.

Neofilolog ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 103-117
Author(s):  
Ariadna Strugielska

The role of affective factors in the process of foreign language learning and teaching is undeniable. Still, despite growing interest in the role of attitudinal variables in foreign language training, the problem has not been much researched from the perspective of multidimensional cognition. Thus, the focus of the article is the architecture of foreign language learners’ cognition situated within a multimodal framework and shaped by particular socio-linguistic experience. It is postulated that the conceptual system of a foreign language learner is unique in being highly susceptible to processing in terms of affective parameters. This hypothesis is corroborated by the results of a pilot study which show that concrete words in the conceptual systems of foreign language learners are associated with affect more than in the case of native speakers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaori Nakao ◽  
W. L. Quint Oga-Baldwin ◽  
Luke K. Fryer

Phonemic awareness is a necessary but not sufficient skill for language development. Phonemic awareness is therefore a critical factor for initial foreign language learning leading to ultimate attainment of literacy in the new language. The current study presents a test of phonemic awareness applied to the Japanese elementary school EFL environment. Two-hundred and sixty-eight students enrolled in grades three through six in a public elementary school completed a fifteen item test of initial word sounds. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results comparing scores across the four cohorts indicated clear differences between the grades. Students' phonemic awareness increased in non-stepwise fashion, with clear increases across two year periods. Results indicate the potential for testing phonemic awareness in EFL settings with non-alphabetic L1 learners.


Author(s):  
Joanna Rodiki Petrides

This chapter refers to a very complex factor that is of primary importance in language learning theories: motivation. It aims—through a brief analysis of existing theories and research findings on motivation, its impact on foreign language learning, and second language acquisition—to provide a definition of this complicated term, to explain how motivation can affect foreign language learners, and how young foreign language learners can be motivated to learn a foreign or additional language effectively and become competent users of it. To manage to provide a clear description of how motivation affects young language learners, it is necessary to refer to the theories that analyze foreign language learning or language acquisition and then relate them to the theories on motivation. Different types of motivation are described, including intrinsic, extrinsic, integrative, and instrumental, as well as motivation in the language classroom.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amri Isyam

This article aims at desribing foreign language learning strategies which should be possessed by each foreign language learner because their success or failure doesn’t depend only on the lecturer’s language teaching but also very much on the foreign language learning strategies. There are a lot of foreign language learning strategies; however, at least, there are fourteen foreign language learning strategies that they should possess and apply if they really want to succeed in learning a foreign language. The strategies will be enough for foreign language learners to reach their learning targets if they can possess and apply them as well as possible in learning whatever foreign language, like English for example.  In addition to the fourteen strategies, how they will find or get them will also be presented and discussed in the article. It is advisable that a foreign language teacher or lecturer save a small amount of time of his/her teaching hours to teach those strategies, and that a learner apply them as well they can or make his/her own effort to find and apply them. Key words/phrases: foreign language learner, strategy, and foreign language learning strategy


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-199
Author(s):  
Mahrus Asʾad ◽  
Ahmad Bukhori Muslim ◽  
Wagdi Rashad Ali Bin-Hady

Abstract Similar to other theistic texts, the Qurʾan has some figurative languages which require deep thought for good comprehension. However, how these rhetorical imageries can inspire the development of higher order thinking skills (HOTS) and religious tolerance among language learners, two necessary skills in the information-laden era, is still less known. This study explores how the Qurʾan’s figurative languages serve as an inspiring basis to develop Bloom’s revised taxonomy of analyzing and evaluating thinking skills in foreign language learning. Document analysis shows that many verses in Sura (Chapter) Joseph and other five chapters contain some simile, personification, and metaphor in recounting past prophetical and scientific events humans need to learn for life. Incorporated into learning materials, these figurative languages require the foreign language learners to use their skills of sensing, imagining, and making logical reasoning to discern the real meanings. The discussion of Sura Joseph in the Qurʾan which recounts some prophets of Abraham’s descendants can also increase religious tolerance among young followers of Abrahamic religions. The study recommends some strategies on how language teachers base their teaching and learning practices on these religious scriptures to develop students’ critical thinking and create a more harmonious global citizenship.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amélie Bulon

Abstract Foreign language learners’ phraseological proficiency remains problematic, even at advanced levels (e.g., Meunier, 2012; Meunier & Granger, 2008; Siepmann, 2008). While the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) method is believed to facilitate foreign language learning by fostering input, interaction, and output, little attention has been paid to the phraseological competence of CLIL learners. The present study aims to fill this gap as it is framed within an interdisciplinary project on CLIL in Belgium and specifically focuses on the phrasicon, i.e. the phraseological lexicon, of 5th year French-speaking secondary school learners of English in immersive (CLIL) and non-immersive (NON-CLIL) settings. The paper reports on (1) an analysis of the variety/range of the phrasicon and (2) an overview of phraseological accuracy. The analyses are based on a corpus of written productions of 180 learners. The findings of this study indicate higher frequency, range and accuracy in the phrasicon of CLIL learners.


2011 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 10-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lieven Buysse

Abstract This paper investigates how foreign language learners use discourse markers (such as so, well, you know, I mean) in English speech. These small words that do not contribute much, if anything at all, to the propositional content of a message but modify it in subtle ways, are often considered among the last elements acquired in a foreign language. This contribution reports on close scrutiny of a corpus of English-spoken interviews with Belgian native speakers of Dutch, half of whom are undergraduates majoring in Commercial Sciences and half of whom are majoring in English Linguistics, and sets it off against a comparable native speaker corpus. The investigation shows that the language learners exhibit a clear preference for “operative discourse markers” and neglect or avoid “involvement discourse markers”. It is argued that in learner speech the former take on functions typically fulfilled by the latter to a greater extent than in native speech, and that in some cases the learners revert to a code-switching strategy to cater for their pragmatic needs, bringing markers from Dutch into their English speech. Finally, questions are raised as to the place of such pragmatic devices in foreign language learning.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majid Elahi Shirvan ◽  
Nahid Talebzadeh

Abstract Foreign language learning anxiety has been the target of many studies in the field of applied linguistics, but, with the dynamics turn in the field, attempts have been recently made to uncover the dynamics of anxiety English as a foreign language (EFL) learners go through, especially within the moments of their conversational interactions. Within these interactions, dynamics of anxiety might emerge in different patterns under the influence of the status of the participants’ interlocutors and their familiarity with them. This study explores the dynamics of EFL learners’ anxiety while interacting with different interlocutors from an idiodynamic perspective. The participants of this case study were two female freshman students, taking a speaking and listening university course, who were interviewed by four interlocutors with different status and level of familiarity. Following an idiodynamic method, they self-rated their anxiety fluctuations under the influence of each interlocutor throughout each conversation followed by stimulated recall interviews regarding the explanations of the changes in their anxiety during the conversations. The results showed both change and stability in the participants’ anxiety under the influence of the interlocutors’ familiarity with the participants and their status as well their verbal and nonverbal feedback. The explanation of these changes based on the main properties of complex dynamic system theory is discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
E. Sulyati

Implementation of foreign language learning in Indonesia is an effort for the Indonesian people to be able to absorb and follow the development of science and technology in the world, as well as a way to get into the global society. Behind this goal, there is a concern about the infiltration of (Western) values that can erode the identity of foreign language learners as Indonesian. This concern arises because in learning foreign languages contained information about foreign culture (Western) and its cultural values. Western cultural values, if not critically viewed by foreign language teachers and learners, are very likely to change the cultural outlook of learners in Indonesia. Foreign language learning is even suspected of being a Western means of doing hegemony towards the people of Indonesia (East). In this article explained about the situation of foreign language learning in Indonesia, forms of "Western" hegemony against "East" through foreign language learning, Alternative forms of ethnopedagogic and intercultural-based foreign language learning.


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