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Language Classroom (language + classroom)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	95%

Kinds of Language Classroom

foreign language classroom

Selected Abstracts

Teaching Sensitivity to Cultural Difference in the First-Year Foreign Language Classroom

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 1 2007
Article first published online: 31 DEC 200, Dennis O. Durocher Jr.
Abstract: This article summarizes teacher action research for the teaching of subjective culture in the foreign language classroom. It begins with a literature review, followed by a description of Milton J. Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (Bennett, 1993), the theoretical paradigm upon which classroom activities and experiments were based. Bennett's model is compared and contrasted with other approaches to teaching culture, its strengths and weaknesses are discussed, and suggestions for implementing the model are presented. The article then summarizes efforts to mobilize the theory at the elementary French level, describes various culture-teaching strategies, and presents the results of evaluations of the effectiveness of the strategies using the Intercultural Development Inventory. Final remarks concern the goals of the culture component in the foreign language curriculum and suggestions for next steps in research. [source]

Listening with Your Eyes: The Importance of Speech-Related Gestures in the Language Classroom

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 2 2003
Article first published online: 31 DEC 200, Tony Harris
The role played by NVC in a three-turn conversational exchange is examined and the literature supporting the notion that speech-related gestures (i.e., illustrators) have a definite message-carrying junction is reviewed. Two illustrative gestures from a television script excerpt are analyzed; it is demonstrated that such gestures may assist in the decoding of speech at the "while-listening" stage of L2 listening comprehension. [source]

Exploring Daily Grading as a Form of Assessment in a College-Level Japanese Language Classroom

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 1 2002
Seonghee Choi
ABSTRACT: Methods of evaluation affect learning in multiple and varied ways. The current distinction between testing and assessment invokes issues about which alternatives for evaluation are available and how they are applied in language classrooms. To explore a daily grading system as a form of assessment, this study surveyed 16 teachers and 90 students in college-level Japanese language classrooms where daily grading is practiced. The results showed that both teachers and students had positive beliefs about daily grading. It was also found that students had moderate anxiety levels when their performances were graded daily. In addition, the study revealed several areas of concern about daily grading. To use daily grading successfully as a language-learning assessment tool, appropriate and ongoing teacher training is recommended. [source]

Cooperative Strategy Training and Oral Interaction: Enhancing Small Group Communication in the Language Classroom

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2006
DIANE NAUGHTON
This study focused on the effect of a cooperative strategy training program on the patterns of interaction that arose as small groups of students participated in an oral discussion task. The underlying assumption was that students could be taught to engage with each other and with the task in a way that would foster the creation and exploitation of learning opportunities. Intact classes were randomly assigned to the experimental or control condition, and triads from within each group were videotaped at the beginning and end of the experimental intervention. Data taken from the videotapes were analyzed in order to measure changes in overall participation, strategic participation, and the use of the individual strategies included in the program. The pretest showed that prior to strategy training, interaction patterns frequently did not reflect those interactions deemed important for language acquisition as identified within both traditional second language acquisition (SLA) and sociocultural research. The posttest revealed, however, that the strategy training program was largely successful in encouraging students to engage in these types of interactional sequences. [source]

A Study into the Feasibility and Effects of Reading Extended Authentic Discourse in the Beginning German Language Classroom

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2002
Hiram Maxim
Despite efforts to integrate all levels of foreign language instruction, reading remains on the periphery of beginning language study. Reading extended texts is outcast to an even greater degree. This article addresses this issue by presenting the design, results, and implications from a study involving beginning college-level language students who read a 142-page romance novel in their first semester of German. During the semester, the treatment group (N= 27) followed the same standard first-semester syllabus as the comparison group (N= 32), but replaced all standard reading assignments in the textbook with daily in-class readings of the romance novel. The effects of the treatment were assessed on the basis of the two groups' results on (a) three departmental exams and (b) a pretest and posttest consisting of written recall protocols of 4 texts and vocabulary-related questions. A statistical analysis of these two measures yielded 2 central findings. First, students were able to read a full-length authentic text in the first semester. Second, the treatment group performed as well as the comparison group on the three department tests and the posttest, which runs counter to arguments that time spent reading in class adversely affects beginning language learners' second language development. Curricular and pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed. [source]

Writing in the Secondary Foreign Language Classroom: The Effects of Prompts and Tasks on Novice Learners of French

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2000
Denise Paige Way
This study investigated the effects of 3 different writing tasks (descriptive, narrative, and expository) and 3 different writing prompts (bare, vocabulary, and prose model) on 937 writing samples culled from 330 novice learners enrolled in 15 classes of Levels 1 and 2 high school French. In order to assess the quality, fluency, syntactic complexity, and accuracy of the writing samples, the researchers employed 4 evaluation methods: holistic scoring, length of product, mean length of T-units, and percentage of correct T-units. Results indicate that the descriptive task was the easiest and the expository task the most difficult. The prose model prompts produced the highest mean scores, and the bare prompts produced the lowest mean scores. Based on these findings, the researchers question whether the description of a novice writer in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines(1986) should be used as a blueprint for curriculum development and textbook construction for secondary novice foreign language learners. [source]

Diversity and Inclusion of Sociopolitical Issues in Foreign Language Classrooms: An Exploratory Survey

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 1 2003
Ryuko Kubota
ABSTRACT: One aim of foreign language teaching is to broaden learners' worldviews and promote intercultural communication. Less discussed, however, are domestic diversity and sociopolitical issues. Through a survey of university students of Japanese, Spanish, and Swahili, the authors of this study investigated diversity in the classroom, students' backgrounds and learning experiences, and their perceptions about the relationship between foreign language learning and issues of race, gender, class, and social justice. The study found more racial diversity in Japanese and Swahili than in Spanish classes and in beginning Spanish classes than in advanced Spanish classes. Beginning Spanish students related foreign language learning with social justice issues less frequently than did advanced students. A follow-up survey revealed stigmatized experiences and detachment from ethnic identity among some minority students. [source]

Researching Second Language Classrooms by MCKAY, SANDRA LEE

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2008
REBECCA L. CHISM
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Teaching Writing in Second and Foreign Language Classrooms Edited by WILLIAMS, JESSICA

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2007
ELLA W. KIRK
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Analysing Student Teachers' Codeswitching in Foreign Language Classrooms: Theories and Decision Making

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2001
Ernesto Macaro
This article draws on a case study of 6 student teachers in secondary schools and their codeswitching between the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) over the course of 14 foreign language (FL) lessons, where French was the L2 and English was the L1 of the learners. It describes how the student teachers had been exposed to theoretical positions and empirical studies on this issue during their 36-week training programme. It analyses the quantity of L1 used by these student teachers as well as the reflections and beliefs of 2 of the student teachers on the codeswitching process. The findings reveal comparatively low levels of L1 use by the student teachers and little effect of the quantity of student teacher L1 use on the quantity of L1 or L2 use by the learners. They also reveal very little explicit reference by the student teachers to the research and professional literature they had read, yet their decision making did not necessarily stem from their personal beliefs. Some aspects of codeswitching appear to be a source of conflict for the student teachers while others do not. Implications for teaching are drawn. [source]

Using Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in Language Teaching

DIE UNTERRICHTSPRAXIS/TEACHING GERMAN, Issue 1 2009
Senta Goertler
This article discusses how new and familiar computer technology tools can be used in a communicative language classroom. It begins by outlining the benefits and challenges of using such technology for language teaching in general, and it describes some sample activities that the author has used. Readers are shown how to implement various computer tools in their own classrooms in order to create a Computer-Mediated Communication environment in a communicative language classroom. [source]

Teaching Sensitivity to Cultural Difference in the First-Year Foreign Language Classroom

Cultures and Comparisons: Strategies for Learners

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 3 2005
Sandra J. Savignon
Abstract: This article suggests a set of strategies for developing the sociocultural competence of language learners. These strategies extend the notion of coping strategies, or strategic competence (Savignon, 1972, 1983, 1997), to include the intercultural dimension articulated in current goals for U.S. world language education. Adopting the integrative, communicative perspective of language development reflected in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (National Standards, 1999), this article offers classroom strategies for teaching and learning with particular reference to the goal areas of "cultures" and "comparisons." This proposal is grounded in a theory of language inseparable from culture,one that views ability in both a first language (L1) and subsequent languages as the result of socialization and the language classroom as a site of exploration in the development of communicative competence. Suggestions for classroom implementation of strategy training are supported by classroom research (Savignon & Sysoyev, 2002). [source]

Incorporating Comparisons Standard 4.1 into Foreign Language Teaching

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 2 2003
Article first published online: 31 DEC 200, Serafima Gettys
Drawing on Slobin's (1996) experimental study, which demonstrated the existence of "the thinking for speaking" form of thought, it is argued that teaching a foreign language entails teaching novel "thinking for speaking" operations and it is at this point of instruction that the use of L1-L2 comparisons is most warranted. In addition, linguistic and psycholingustic evidence in favor of using the word as a basic unit of linguistic comparisons in the foreign language classroom is provided. Finally, practical suggestions as to how linguistic comparisons can be included in day-to-day teaching are offered. [source]

Strategies for Success: Profiling the Effective Learner of German

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 3 2001
Jennifer Bruen
The primary objective of this study is to identify the language-learning strategies associated with the achievement of higher levels of oral proficiency in German for 100 Irish students about to complete their second year at Dublin City University. It also investigates the way in which these strategies are used by those with higher and lower levels of proficiency. The methodology combines quantitative assessment (using questionnaires)with in-depth, qualitative interviews. The article begins by explaining key concepts in the field of language learning strategy research and then reviews a selection of relevant studies. An experiment designed to achieve the above objectives is then described. The results indicate that more-proficient students use more language-learning strategies, in particular more cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Furthermore, ten. strategies correlate with higher levels of oral proficiency at a significant level. These provide a tentative strategic profile of the more effective learner of German. Finally, the qualitative findings suggest that more-proficient students use language-learning strategies in a more structured and purposeful manner and apply them to a wider range of situations and tasks. Finally, implications for future research and for the language classroom are discussed. [source]

Turning Professional: Content-Based Communication and the Evolution of a Cross-Cultural Language Curriculum

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 6 2000
Gisela Hoecherl-Alden
Furthermore, the increasing demand for professional language classes makes it necessary to adjust the overall undergraduate program so that these courses fit meaningfully into the mainly humanities-oriented curriculum. If students are to bridge the gap between form and meaning, courses need to move from communicative training at the elementary level through an intermediate stage that combines communicative and content-based instruction. Finally, training students successfully for future careers in a global economy means that courses cannot focus only on content and form, but also must include a thorough development of cultural awareness. Applying ethnographic intercultural training methods to the language classroom ensures that the students attain not only linguistic but also cultural proficiency. The course structure presented in this paper demonstrates that professional school students can be trained alongside humanities majors by making minor but far-reaching adjustments to the elementary and intermediate language program, and without placing undue constraints on departmental resources. [source]

Articulatory Phonetics in the First-Year Spanish Classroom

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2000
Deborah L. Arteaga
focus of this article is twofold: I reconsider the general question of the role of articulatory phonetics in the second language (L2) classroom and review the phonetics presentation in 10 recent first-year Spanish texts. Pronunciation has been accorded little importance within recent methodological approaches, although their stated goals of communication and intelligibility in fact require the incorporation of explicit phonetics instruction in the language classroom. Considering the first-year Spanish L2 classroom, I propose a phonetics program based on the notion of a learner's dialect (cf. Bergen, 1974). I then measure the phonetics presentation of 10 Spanish textbooks against a learner's dialect, and find that pronunciation sections are in most cases incomplete and inaccurate and provide for no self-monitoring or recycling. This article argues against the current trend reflected in these texts, which relegates pronunciation to the laboratory manual or eliminates it altogether. [source]

,Blended' education and the transformation of teachers: a long-term case study in postgraduate UK Higher Education

BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2006
Gary Motteram
This paper discusses the role of blended learning in teacher education on a Master's programme at Manchester University. Blended learning is the bringing together of traditional physical classes with elements of virtual education. The paper focuses on one particular module of the degree and attempts to capture students' experiences of using a number of online tools. As our students are primarily in-service teachers, this experience is particularly relevant and equips them to make use of educational technology in the language classroom. Some comparisons are also made with a cohort of teachers studying the programme at a distance. The paper explores a range of issues that currently feature in the adult education literature, namely, deep and surface learning, communities of practice, and the importance of educational dialogue. The paper illustrates how important the blended nature of this module is for the teachers to get a balanced programme that upgrades skills and knowledge, but which also enables them to reflect on past and future practice. A transformative education scale is used to show that teachers can be transformed. The paper is a case study that makes use of data that explore the student perspective on a series of research questions. [source]

Podcasting Communities and Second Language Pronunciation

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 2 2008
Gillian Lord
Abstract: Although often neglected in language classrooms, second language phonology is a crucial element in language learning because it is often the most salient feature in the speech of a foreigner. As instructors, we must decide how to emphasize pronunciation and what techniques to use. This article discusses a collaborative pod-casting project in an undergraduate Spanish phonetics class. Students worked in small groups to create and maintain their own podcast channel on which they uploaded recordings for group member feedback. Each recording focused on particular aspects of Spanish pronunciation, using tongue twisters, short readings, and personal reflection on students' own pronunciation. Both attitudes and pronunciation abilities were assessed before and after the project, and both were found to improve. The benefits of podcasting projects to improve language skills are discussed from an empirical as well as a pedagogical perspective. [source]

Foreign Language Learning Anxiety in Upper-Level Classes: Involving Students as Researchers

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 1 2007
Article first published online: 31 DEC 200, Jennifer D. Ewald
Abstract: While both the causes and effects of students' language learning anxiety have been a frequent focus of many investigations, few have explored anxiety in the context of upper-level language classrooms. Through a qualitative analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 21 advanced students of Spanish, this study found that, indeed, many of these students did report experiencing anxiety in upper-level courses, perhaps an unanticipated setting given students' relatively higher levels of proficiency. Students highlighted many issues related to their anxiety and confirmed findings of previous investigations; specifically, they pointed to the key role of the teacher in producing and relieving anxiety. In addition to considering anxiety in an unexplored context, this study serves as a model for involving students in research related to language learning. [source]

Exploring Daily Grading as a Form of Assessment in a College-Level Japanese Language Classroom

Co-Constructing Representations of Culture in ESL and EFL Classrooms: Discursive Faultlines in Chile and California

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2009
JULIA MENARD, WARWICK
Based on qualitative research conducted in 3 university English as a foreign language classrooms in Chile and 3 community college English as a second language classrooms in California, this article examines the approaches used in teaching culture in these classrooms, the differences in how particular cultures (usually national cultures) were represented depending on teaching context, the processes by which these representations of culture were co-constructed by teachers and students, and the extent to which the observed cultural pedagogies seemed to cultivate interculturality. In particular, this article focuses on discursive faultlines (Kramsch, 1993), areas of cultural difference or misunderstanding that became manifest in classroom talk. Although teaching culture was not the primary goal in any of these classes, the teachers generally provided space for students to problematize cultural issues; however, this problematization did not necessarily lead to interculturality. The article concludes with implications for cultural pedagogies based on the observed interactions. [source]