Attention and Awareness in Foreign Language Learning

Attention and Awareness in Foreign Language Learning

Author: Richard W. Schmidt

Publisher: Natl Foreign Lg Resource Ctr

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 082481794X

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Presents research into the learning of Spanish, Japanese, Finnish, Hawaiian, and English as a second language, with additional comments and examples from French, German, and miniature artificial languages.


Perspectives on Individual Characteristics and Foreign Language Education

Perspectives on Individual Characteristics and Foreign Language Education

Author: Wai Meng Chan

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2012-10-01

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1614510938

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Learner characteristics have been at the center of second language acquisition and foreign language education research in response to the puzzling questions: Why are there often large differences in second language (L2) learning achievement and why do many learners, though proficient first language speakers, not succeed in learning a L2? The papers in this book explore and challenge the three key factors in individual difference research: language aptitude, language learning strategies and motivation.


The Ecosystem of the Foreign Language Learner

The Ecosystem of the Foreign Language Learner

Author: Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-03-12

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 3319143344

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This volume examines selected aspects of the foreign language learning process from an ecological perspective, adopting a holistic view on complex interrelations among and within organisms (L2 language learners) and their milieus (family, school and society). First of all, the personal ecosystem of the learner is taken into consideration, whereby two powerful influences are intertwined: cognitive and affective aspects. The learning space formed by the individual is largely shaped by their affective states coexisting in conjunction with their cognitive processes. Moreover, this specific space is also modified by a wider array of other personal ecosystems or those of cultures. Hence, the ecosystem of the foreign language learner is also subject to influences coming from sociocultural leverage that can be represented by people they know, like parents and language teachers, who can both directly and indirectly manipulate their ecosystem. At the same time other important forces, such as culture as a ubiquitous element in the foreign language learning process, also have the power to shape that ecosystem. Accordingly, the book is divided into three parts covering a range of topics related to these basic dimensions of foreign language acquisition (the cognitive, affective and socio-cultural). Part I, Affective Interconnections, focuses on the body of original empirical research into the affective domain of not only L2 language learners but also non-native language teachers. Part II, Cognitive Interconnections, reports on contributions on language learners’ linguistic processing and cognitive representations of concepts. The closing part, Socio-cultural Interconnections, provides new insights into language learning processes as they are affected by social and cultural factors.


New Trends in Foreign Language Teaching

New Trends in Foreign Language Teaching

Author: Raúl Ruiz Cecilia

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-01-15

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1527525473

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Language teaching approaches, methods and procedures are constantly undergoing reassessment. New ideas keep emerging as the growing complexity of the means of communication and the opportunities created by technology put language skills to new uses. In addition, the political, social and economic impact of globalisation, the new demands of the labour market that result from it, the pursuit of competitiveness, the challenges of intercultural communication and the diversification of culture have opened new perspectives on the central role that foreign languages have come to play in the development of contemporary societies. This book provides an insight into the latest developments in the field and discusses the new trends in foreign language teaching in four major areas, namely methods and approaches, teacher training, innovation in the classroom, and evaluation and assessment.


New Media and Perennial Problems in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

New Media and Perennial Problems in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

Author: Liliana Piasecka

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-11-28

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 3319076868

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The book concerns the ways in which the new media shape communication along with educational expectations and practices in foreign language classrooms. Although foreign language learners have cheap and easy access to information and ways of communication, they also wrestle with problems that have always accompanied language learning. The focus of the book is two-fold. On the one hand, the authors demonstrate how using social networks, videoconferencing, mobile phones, wikis, and computer-mediated interaction contributes to the development of language skills, negotiated interaction, autonomy, and intercultural competence. On the other, they discuss “old” issues pertaining to the role of vocabulary, corrective feedback, textbooks and inner speech in the process of language learning and use. Every chapter reports original empirical research on issues related to the new media and old problems in foreign language teaching contexts in various countries, and with respect to various age groups.


Foreign Language Learning

Foreign Language Learning

Author: Alice F. Healy

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2013-05-13

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 113480766X

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Based on a research project funded by the Army Research Institute, Foreign Language Learning reports original empirical and theoretical research on foreign language acquisition and makes recommendations about applications to foreign language instruction. The ultimate goal of this project was to identify a set of psychological principles that can provide the foundation for--or at least, argumentation for--a foreign language training course. This book reviews the various studies of which the project is comprised. It begins with an overview chapter outlining the scope of the project and summarizing some of the experiments that were conducted in the laboratory. In each of the following chapters, the contributors report on previously unpublished research on selected specific psycholinguistic training principles; vocabulary and concept acquisition; language comprehension; reading processes; and bilingualism. The final chapter--prepared by a prominent expert on second language training--provides an overview and evaluation of the contribution of the research described in earlier chapters to the goal of improving instructional methods in foreign language learning. Sandwiched between the introductory and final chapters are four major sections: * Vocabulary and Concept Acquisition, which discusses the effect of first-language phonological configuration on lexical acquisition in a second language, contextual inference effects in foreign language vocabulary acquisition and retention, mediated processes in foreign language vocabulary acquisition and retention, and the status of the count-mass distinction in a mental grammar; * Language Comprehension, which addresses voice communication between air traffic controllers and pilots who are nonnative speakers of English, cognitive strategies in discourse processing, and the effects of context and word order in Maasai sentence production and comprehension; * Reading Processes, which discusses the enhancement of text comprehension through highlighting, the effect of alphabet and fluency on unitization processes in reading, and reading proficiency of bilinguals in their first and second languages; and * Bilingualism, which addresses Stroop interference effects in bilinguals between similar and dissimilar languages, the individual differences in second language proficiency, and the hierarchical model of bilingual representation.


Learning and Teaching Languages Through Content

Learning and Teaching Languages Through Content

Author: Roy Lyster

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2007-03-14

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 9027292612

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Based on a synthesis of classroom SLA research that has helped to shape evolving perspectives of content-based instruction since the introduction of immersion programs in Montreal more than 40 years ago, this book presents an updated perspective on integrating language and content in ways that engage second language learners with language across the curriculum. A range of instructional practices observed in immersion and content-based classrooms is highlighted to set the stage for justifying a counterbalanced approach that integrates both content-based and form-focused instructional options as complementary ways of intervening to develop a learner’s interlanguage system. A counterbalanced approach is outlined as an array of opportunities for learners to process language through content by means of comprehension, awareness, and production mechanisms, and to negotiate language through content by means of interactional strategies involving teacher scaffolding and feedback.


Motivation and Foreign Language Learning

Motivation and Foreign Language Learning

Author: David Lasagabaster

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2014-07-31

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 9027269750

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Motivation is a key aspect of second language learning. There is no doubt that abstract models are basic to gain theoretical insights into motivation; however, teachers and researchers demand comprehensible explanations for motivation that can help them to improve their everyday teaching and research. The aim of this book is to provide both theoretical insights and practical suggestions to improve motivation in the classroom. With this in mind, the book is divided into two sections: the first part includes innovative ideas regarding language learning motivation, whereas the second is focused on the relationship between different approaches to foreign language learning – such as EFL (English as a foreign language), CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) or immersion – and motivation. Both sections have an emphasis on pedagogical implications that are rooted in both theoretical and empirical work.


New Insights Into Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

New Insights Into Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

Author: Kees Van Esch

Publisher: Peter Lang Pub Incorporated

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 9783631526392

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This book aims to offer insights into cognitive, sociocultural and pedagogical aspects of foreign language learning and teaching. It focuses on different competences, such as communicative competence, intercultural competence and the autonomy of the language learner. A significant feature of this volume is that it bears the fruit of collaboration between researchers and practitioners on both sides of the Atlantic and, therefore, offers a variety of perspectives. The book is divided into four parts, focusing on the following four areas of research: sociocultural theory, communicative language teaching, intercultural competence and learner autonomy. The first chapter of each part covers theoretical issues by outlining the origins and development of a theory and explaining its core concepts. In the second chapter, theoretical, empirical and applied research is reviewed, and the implications for foreign language learning and teaching are discussed. The third chapter of each part is devoted to the application of the theories in focus. It presents either an example of a research project or an application of the theory in terms of developing materials and/or giving suggestions for good practice in the foreign language classroom.


Understanding Emotions in English Language Learning in Virtual Worlds

Understanding Emotions in English Language Learning in Virtual Worlds

Author: Mariusz Kruk

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 133

ISBN-13: 1000570894

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This book contributes to overcoming the deficit in research on emotions in foreign language learning in the domain of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in both traditional and virtual settings. The authors divide emotions into positive (i.e., enjoyment and curiosity) and negative (i.e., boredom and language anxiety) and explore their role in L2 teaching and learning in CALL environments from theoretical, empirical and pedagogical perspectives. The book begins with a theoretical overview of selected issues concerning positive and negative emotions and surveys the studies that have dealt with this issue in L2 learning in conventional settings and CALL. The empirical part of the book is devoted to a research project which explores the experience of positive and negative emotions in learning English in the virtual world Second Life, the relationships of the emotions in question and factors influencing them. The book concludes by recommending a selection of practices which can help maximize the positive emotions and minimize the negative emotions in foreign language learning in CALL environments. This is an important and illuminating read for students and scholars of applied linguistics, second language education and educational technology who are interested in CALL and in incorporating VW/VR-based language learning programs into their studies and teaching.