Sample records for foreign language words

  1. Incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary through brief multi-modal exposure.

    PubMed

    Bisson, Marie-Josée; van Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy; Tunney, Richard J

    2013-01-01

    First language acquisition requires relatively little effort compared to foreign language acquisition and happens more naturally through informal learning. Informal exposure can also benefit foreign language learning, although evidence for this has been limited to speech perception and production. An important question is whether informal exposure to spoken foreign language also leads to vocabulary learning through the creation of form-meaning links. Here we tested the impact of exposure to foreign language words presented with pictures in an incidental learning phase on subsequent explicit foreign language learning. In the explicit learning phase, we asked adults to learn translation equivalents of foreign language words, some of which had appeared in the incidental learning phase. Results revealed rapid learning of the foreign language words in the incidental learning phase showing that informal exposure to multi-modal foreign language leads to foreign language vocabulary acquisition. The creation of form-meaning links during the incidental learning phase is discussed.

  2. L1 Frequency in Foreign Language Acquisition: Recurrent Word Combinations in French and Spanish EFL Learner Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paquot, Magali

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated French and Spanish EFL (English as a foreign language) learners' preferred use of three-word lexical bundles with discourse or stance-oriented function with a view to exploring the role of first language (L1) frequency effects in foreign language acquisition. Word combinations were extracted from learner performance data…

  3. Semi-supervised word polarity identification in resource-lean languages.

    PubMed

    Dehdarbehbahani, Iman; Shakery, Azadeh; Faili, Heshaam

    2014-10-01

    Sentiment words, as fundamental constitutive parts of subjective sentences, have a substantial effect on analysis of opinions, emotions and beliefs. Most of the proposed methods for identifying the semantic orientations of words exploit rich linguistic resources such as WordNet, subjectivity corpora, or polarity tagged words. Shortage of such linguistic resources in resource-lean languages affects the performance of word polarity identification in these languages. In this paper, we present a method which exploits a language with rich subjectivity analysis resources (English) to identify the polarity of words in a resource-lean foreign language. The English WordNet and a sparse foreign WordNet infrastructure are used to create a heterogeneous, multilingual and weighted semantic network. To identify the semantic orientation of foreign words, a random walk based method is applied to the semantic network along with a set of automatically weighted English positive and negative seeds. In a post-processing phase, synonym and antonym relations in the foreign WordNet are used to filter the random walk results. Our experiments on English and Persian languages show that the proposed method can outperform state-of-the-art word polarity identification methods in both languages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Using Microcomputer Word Processors for Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Kim L.

    1984-01-01

    Describes the programs and modifications needed to do word processing using foreign language characters. One such program, Screenwriter, uses soft character sets -- character sets which can be designed by the program user. This program has a word processing power combined with a foreign language capability that would allow any person to work with…

  5. Object Familiarity Facilitates Foreign Word Learning in Preschoolers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sera, Maria D.; Cole, Caitlin A.; Oromendia, Mercedes; Koenig, Melissa A.

    2014-01-01

    Studying how children learn words in a foreign language can shed light on how language learning changes with development. In one experiment, we examined whether three-, four-, and five-year-olds could learn and remember words for familiar and unfamiliar objects in their native English and a foreign language. All age groups could learn and remember…

  6. Phonological similarity influences word learning in adults learning Spanish as a foreign language

    PubMed Central

    Stamer, Melissa K.; Vitevitch, Michael S.

    2013-01-01

    Neighborhood density—the number of words that sound similar to a given word (Luce & Pisoni, 1998)—influences word-learning in native English speaking children and adults (Storkel, 2004; Storkel, Armbruster, & Hogan, 2006): novel words with many similar sounding English words (i.e., dense neighborhood) are learned more quickly than novel words with few similar sounding English words (i.e., sparse neighborhood). The present study examined how neighborhood density influences word-learning in native English speaking adults learning Spanish as a foreign language. Students in their third-semester of Spanish language classes learned advanced Spanish words that sounded similar to many known Spanish words (i.e., dense neighborhood) or sounded similar to few known Spanish words (i.e., sparse neighborhood). In three word-learning tasks, performance was better for Spanish words with dense rather than sparse neighborhoods. These results suggest that a similar mechanism may be used to learn new words in a native and a foreign language. PMID:23950692

  7. Is Language a Factor in the Perception of Foreign Accent Syndrome?

    PubMed

    Jose, Linda; Read, Jennifer; Miller, Nick

    2016-06-01

    Neurogenic foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is diagnosed when listeners perceive speech associated with motor speech impairments as foreign rather than disordered. Speakers with foreign accent syndrome typically have aphasia. It remains unclear how far language changes might contribute to the perception of foreign accent syndrome independent of accent. Judges with and without training in language analysis rated orthographic transcriptions of speech from people with foreign accent syndrome, speech-language disorder and no foreign accent syndrome, foreign accent without neurological impairment and healthy controls on scales of foreignness, normalness and disorderedness. Control speakers were judged as significantly more normal, less disordered and less foreign than other groups. Foreign accent syndrome speakers' transcriptions consistently profiled most closely to those of foreign speakers and significantly different to speakers with speech-language disorder. On normalness and foreignness ratings there were no significant differences between foreign and foreign accent syndrome speakers. For disorderedness, foreign accent syndrome participants fell midway between foreign speakers and those with speech-language impairment only. Slower rate, more hesitations, pauses within and between utterances influenced judgments, delineating control scripts from others. Word-level syntactic and morphological deviations and reduced syntactic and semantic repertoire linked strongly with foreignness perceptions. Greater disordered ratings related to word fragments, poorly intelligible grammatical structures and inappropriate word selection. Language changes influence foreignness perception. Clinical and theoretical issues are addressed.

  8. Body in Mind: How Gestures Empower Foreign Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Macedonia, Manuela; Knosche, Thomas R.

    2011-01-01

    It has previously been demonstrated that enactment (i.e., performing representative gestures during encoding) enhances memory for concrete words, in particular action words. Here, we investigate the impact of enactment on abstract word learning in a foreign language. We further ask if learning novel words with gestures facilitates sentence…

  9. Foreign Subtitles Help but Native-Language Subtitles Harm Foreign Speech Perception

    PubMed Central

    Mitterer, Holger; McQueen, James M.

    2009-01-01

    Understanding foreign speech is difficult, in part because of unusual mappings between sounds and words. It is known that listeners in their native language can use lexical knowledge (about how words ought to sound) to learn how to interpret unusual speech-sounds. We therefore investigated whether subtitles, which provide lexical information, support perceptual learning about foreign speech. Dutch participants, unfamiliar with Scottish and Australian regional accents of English, watched Scottish or Australian English videos with Dutch, English or no subtitles, and then repeated audio fragments of both accents. Repetition of novel fragments was worse after Dutch-subtitle exposure but better after English-subtitle exposure. Native-language subtitles appear to create lexical interference, but foreign-language subtitles assist speech learning by indicating which words (and hence sounds) are being spoken. PMID:19918371

  10. Does Hearing Several Speakers Reduce Foreign Word Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ludington, Jason Darryl

    2016-01-01

    Learning spoken word forms is a vital part of second language learning, and CALL lends itself well to this training. Not enough is known, however, about how auditory variation across speech tokens may affect receptive word learning. To find out, 144 Thai university students with no knowledge of the Patani Malay language learned 24 foreign words in…

  11. Bringing back the body into the mind: gestures enhance word learning in foreign language.

    PubMed

    Macedonia, Manuela

    2014-01-01

    Foreign language education in the twenty-first century still teaches vocabulary mainly through reading and listening activities. This is due to the link between teaching practice and traditional philosophy of language, where language is considered to be an abstract phenomenon of the mind. However, a number of studies have shown that accompanying words or phrases of a foreign language with gestures leads to better memory results. In this paper, I review behavioral research on the positive effects of gestures on memory. Then I move to the factors that have been addressed as contributing to the effect, and I embed the reviewed evidence in the theoretical framework of embodiment. Finally, I argue that gestures accompanying foreign language vocabulary learning create embodied representations of those words. I conclude by advocating the use of gestures in future language education as a learning tool that enhances the mind.

  12. Surmounting the Tower of Babel: Monolingual and bilingual 2-year-olds' understanding of the nature of foreign language words.

    PubMed

    Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Chen, Ke Heng; Xu, Fei

    2014-03-01

    Languages function as independent and distinct conventional systems, and so each language uses different words to label the same objects. This study investigated whether 2-year-old children recognize that speakers of their native language and speakers of a foreign language do not share the same knowledge. Two groups of children unfamiliar with Mandarin were tested: monolingual English-learning children (n=24) and bilingual children learning English and another language (n=24). An English speaker taught children the novel label fep. On English mutual exclusivity trials, the speaker asked for the referent of a novel label (wug) in the presence of the fep and a novel object. Both monolingual and bilingual children disambiguated the reference of the novel word using a mutual exclusivity strategy, choosing the novel object rather than the fep. On similar trials with a Mandarin speaker, children were asked to find the referent of a novel Mandarin label kuò. Monolinguals again chose the novel object rather than the object with the English label fep, even though the Mandarin speaker had no access to conventional English words. Bilinguals did not respond systematically to the Mandarin speaker, suggesting that they had enhanced understanding of the Mandarin speaker's ignorance of English words. The results indicate that monolingual children initially expect words to be conventionally shared across all speakers-native and foreign. Early bilingual experience facilitates children's discovery of the nature of foreign language words. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Short Research Note: The Beginning Spanish Lexicon--A Web-Based Interface to Calculate Phonological Similarity among Spanish Words in Adults Learning Spanish as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vitevitch, Michael S.; Stamer, Melissa K.; Kieweg, Douglas

    2012-01-01

    A number of resources provide psycholinguistic researchers with information about the words that the typical child or adult knows in a variety of languages. What is currently not available is a resource that provides information about the words that a typical adult learning a foreign language knows. We created such a resource for Spanish: The…

  14. Word Frequency, Function Words and the Second Gavagai Problem

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hochmann, Jean-Remy

    2013-01-01

    The classic gavagai problem exemplifies the difficulty to identify the referent of a novel word uttered in a foreign language. Here, we consider the reverse problem: identifying the referential part of a label. Assuming "gavagai" indicates a rabbit in a foreign language, it may very well mean ""a" rabbit" or ""that" rabbit". How can a learner know…

  15. Word-Level and Sentence-Level Automaticity in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners: a Comparative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ma, Dongmei; Yu, Xiaoru; Zhang, Haomin

    2017-01-01

    The present study aimed to investigate second language (L2) word-level and sentence-level automatic processing among English as a foreign language students through a comparative analysis of students with different proficiency levels. As a multidimensional and dynamic construct, automaticity is conceptualized as processing speed, stability, and…

  16. Semantic Radical Knowledge and Word Recognition in Chinese for Chinese as Foreign Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Su, Xiaoxiang; Kim, Young-Suk

    2014-01-01

    In the present study, we examined the relation of knowledge of semantic radicals to students' language proficiency and word reading for adult Chinese-as-a-foreign language students. Ninety-seven college students rated their proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing in Chinese, and were administered measures of receptive and…

  17. Effect of Phonetic Association on Learning Vocabulary in Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bozavli, Ebubekir

    2017-01-01

    Word is one of the most important components of a natural language. Speech is meaningful because of the meanings of words. Vocabulary acquired in one's mother tongue is learned consciously in a foreign language in non-native settings. Learning vocabulary in a system based on grammar is generally neglected or learned in conventional ways. This…

  18. Are pictures good for learning new vocabulary in a foreign language? Only if you think they are not.

    PubMed

    Carpenter, Shana K; Olson, Kellie M

    2012-01-01

    The current study explored whether new words in a foreign language are learned better from pictures than from native language translations. In both between-subjects and within-subject designs, Swahili words were not learned better from pictures than from English translations (Experiments 1-3). Judgments of learning revealed that participants exhibited greater overconfidence in their ability to recall a Swahili word from a picture than from a translation (Experiments 2-3), and Swahili words were also considered easier to process when paired with pictures rather than translations (Experiment 4). When this overconfidence bias was eliminated through retrieval practice (Experiment 2) and instructions warning participants to not be overconfident (Experiment 3), Swahili words were learned better from pictures than from translations. It appears, therefore, that pictures can facilitate learning of foreign language vocabulary--as long as participants are not too overconfident in the power of a picture to help them learn a new word.

  19. Teaching Word Stress to Turkish EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Learners through Internet-Based Video Lessons

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hismanoglu, Murat

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to elicit problem causing word stress patterns for Turkish EFL (English as a foreign language) learners and investigate whether Internet-based pronunciation lesson is superior to traditional pronunciation lesson in terms of enhancing Turkish EFL learners' accurate production of stressed syllables in English words. A…

  20. Adults' and 8-Year-Olds' Learning in a Foreign Word Repetition Task: Similar and Different

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Service, Elisabet; Yli-Kaitala, Hely; Maury, Sini; Kim, Jeong-Young

    2014-01-01

    Although the significance of age in second language acquisition is one of the most hotly debated issues in the field, very few studies have directly addressed age differences in the language learning process. The present study investigated learning in a foreign-word repetition task. Young Finnish adults and 8-year-olds repeated back Korean words.…

  1. The Humanities and Foreign Languages: Analogous or Anomalous?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dease, Barbara C.

    1982-01-01

    Optional interdisciplinary courses taught by foreign language teachers to college sophomores are described. The courses are English Word Power, Classical Mythology, Afro-French Literature in Translation, and two courses in law in literature. The emphasis was on integrating a humanities concept with a foreign language-foreign culture orientation.…

  2. Are Pictures Good for Learning New Vocabulary in a Foreign Language? Only If You Think They Are Not

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carpenter, Shana K.; Olson, Kellie M.

    2012-01-01

    The current study explored whether new words in a foreign language are learned better from pictures than from native language translations. In both between-subjects and within-subject designs, Swahili words were not learned better from pictures than from English translations (Experiments 1-3). Judgments of learning revealed that participants…

  3. Italian Children with Dyslexia Are Also Poor in Reading English Words, but Accurate in Reading English Pseudowords

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palladino, Paola; Bellagamba, Isabella; Ferrari, Marcella; Cornoldi, Cesare

    2013-01-01

    It has been argued that children with dyslexia (DC) are poor at learning a foreign language (L2) and, in particular, reading foreign words. This assumption is so general that an Italian law (law 170, October, 2010) has established that DC may be completely exempted from foreign language learning and, in any case, should not be engaged in tuition…

  4. 28 CFR 5.206 - Language and wording of registration statement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Language and wording of registration... OF FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED § 5.206 Language and wording of registration... required to be filed under the Act shall be submitted in the English language. An exhibit may be filed even...

  5. When Language Experience Fails to Explain Word Reading Development: Early Cognitive and Linguistic Profiles of Young Foreign Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hu, Chieh-Fang; Schuele, C. Melanie

    2015-01-01

    Although language experience is a key factor in successful foreign language (FL) learning, many FL learners fail to achieve performance levels that were predicted on the basis of their FL experience. This retrospective study investigated early cognitive and linguistic correlates of learning English as a foreign language (FL) in a group of…

  6. The impact of iconic gestures on foreign language word learning and its neural substrate.

    PubMed

    Macedonia, Manuela; Müller, Karsten; Friederici, Angela D

    2011-06-01

    Vocabulary acquisition represents a major challenge in foreign language learning. Research has demonstrated that gestures accompanying speech have an impact on memory for verbal information in the speakers' mother tongue and, as recently shown, also in foreign language learning. However, the neural basis of this effect remains unclear. In a within-subjects design, we compared learning of novel words coupled with iconic and meaningless gestures. Iconic gestures helped learners to significantly better retain the verbal material over time. After the training, participants' brain activity was registered by means of fMRI while performing a word recognition task. Brain activations to words learned with iconic and with meaningless gestures were contrasted. We found activity in the premotor cortices for words encoded with iconic gestures. In contrast, words encoded with meaningless gestures elicited a network associated with cognitive control. These findings suggest that memory performance for newly learned words is not driven by the motor component as such, but by the motor image that matches an underlying representation of the word's semantics. Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  7. Other Words, Other Worlds: Language-in-Culture. Reports of the Working Committees of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dodge, James W., Ed.

    The Report of the First Working Committee of the 1972 Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages focuses on the interrelationship of culture and language. A discussion on teaching another culture and on sociocultural aspects of foreign-language study comprises the first major section of the "Report." The second part presents short…

  8. The Role of Repeated Exposure to Multimodal Input in Incidental Acquisition of Foreign Language Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bisson, Marie-Josée; van Heuven, Walter J. B.; Conklin, Kathy; Tunney, Richard J.

    2014-01-01

    Prior research has reported incidental vocabulary acquisition with complete beginners in a foreign language (FL), within 8 exposures to auditory and written FL word forms presented with a picture depicting their meaning. However, important questions remain about whether acquisition occurs with fewer exposures to FL words in a multimodal situation…

  9. Formal and Informal Experiential Realms in German as a Foreign Language: A Preliminary Investigation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moyer, Alene

    2005-01-01

    In this study of German as a foreign language, formal classroom experience is compared with informal use of German outside the classroom focusing on three syntactic features: main clause word order (subject-verb-object, or SVO), topicalization (subject-verb inversion), and subordinate word order (subject-object-verb, or SOV). T tests and…

  10. Word Reading Efficiency, Text Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension among Chinese Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jiang, Xiangying; Sawaki, Yasuyo; Sabatini, John

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the relationship among word reading efficiency, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension for adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Data from 185 adult Chinese EFL learners preparing to take the Test-of-English-as-a-Foreign-Language[TM] (TOEFL[R]) were analyzed in this study. The participants completed a…

  11. Word-Processor or Pencil-and-Paper? A Comparison of Students' Writing in Chinese as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhu, Yu; Mark Shum, Shiu-Kee; Brian Tse, Shek-Kam; Liu, Jinghui Jack

    2016-01-01

    A study is reported of the performance and attainment of 32 students from overseas studying elementary Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in a Chinese university. With an AB-BA design, they were asked to use two forms of writing media to present two essays: one a word-processed essay entitled "My Favourite Female" and the other a…

  12. Doing Being a Foreign Language Learner in a Classroom: Embodiment of Cognitive States as Social Events

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mori, Junko; Hasegawa, Atsushi

    2009-01-01

    Encountering trouble producing a word in the midst of a turn at talk is an everyday experience for foreign language learners. By employing conversation analysis (CA) as a central tool for analysis, the current study explores how students undertake a range of word searches while they organize a pair work session designed for the purpose of language…

  13. Non-Arbitrariness in Mapping Word Form to Meaning: Cross-Linguistic Formal Markers of Word Concreteness.

    PubMed

    Reilly, Jamie; Hung, Jinyi; Westbury, Chris

    2017-05-01

    Arbitrary symbolism is a linguistic doctrine that predicts an orthogonal relationship between word forms and their corresponding meanings. Recent corpora analyses have demonstrated violations of arbitrary symbolism with respect to concreteness, a variable characterizing the sensorimotor salience of a word. In addition to qualitative semantic differences, abstract and concrete words are also marked by distinct morphophonological structures such as length and morphological complexity. Native English speakers show sensitivity to these markers in tasks such as auditory word recognition and naming. One unanswered question is whether this violation of arbitrariness reflects an idiosyncratic property of the English lexicon or whether word concreteness is a marked phenomenon across other natural languages. We isolated concrete and abstract English nouns (N = 400), and translated each into Russian, Arabic, Dutch, Mandarin, Hindi, Korean, Hebrew, and American Sign Language. We conducted offline acoustic analyses of abstract and concrete word length discrepancies across languages. In a separate experiment, native English speakers (N = 56) with no prior knowledge of these foreign languages judged concreteness of these nouns (e.g., Can you see, hear, feel, or touch this? Yes/No). Each naïve participant heard pre-recorded words presented in randomized blocks of three foreign languages following a brief listening exposure to a narrative sample from each respective language. Concrete and abstract words differed by length across five of eight languages, and prediction accuracy exceeded chance for four of eight languages. These results suggest that word concreteness is a marked phenomenon across several of the world's most widely spoken languages. We interpret these findings as supportive of an adaptive cognitive heuristic that allows listeners to exploit non-arbitrary mappings of word form to word meaning. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  14. Word Meaning as a Palimpsest: A Defense of Sociocultural Theory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Song, Seonmi; Kellogg, David

    2011-01-01

    Vygotsky's work on the acquisition of foreign language words has been criticized for lacking a formal view of language as a system and for taking little interest in questions such as the route and rate of language acquisition. We argue that word meanings really do not constitute a formal system, either in the way they develop, or in the way they…

  15. English as a Foreign Language in Bilingual Language-minority Children, Children with Dyslexia and Monolingual Typical Readers.

    PubMed

    Bonifacci, Paola; Canducci, Elisa; Gravagna, Giulia; Palladino, Paola

    2017-05-01

    The present study was aimed at investigating literacy skills in English as a foreign language in three different groups of children: monolinguals with dyslexia (n = 19), typically developing bilinguals (language-minority) (n = 19) and a control group of monolinguals (Italian) (n = 76). Bilinguals were not expected to fail in English measures, and their gap with monolinguals would be expected to be limited to the instructional language, owing to underexposure. All participants were enrolled in Italian primary schools (fourth and fifth grades). A non-verbal reasoning task and Italian and English literacy tasks were administered. The Italian battery included word and non-word reading (speed and accuracy), word and non-word writing, and reading comprehension; the English battery included similar tasks, except for the non-word writing. Bilingual children performed similarly to typical readers in English tasks, whereas in Italian tasks, their performance was similar to that of typical readers in reading speed but not in reading accuracy and writing. Children with dyslexia underperformed compared with typically developing children in all English and Italian tasks, except for reading comprehension in Italian. Profile analysis and correlational analyses were further discussed. These results suggest that English as a foreign language might represent a challenge for students with dyslexia but a strength for bilingual language-minority children. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  16. Teaching Popular Culture with a Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    del Pozo, Ivania

    The foreign language student must experience popular culture to fully comprehend the framework in which the foreign language functions. Traditional language learning, preoccupied with words, syntax, and pronunciation, has ignored this element, leaving students unprepared to interact with individuals in the target culture. Classroom activities to…

  17. Contrasting contributions of phonological short-term memory and long-term knowledge to vocabulary learning in a foreign language.

    PubMed

    Masoura, Elvira V; Gathercole, Susan E

    2005-01-01

    The contributions of phonological short-term memory and existing foreign vocabulary knowledge to the learning of new words in a second language were compared in a sample of 40 Greek children studying English at school. The children's speed of learning new English words in a paired-associate learning task was strongly influenced by their current English vocabulary, but was independent of phonological memory skill, indexed by nonword repetition ability. However, phonological memory performance was closely linked to English vocabulary scores. The findings suggest that in learners with considerable familiarity with a second language, foreign vocabulary acquisition is mediated largely by use of existing knowledge representations.

  18. Interlingual and Interdialectal Borrowings in Chinese.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chao, Y.R.

    The processes involved in "borrowing" words and structures between languages and among dialects are discussed and illustrated. Interlingual borrowings between Chinese and other languages have taken place in several different ways. Sometimes the sounds of the foreign word are imitated using the sounds of the borrowing language ("leidar" for 'radar'…

  19. Unconscious improvement in foreign language learning using mismatch negativity neurofeedback: A preliminary study.

    PubMed

    Chang, Ming; Iizuka, Hiroyuki; Kashioka, Hideki; Naruse, Yasushi; Furukawa, Masahiro; Ando, Hideyuki; Maeda, Taro

    2017-01-01

    When people learn foreign languages, they find it difficult to perceive speech sounds that are nonexistent in their native language, and extensive training is consequently necessary. Our previous studies have shown that by using neurofeedback based on the mismatch negativity event-related brain potential, participants could unconsciously achieve learning in the auditory discrimination of pure tones that could not be consciously discriminated without the neurofeedback. Here, we examined whether mismatch negativity neurofeedback is effective for helping someone to perceive new speech sounds in foreign language learning. We developed a task for training native Japanese speakers to discriminate between 'l' and 'r' sounds in English, as they usually cannot discriminate between these two sounds. Without participants attending to auditory stimuli or being aware of the nature of the experiment, neurofeedback training helped them to achieve significant improvement in unconscious auditory discrimination and recognition of the target words 'light' and 'right'. There was also improvement in the recognition of other words containing 'l' and 'r' (e.g., 'blight' and 'bright'), even though these words had not been presented during training. This method could be used to facilitate foreign language learning and can be extended to other fields of auditory and clinical research and even other senses.

  20. Unconscious improvement in foreign language learning using mismatch negativity neurofeedback: A preliminary study

    PubMed Central

    Iizuka, Hiroyuki; Kashioka, Hideki; Naruse, Yasushi; Furukawa, Masahiro; Ando, Hideyuki; Maeda, Taro

    2017-01-01

    When people learn foreign languages, they find it difficult to perceive speech sounds that are nonexistent in their native language, and extensive training is consequently necessary. Our previous studies have shown that by using neurofeedback based on the mismatch negativity event-related brain potential, participants could unconsciously achieve learning in the auditory discrimination of pure tones that could not be consciously discriminated without the neurofeedback. Here, we examined whether mismatch negativity neurofeedback is effective for helping someone to perceive new speech sounds in foreign language learning. We developed a task for training native Japanese speakers to discriminate between ‘l’ and ‘r’ sounds in English, as they usually cannot discriminate between these two sounds. Without participants attending to auditory stimuli or being aware of the nature of the experiment, neurofeedback training helped them to achieve significant improvement in unconscious auditory discrimination and recognition of the target words ‘light’ and ‘right’. There was also improvement in the recognition of other words containing ‘l’ and ‘r’ (e.g., ‘blight’ and ‘bright’), even though these words had not been presented during training. This method could be used to facilitate foreign language learning and can be extended to other fields of auditory and clinical research and even other senses. PMID:28617861

  1. Native Language Effects on Spelling in English as a Foreign Language: A Time-Course Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dich, Nadya; Pedersen, Bo

    2013-01-01

    The study explores first language (L1) influences on the mechanisms of spelling in English as a foreign language (EFL). We hypothesized that the transparency of L1 orthography influences (a) the amount of hesitation associated with spelling irregular English words, and (b) the size of units EFL spellers operate. Participants were adult speakers of…

  2. Weak and Strong Novice Readers of English as a Foreign Language: Effects of First Language and Socioeconomic Status

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kahn-Horwitz, Janina; Shimron, Joseph; Sparks, Richard L.

    2006-01-01

    This study examined individual differences among beginning readers of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study concentrated on the effects of underlying first language (L1) knowledge as well as EFL letter and vocabulary knowledge. Phonological and morphological awareness, spelling, vocabulary knowledge, and word reading in Hebrew L1, in…

  3. Analysis of Documents Published in Scopus Database on Foreign Language Learning through Mobile Learning: A Content Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uzunboylu, Huseyin; Genc, Zeynep

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to determine the recent trends in foreign language learning through mobile learning. The study was conducted employing document analysis and related content analysis among the qualitative research methodology. Through the search conducted on Scopus database with the key words "mobile learning and foreign language…

  4. The Fallacy of Word-Counts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Engels, L.K.

    1968-01-01

    The greatest fallacy of word counts, the author maintains, lies in the fact that advocates of frequency lists stress the high percentage without telling the whole truth. It has become common to pretend that a frequency list of 3,000 words covers 95 percent of the language, that it enables a person to speak and understand a foreign language by…

  5. Long-Term Effects of Gestures on Memory for Foreign Language Words Trained in the Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Macedonia, Manuela; Klimesch, Wolfgang

    2014-01-01

    Language and gesture are viewed as highly interdependent systems. Besides supporting communication, gestures also have an impact on memory for verbal information compared to pure verbal encoding in native but also in foreign language learning. This article presents a within-subject longitudinal study lasting 14 months that tested the use of…

  6. Valutazione del libri di testo per le lingue straniere (Italiano L2) (Evaluation of Foreign Language Textbooks [Italian as a Second Language]).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sciarone, A. G.

    1979-01-01

    An approach to language textbooks evaluation based on objective criteria and relying on data easily obtained by means of computers, such as word frequency lists, is proposed. The importance of vocabulary acquisition in language learning is emphasized. Accordingly, word selection and rate of repetition are seen as central evaluation criteria. (MES)

  7. The Effect of Word-Unit Spacing upon the Reading Strategies of Non-Native Readers of Chinese: An Eye-Tracking Study.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-01-01

    theories have begun to emerge that may prove useful in understanding the processes involved in learning Chinese as a foreign language ...way texts do in English . To assess the manipulation of this variable in terms of foreign language reading behavior and development, this experiment...KI CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction One of the more noteworthy undertakings in foreign language research has been an attempt to understand

  8. More than Words: Fast Acquisition and Generalization of Orthographic Regularities during Novel Word Learning in Adults

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laine, Matti; Polonyi, Tünde; Abari, Kálmán

    2014-01-01

    In literates, reading is a fundamental channel for acquiring new vocabulary both in the mother tongue and in foreign languages. By using an artificial language learning task, we examined the acquisition of novel written words and their embedded regularities (an orthographic surface feature and a syllabic feature) in three groups of university…

  9. English as a Foreign Language Spelling Development: A Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kahn-Horwitz, Janina; Sparks, Richard L.; Goldstein, Zahava

    2012-01-01

    English as a foreign language (EFL) spelling was examined longitudinally three times (4th, 9th, 12th grades) during 9 years of EFL study among Hebrew first language (L1) students. The study examined the impact of L1 literacy variables including phonemic awareness, word attack, and spelling on EFL spelling and the relationship between EFL literacy…

  10. The Available Lexicon: A Tool for Selecting Appropriate Vocabulary to Teach a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muñoz, Antonio Manuel Ávila

    2017-01-01

    This study aims to provide foreign language professionals with a sound methodology for selecting a suitable lexicon apropos of their students' level in the language. The justification of said selection is, herein, rooted in a cognitive argument: If we are able to observe the manner in which words are organized within the mind, we will be better…

  11. CBM Progress Monitoring in Foreign Language Learning for Secondary School Students: Technical Adequacy of Different Measures and Scoring Procedures

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chung, Siuman; Espin, Christine A.

    2013-01-01

    The reliability and validity of three curriculum-based measures as indicators of learning English as a foreign language were examined. Participants were 260 Dutch students in Grades 8 and 9 who were receiving English-language instruction. Predictor measures were maze-selection, Dutch-to-English word translation, and English-to-Dutch word…

  12. Learning foreign labels from a foreign speaker: the role of (limited) exposure to a second language.

    PubMed

    Akhtar, Nameera; Menjivar, Jennifer; Hoicka, Elena; Sabbagh, Mark A

    2012-11-01

    Three- and four-year-olds (N = 144) were introduced to novel labels by an English speaker and a foreign speaker (of Nordish, a made-up language), and were asked to endorse one of the speaker's labels. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared to bilingual children and English-speaking children who were regularly exposed to a language other than English. All children tended to endorse the English speaker's labels when asked 'What do you call this?', but when asked 'What do you call this in Nordish?', children with exposure to a second language were more likely to endorse the foreign label than monolingual and bilingual children. The findings suggest that, at this age, exposure to, but not necessarily immersion in, more than one language may promote the ability to learn foreign words from a foreign speaker.

  13. Expert Knowledge, Distinctiveness, and Levels of Processing in Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bird, Steve

    2012-01-01

    The foreign language vocabulary learning research literature often attributes strong mnemonic potency to the cognitive processing of meaning when learning words. Routinely cited as support for this idea are experiments by Craik and Tulving (C&T) demonstrating superior recognition and recall of studied words following semantic tasks ("deep"…

  14. What Do Foreign Neighbors Say about the Mental Lexicon?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vitevitch, Michael S.

    2012-01-01

    A corpus analysis of phonological word-forms shows that English words have few phonological neighbors that are Spanish words. Concomitantly, Spanish words have few phonological neighbors that are English words. These observations appear to undermine certain accounts of bilingual language processing, and have significant implications for the…

  15. Neural Correlates of High Performance in Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Macedonia, Manuela; Muller, Karsten; Friederici, Angela D.

    2010-01-01

    Learning vocabulary in a foreign language is a laborious task which people perform with varying levels of success. Here, we investigated the neural underpinning of high performance on this task. In a within-subjects paradigm, participants learned 92 vocabulary items under two multimodal conditions: one condition paired novel words with iconic…

  16. Linguistic Challenges in the Mathematical Register for EFL Learners: Linguistic and Multimodal Strategies to Help Learners Tackle Mathematics Word Problems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chan, Simon

    2015-01-01

    In learning mathematics through English, one of the major challenges facing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners is understanding the language used to present word problems in mathematics texts. Without comprehending such language, learners are not able to carry out the targeted calculations no matter how familiar they are with the…

  17. Children show right-lateralized effects of spoken word-form learning

    PubMed Central

    Nora, Anni; Karvonen, Leena; Renvall, Hanna; Parviainen, Tiina; Kim, Jeong-Young; Service, Elisabet; Salmelin, Riitta

    2017-01-01

    It is commonly thought that phonological learning is different in young children compared to adults, possibly due to the speech processing system not yet having reached full native-language specialization. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms of phonological learning in children are poorly understood. We employed magnetoencephalography (MEG) to track cortical correlates of incidental learning of meaningless word forms over two days as 6–8-year-olds overtly repeated them. Native (Finnish) pseudowords were compared with words of foreign sound structure (Korean) to investigate whether the cortical learning effects would be more dependent on previous proficiency in the language rather than maturational factors. Half of the items were encountered four times on the first day and once more on the following day. Incidental learning of these recurring word forms manifested as improved repetition accuracy and a correlated reduction of activation in the right superior temporal cortex, similarly for both languages and on both experimental days, and in contrast to a salient left-hemisphere emphasis previously reported in adults. We propose that children, when learning new word forms in either native or foreign language, are not yet constrained by left-hemispheric segmental processing and established sublexical native-language representations. Instead, they may rely more on supra-segmental contours and prosody. PMID:28158201

  18. Children show right-lateralized effects of spoken word-form learning.

    PubMed

    Nora, Anni; Karvonen, Leena; Renvall, Hanna; Parviainen, Tiina; Kim, Jeong-Young; Service, Elisabet; Salmelin, Riitta

    2017-01-01

    It is commonly thought that phonological learning is different in young children compared to adults, possibly due to the speech processing system not yet having reached full native-language specialization. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms of phonological learning in children are poorly understood. We employed magnetoencephalography (MEG) to track cortical correlates of incidental learning of meaningless word forms over two days as 6-8-year-olds overtly repeated them. Native (Finnish) pseudowords were compared with words of foreign sound structure (Korean) to investigate whether the cortical learning effects would be more dependent on previous proficiency in the language rather than maturational factors. Half of the items were encountered four times on the first day and once more on the following day. Incidental learning of these recurring word forms manifested as improved repetition accuracy and a correlated reduction of activation in the right superior temporal cortex, similarly for both languages and on both experimental days, and in contrast to a salient left-hemisphere emphasis previously reported in adults. We propose that children, when learning new word forms in either native or foreign language, are not yet constrained by left-hemispheric segmental processing and established sublexical native-language representations. Instead, they may rely more on supra-segmental contours and prosody.

  19. Revision Changes When Using Word Processors in an English as a Foreign Language Context.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kehagia, Olga; Cox, Margaret

    1997-01-01

    Focuses on the use of word processers during revision in an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing context. The study attempts to identify the magnitude of the effects of ESL writing expertise, text importance for students and computer familiarity upon the types of revision. (24 references) (Author/CK)

  20. What do foreign neighbors say about the mental lexicon?*

    PubMed Central

    VITEVITCH, MICHAEL S.

    2012-01-01

    A corpus analysis of phonological word-forms shows that English words have few phonological neighbors that are Spanish words. Concomitantly, Spanish words have few phonological neighbors that are English words. These observations appear to undermine certain accounts of bilingual language processing, and have significant implications for the processing and representation of word-forms in bilinguals. PMID:23930081

  1. Speaker-independent factors affecting the perception of foreign accent in a second languagea)

    PubMed Central

    Levi, Susannah V.; Winters, Stephen J.; Pisoni, David B.

    2012-01-01

    Previous research on foreign accent perception has largely focused on speaker-dependent factors such as age of learning and length of residence. Factors that are independent of a speaker’s language learning history have also been shown to affect perception of second language speech. The present study examined the effects of two such factors—listening context and lexical frequency—on the perception of foreign-accented speech. Listeners rated foreign accent in two listening contexts: auditory-only, where listeners only heard the target stimuli, and auditory+orthography, where listeners were presented with both an auditory signal and an orthographic display of the target word. Results revealed that higher frequency words were consistently rated as less accented than lower frequency words. The effect of the listening context emerged in two interactions: the auditory +orthography context reduced the effects of lexical frequency, but increased the perceived differences between native and non-native speakers. Acoustic measurements revealed some production differences for words of different levels of lexical frequency, though these differences could not account for all of the observed interactions from the perceptual experiment. These results suggest that factors independent of the speakers’ actual speech articulations can influence the perception of degree of foreign accent. PMID:17471745

  2. Effects of Multimedia Annotations on Incidental Vocabulary Learning and Reading Comprehension of Advanced Learners of English as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akbulut, Yavuz

    2007-01-01

    The study investigates immediate and delayed effects of different hypermedia glosses on incidental vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of advanced foreign language learners. Sixty-nine freshman TEFL students studying at a Turkish university were randomly assigned to three types of annotations: (a) definitions of words, (b) definitions…

  3. Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign-language comprehension.

    PubMed

    Thierry, Guillaume; Wu, Yan Jing

    2007-07-24

    Whether the native language of bilingual individuals is active during second-language comprehension is the subject of lively debate. Studies of bilingualism have often used a mix of first- and second-language words, thereby creating an artificial "dual-language" context. Here, using event-related brain potentials, we demonstrate implicit access to the first language when bilinguals read words exclusively in their second language. Chinese-English bilinguals were required to decide whether English words presented in pairs were related in meaning or not; they were unaware of the fact that half of the words concealed a character repetition when translated into Chinese. Whereas the hidden factor failed to affect behavioral performance, it significantly modulated brain potentials in the expected direction, establishing that English words were automatically and unconsciously translated into Chinese. Critically, the same modulation was found in Chinese monolinguals reading the same words in Chinese, i.e., when Chinese character repetition was evident. Finally, we replicated this pattern of results in the auditory modality by using a listening comprehension task. These findings demonstrate that native-language activation is an unconscious correlate of second-language comprehension.

  4. The Effects of Target Word Properties on the Incidental Acquisition of Vocabulary through Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reynolds, Barry Lee

    2016-01-01

    The primary aim of this investigation was to determine what combination of target word variables (frequency, patternedness, length, cognateness, lexicalization) could best predict the difficulty of incidentally acquiring vocabulary through reading. A group of adult English First Language (EL1) (n = 20) and adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL)…

  5. "Dieu a cree la femelle, l'homme a fait la femme." En rekognoscering i dansk og undenlandsk konssprogsforskning ("God Created the Female, Man Created Woman." A Reconnaissance in Danish and Foreign Research on Sex Differences and Language). ROLIG papir 32.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bennicke, Annette

    Research on sex differences and language includes the following (many titles are English translations): "Language--The Child, the Women, the Family"; "Woman and Man"; "In Society's Words"; "The Life of Words"; "Verbs and Women"; "Lines from a Ladies Luncheon"; "The History of the Danish Language"; "How Sex Roles Are Represented and Conserved in…

  6. Developmental change in children's sensitivity to sound symbolism.

    PubMed

    Tzeng, Christina Y; Nygaard, Lynne C; Namy, Laura L

    2017-08-01

    The current study examined developmental change in children's sensitivity to sound symbolism. Three-, five-, and seven-year-old children heard sound symbolic novel words and foreign words meaning round and pointy and chose which of two pictures (one round and one pointy) best corresponded to each word they heard. Task performance varied as a function of both word type and age group such that accuracy was greater for novel words than for foreign words, and task performance increased with age for both word types. For novel words, children in all age groups reliably chose the correct corresponding picture. For foreign words, 3-year-olds showed chance performance, whereas 5- and 7-year-olds showed reliably above-chance performance. Results suggest increased sensitivity to sound symbolic cues with development and imply that although sensitivity to sound symbolism may be available early and facilitate children's word-referent mappings, sensitivity to subtler sound symbolic cues requires greater language experience. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Noise reduction improves memory for target language speech in competing native but not foreign language speech.

    PubMed

    Ng, Elaine Hoi Ning; Rudner, Mary; Lunner, Thomas; Rönnberg, Jerker

    2015-01-01

    A hearing aid noise reduction (NR) algorithm reduces the adverse effect of competing speech on memory for target speech for individuals with hearing impairment with high working memory capacity. In the present study, we investigated whether the positive effect of NR could be extended to individuals with low working memory capacity, as well as how NR influences recall performance for target native speech when the masker language is non-native. A sentence-final word identification and recall (SWIR) test was administered to 26 experienced hearing aid users. In this test, target spoken native language (Swedish) sentence lists were presented in competing native (Swedish) or foreign (Cantonese) speech with or without binary masking NR algorithm. After each sentence list, free recall of sentence final words was prompted. Working memory capacity was measured using a reading span (RS) test. Recall performance was associated with RS. However, the benefit obtained from NR was not associated with RS. Recall performance was more disrupted by native than foreign speech babble and NR improved recall performance in native but not foreign competing speech. Noise reduction improved memory for speech heard in competing speech for hearing aid users. Memory for native speech was more disrupted by native babble than foreign babble, but the disruptive effect of native speech babble was reduced to that of foreign babble when there was NR.

  8. Cracking the Chinese Character: Radical Sensitivity in Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language and Its Relationship to Chinese Word Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tong, Xiuli; Yip, Joanna Hew Yan

    2015-01-01

    Radicals are building blocks of Chinese complex characters and exhibit certain positional, phonological and semantic regularities. This study investigated whether adult non-native learners of Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) were aware of the positional (orthographic), phonological and semantic information of radicals, and whether such…

  9. How Many U.S. High School Students Have a Foreign Language Reading "Disability"? Reading without Meaning and the Simple View

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparks, Richard L.; Luebbers, Julie

    2018-01-01

    Conventional wisdom suggests that students classified as learning disabled will exhibit difficulties with foreign language (FL) learning, but evidence has not supported a relationship between FL learning problems and learning disabilities. The simple view of reading model posits that reading comprehension is the product of word decoding and…

  10. Developing and Applying a Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning and Practicing Game: The Effect of VocaWord

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uzun, Levent; Çetinavci, Ugur Recep; Korkmaz, Sedat; Salihoglu, Umut Muharrem

    2013-01-01

    The present study reports on the findings related to the effect of playing a vocabulary learning and practicing game in elementary English classes at university level, and the attitudes and beliefs of the subjects about playing games with the purpose of learning the foreign language. The subjects were 70 first year university students from two…

  11. An Investigation of "Cloze" Items in the Measurement of Achievement in Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carroll, John B.; And Others

    This study investigates the feasibility of using cloze procedure test items (in which a student supplies a word, letter, or phrase to fill a gap in a continuous text) for the written College Board foreign language achievement tests. An introduction which defines the problem, traces its history, and presents the overall design of the study is…

  12. Weak and strong novice readers of English as a foreign language: effects of first language and socioeconomic status.

    PubMed

    Kahn-Horwitz, Janina; Shimron, Joseph; Sparks, Richard L

    2006-06-01

    This study examined individual differences among beginning readers of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study concentrated on the effects of underlying first language (L1) knowledge as well as EFL letter and vocabulary knowledge. Phonological and morphological awareness, spelling, vocabulary knowledge, and word reading in Hebrew L1, in addition to knowledge of EFL letters and EFL vocabulary, were measured. The study also investigated the effect of socioeconomic background (SES) on beginning EFL readers. Participants included 145 fourth graders from three schools representing two socioeconomic backgrounds in the north of Israel. The results indicate that knowledge of English letters played a more prominent role than knowledge of Hebrew L1 components in differentiating between strong and weak EFL readers. The Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis was supported by L1 phonological awareness, word reading, and vocabulary knowledge appearing as part of discriminating functions. The presence of English vocabulary knowledge as part of the discriminant functions provides support for English word reading being more than just a decoding task for EFL beginner readers. Socioeconomic status differentiated the groups for EFL word recognition but not for EFL reading comprehension.

  13. Intelligibility of foreign-accented speech: Effects of listening condition, listener age, and listener hearing status

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferguson, Sarah Hargus

    2005-09-01

    It is well known that, for listeners with normal hearing, speech produced by non-native speakers of the listener's first language is less intelligible than speech produced by native speakers. Intelligibility is well correlated with listener's ratings of talker comprehensibility and accentedness, which have been shown to be related to several talker factors, including age of second language acquisition and level of similarity between the talker's native and second language phoneme inventories. Relatively few studies have focused on factors extrinsic to the talker. The current project explored the effects of listener and environmental factors on the intelligibility of foreign-accented speech. Specifically, monosyllabic English words previously recorded from two talkers, one a native speaker of American English and the other a native speaker of Spanish, were presented to three groups of listeners (young listeners with normal hearing, elderly listeners with normal hearing, and elderly listeners with hearing impairment; n=20 each) in three different listening conditions (undistorted words in quiet, undistorted words in 12-talker babble, and filtered words in quiet). Data analysis will focus on interactions between talker accent, listener age, listener hearing status, and listening condition. [Project supported by American Speech-Language-Hearing Association AARC Award.

  14. A WordNet-Based Near-Synonyms and Similar-Looking Word Learning System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sun, Koun-Tem; Huang, Yueh-Min; Liu, Ming-Chi

    2011-01-01

    Near-Synonyms and Similar-Looking (NSSL) words can create confusion for English as Foreign Language Learners as a result of a type of lexical error that often occurs when they confuse similar-looking words that are near synonyms to have the same meaning. Particularly, this may occur if the similar-looking words have the same translated meaning.…

  15. The influence of talker and foreign-accent variability on spoken word identification.

    PubMed

    Bent, Tessa; Holt, Rachael Frush

    2013-03-01

    In spoken word identification and memory tasks, stimulus variability from numerous sources impairs performance. In the current study, the influence of foreign-accent variability on spoken word identification was evaluated in two experiments. Experiment 1 used a between-subjects design to test word identification in noise in single-talker and two multiple-talker conditions: multiple talkers with the same accent and multiple talkers with different accents. Identification performance was highest in the single-talker condition, but there was no difference between the single-accent and multiple-accent conditions. Experiment 2 further explored word recognition for multiple talkers in single-accent versus multiple-accent conditions using a mixed design. A detriment to word recognition was observed in the multiple-accent condition compared to the single-accent condition, but the effect differed across the language backgrounds tested. These results demonstrate that the processing of foreign-accent variation may influence word recognition in ways similar to other sources of variability (e.g., speaking rate or style) in that the inclusion of multiple foreign accents can result in a small but significant performance decrement beyond the multiple-talker effect.

  16. Fast-Mapping and Deliberate Word-Learning by EFL Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hu, Chieh-Fang

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the abilities of young English as a foreign language (EFL) learners to identify quickly new words from a nonostensive, indirect teaching context (known as fast- mapping) and their ability to commit the words to memory. Seventy-five fourth-grade EFL learners heard novel words embedded in sentences. They were then tested for…

  17. The role of verbal and pictorial information in multimodal incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary.

    PubMed

    Bisson, Marie-Josée; van Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy; Tunney, Richard J

    2015-01-01

    This study used eye tracking to investigate the allocation of attention to multimodal stimuli during an incidental learning situation, as well as its impact on subsequent explicit learning. Participants were exposed to foreign language (FL) auditory words on their own, in conjunction with written native language (NL) translations, or with both written NL translations and pictures. Incidental acquisition of FL words was assessed the following day through an explicit learning task where participants learned to recognize translation equivalents, as well as one week later through recall and translation recognition tests. Results showed higher accuracy scores in the explicit learning task for FL words presented with meaning during incidental learning, whether written meaning or both written meaning and picture, than for FL words presented auditorily only. However, participants recalled significantly more FL words after a week delay if they had been presented with a picture during incidental learning. In addition, the time spent looking at the pictures during incidental learning significantly predicted recognition and recall scores one week later. Overall, results demonstrated the impact of exposure to multimodal stimuli on subsequent explicit learning, as well as the important role that pictorial information can play in incidental vocabulary acquisition.

  18. The role of verbal and pictorial information in multimodal incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary

    PubMed Central

    Bisson, Marie-Josée; van Heuven, Walter J. B.; Conklin, Kathy; Tunney, Richard J.

    2015-01-01

    This study used eye tracking to investigate the allocation of attention to multimodal stimuli during an incidental learning situation, as well as its impact on subsequent explicit learning. Participants were exposed to foreign language (FL) auditory words on their own, in conjunction with written native language (NL) translations, or with both written NL translations and pictures. Incidental acquisition of FL words was assessed the following day through an explicit learning task where participants learned to recognize translation equivalents, as well as one week later through recall and translation recognition tests. Results showed higher accuracy scores in the explicit learning task for FL words presented with meaning during incidental learning, whether written meaning or both written meaning and picture, than for FL words presented auditorily only. However, participants recalled significantly more FL words after a week delay if they had been presented with a picture during incidental learning. In addition, the time spent looking at the pictures during incidental learning significantly predicted recognition and recall scores one week later. Overall, results demonstrated the impact of exposure to multimodal stimuli on subsequent explicit learning, as well as the important role that pictorial information can play in incidental vocabulary acquisition. PMID:25383918

  19. Accelerating Decoding-Related Skills in Poor Readers Learning a Foreign Language: A Computer-Based Intervention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Björn, Piia Maria; Leppänen, Paavo H. T.

    2013-01-01

    The results of Fast ForWord® training on English decoding-related skills were examined. Finnish fifth-grade students were identified as having reading fluency problems and poor skills in English as a foreign language learned at school and were randomly assigned to either a training group (TRG) or a control group. The TRG ("n"?=?13)…

  20. Repeated Reading for Developing Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension: The Case of EFL Learners in Vietnam

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gorsuch, Greta; Taguchi, Etsuo

    2008-01-01

    Reading in a foreign or second language is often a laborious process, often caused by underdeveloped word recognition skills, among other things, of second and foreign language readers. Developing fluency in L2/FL reading has become an important pedagogical issue in L2 settings and one major component of reading fluency is fast and accurate word…

  1. Sending Foreign Language Word Processor Files over Networks.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Feustle, Joseph A., Jr.

    1992-01-01

    Advantages of using online systems are described, and specific techniques for successfully transmitting computer text files are described. Topics covered include Microsoft's Rich TextFile, WordPerfect encoding, text compression, and especially encoding and decoding with UNIX programs. (LB)

  2. Effect of Phonetic Association on Lexis Learning in Natural Language Context: A Comparative Study of English, French and Turkish Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ebubekir, Bozavli

    2017-01-01

    Mother tongue acquisition starts with words and grammar acquired spontaneously by means of communication, while at school foreign language learning takes place based on grammar. Vocabulary learning is very often neglected or rather it turns into an individual activity. The present study, which is considered to be unique on its own, is to reveal…

  3. Detecting the Difficulty Level of Foreign Language Texts

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-02-01

    continuous tenses), as well as part- of- speech labels for words. The authors used a k-Nearest Neighbor ( kNN ) classifier (Cover and Hart, 1967; Mitchell, 1997...anticipate, and influence these situations and to operate in them is found in foreign language speech and text. For this reason, military linguists are...the language model system, LGR is the prediction of one of the grammar-based classifiers, and CkNN is a confidence value of the kNN prediction for the

  4. 28 CFR 5.206 - Language and wording of registration statement.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... though it is in a foreign language if it is accompanied by an English translation certified under oath by... general purposes, as a true and accurate translation. (b) A statement, amendment, exhibit, or notice...

  5. [Towards universal nomenclature for urgent surgical care].

    PubMed

    Liakhovs'kyĭ, V I; Dem'ianiuk, D H; Kravtsiv, M I; Borkunov, A L; Sapun, L V

    2013-06-01

    In a modern professional literature the diseases, which undoubtedly threaten the patient's health and life, are called an urgent, special, emergent, fixed-date, etc. Not rare these terms are used simultaneously. Such a plurality of names of a quite dangerous state causes sometimes in these conditions uncertainty to seek help of a specialists and loss of a time. Modern dictionaries of a foreign languages words, of a foreign languages words in Ukrainian language, medical, big explanatory dictionary of a modern Ukrainian language definitely explains, that these terms are synonyms. All of them mean unconditional, timing. And every expression may be used in this context. The above mentioned suggestions and thoughts do not promote a secure fixing in the citizens consciousness the undoubtedness, the disease consequences danger, a threat to health and life. To deposit this in their awareness it is possible not by amorphous depiction, but using a singular, brief, firm term - an urgent.

  6. Lexical Availability of Young Spanish EFL Learners: Emotion Words versus Non-Emotion Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jiménez Catalán, Rosa M.; Dewaele, Jean-Marc

    2017-01-01

    This study intends to contribute to L2 emotion vocabulary research by looking at the words that primary-school English as foreign language learners produce in response to prompts in a lexical availability task. Specifically, it aims to ascertain whether emotion prompts (Love, Hate, Happy and Sad) generate a greater number of words than non-emotion…

  7. Assessing the Effectiveness of Monolingual, Bilingual, and "Bilingualised" Dictionaries in the Comprehension and Production of New Words.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laufer, Batia; Hadar, Linor

    1997-01-01

    Examines the differences in effectiveness of three types of dictionaries--monolingual, bilingual, and "bilingualised" in the comprehension and production of new words by learners of English as a foreign language. The study tested participants on the comprehension of target words and on their ability to use these words in their own sentences. (16…

  8. The Specificity of Sound Symbolic Correspondences in Spoken Language.

    PubMed

    Tzeng, Christina Y; Nygaard, Lynne C; Namy, Laura L

    2017-11-01

    Although language has long been regarded as a primarily arbitrary system, sound symbolism, or non-arbitrary correspondences between the sound of a word and its meaning, also exists in natural language. Previous research suggests that listeners are sensitive to sound symbolism. However, little is known about the specificity of these mappings. This study investigated whether sound symbolic properties correspond to specific meanings, or whether these properties generalize across semantic dimensions. In three experiments, native English-speaking adults heard sound symbolic foreign words for dimensional adjective pairs (big/small, round/pointy, fast/slow, moving/still) and for each foreign word, selected a translation among English antonyms that either matched or mismatched with the correct meaning dimension. Listeners agreed more reliably on the English translation for matched relative to mismatched dimensions, though reliable cross-dimensional mappings did occur. These findings suggest that although sound symbolic properties generalize to meanings that may share overlapping semantic features, sound symbolic mappings offer semantic specificity. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  9. Novel Spoken Word Learning in Adults with Developmental Dyslexia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conner, Peggy S.

    2013-01-01

    A high percentage of individuals with dyslexia struggle to learn unfamiliar spoken words, creating a significant obstacle to foreign language learning after early childhood. The origin of spoken-word learning difficulties in this population, generally thought to be related to the underlying literacy deficit, is not well defined (e.g., Di Betta…

  10. The Effects of Receptive and Productive Learning of Word Pairs on Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Stuart

    2009-01-01

    English as a foreign language students in Japan learned target words in word pairs receptively and productively. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge--orthography, association, syntax, grammatical functions, and meaning and form--were each measured by receptive and productive tests. The study uses an innovative methodology in that each target word…

  11. Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Learning: The Effects of Reading and Writing on Word Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Stuart

    2005-01-01

    This study investigates the effects of receptive and productive vocabulary learning on word knowledge. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language learned target words in three glossed sentences and in a sentence production task in two experiments. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge--orthography, syntax, association, grammatical…

  12. Applicability of the Compensatory Encoding Model in Foreign Language Reading: An Investigation with Chinese College English Language Learners

    PubMed Central

    Han, Feifei

    2017-01-01

    While some first language (L1) reading models suggest that inefficient word recognition and small working memory tend to inhibit higher-level comprehension processes; the Compensatory Encoding Model maintains that slow word recognition and small working memory do not normally hinder reading comprehension, as readers are able to operate metacognitive strategies to compensate for inefficient word recognition and working memory limitation as long as readers process a reading task without time constraint. Although empirical evidence is accumulated for support of the Compensatory Encoding Model in L1 reading, there is lack of research for testing of the Compensatory Encoding Model in foreign language (FL) reading. This research empirically tested the Compensatory Encoding Model in English reading among Chinese college English language learners (ELLs). Two studies were conducted. Study one focused on testing whether reading condition varying time affects the relationship between word recognition, working memory, and reading comprehension. Students were tested on a computerized English word recognition test, a computerized Operation Span task, and reading comprehension in time constraint and non-time constraint reading. The correlation and regression analyses showed that the strength of association was much stronger between word recognition, working memory, and reading comprehension in time constraint than that in non-time constraint reading condition. Study two examined whether FL readers were able to operate metacognitive reading strategies as a compensatory way of reading comprehension for inefficient word recognition and working memory limitation in non-time constraint reading. The participants were tested on the same computerized English word recognition test and Operation Span test. They were required to think aloud while reading and to complete the comprehension questions. The think-aloud protocols were coded for concurrent use of reading strategies, classified into language-oriented strategies, content-oriented strategies, re-reading, pausing, and meta-comment. The correlation analyses showed that while word recognition and working memory were only significantly related to frequency of language-oriented strategies, re-reading, and pausing, but not with reading comprehension. Jointly viewed, the results of the two studies, complimenting each other, supported the applicability of the Compensatory Encoding Model in FL reading with Chinese college ELLs. PMID:28522984

  13. Applicability of the Compensatory Encoding Model in Foreign Language Reading: An Investigation with Chinese College English Language Learners.

    PubMed

    Han, Feifei

    2017-01-01

    While some first language (L1) reading models suggest that inefficient word recognition and small working memory tend to inhibit higher-level comprehension processes; the Compensatory Encoding Model maintains that slow word recognition and small working memory do not normally hinder reading comprehension, as readers are able to operate metacognitive strategies to compensate for inefficient word recognition and working memory limitation as long as readers process a reading task without time constraint. Although empirical evidence is accumulated for support of the Compensatory Encoding Model in L1 reading, there is lack of research for testing of the Compensatory Encoding Model in foreign language (FL) reading. This research empirically tested the Compensatory Encoding Model in English reading among Chinese college English language learners (ELLs). Two studies were conducted. Study one focused on testing whether reading condition varying time affects the relationship between word recognition, working memory, and reading comprehension. Students were tested on a computerized English word recognition test, a computerized Operation Span task, and reading comprehension in time constraint and non-time constraint reading. The correlation and regression analyses showed that the strength of association was much stronger between word recognition, working memory, and reading comprehension in time constraint than that in non-time constraint reading condition. Study two examined whether FL readers were able to operate metacognitive reading strategies as a compensatory way of reading comprehension for inefficient word recognition and working memory limitation in non-time constraint reading. The participants were tested on the same computerized English word recognition test and Operation Span test. They were required to think aloud while reading and to complete the comprehension questions. The think-aloud protocols were coded for concurrent use of reading strategies, classified into language-oriented strategies, content-oriented strategies, re-reading, pausing, and meta-comment. The correlation analyses showed that while word recognition and working memory were only significantly related to frequency of language-oriented strategies, re-reading, and pausing, but not with reading comprehension. Jointly viewed, the results of the two studies, complimenting each other, supported the applicability of the Compensatory Encoding Model in FL reading with Chinese college ELLs.

  14. Does Attending an English-Language University Diminish Abilities in the Native Language? Data from Turkey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ayçiçegi-Dinn, Ayse; SISman-Bal, Simge; Caldwell-Harris, Catherine L.

    2017-01-01

    Does a native language suffer when students take all of their classes in a foreign language, even in their home country? Turkish students studying psychology, economics, or English literature with English as the language of instruction (N = 91) were studied across a three-year period. Test scores, word fluency measures, and self-ratings were…

  15. Chemistry through the language barrier. How to scan chemical articles in foreign languages with emphasis on Russian and Japanese

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Reid, E.E.

    1970-01-01

    The thesis of this book is that one can learn a surprising amount of information from scientific articles in a foreign language. Use is made of symbols, numbers, etc., (which appear in familiar Roman script) and words that are similar in many languages (e.g., reaction, reazione, reaccion, reactie, reaccao, reaktion, reaksjon, reaktionen, reakcio, rektio, reaktsiya, reakcja, and reakce). Most European languages (Germanic, Latin, et al.) are included, with special emphasis on Russian and Japanese. The technique is illustrated with examples from organic chemistry, but the approach should be applicable to scientific writing in any subject area. (RWR)

  16. Providing Controlled Exposure To Target Vocabulary through the Screening and Arranging of Texts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ghadirian, Sina

    2002-01-01

    Considers how to bring foreign language students with limited vocabulary knowledge, consisting mainly of high-frequency words, to where they can comprehend authentic texts in a target domain. Proposes bridging the vocabulary gap by determining which word families account for 95% of the target domain's running words, and having students learn these…

  17. New Names for Known Things: On the Association of Novel Word Forms with Existing Semantic Information

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobel, Christian; Junghofer, Markus; Breitenstein, Caterina; Klauke, Benedikt; Knecht, Stefan; Pantev, Christo; Zwitserlood, Pienie

    2010-01-01

    The plasticity of the adult memory network for integrating novel word forms (lexemes) was investigated with whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG). We showed that spoken word forms of an (artificial) foreign language are integrated rapidly and successfully into existing lexical and conceptual memory networks. The new lexemes were learned in an…

  18. Text Manipulation Techniques and Foreign Language Composition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walker, Ronald W.

    1982-01-01

    Discusses an approach to teaching second language composition which emphasizes (1) careful analysis of model texts from a limited, but well-defined perspective and (2) the application of text manipulation techniques developed by the word processing industry to student compositions. (EKN)

  19. Introducing Translation-Based Activities in Teaching English as a Foreign Language: A Step towards the Improvement of Learners' Accurate Use of Words and Expressions in Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mbeudeu, Clovis Delor

    2017-01-01

    The teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in the world in general and in Cameroon in particular has witnessed, over the last three decades, heated debates on which methodologies to adopt in the classroom and which learning strategies to apply for effective teaching and learning so that learners do not only acquire a linguistic competence…

  20. Improving Students’ Sense to Learn Language in Islamic Institution of Coastal Area Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuraedah, St.; Azaliah Mar, Nur; Gunawan, Fahmi

    2018-05-01

    This research aims to examine the ways to develop a sense of love for learning Arabic among students in Islamic Higher education of Indonesia. This study is essential to do because Arabic should be the favourite subject by the students. In addition, Arabic is also the language of Al-Qur’an. As the language of Al-Qur’an, Arabic for Indonesian is not a foreign language as other foreign languages. In fact, the Arabic becomes one of the dreaded subjects by most students, especially at State Islamic Institute of Kendari. Therefore, it takes the tips and efforts by the Arabic teachers to make Arabic more interesting for the students. The results show that one way to increase the motivation to learn Arabic for students is to develop students’ sense of love to Arabic. The teachers can do it by showing how easy Arabic is and how important it is since it is a language of religion and science, and providing the tips to learn the language. Besides, they also can explain some borrowing words from Arabic adopted into Indonesian and to be used in daily conversations without realizing it, and show the form of word derivation in Arabic that can help to enrich the Arabic vocabulary. The teacher should tell the students that knowing one word in Arabic can develop into some vocabulary with different meanings.

  1. The impact of phonetic dissimilarity on the perception of foreign accented speech

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weil, Shawn A.

    2003-10-01

    Non-normative speech (i.e., synthetic speech, pathological speech, foreign accented speech) is more difficult to process for native listeners than is normative speech. Does perceptual dissimilarity affect only intelligibility, or are there other costs to processing? The current series of experiments investigates both the intelligibility and time course of foreign accented speech (FAS) perception. Native English listeners heard single English words spoken by both native English speakers and non-native speakers (Mandarin or Russian). Words were chosen based on the similarity between the phonetic inventories of the respective languages. Three experimental designs were used: a cross-modal matching task, a word repetition (shadowing) task, and two subjective ratings tasks which measured impressions of accentedness and effortfulness. The results replicate previous investigations that have found that FAS significantly lowers word intelligibility. Furthermore, in FAS as well as perceptual effort, in the word repetition task, correct responses are slower to accented words than to nonaccented words. An analysis indicates that both intelligibility and reaction time are, in part, functions of the similarity between the talker's utterance and the listener's representation of the word.

  2. Living English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Speight, Stephen

    1977-01-01

    The latest (July, 1976) edition of the "Concise Oxford Dictionary" is seen as "prescriptive," and of limited use to foreigners, since it lacks an international phonetic transcription. It is questioned whether sufficient treatment is given to new words, scientific words, non-British English, obscene language, change of meaning, and obsolescence.…

  3. How Many U.S. High School Students Have a Foreign Language Reading "Disability"? Reading Without Meaning and the Simple View.

    PubMed

    Sparks, Richard L; Luebbers, Julie

    Conventional wisdom suggests that students classified as learning disabled will exhibit difficulties with foreign language (FL) learning, but evidence has not supported a relationship between FL learning problems and learning disabilities. The simple view of reading model posits that reading comprehension is the product of word decoding and language comprehension and that there are good readers and 3 types of poor readers-dyslexic, hyperlexic, and garden variety-who exhibit different profiles of strengths and/or deficits in word decoding and language comprehension. In this study, a random sample of U.S. high school students completing first-, second-, and third-year Spanish courses were administered standardized measures of Spanish word decoding and reading comprehension, compared with monolingual Spanish readers from first to eleventh grades, and classified into reader types according to the simple view of reading. The majority of students fit the hyperlexic profile, and no participants fit the good reader profile until they were compared with first- and second-grade monolingual Spanish readers. Findings call into question the practice of diagnosing an FL "disability" before a student engages in FL study.

  4. The Learning of Grammar: An Experimental Study. Experimental Studies on the Learning of Language, Progress Report II, Revised.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Torrey, Jane W.

    An experiment in language behavior comparing two methods of learning grammatical word order in a new language presents scientific evidence supporting the use of pattern drills in foreign language teaching. The experiment reviews the performance of three groups attempting to learn small segments of Russian "microlanguage": (1) a drill group learned…

  5. L2 Vocabulary Acquisition in Children: Effects of Learning Method and Cognate Status

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tonzar, Claudio; Lotto, Lorella; Job, Remo

    2009-01-01

    In this study we investigated the effects of two learning methods (picture- or word-mediated learning) and of word status (cognates vs. noncognates) on the vocabulary acquisition of two foreign languages: English and German. We examined children from fourth and eighth grades in a school setting. After a learning phase during which L2 words were…

  6. Learning Collocations: Do the Number of Collocates, Position of the Node Word, and Synonymy Affect Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Stuart; Kagimoto, Eve

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of three factors (the number of collocates per node word, the position of the node word, synonymy) on learning collocations. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language learned five sets of 12 target collocations. Each collocation was presented in a single glossed sentence. The number of collocates…

  7. Consolidation of novel word learning in native English-speaking adults.

    PubMed

    Kurdziel, Laura B F; Spencer, Rebecca M C

    2016-01-01

    Sleep has been shown to improve the retention of newly learned words. However, most methodologies have used artificial or foreign language stimuli, with learning limited to word/novel word or word/image pairs. Such stimuli differ from many word-learning scenarios in which definition strings are learned with novel words. Thus, we examined sleep's benefit on learning new words within a native language by using very low-frequency words. Participants learned 45 low-frequency English words and, at subsequent recall, attempted to recall the words when given the corresponding definitions. Participants either learned in the morning with recall in the evening (wake group), or learned in the evening with recall the following morning (sleep group). Performance change across the delay was significantly better in the sleep than the wake group. Additionally, the Levenshtein distance, a measure of correctness of the typed word compared with the target word, became significantly worse following wake, whereas sleep protected correctness of recall. Polysomnographic data from a subsample of participants suggested that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep may be particularly important for this benefit. These results lend further support for sleep's function on semantic learning even for word/definition pairs within a native language.

  8. Linkit: A CALL System for Learning Chinese Characters, Words, and Phrases

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shei, Chris; Hsieh, Hsun-Ping

    2012-01-01

    Teaching Chinese as a foreign language (TCFL) is increasingly becoming a mainstream profession and an independent academic discipline. However, there is little research in CALL targeting the Chinese language to date. This research attempts to show how a CALL system can be constructed following the unique properties of the Chinese language so it…

  9. The Impact of Computer-Based Instruction on the Development of EFL Learners' Writing Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zaini, A.; Mazdayasna, G.

    2015-01-01

    The current study investigated the application and effectiveness of computer assisted language learning (CALL) in teaching academic writing to Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners by means of Microsoft Word Office. To this end, 44 sophomore intermediate university students majoring in English Language and Literature at an Iranian…

  10. Discourse Functions and Vocabulary Use in English Language Learners' Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rabab'ah, Ghaleb

    2013-01-01

    This study explores the discourse generated by English as a foreign language (EFL) learners using synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) as an approach to help English language learners to create social interaction in the classroom. It investigates the impact of synchronous CMC mode on the quantity of total words, lexical range and…

  11. Brief Training with Co-Speech Gesture Lends a Hand to Word Learning in a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelly, Spencer D.; McDevitt, Tara; Esch, Megan

    2009-01-01

    Recent research in psychology and neuroscience has demonstrated that co-speech gestures are semantically integrated with speech during language comprehension and development. The present study explored whether gestures also play a role in language learning in adults. In Experiment 1, we exposed adults to a brief training session presenting novel…

  12. The Effect of Number and Presentation Order of High-Constraint Sentences on Second Language Word Learning.

    PubMed

    Ma, Tengfei; Chen, Ran; Dunlap, Susan; Chen, Baoguo

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents the results of an experiment that investigated the effects of number and presentation order of high-constraint sentences on semantic processing of unknown second language (L2) words (pseudowords) through reading. All participants were Chinese native speakers who learned English as a foreign language. In the experiment, sentence constraint and order of different constraint sentences were manipulated in English sentences, as well as L2 proficiency level of participants. We found that the number of high-constraint sentences was supportive for L2 word learning except in the condition in which high-constraint exposure was presented first. Moreover, when the number of high-constraint sentences was the same, learning was significantly better when the first exposure was a high-constraint exposure. And no proficiency level effects were found. Our results provided direct evidence that L2 word learning benefited from high quality language input and first presentations of high quality language input.

  13. Relearning in the Elderly: Age-Related Effects on the Size of Savings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van der Hoeven, Nienke; de Bot, Kees

    2012-01-01

    This article reports on a study on learning new and relearning forgotten words of French as a foreign language in young (mean age 22.4), middle-aged (mean age 50.3), and elderly speakers (mean age 76.0). The three age groups performed similarly on relearning old words, but the younger learners were significantly better at learning new words. Data…

  14. Adjective Identification in Television Advertisements

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abd Rahim, Normaliza

    2013-01-01

    Learning the Malay language has been a challenging task for foreign language learners. Learners have to learn Malay grammar structure rules in order to write simple sentences. The word choice is important in constructing a sentence. Therefore, the study focuses on the use of adjectives in television advertisements among Korean learners at Hankuk…

  15. Phonological Stereotypes and Names in Temne.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nemer, Julie F.

    1987-01-01

    Many personal names in Temne (a Mel language spoken in Sierra Leone) are borrowed from other languages, containing foreign sounds and sequences which are unpronounceable for Temne speakers when they appear in other words. These exceptions are treated as instances of phonological stereotyping (cases remaining resistant to assimilation processes).…

  16. Vocabulary Materials and Study Strategies at Advanced Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pauwels, Paul

    2012-01-01

    This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study of the effect of different vocabulary study materials and strategies used by upper-intermediate English as a foreign language students in higher education. Students were assigned a selection of 163 words from the Academic Word List and were provided with different types of study materials. They were…

  17. Predicting English Word Accent on Morphological Grounds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Salmani Nodoushan, Mohammad Ali

    2007-01-01

    Learners of English as a foreign/Second Language (EFL/ESL) can easily learn the correct pronunciation of English words, some linguists have tried to simplify English phonology in general, and English accent in particular, over the past 50 years or so; some scholars have talked about four degrees of primary, secondary, tertiary and weak stress…

  18. Microcomputers, Software and Foreign Languages for Special Purposes: An Analysis of TXTPRO.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tang, Michael S.

    TXTPRO, a computer program developed as a graduate-level research tool for descriptive linguistic analysis, produces simple alphabetic and word frequency lists, analyzes word combinations, and develops concordances. With modifications, a teacher could enter the program into a mainframe or a microcomputer and use it for text analyses to develop…

  19. Differences Arising from Language in Perceiving Some Terms in Physics Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Unsal, Yasin

    2010-01-01

    In several resources, especially in textbooks, there are two or more alternatives for terms. These terms generally come from foreign words and alternative equivalences of these words. The aim of the study is to investigate whether this situation causes students problems in perceiving the terms; in which alternatives, the conceptual perception is…

  20. The Mental Lexicon and English Vocabulary Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    He, Huaqing; Deng, Yunfei

    2015-01-01

    In China, English as a foreign language (EFL) learning mainly occurs in the classroom, and the resultant lack of practice using English in authentic settings makes it quite difficult for many Chinese learners to learn English words. They may often feel that English words are "difficult to learn and easy to forget." As such, how to…

  1. Using Music and Image to Raise Spiritual and Moral Questions in the Foreign Language Classroom: Exploring the Sohne Mannheims

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, David I.; DeVries, Herman J., Jr.; Roberts, F. Corey

    2011-01-01

    Music offers to language teachers benefits in terms of language exposure, cultural information, and multisensory appeal. This article describes how the use of music videos offers potential for exploring spiritual and moral concerns, especially as the intersections between words, sounds, and images are explored. Exploring how (in this case)…

  2. The Path to English Literacy: Analyzing Elementary Sight Word Procurement Using Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in Contrast to Traditional Methodologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Madill, Michael T. R.

    2014-01-01

    Didactical approaches related to teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) have developed into a complex array of instructional methodologies, each having potential benefits attributed to elementary reading development. One such effective practice is Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), which uses various forms of technology such as…

  3. The Role of Repeated Exposure to Multimodal Input in Incidental Acquisition of Foreign Language Vocabulary.

    PubMed

    Bisson, Marie-Josée; van Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy; Tunney, Richard J

    2014-12-01

    Prior research has reported incidental vocabulary acquisition with complete beginners in a foreign language (FL), within 8 exposures to auditory and written FL word forms presented with a picture depicting their meaning. However, important questions remain about whether acquisition occurs with fewer exposures to FL words in a multimodal situation and whether there is a repeated exposure effect. Here we report a study where the number of exposures to FL words in an incidental learning phase varied between 2, 4, 6, and 8 exposures. Following the incidental learning phase, participants completed an explicit learning task where they learned to recognize written translation equivalents of auditory FL word forms, half of which had occurred in the incidental learning phase. The results showed that participants performed better on the words they had previously been exposed to, and that this incidental learning effect occurred from as little as 2 exposures to the multimodal stimuli. In addition, repeated exposure to the stimuli was found to have a larger impact on learning during the first few exposures and decrease thereafter, suggesting that the effects of repeated exposure on vocabulary acquisition are not necessarily constant.

  4. The Role of Repeated Exposure to Multimodal Input in Incidental Acquisition of Foreign Language Vocabulary

    PubMed Central

    Bisson, Marie-Josée; van Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy; Tunney, Richard J

    2014-01-01

    Prior research has reported incidental vocabulary acquisition with complete beginners in a foreign language (FL), within 8 exposures to auditory and written FL word forms presented with a picture depicting their meaning. However, important questions remain about whether acquisition occurs with fewer exposures to FL words in a multimodal situation and whether there is a repeated exposure effect. Here we report a study where the number of exposures to FL words in an incidental learning phase varied between 2, 4, 6, and 8 exposures. Following the incidental learning phase, participants completed an explicit learning task where they learned to recognize written translation equivalents of auditory FL word forms, half of which had occurred in the incidental learning phase. The results showed that participants performed better on the words they had previously been exposed to, and that this incidental learning effect occurred from as little as 2 exposures to the multimodal stimuli. In addition, repeated exposure to the stimuli was found to have a larger impact on learning during the first few exposures and decrease thereafter, suggesting that the effects of repeated exposure on vocabulary acquisition are not necessarily constant. PMID:25558094

  5. A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Gender-Bound Language Use in Turkish and English Plays: Implications for Foreign Language Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Genc, Zubeyde Sinem; Armagan, Kiymet Selin

    2018-01-01

    The aim of the study is to investigate gender-bound language use in Turkish and English languages and to identify the differences and similarities across cultures and genders in the plays with family and social themes. Four English and five Turkish plays were chosen randomly for comparison. The number of words in the plays were taken into…

  6. [Spatio-Temporal Bioelectrical Brain Activity Organization during Reading Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Collocations by Students with Different Foreign Language Proficiency].

    PubMed

    Sokolova, L V; Cherkasova, A S

    2015-01-01

    Texts or words/pseudowords are often used as stimuli for human verbal activity research. Our study pays attention to decoding processes of grammatical constructions consisted of two-three words--collocations. Russian and English collocation sets without any narrative were presented to Russian-speaking students with different English language skill. Stimulus material had two types of collocations: paradigmatic and syntagmatic. 30 students (average age--20.4 ± 0.22) took part in the study, they were divided into two equal groups depending on their English language skill (linguists/nonlinguists). During reading brain bioelectrical activity of cortex has been registered from 12 electrodes in alfa-, beta-, theta-bands. Coherent function reflecting cooperation of different cortical areas during reading collocations has been analyzed. Increase of interhemispheric and diagonal connections while reading collocations in different languages in the group of students with low knowledge of foreign language testifies of importance of functional cooperation between the hemispheres. It has been found out that brain bioelectrical activity of students with good foreign language knowledge during reading of all collocation types in Russian and English is characterized by economization of nervous substrate resources compared to nonlinguists. Selective activation of certain cortical areas has also been observed (depending on the grammatical construction type) in nonlinguists group that is probably related to special decoding system which processes presented stimuli. Reading Russian paradigmatic constructions by nonlinguists entailed increase between left cortical areas, reading of English syntagmatic collocations--between right ones.

  7. United States Airline Transport Pilot International Flight Language Experiences, Report 2: Word Meaning and Pronunciation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-04-01

    different countries are understood; (4) Poor radios and transmission quality contribute to the unintelligibility of some controller transmissions; (5...going into a foreign country; (7) Differences associated with U.S. and ICAO phraseology need to be resolved and procedural ambiguities eliminated...affect you most related to differences in the word(s) used to describe a clearance, instruction, advisory, or request? Please list some examples

  8. UIC at TREC 2008 Blog Track

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-11-01

    T or more words, where T is a threshold that is empirically set to 300 in the experiment. The second rule aims to remove pornographic documents...Some blog documents are embedded with pornographic words to attract search traffic. We identify a list of pornographic words. Given a blog document, all...document, this document is considered pornographic spam, and is discarded. The third rule removes documents written in foreign languages. We count the

  9. Can Colors, Voices, and Images Help Learners Acquire the Grammatical Gender of German Nouns?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dias de Oliveira Santos, Victor

    2015-01-01

    Knowledge of lexical items is arguably the most essential aspect of being able to communicate in a foreign language (Richards, 2000). Many studies have examined effective strategies for retaining the meaning of foreign words, but studies investigating the effectiveness of different methods for the retention of essential grammatical features of…

  10. Acquiring Foreign Language Vocabulary through Meaningful Linguistic Context: Where Is the Limit to Vocabulary Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    de la Garza, Bernardo; Harris, Richard Jackson

    2017-01-01

    The present studies examined the effects of varying degrees of unfamiliar vocabulary within written discourse on individuals' abilities to use linguistic context for the purposes of translation and comprehension (i.e., lexical inferencing). Prose varied in the number of foreign words introduced into each sentence (e.g., 0 through 7 content words…

  11. Effects of Integrated Physical Exercises and Gestures on Preschool Children's Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mavilidi, Myrto-Foteini; Okely, Anthony D.; Chandler, Paul; Cliff, Dylan P.; Paas, Fred

    2015-01-01

    Research suggests that integrating human movement into a cognitive learning task can be effective for learning due to its cognitive and physiological effects. In this study, the learning effects of enacting words through whole-body movements (i.e., physical exercise) and part-body movements (i.e., gestures) were investigated in a foreign language…

  12. Anglicisms in the Romanian business and technology vocabulary

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Todea, L.; Demarcsek, R.

    2016-08-01

    Multinational companies in Romania have imposed the use of the predominant language, in most cases - English, in professional communication. In contexts related to workplace communication, the main motivation for foreign borrowings is the need to denote concepts and activities. The article focuses on the English language as a wide source for a great number of innovations both at the lexical and the morphological level in the Romanian vocabulary related to business and technology. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate that Romanian language displays a natural disposition towards adopting and adapting foreign words, especially borrowed English terms, in the field of computer science and business without endangering its identity.

  13. Doing Planning and Task Performance in Second Language Acquisition: An Ethnomethodological Respecification

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Markee, Numa; Kunitz, Silvia

    2013-01-01

    We use insights and methods from ethnomethodological conversation analysis and discursive psychology to develop an account of embodied word and grammar searches as socially distributed planning practices. These practices, which were produced by three intermediate learners of Italian as a Foreign Language (IFL), occurred massively in natural data…

  14. Reading in EFL: Facts and Fictions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paran, Amos

    1996-01-01

    Examines the representation of the reading process in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) texts. The article argues that many of these representations are dated and based on a theory that was never a mainstream theory of first-language reading. Suggestions for exercises to strengthen automatic word recognition in EFL readers are provided. (33…

  15. Toddlers Learn Words in a Foreign Language: The Role of Native Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koening, Melissa; Woodward, Amanda

    2012-01-01

    The current study examined monolingual English-speaking toddlers' (N=50) ability to learn word-referent links from native speakers of Dutch versus English, and second, whether children generalized or sequestered their extensions when terms were tested by a subsequent speaker of English. Overall, children performed better in the English than in the…

  16. Acquisition of Three Word Knowledge Aspects through Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Daskalovska, Nina

    2016-01-01

    A number of studies have shown that second or foreign language learners can acquire vocabulary through reading. The aim of the study was to investigate (a) the effects of reading an authentic novel on the acquisition of 3 aspects of word knowledge: spelling, meaning, and collocation; (b) the influence of reading on the acquisition of partial and…

  17. Predicting English Word Accent on Morphological Grounds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Salmani-Nodoushan, Mohammad Ali

    2007-01-01

    Learners of English as a foreign/Second Language (EFL/ESL) can easily learn the correct pronunciation of English words. Linguists have tried to simplify English phonology in general, and English accent in particular, over the past 50 years or so; some scholars have talked about four degrees of primary, secondary, tertiary and weak stress (e.g.,…

  18. The Role of Foreign Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong Chinese Children's English and Chinese Skills: A Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dulay, Katrina May; Tong, Xiuhong; McBride, Catherine

    2017-01-01

    We investigated the influence of nonparental caregivers, such as foreign domestic helpers (FDH), on the home language spoken to the child and its implications for vocabulary and word reading development in Cantonese- and English-speaking bilingual children. Using data collected from ages 5 to 9, we analyzed Chinese vocabulary, Chinese character…

  19. Enhancement of Automatization through Vocabulary Learning Using CALL: Can Prompt Language Processing Lead to Better Comprehension in L2 Reading?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sato, Takeshi; Matsunuma, Mitsuyasu; Suzuki, Akio

    2013-01-01

    Our study aims to optimize a multimedia application for vocabulary learning for English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Our study is based on the concept that difficulty in reading a text in a second language is due to the need for more working memory for word decoding skills, although the working memory must also be used for text comprehension…

  20. Some Techniques for Teaching Vocabulary. ERIC Focus Reports on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Number 27.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michel, Joseph; Patin, Paul

    Discussion of techniques for teaching vocabulary in language programs centers on five major areas: (1) "knowing" the word, (2) selection of vocabulary, (3) grading vocabulary for presentation, (4) teaching methods, and (5) vocabulary expansion in advanced levels. Theory of vocabulary instruction is largely supported by writings of Nelson Brooks,…

  1. Analyzing Istruction and Learning of Derivational Morhology in the Spanish Foreign Language Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miguel, Nausica Marcos

    2013-01-01

    Morphological awareness can help learners of a second language (L2) infer and learn the meaning of unknown words. It is, however, unclear how morphological awareness evolves in adult English-speaking learners of instructed L2 Spanish and how this development relates to vocabulary knowledge. Moreover, the manner in which derivational morphology is…

  2. A Comparative Study on Beliefs of Grammar Teaching between High School English Teachers and Students in China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Deng, Fangfang; Lin, Yuewu

    2016-01-01

    Grammar is "a system of rules governing the conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a sentence" (Brown 1994) which can facilitate the acquisition of a foreign language and is conducive for cultivating comprehensive language competence. Most teachers regard grammar as a frame of English learning. The grammar teaching beliefs…

  3. Computer Assisted Reading in German as a Foreign Language, Developing and Testing an NLP-Based Application

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wood, Peter

    2011-01-01

    "QuickAssist," the program presented in this paper, uses natural language processing (NLP) technologies. It places a range of NLP tools at the disposal of learners, intended to enable them to independently read and comprehend a German text of their choice while they extend their vocabulary, learn about different uses of particular words,…

  4. From Single Words to Passages: Contextual Effects on Predictive Power of Vocabulary Measures for Assessing Reading Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Qian, David D.

    2008-01-01

    In the last 15 years or so, language testing practitioners have increasingly favored assessing vocabulary in context. The discrete-point vocabulary measure used in the old version of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) has long been criticized for encouraging test candidates to memorize wordlists out of context although test items…

  5. Developing Reading Fluency and Comprehension Using Repeated Reading: Evidence from Longitudinal Student Reports

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gorsuch, Greta; Taguchi, Etsuo

    2010-01-01

    In recent years, interest in reading fluency development in first language, and second and foreign language (L2/FL) settings has increased. Reading fluency, in which readers decode and comprehend at the same time, is critical to successful reading. Fluent readers are accurate and fast in their ability to recognize words, and in their use of…

  6. "Cunt": On the Perception and Handling of Verbal Dynamite by L1 and Lx Users of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dewaele, Jean-Marc

    2018-01-01

    "Cunt" is currently one of the most offensive words in the English language and is usually censored in the English press and media. The present study looks firstly at differences between 1159 first (L1) and 1165 foreign (LX) users of English in their perceived understanding of the word, its perceived offensiveness and their self-reported…

  7. Individual Differences in Audio-Vocal Speech Imitation Aptitude in Late Bilinguals: Functional Neuro-Imaging and Brain Morphology

    PubMed Central

    Reiterer, Susanne Maria; Hu, Xiaochen; Erb, Michael; Rota, Giuseppina; Nardo, Davide; Grodd, Wolfgang; Winkler, Susanne; Ackermann, Hermann

    2011-01-01

    An unanswered question in adult language learning or late bi and multilingualism is why individuals show marked differences in their ability to imitate foreign accents. While recent research acknowledges that more adults than previously assumed can still acquire a “native” foreign accent, very little is known about the neuro-cognitive correlates of this special ability. We investigated 140 German-speaking individuals displaying varying degrees of “mimicking” capacity, based on natural language text, sentence, and word imitations either in their second language English or in Hindi and Tamil, languages they had never been exposed to. The large subject pool was strictly controlled for previous language experience prior to magnetic resonance imaging. The late-onset (around 10 years) bilinguals showed significant individual differences as to how they employed their left-hemisphere speech areas: higher hemodynamic activation in a distinct fronto-parietal network accompanied low ability, while high ability paralleled enhanced gray matter volume in these areas concomitant with decreased hemodynamic responses. Finally and unexpectedly, males were found to be more talented foreign speech mimics. PMID:22059077

  8. Toddlers learn words in a foreign language: The role of native vocabulary knowledge

    PubMed Central

    Koenig, Melissa A.; Woodward, Amanda L.

    2013-01-01

    The current study examined monolingual English-speaking toddlers’ (N=50) ability to learn word-referent links from native speakers of Dutch versus English and secondly, whether children generalized or sequestered their extensions when terms were tested by a subsequent speaker of English. Overall, children performed better in the English than in the Dutch condition; however, children with high native vocabularies successfully selected the target object for terms trained in fluent Dutch. Furthermore, children with higher vocabularies did not indicate their comprehension of Dutch terms when subsequently tested by an English speaker whereas children with low vocabulary scores responded at chance levels to both the original Dutch speaker and the second English speaker. These findings demonstrate that monolingual toddlers with proficiency in their native language are capable of learning words outside of their conventional system and may be sensitive to the boundaries that exist between language systems. PMID:22310327

  9. Combining functional neuroimaging with off-line brain stimulation: modulation of task-related activity in language areas.

    PubMed

    Andoh, Jamila; Paus, Tomás

    2011-02-01

    Repetitive TMS (rTMS) provides a noninvasive tool for modulating neural activity in the human brain. In healthy participants, rTMS applied over the language-related areas in the left hemisphere, including the left posterior temporal area of Wernicke (LTMP) and inferior frontal area of Broca, have been shown to affect performance on word recognition tasks. To investigate the neural substrate of these behavioral effects, off-line rTMS was combined with fMRI acquired during the performance of a word recognition task. Twenty right-handed healthy men underwent fMRI scans before and after a session of 10-Hz rTMS applied outside the magnetic resonance scanner. Functional magnetic resonance images were acquired during the performance of a word recognition task that used English or foreign-language words. rTMS was applied over the LTMP in one group of 10 participants (LTMP group), whereas the homologue region in the right hemisphere was stimulated in another group of 10 participants (RTMP group). Changes in task-related fMRI response (English minus foreign languages) and task performances (response time and accuracy) were measured in both groups and compared between pre-rTMS and post-rTMS. Our results showed that rTMS increased task-related fMRI response in the homologue areas contralateral to the stimulated sites. We also found an effect of rTMS on response time for the LTMP group only. These findings provide insights into changes in neural activity in cortical regions connected to the stimulated site and are consistent with a hypothesis raised in a previous review about the role of the homologue areas in the contralateral hemisphere for preserving behavior after neural interference.

  10. Lexical Diversity and the Use of Academic and Lower Frequency Words in the Academic Writing of EFL Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akbari, Neda

    2017-01-01

    This study focuses on lexical diversity and the use of academic and lower frequency words in essays written by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students enrolled in Years 1 and 2 at the undergraduate university level. The purpose of this study is to find out the extent to which EFL students become more proficient in their use of academic and…

  11. Lexical Semantic Field as One of the Keys to Second Language Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Varlamova, Elena V.; Tulusina, Elena A.; Zaripova, Zarema M.; Gataullina, Veronika L.

    2017-01-01

    The article is devoted to the problem of the development of skills connected with the acquisition of foreign lexis (Lexis = all possible words or phrases in a language) on the basis of semantic fields (Semantic field = a lexical set of related items, e.g., colour, red, green, blue). This becomes possible due to grouping well-known and unknown to…

  12. QuickAssist: Reading and Learning Vocabulary Independently with the Help of CALL and NLP Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wood, Peter

    2011-01-01

    Independent learning is a buzz word that is often used in connection with computer technologies applied to the area of foreign language instruction. This chapter takes a critical look at some of the stereotypes that exist with regard to computer-assisted language learning (CALL) as a money saver and an easy way to create an "independent"…

  13. Proper use of medical language: Main problems and solutions.

    PubMed

    Aleixandre-Benavent, R; Valderrama Zurián, J C; Bueno-Cañigral, F J

    2015-10-01

    Medical language should be characterized by its precision, emotional neutrality and stability. The effective communication of results of scientific studies depends on compliance with current standards of drafting and style; texts with defects can hinder interest in the findings. In this study, we discuss some of the most common problems and errors in medical language, including the abuse of abbreviations and foreign words, the use of improper words, syntax errors and solecisms, the most common errors in titles and the abuse of capital letters and the gerund. Investigators have effective tools for dealing with these problems, such as quality texts, critical dictionaries of questions and difficulties with the Spanish language and various drafting and style manuals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. y Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI). All rights reserved.

  14. The Left, The Better: White-Matter Brain Integrity Predicts Foreign Language Imitation Ability.

    PubMed

    Vaquero, Lucía; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; Reiterer, Susanne M

    2017-08-01

    Speech imitation is crucial for language acquisition and second-language learning. Interestingly, large individual differences regarding the ability in imitating foreign-language sounds have been observed. The origin of this interindividual diversity remains unknown, although it might be partially explained by structural predispositions. Here we correlated white-matter structural properties of the arcuate fasciculus (AF) with the performance of 52 German-speakers in a Hindi sentence- and word-imitation task. First, a manual reconstruction was performed, permitting us to extract the mean values along the three branches of the AF. We found that a larger lateralization of the AF volume toward the left hemisphere predicted the performance of our participants in the imitation task. Second, an automatic reconstruction was carried out, allowing us to localize the specific region within the AF that exhibited the largest correlation with foreign language imitation. Results of this reconstruction also showed a left lateralization trend: greater fractional anisotropy values in the anterior half of the left AF correlated with the performance in the Hindi-imitation task. From the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that foreign language imitation aptitude is tested using a more ecological imitation task and correlated with DTI tractography, using both a manual and an automatic method. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  15. The Effects of Repetition and Time of Post-Test Administration on EFL Learners' Form Recall of Single Words and Collocations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peters, Elke

    2014-01-01

    This article examines how form recall of target lexical items by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) is affected (1) by repetition (1, 3 or 5 number of occurrences), (2) by the type of target item (single words versus collocations), and (3) by the time of post-test administration (immediately or one week after the learning session).…

  16. When Students Say Far Too Much: Examining Gushing in the ELT Classroom (Cuando los alumnos dicen demasiado: análisis del uso excesivo de palabras en clases de inglés como lengua extranjera)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mugford, Gerrard; Cuevas, Oscar Ramírez

    2015-01-01

    English foreign-language users often overuse words when faced with difficult situations. Called gushing, such excessive use of words is often legitimately employed by native speakers to express, for instance, gratitude and apologies when a simple "thank you" or "sorry" does not sufficiently convey an interlocutor's feelings.…

  17. What makes listening difficult? Factors affecting second language listening comprehension

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-04-01

    idioms in the passage on listening comprehension. The American Heritage Dictionary (2000) defines idiom as “an expression consisting of two or more...years of age and spoke English without a noticeable foreign accent had significantly poorer word recognition scores than monolingual listeners for...of reference: The experience of the Dutch CEFR Construct Project. Language Assessment Quarterly, 3(1), 3–30. American Heritage Dictionary of the

  18. Can Learning a Foreign Language Foster Analytic Thinking?-Evidence from Chinese EFL Learners' Writings.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Jingyang; Ouyang, Jinghui; Liu, Haitao

    2016-01-01

    Language is not only the representation of thinking, but also shapes thinking. Studies on bilinguals suggest that a foreign language plays an important and unconscious role in thinking. In this study, a software-Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2007-was used to investigate whether the learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) can foster Chinese high school students' English analytic thinking (EAT) through the analysis of their English writings with our self-built corpus. It was found that: (1) learning English can foster Chinese learners' EAT. Chinese EFL learners' ability of making distinctions, degree of cognitive complexity and degree of thinking activeness have all improved along with the increase of their English proficiency and their age; (2) there exist differences in Chinese EFL learners' EAT and that of English native speakers, i. e. English native speakers are better in the ability of making distinctions and degree of thinking activeness. These findings suggest that the best EFL learners in high schools have gained native-like analytic thinking through six years' English learning and are able to switch their cognitive styles as needed.

  19. Using Film Posters in the Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Basanta, Carmen Perez

    1997-01-01

    Describes a film poster-based activity that is designed to help students in the English-as-a-foreign-language classroom understand new vocabulary and raise their awareness of both the position of words in the structure of a sentence and their grammatical patterns and combinations. (Author/VWL)

  20. Neural correlates of foreign-language learning in childhood: a 3-year longitudinal ERP study.

    PubMed

    Ojima, Shiro; Nakamura, Naoko; Matsuba-Kurita, Hiroko; Hoshino, Takahiro; Hagiwara, Hiroko

    2011-01-01

    A foreign language (a language not spoken in one's community) is difficult to master completely. Early introduction of foreign-language (FL) education during childhood is becoming a standard in many countries. However, the neural process of child FL learning still remains largely unknown. We longitudinally followed 322 school-age children with diverse FL proficiency for three consecutive years, and acquired children's ERP responses to FL words that were semantically congruous or incongruous with the preceding picture context. As FL proficiency increased, various ERP components previously reported in mother-tongue (L1) acquisition (such as a broad negativity, an N400, and a late positive component) appeared sequentially, critically in an identical order to L1 acquisition. This finding was supported not only by cross-sectional analyses of children at different proficiency levels but also by longitudinal analyses of the same children over time. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that FL learning in childhood reproduces identical developmental stages in an identical order to L1 acquisition, suggesting that the nature of the child's brain itself may determine the normal course of FL learning. Future research should test the generalizability of the results in other aspects of language such as syntax.

  1. Enrichment Effects of Gestures and Pictures on Abstract Words in a Second Language.

    PubMed

    Repetto, Claudia; Pedroli, Elisa; Macedonia, Manuela

    2017-01-01

    Laboratory research has demonstrated that multisensory enrichment promotes verbal learning in a foreign language (L2). Enrichment can be done in various ways, e.g., by adding a picture that illustrates the L2 word's meaning or by the learner performing a gesture to the word (enactment). Most studies have tested enrichment on concrete but not on abstract words. Unlike concrete words, the representation of abstract words is deprived of sensory-motor features. This has been addressed as one of the reasons why abstract words are difficult to remember. Here, we ask whether a brief enrichment training by means of pictures and by self-performed gestures also enhances the memorability of abstract words in L2. Further, we explore which of these two enrichment strategies is more effective. Twenty young adults learned 30 novel abstract words in L2 according to three encoding conditions: (1) reading, (2) reading and pairing the novel word to a picture, and (3) reading and enacting the word by means of a gesture. We measured memory performance in free and cued recall tests, as well as in a visual recognition task. Words encoded with gestures were better remembered in the free recall in the native language (L1). When recognizing the novel words, participants made less errors for words encoded with gestures compared to words encoded with pictures. The reaction times in the recognition task did not differ across conditions. The present findings support, even if only partially, the idea that enactment promotes learning of abstract words and that it is superior to enrichment by means of pictures even after short training.

  2. Listening Vocabulary: Embracing Forgotten Aural Features

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Siegel, Joseph

    2016-01-01

    This article describes an innovation in the teaching and learning of vocabulary in English as a Foreign Language classes. Whereas vocabulary coverage in classrooms and textbooks traditionally focuses on lists of target words in printed form, this article promotes the notion of "aural vocabulary" as an important part of…

  3. Topological structure of dictionary graphs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fukś, Henryk; Krzemiński, Mark

    2009-09-01

    We investigate the topological structure of the subgraphs of dictionary graphs constructed from WordNet and Moby thesaurus data. In the process of learning a foreign language, the learner knows only a subset of all words of the language, corresponding to a subgraph of a dictionary graph. When this subgraph grows with time, its topological properties change. We introduce the notion of the pseudocore and argue that the growth of the vocabulary roughly follows decreasing pseudocore numbers—that is, one first learns words with a high pseudocore number followed by smaller pseudocores. We also propose an alternative strategy for vocabulary growth, involving decreasing core numbers as opposed to pseudocore numbers. We find that as the core or pseudocore grows in size, the clustering coefficient first decreases, then reaches a minimum and starts increasing again. The minimum occurs when the vocabulary reaches a size between 103 and 104. A simple model exhibiting similar behavior is proposed. The model is based on a generalized geometric random graph. Possible implications for language learning are discussed.

  4. INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH MANUAL

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    AMADOR, MABLE; KELLER, YVONNE KELLER

    This document presents a set of guidelines for authors who wish to express themselves more clearly to foreign readers, or readers whose first language is not American English. Topics include idioms, technical terms, jargon, word meaning, acronyms, and international conventions of measurement. The guidelines will help writers of technical documents present their ideas more effectively to audiences that may include individuals whose first language is not American English, including audiences with individuals from other English-speaking countries.

  5. Enrichment Effects of Gestures and Pictures on Abstract Words in a Second Language

    PubMed Central

    Repetto, Claudia; Pedroli, Elisa; Macedonia, Manuela

    2017-01-01

    Laboratory research has demonstrated that multisensory enrichment promotes verbal learning in a foreign language (L2). Enrichment can be done in various ways, e.g., by adding a picture that illustrates the L2 word’s meaning or by the learner performing a gesture to the word (enactment). Most studies have tested enrichment on concrete but not on abstract words. Unlike concrete words, the representation of abstract words is deprived of sensory-motor features. This has been addressed as one of the reasons why abstract words are difficult to remember. Here, we ask whether a brief enrichment training by means of pictures and by self-performed gestures also enhances the memorability of abstract words in L2. Further, we explore which of these two enrichment strategies is more effective. Twenty young adults learned 30 novel abstract words in L2 according to three encoding conditions: (1) reading, (2) reading and pairing the novel word to a picture, and (3) reading and enacting the word by means of a gesture. We measured memory performance in free and cued recall tests, as well as in a visual recognition task. Words encoded with gestures were better remembered in the free recall in the native language (L1). When recognizing the novel words, participants made less errors for words encoded with gestures compared to words encoded with pictures. The reaction times in the recognition task did not differ across conditions. The present findings support, even if only partially, the idea that enactment promotes learning of abstract words and that it is superior to enrichment by means of pictures even after short training. PMID:29326617

  6. Making Room for Second Language Phonotactics: Effects of L2 Learning and Environment on First Language Speech Perception.

    PubMed

    Carlson, Matthew T

    2018-04-01

    Language-specific restrictions on sound sequences in words can lead to automatic perceptual repair of illicit sound sequences. As an example, no Spanish words begin with /s/-consonant sequences ([#sC]), and where necessary (e.g., foreign loanwords) [#sC] is repaired by inserting an initial [e], (e.g. foreign loanwords, cf., esnob, from English snob). As a result, Spanish speakers tend to perceive an illusory [e] before [#sC] sequences. Interestingly, this perceptual illusion is weaker in early Spanish-English bilinguals, whose other language, English, allows [#sC]. The present study explored whether this apparent influence of the English language on Spanish is restricted to early bilinguals, whose early language experience includes a mixture of both languages, or whether later learning of second language (L2) English can also induce a weakening of the first language (L1) perceptual illusion. Two groups of late Spanish-English bilinguals, immersed in Spanish or English, were tested on the same Spanish AX (same-different) discrimination task used in a study by Carlson et al., (2016) and their results compared with the Spanish monolinguals from Carlson et al.'s study. Like early bilinguals, late bilinguals exhibited a reduced impact of perceptual prothesis on discrimination accuracy. Additionally, late bilinguals, particularly in English immersion, were slowest when responding against the Spanish perceptual illusion. Robust L1 perceptual illusions thus appear to be malleable in the face of later L2 learning. It is argued that these results are consonant with the need for late bilinguals to navigate alternative, conflicting representations of the same acoustic material, even in unilingual L1 speech perception tasks.

  7. Cross-language Transfer of Metalinguistic Skills: Evidence from Spelling English Words by Korean Students in Grades 4, 5 and 6.

    PubMed

    Yeon, Sookkyung; Bae, Han Suk; Joshi, R Malatesha

    2017-11-01

    The present study examined unique and shared contributions of Korean (first language) phonological, orthographic and morphological awareness (PA, OA and MA, respectively) to English (second/foreign language) spelling among 287 fourth-grade, fifth-grade and sixth-grade Korean children. Korean measures of PA, OA and MA were administered, in addition to English vocabulary and spelling measures. Results from structural equation modelling showed that PA, OA and MA were caused by one common construct, metalinguistic awareness (META), and the contribution of Korean META to English spelling was statistically significant, controlling for English vocabulary. In particular, Korean MA and PA played unique roles in explaining English spelling; whereas Korean OA did not significantly contribute to English spelling. Findings from the present study provided empirical evidence of first language META transfer effect on second/foreign language spelling development. Educational implications and future research ideas are discussed. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. PCA method for automated detection of mispronounced words

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ge, Zhenhao; Sharma, Sudhendu R.; Smith, Mark J. T.

    2011-06-01

    This paper presents a method for detecting mispronunciations with the aim of improving Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) tools used by foreign language learners. The algorithm is based on Principle Component Analysis (PCA). It is hierarchical with each successive step refining the estimate to classify the test word as being either mispronounced or correct. Preprocessing before detection, like normalization and time-scale modification, is implemented to guarantee uniformity of the feature vectors input to the detection system. The performance using various features including spectrograms and Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) are compared and evaluated. Best results were obtained using MFCCs, achieving up to 99% accuracy in word verification and 93% in native/non-native classification. Compared with Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) which are used pervasively in recognition application, this particular approach is computational efficient and effective when training data is limited.

  9. The Effects of Pre-Learning Vocabulary on Reading Comprehension and Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Stuart A.

    2009-01-01

    This study investigates the effects of pre-learning vocabulary on reading comprehension and writing. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) learned word pairs receptively and productively; four tests were used to measure reading comprehension, writing, and receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. The findings suggest…

  10. Online English-English Learner Dictionaries Boost Word Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nurmukhamedov, Ulugbek

    2012-01-01

    Learners of English might be familiar with several online monolingual dictionaries that are not necessarily the best choices for the English as Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) context. Although these monolingual online dictionaries contain definitions, pronunciation guides, and other elements normally found in general-use dictionaries, they are…

  11. Can Learning a Foreign Language Foster Analytic Thinking?—Evidence from Chinese EFL Learners' Writings

    PubMed Central

    Jiang, Jingyang; Ouyang, Jinghui; Liu, Haitao

    2016-01-01

    Language is not only the representation of thinking, but also shapes thinking. Studies on bilinguals suggest that a foreign language plays an important and unconscious role in thinking. In this study, a software—Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2007—was used to investigate whether the learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) can foster Chinese high school students’ English analytic thinking (EAT) through the analysis of their English writings with our self-built corpus. It was found that: (1) learning English can foster Chinese learners’ EAT. Chinese EFL learners’ ability of making distinctions, degree of cognitive complexity and degree of thinking activeness have all improved along with the increase of their English proficiency and their age; (2) there exist differences in Chinese EFL learners’ EAT and that of English native speakers, i. e. English native speakers are better in the ability of making distinctions and degree of thinking activeness. These findings suggest that the best EFL learners in high schools have gained native-like analytic thinking through six years’ English learning and are able to switch their cognitive styles as needed. PMID:27741270

  12. The Effects of Lower-Level Processing Skills on FL Reading Performance: Implications for Instruction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koda, Keiko

    1992-01-01

    The relationship between lower-level verbal processing skills and foreign language reading proficiency was investigated with U.S. college students learning Japanese. Focus was on the specific effects of letter identification and word recognition. Findings suggest that efficient lower-level verbal processing operations are essential in foreign…

  13. Computer-Assisted Text-Analysis for ESL Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reid, Joy; And Others

    1983-01-01

    Reports an investigation into possibilities of using word processors and text analysis software with English as second language (ESL) students to determine (1) if foreign students can learn to use computer equipment, (2) if students feel time invested is worthwhile, and (3) if ESL students' problems with writing American academic prose can be…

  14. Exploring the Blogosphere: Use of Web Logs in the Foreign Language Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ducate, Lara C.; Lomicka, Lara L.

    2005-01-01

    The words blog, blogger, blogging, and blogosphere have entered online technological dictionaries in the last decade. Recently, these personal electronic journals have received more attention and their increased popularity has led to their regular use in many different settings including the news, the political arena, and even in education. This…

  15. Vocabulary Growth of the Advanced EFL Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ozturk, Meral

    2015-01-01

    This article reports the results of two studies on the vocabulary growth of advanced learners of English as a foreign language in an English-medium degree programme. Growth in learners' written receptive and productive vocabularies was investigated in one cross-sectional and one longitudinal study over three years. The effect of word frequency on…

  16. The Role of Task Repetition in Learning Word-Stress Patterns through Auditory Priming Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jung, YeonJoo; Kim, YouJin; Murphy, John

    2017-01-01

    This study focused on an instructional component often neglected when teaching the pronunciation of English as either a second, foreign, or international language--namely, the suprasegmental feature of lexical stress. Extending previous research on collaborative priming tasks and task repetition, the study investigated the impact of task and…

  17. Preschool Children's Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning by Embodying Words through Physical Activity and Gesturing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Toumpaniari, Konstantina; Loyens, Sofie; Mavilidi, Myrto-Foteini; Paas, Fred

    2015-01-01

    Research has demonstrated that physical activity involving gross motor activities can lead to better cognitive functioning and higher academic achievement scores. In addition, research within the theoretical framework of embodied cognition has shown that embodying knowledge through the use of more subtle motor activities, such as task-relevant…

  18. Redundancy Effect on Retention of Vocabulary Words Using Multimedia Presentation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Samur, Yavuz

    2012-01-01

    This study was designed to examine the effect of the redundancy principle in a multimedia presentation constructed for foreign language vocabulary learning on undergraduate students' retention. The underlying hypothesis of this study is that when the students are exposed to the material in multiple ways through animation, concurrent narration,…

  19. A Selective Mutism Arising from First Language Attrition, Successfully Treated with Paroxetine-CBT Combination Treatment.

    PubMed

    Serra, Agostino; Di Mauro, Paola; Andaloro, Claudio; Maiolino, Luigi; Pavone, Piero; Cocuzza, Salvatore

    2015-10-01

    After immersion in a foreign language, speakers often have difficulty retrieving native-language words and may experience a decrease in its proficiency, this phenomenon, in the non-pathological form, is known as first language attrition. Self-perception of this low native-language proficiency and apprehension occurring when speaking is expected and, may sometimes lead these people to a state of social anxiety and, in extreme forms, can involve the withholding of speech as a primitive tool for self-protection, linking them to selective mutism. We report an unusual case of selective mutism arising from first language attrition in an Italian girl after attending a two-year "German language school", who successfully responded to a paroxetine-cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) combination treatment.

  20. A Selective Mutism Arising from First Language Attrition, Successfully Treated with Paroxetine-CBT Combination Treatment

    PubMed Central

    Serra, Agostino; Di Mauro, Paola; Andaloro, Claudio; Maiolino, Luigi; Pavone, Piero

    2015-01-01

    After immersion in a foreign language, speakers often have difficulty retrieving native-language words and may experience a decrease in its proficiency, this phenomenon, in the non-pathological form, is known as first language attrition. Self-perception of this low native-language proficiency and apprehension occurring when speaking is expected and, may sometimes lead these people to a state of social anxiety and, in extreme forms, can involve the withholding of speech as a primitive tool for self-protection, linking them to selective mutism. We report an unusual case of selective mutism arising from first language attrition in an Italian girl after attending a two-year "German language school", who successfully responded to a paroxetine-cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) combination treatment. PMID:26508972

  1. Effects of Enhancement Techniques on L2 Incidental Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duan, Shiping

    2018-01-01

    Enhancement Techniques are conducive to incidental vocabulary learning. This study investigated the effects of two types of enhancement techniques-multiple-choice glosses (MC) and L1 single-gloss (SG) on L2 incidental learning of new words and retention of them. A total of 89 university learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) were asked to…

  2. Students' Views on the Helpfulness of Multimedia Components of Digital Flashcards in Mobile-Assisted Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaplan-Rakowski, Regina; Loranc-Paszylk, Barbara

    2017-01-01

    This study examines learners' perceptions of the helpfulness of various multimedia components embedded in digital flashcards for explicit, informal foreign language vocabulary learning. Advanced learners of English (N = 59) studied 48 new words using digital flashcards on smartphones. After ten days, the learners completed perception surveys. The…

  3. Assessing Student Attitudes toward Graded Readers, MReader and the MReader Challenge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheetham, Catherine; Harper, Alan; Elliott, Melody; Ito, Mika

    2016-01-01

    This paper describes a pilot study conducted with English as a foreign language (EFL) students at a private university in Japan who used graded readers and the MReader website in class or independently to enhance their English reading skills. Each semester students who read 100,000 words with MReader quizzes passed enter into the "MReader…

  4. The Impact of Clickers Use on Vocabulary Knowledge and Satisfaction in an EFL Class in China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhonggen, Yu

    2014-01-01

    Clickers are catching growing attention in education. This study, using data collected from a questionnaire, forty content words, and a vocabulary knowledge scale, aims to identify if clickers can enhance EFL (English as a foreign language) vocabulary knowledge and raise students' satisfaction level compared with the traditional multimedia-based…

  5. Computer-Assisted Detection of 90% of EFL Student Errors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harvey-Scholes, Calum

    2018-01-01

    Software can facilitate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' self-correction of their free-form writing by detecting errors; this article examines the proportion of errors which software can detect. A corpus of 13,644 words of written English was created, comprising 90 compositions written by Spanish-speaking students at levels A2-B2…

  6. Using Track Changes and Word Processor to Provide Corrective Feedback to Learners in Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    AbuSeileek, A. F.

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated the effect of computer-mediated corrective feedback types in an English as a foreign language (EFL) intact class over time. The participants were 64 English majors who were assigned randomly into three treatment conditions that gave and received computer-mediated corrective feedback while writing (track changes, word…

  7. Comparative Effect of Memory and Cognitive Strategies Training on EFL Intermediate Learners' Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Banisaeid, Maryam

    2013-01-01

    The present study was conducted to compare the effect of memory and cognitive strategies training on vocabulary learning of intermediate proficiency group of Iranian learners of English as a foreign language. It is to check how memory and cognitive strategies training affect word learning of EFL intermediate learners (N = 60) who were homogenized…

  8. The Effects of Collaborative Writing Activity Using Google Docs on Students' Writing Abilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Suwantarathip, Ornprapat; Wichadee, Saovapa

    2014-01-01

    Google Docs, a free web-based version of Microsoft Word, offers collaborative features which can be used to facilitate collaborative writing in a foreign language classroom. The current study compared writing abilities of students who collaborated on writing assignments using Google Docs with those working in groups in a face-to-face classroom.…

  9. Using Supplementary Materials in the Teaching of English: Pedagogic Scope and Applications

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thakur, Vijay Singh

    2015-01-01

    For many students learning English as a second/foreign language is an uninteresting, dull experience. Quite often teachers present words, sentence patterns, and grammar rules in a very mechanical manner. As a result, people come to think of the teaching of grammar and vocabulary as a monotonous job. But a resourceful, imaginative and creative…

  10. The Features and Training of English Stress and Rhythm

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cai, Cui-yun

    2008-01-01

    In second language learning, to possess a perfect pronunciation, the importance of stress and rhythm should not be ignored. This articles explores the nature of sentence and word stress as well as rhythm, thus putting forward some feasible ways of training and acquiring a good English stress and rhythm in EFLT (English as Foreign Language…

  11. An In-Depth Investigation into the Relationship between Vocabulary Knowledge and Academic Listening Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teng, Feng

    2016-01-01

    The present study was conducted in the context of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with the purpose of assessing the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in academic listening comprehension. The Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation & Beglar, 2007) and the Word Associates Test (WAT, Read, 2004) were administered to…

  12. Verbal short-term memory and vocabulary learning in polyglots.

    PubMed

    Papagno, C; Vallar, G

    1995-02-01

    Polyglot and non-polyglot Italian subjects were given tests assessing verbal (phonological) and visuo-spatial short-term and long-term memory, general intelligence, and vocabulary knowledge in their native language. Polyglots had a superior level of performance in verbal short-term memory tasks (auditory digit span and nonword repetition) and in a paired-associate learning test, which assessed the subjects' ability to acquire new (Russian) words. By contrast, the two groups had comparable performance levels in tasks assessing general intelligence, visuo-spatial short-term memory and learning, and paired-associate learning of Italian words. These findings, which are in line with neuropsychological and developmental evidence, as well as with data from normal subjects, suggest a close relationship between the capacity of phonological memory and the acquisition of foreign languages.

  13. Distinct Effects of Memory Retrieval and Articulatory Preparation when Learning and Accessing New Word Forms

    PubMed Central

    Nora, Anni; Renvall, Hanna; Kim, Jeong-Young; Service, Elisabet; Salmelin, Riitta

    2015-01-01

    Temporal and frontal activations have been implicated in learning of novel word forms, but their specific roles remain poorly understood. The present magnetoencephalography (MEG) study examines the roles of these areas in processing newly-established word form representations. The cortical effects related to acquiring new phonological word forms during incidental learning were localized. Participants listened to and repeated back new word form stimuli that adhered to native phonology (Finnish pseudowords) or were foreign (Korean words), with a subset of the stimuli recurring four times. Subsequently, a modified 1-back task and a recognition task addressed whether the activations modulated by learning were related to planning for overt articulation, while parametrically added noise probed reliance on developing memory representations during effortful perception. Learning resulted in decreased left superior temporal and increased bilateral frontal premotor activation for familiar compared to new items. The left temporal learning effect persisted in all tasks and was strongest when stimuli were embedded in intermediate noise. In the noisy conditions, native phonotactics evoked overall enhanced left temporal activation. In contrast, the frontal learning effects were present only in conditions requiring overt repetition and were more pronounced for the foreign language. The results indicate a functional dissociation between temporal and frontal activations in learning new phonological word forms: the left superior temporal responses reflect activation of newly-established word-form representations, also during degraded sensory input, whereas the frontal premotor effects are related to planning for articulation and are not preserved in noise. PMID:25961571

  14. Distinct effects of memory retrieval and articulatory preparation when learning and accessing new word forms.

    PubMed

    Nora, Anni; Renvall, Hanna; Kim, Jeong-Young; Service, Elisabet; Salmelin, Riitta

    2015-01-01

    Temporal and frontal activations have been implicated in learning of novel word forms, but their specific roles remain poorly understood. The present magnetoencephalography (MEG) study examines the roles of these areas in processing newly-established word form representations. The cortical effects related to acquiring new phonological word forms during incidental learning were localized. Participants listened to and repeated back new word form stimuli that adhered to native phonology (Finnish pseudowords) or were foreign (Korean words), with a subset of the stimuli recurring four times. Subsequently, a modified 1-back task and a recognition task addressed whether the activations modulated by learning were related to planning for overt articulation, while parametrically added noise probed reliance on developing memory representations during effortful perception. Learning resulted in decreased left superior temporal and increased bilateral frontal premotor activation for familiar compared to new items. The left temporal learning effect persisted in all tasks and was strongest when stimuli were embedded in intermediate noise. In the noisy conditions, native phonotactics evoked overall enhanced left temporal activation. In contrast, the frontal learning effects were present only in conditions requiring overt repetition and were more pronounced for the foreign language. The results indicate a functional dissociation between temporal and frontal activations in learning new phonological word forms: the left superior temporal responses reflect activation of newly-established word-form representations, also during degraded sensory input, whereas the frontal premotor effects are related to planning for articulation and are not preserved in noise.

  15. Bilingual Knowledge Maps (BiK Maps) as a Presentation Format: Delayed Recall and Training Effects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bahr, G. Sussane; Dansereau, Donald F.

    2005-01-01

    The use of bilingual graphic organizers (bilingual knowledge maps [BiK maps]) as a presentation format was investigated for the acquisition of foreign language vocabulary. Participants were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions for the task of studying 32 German-English word pairs. Participants in each condition were trained on either lists or BiK maps…

  16. Word Function and Dictionary Use; A Work-Book for Advanced Learners of English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Osman, Neile

    The present volume is designed as a workbook for advanced learners of English as a second or foreign language which will train them through instruction and exercises to use an all-English dictionary. The contents are based on the second edition of Hornby, Gatenby, and Wakefield's "The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English," 1963, Oxford…

  17. The Writing of Chinese Characters by CFL Learners: Can Writing on Facebook and Using Machine Translation Help?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Qi; Lu, Zhouxiang

    2014-01-01

    The current study investigates the applications of the pinyin input system, a Chinese word processing method, for writing on Facebook in order to help CFL (Chinese as a foreign language) learners from two Irish universities to improve their handwriting in Chinese characters on paper. The data were collected from writing activities conducted over…

  18. Human inferior colliculus activity relates to individual differences in spoken language learning.

    PubMed

    Chandrasekaran, Bharath; Kraus, Nina; Wong, Patrick C M

    2012-03-01

    A challenge to learning words of a foreign language is encoding nonnative phonemes, a process typically attributed to cortical circuitry. Using multimodal imaging methods [functional magnetic resonance imaging-adaptation (fMRI-A) and auditory brain stem responses (ABR)], we examined the extent to which pretraining pitch encoding in the inferior colliculus (IC), a primary midbrain structure, related to individual variability in learning to successfully use nonnative pitch patterns to distinguish words in American English-speaking adults. fMRI-A indexed the efficiency of pitch representation localized to the IC, whereas ABR quantified midbrain pitch-related activity with millisecond precision. In line with neural "sharpening" models, we found that efficient IC pitch pattern representation (indexed by fMRI) related to superior neural representation of pitch patterns (indexed by ABR), and consequently more successful word learning following sound-to-meaning training. Our results establish a critical role for the IC in speech-sound representation, consistent with the established role for the IC in the representation of communication signals in other animal models.

  19. The Growth of English for Academic Communication in the Nordic Countries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brock-Utne, Birgit

    2001-07-01

    This article discusses the danger of subtractive English in higher education in Norway. If the use of a mother tongue as the medium of communication at the highest academic levels ceases, is drastically reduced and replaced through the use of a foreign tongue, we may speak of subtractive learning. If the mother tongue is being replaced by a foreign tongue in academic writing, in research and university level teaching, the mother tongue will stagnate. The vocabulary needed has not been allowed to develop at the highest academic level. The author maintains that the Norwegian language is threatened as an academic language and here discusses the following five phenomena, all contributing to this threat: 1. The increasing use of English words in Norwegian academic, bureaucratic or technological language. 2. The sale of more academic literature in English and stagnation of academic literature in Norwegian. 3. The recruitment of teaching staff who do not speak Norwegian. 4. The growth in Master degree courses taught in English. 5. The financial rewards being given to academic staff publishing in an international language (read: English) instead of in the mother tongue.

  20. Chinese English Learners' Strategic Competence.

    PubMed

    Wang, Dianjian; Lai, Hongling; Leslie, Michael

    2015-12-01

    The present study aims to investigate Chinese English learners' ability to use communication strategies (CSs). The subjects are put in a relatively real English referential communication setting and the analyses of the research data show that Chinese English learners, when encountering problems in foreign language (FL) communication, are characterized by the frequent use of substitution, approximation, circumlocution, literal translation, exemplification, word-coinage, repetition, and the infrequent use of cultural-knowledge and paralinguistic CSs. The rare use of paralinguistic strategies is found to be typical of Chinese English learners. The high frequency of literal translation, one first language (L1)-based strategy in our study sample, suggests that FL learners' use of L1-based CSs may depend more upon the developmental stage of their target language than the typology distance between L1 and the target language. The frequency of repetition reveals one fact that the Chinese English learners lack variety and flexibility in their use of CSs. Based on these findings, it was indicated that learners' use of CSs is influenced by a variety of factors, among which the development stage of their interlanguage and their cultural background are identified as two important factors. Some implications are finally suggested for the English foreign language teaching practice in China.

  1. The Relationship of Sub-Components of Manifold Dimensions of Vocabulary Depth Knowledge and Academic Reading Comprehension among English as a Foreign Language Learners at Tertiary Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hasan, Md. Kamrul; Shabdin, Ahmad Affendi

    2017-01-01

    This study makes an attempt to investigate the correlations between manifold aspects, namely both syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, the four major derivative word forms, which represented morphological knowledge, six dimensions of analytic relations (i.e. component-integral, member-collection, portion-mass, stuff-object, feature-activity,…

  2. Effects of Text, Audio and Learner Control on Text-Sound Association and Cognitive Load of EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Enciso Bernal, Ana Maria

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of concurrent audio and equivalent onscreen text on the ability of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to form associations between textual and aural forms of target vocabulary words. The study also looked at the effects of learner control over an audio sequence on the association of textual and…

  3. 17 CFR 240.15g-100 - Schedule 15G-Information to be included in the document distributed pursuant to 17 CFR 240.15g-2.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... calculated to draw the customer's attention to the language in the document, especially words that are... on U.S. securities exchanges, facilities of U.S. exchanges, or foreign exchanges. You should learn... encourages you to learn all you can before making this investment. Brokers' Duties and Customers' Rights and...

  4. White matter anisotropy in the ventral language pathway predicts sound-to-word learning success

    PubMed Central

    Wong, Francis C. K.; Chandrasekaran, Bharath; Garibaldi, Kyla; Wong, Patrick C. M.

    2011-01-01

    According to the dual stream model of auditory language processing, the dorsal stream is responsible for mapping sound to articulation while the ventral stream plays the role of mapping sound to meaning. Most researchers agree that the arcuate fasciculus (AF) is the neuroanatomical correlate of the dorsal steam, however, less is known about what constitutes the ventral one. Nevertheless two hypotheses exist, one suggests that the segment of the AF that terminates in middle temporal gyrus corresponds to the ventral stream and the other suggests that it is the extreme capsule that underlies this sound to meaning pathway. The goal of this study is to evaluate these two competing hypotheses. We trained participants with a sound-to-word learning paradigm in which they learned to use a foreign phonetic contrast for signaling word meaning. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a brain imaging tool to investigate white matter connectivity in humans, we found that fractional anisotropy in the left parietal-temporal region positively correlated with the performance in sound-to-word learning. In addition, fiber tracking revealed a ventral pathway, composed of the extreme capsule and the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, that mediated auditory comprehension. Our findings provide converging evidence supporting the importance of the ventral steam, an extreme capsule system, in the frontal-temporal language network. Implications for current models of speech processing will also be discussed. PMID:21677162

  5. Professional Music Training and Novel Word Learning: From Faster Semantic Encoding to Longer-lasting Word Representations.

    PubMed

    Dittinger, Eva; Barbaroux, Mylène; D'Imperio, Mariapaola; Jäncke, Lutz; Elmer, Stefan; Besson, Mireille

    2016-10-01

    On the basis of previous results showing that music training positively influences different aspects of speech perception and cognition, the aim of this series of experiments was to test the hypothesis that adult professional musicians would learn the meaning of novel words through picture-word associations more efficiently than controls without music training (i.e., fewer errors and faster RTs). We also expected musicians to show faster changes in brain electrical activity than controls, in particular regarding the N400 component that develops with word learning. In line with these hypotheses, musicians outperformed controls in the most difficult semantic task. Moreover, although a frontally distributed N400 component developed in both groups of participants after only a few minutes of novel word learning, in musicians this frontal distribution rapidly shifted to parietal scalp sites, as typically found for the N400 elicited by known words. Finally, musicians showed evidence for better long-term memory for novel words 5 months after the main experimental session. Results are discussed in terms of cascading effects from enhanced perception to memory as well as in terms of multifaceted improvements of cognitive processing due to music training. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing that music training influences semantic aspects of language processing in adults. These results open new perspectives for education in showing that early music training can facilitate later foreign language learning. Moreover, the design used in the present experiment can help to specify the stages of word learning that are impaired in children and adults with word learning difficulties.

  6. Affective processing in bilingual speakers: disembodied cognition?

    PubMed

    Pavlenko, Aneta

    2012-01-01

    A recent study by Keysar, Hayakawa, and An (2012) suggests that "thinking in a foreign language" may reduce decision biases because a foreign language provides a greater emotional distance than a native tongue. The possibility of such "disembodied" cognition is of great interest for theories of affect and cognition and for many other areas of psychological theory and practice, from clinical and forensic psychology to marketing, but first this claim needs to be properly evaluated. The purpose of this review is to examine the findings of clinical, introspective, cognitive, psychophysiological, and neuroimaging studies of affective processing in bilingual speakers in order to identify converging patterns of results, to evaluate the claim about "disembodied cognition," and to outline directions for future inquiry. The findings to date reveal two interrelated processing effects. First-language (L1) advantage refers to increased automaticity of affective processing in the L1 and heightened electrodermal reactivity to L1 emotion-laden words. Second-language (L2) advantage refers to decreased automaticity of affective processing in the L2, which reduces interference effects and lowers electrodermal reactivity to negative emotional stimuli. The differences in L1 and L2 affective processing suggest that in some bilingual speakers, in particular late bilinguals and foreign language users, respective languages may be differentially embodied, with the later learned language processed semantically but not affectively. This difference accounts for the reduction of framing biases in L2 processing in the study by Keysar et al. (2012). The follow-up discussion identifies the limits of the findings to date in terms of participant populations, levels of processing, and types of stimuli, puts forth alternative explanations of the documented effects, and articulates predictions to be tested in future research.

  7. Vowel normalization for accent: An investigation of perceptual plasticity in young adults

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Evans, Bronwen G.; Iverson, Paul

    2004-05-01

    Previous work has emphasized the role of early experience in the ability to accurately perceive and produce foreign or foreign-accented speech. This study examines how listeners at a much later stage in language development-early adulthood-adapt to a non-native accent within the same language. A longitudinal study investigated whether listeners who had had no previous experience of living in multidialectal environments adapted their speech perception and production when attending university. Participants were tested before beginning university and then again 3 months later. An acoustic analysis of production was carried out and perceptual tests were used to investigate changes in word intelligibility and vowel categorization. Preliminary results suggest that listeners are able to adjust their phonetic representations and that these patterns of adjustment are linked to the changes in production that speakers typically make due to sociolinguistic factors when living in multidialectal environments.

  8. Listening with an accent: speech perception in a second language by late bilinguals.

    PubMed

    Leikin, Mark; Ibrahim, Raphiq; Eviatar, Zohar; Sapir, Shimon

    2009-10-01

    The goal of the present study was to examine functioning of late bilinguals in their second language. Specifically, we asked how native and non-native Hebrew speaking listeners perceive accented and native-accented Hebrew speech. To achieve this goal we used the gating paradigm to explore the ability of healthy late fluent bilinguals (Russian and Arabic native speakers) to recognize words in L2 (Hebrew) when they were spoken in an accent like their own, a native accent (Hebrew speakers), or another foreign accent (American accent). The data revealed that for Hebrew speakers, there was no effect of accent, whereas for the two bilingual groups (Russian and Arabic native speakers), stimuli with an accent like their own and the native Hebrew accent, required significantly less phonological information than the other foreign accents. The results support the hypothesis that phonological assimilation works in a similar manner in these two different groups.

  9. What is the link between synaesthesia and sound symbolism?

    PubMed Central

    Bankieris, Kaitlyn; Simner, Julia

    2015-01-01

    Sound symbolism is a property of certain words which have a direct link between their phonological form and their semantic meaning. In certain instances, sound symbolism can allow non-native speakers to understand the meanings of etymologically unfamiliar foreign words, although the mechanisms driving this are not well understood. We examined whether sound symbolism might be mediated by the same types of cross-modal processes that typify synaesthetic experiences. Synaesthesia is an inherited condition in which sensory or cognitive stimuli (e.g., sounds, words) cause additional, unusual cross-modal percepts (e.g., sounds trigger colours, words trigger tastes). Synaesthesia may be an exaggeration of normal cross-modal processing, and if so, there may be a link between synaesthesia and the type of cross-modality inherent in sound symbolism. To test this we predicted that synaesthetes would have superior understanding of unfamiliar (sound symbolic) foreign words. In our study, 19 grapheme-colour synaesthetes and 57 non-synaesthete controls were presented with 400 adjectives from 10 unfamiliar languages and were asked to guess the meaning of each word in a two-alternative forced-choice task. Both groups showed superior understanding compared to chance levels, but synaesthetes significantly outperformed controls. This heightened ability suggests that sound symbolism may rely on the types of cross-modal integration that drive synaesthetes’ unusual experiences. It also suggests that synaesthesia endows or co-occurs with heightened multi-modal skills, and that this can arise in domains unrelated to the specific form of synaesthesia. PMID:25498744

  10. Effects of Online Translation on Morphosyntactic and Lexical-Pragmatic Accuracy in Essay Writing in Spanish as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fredholm, Kent

    2014-01-01

    The use of online translation (OT) is increasing as more pupils receive laptops from their schools. This study investigates OT use in two groups of Swedish pupils (ages 17-18) studying Spanish as an L3: one group (A) having free Internet access and the spelling and grammar checker of Microsoft Word, the other group (B) using printed dictionaries…

  11. How native-like can you possibly get: fMRI evidence for processing accent

    PubMed Central

    Ghazi-Saidi, Ladan; Dash, Tanya; Ansaldo, Ana I.

    2015-01-01

    Introduction: If ever attained, adopting native-like accent is achieved late in the learning process. Resemblance between L2 and mother tongue can facilitate L2 learning. In particular, cognates (phonologically and semantically similar words across languages), offer the opportunity to examine the issue of foreign accent in quite a unique manner. Methods: Twelve Spanish speaking (L1) adults learnt French (L2) cognates and practiced their native-like pronunciation by means of a computerized method. After consolidation, they were tested on L1 and L2 oral picture- naming during fMRI scanning. Results and Discussion: The results of the present study show that there is a specific impact of accent on brain activation, even if L2 words are cognates, and belong to a pair of closely related languages. Results point that the insula is a key component of accent processing, which is in line with reports from patients with foreign accent syndrome following damage to the insula (e.g., Katz et al., 2012; Moreno-Torres et al., 2013; Tomasino et al., 2013), and healthy L2 learners (Chee et al., 2004). Thus, the left insula has been consistently related to the integration of attentional and working memory abilities, together with fine-tuning of motor programming to achieve optimal articulation. PMID:26578931

  12. To electrify bilingualism: Electrophysiological insights into bilingual metaphor comprehension

    PubMed Central

    Jankowiak, Katarzyna; Rataj, Karolina; Naskręcki, Ryszard

    2017-01-01

    Though metaphoric language comprehension has previously been investigated with event-related potentials, little attention has been devoted to extending this research from the monolingual to the bilingual context. In the current study, late proficient unbalanced Polish (L1)–English (L2) bilinguals performed a semantic decision task to novel metaphoric, conventional metaphoric, literal, and anomalous word pairs presented in L1 and L2. The results showed more pronounced P200 amplitudes to L2 than L1, which can be accounted for by differences in the subjective frequency of the native and non-native lexical items. Within the early N400 time window (300–400 ms), L2 word dyads evoked delayed and attenuated amplitudes relative to L1 word pairs, possibly indicating extended lexical search during foreign language processing, and weaker semantic interconnectivity for L2 compared to L1 words within the memory system. The effect of utterance type was observed within the late N400 time window (400–500 ms), with smallest amplitudes evoked by literal, followed by conventional metaphoric, novel metaphoric, and anomalous word dyads. Such findings are interpreted as reflecting more resource intensive cognitive mechanisms governing novel compared to conventional metaphor comprehension in both the native and non-native language. Within the late positivity time window (500–800 ms), Polish novel metaphors evoked reduced amplitudes relative to literal utterances. In English, on the other hand, this effect was observed for both novel and conventional metaphoric word dyads. This finding might indicate continued effort in information retrieval or access to the non-literal route during novel metaphor comprehension in L1, and during novel and conventional metaphor comprehension in L2. Altogether, the present results point to decreased automaticity of cognitive mechanisms engaged in non-native and non-dominant language processing, and suggest a decreased sensitivity to the levels of conventionality of metaphoric meanings in late proficient unbalanced bilingual speakers. PMID:28414742

  13. From Acoustic Segmentation to Language Processing: Evidence from Optical Imaging

    PubMed Central

    Obrig, Hellmuth; Rossi, Sonja; Telkemeyer, Silke; Wartenburger, Isabell

    2010-01-01

    During language acquisition in infancy and when learning a foreign language, the segmentation of the auditory stream into words and phrases is a complex process. Intuitively, learners use “anchors” to segment the acoustic speech stream into meaningful units like words and phrases. Regularities on a segmental (e.g., phonological) or suprasegmental (e.g., prosodic) level can provide such anchors. Regarding the neuronal processing of these two kinds of linguistic cues a left-hemispheric dominance for segmental and a right-hemispheric bias for suprasegmental information has been reported in adults. Though lateralization is common in a number of higher cognitive functions, its prominence in language may also be a key to understanding the rapid emergence of the language network in infants and the ease at which we master our language in adulthood. One question here is whether the hemispheric lateralization is driven by linguistic input per se or whether non-linguistic, especially acoustic factors, “guide” the lateralization process. Methodologically, functional magnetic resonance imaging provides unsurpassed anatomical detail for such an enquiry. However, instrumental noise, experimental constraints and interference with EEG assessment limit its applicability, pointedly in infants and also when investigating the link between auditory and linguistic processing. Optical methods have the potential to fill this gap. Here we review a number of recent studies using optical imaging to investigate hemispheric differences during segmentation and basic auditory feature analysis in language development. PMID:20725516

  14. Accent on Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McWilliams, Larry; And Others

    A guide on foreign languages is presented for counselors, administrators, teachers, and parents. An introductory section discusses reasons for foreign language study, college entrance or exit requirements, foreign language and SAT scores, careers that use foreign languages, myths about learning foreign languages, and information about French,…

  15. Affective Overload: The Effect of Emotive Visual Stimuli on Target Vocabulary Retrieval.

    PubMed

    Çetin, Yakup; Griffiths, Carol; Özel, Zeynep Ebrar Yetkiner; Kinay, Hüseyin

    2016-04-01

    There has been considerable interest in cognitive load in recent years, but the effect of affective load and its relationship to mental functioning has not received as much attention. In order to investigate the effects of affective stimuli on cognitive function as manifest in the ability to remember foreign language vocabulary, two groups of student volunteers (N = 64) aged from 17 to 25 years were shown a Powerpoint presentation of 21 target language words with a picture, audio, and written form for every word. The vocabulary was presented in comfortable rooms with padded chairs and the participants were provided with snacks so that they would be comfortable and relaxed. After the Powerpoint they were exposed to two forms of visual stimuli for 27 min. The different formats contained either visually affective content (sexually suggestive, violent or frightening material) or neutral content (a nature documentary). The group which was exposed to the emotive visual stimuli remembered significantly fewer words than the group which watched the emotively neutral nature documentary. Implications of this finding are discussed and suggestions made for ongoing research.

  16. Human inferior colliculus activity relates to individual differences in spoken language learning

    PubMed Central

    Chandrasekaran, Bharath; Kraus, Nina

    2012-01-01

    A challenge to learning words of a foreign language is encoding nonnative phonemes, a process typically attributed to cortical circuitry. Using multimodal imaging methods [functional magnetic resonance imaging-adaptation (fMRI-A) and auditory brain stem responses (ABR)], we examined the extent to which pretraining pitch encoding in the inferior colliculus (IC), a primary midbrain structure, related to individual variability in learning to successfully use nonnative pitch patterns to distinguish words in American English-speaking adults. fMRI-A indexed the efficiency of pitch representation localized to the IC, whereas ABR quantified midbrain pitch-related activity with millisecond precision. In line with neural “sharpening” models, we found that efficient IC pitch pattern representation (indexed by fMRI) related to superior neural representation of pitch patterns (indexed by ABR), and consequently more successful word learning following sound-to-meaning training. Our results establish a critical role for the IC in speech-sound representation, consistent with the established role for the IC in the representation of communication signals in other animal models. PMID:22131377

  17. Don't just repeat after me: retrieval practice is better than imitation for foreign vocabulary learning.

    PubMed

    Kang, Sean H K; Gollan, Tamar H; Pashler, Harold

    2013-12-01

    Second language (L2) instruction programs often ask learners to repeat aloud words spoken by a native speaker. However, recent research on retrieval practice has suggested that imitating native pronunciation might be less effective than drill instruction, wherein the learner is required to produce the L2 words from memory (and given feedback). We contrasted the effectiveness of imitation and retrieval practice drills on learning L2 spoken vocabulary. Learners viewed pictures of objects and heard their names; in the imitation condition, they heard and then repeated aloud each name, whereas in the retrieval practice condition, they tried to produce the name before hearing it. On a final test administered either immediately after training (Exp. 1) or after a 2-day delay (Exp. 2), retrieval practice produced better comprehension of the L2 words, better ability to produce the L2 words, and no loss of pronunciation quality.

  18. Ten-year follow-up of a consecutive series of children with multichannel cochlear implants.

    PubMed

    Uziel, Alain S; Sillon, Martine; Vieu, Adrienne; Artieres, Françoise; Piron, Jean-Pierre; Daures, Jean-Pierre; Mondain, Michel

    2007-08-01

    To assess a group of children who consecutively received implants more than 10 years after implantation with regard to speech perception, speech intelligibility, receptive language level, and academic/occupational status. A prospective longitudinal study. Pediatric referral center for cochlear implantation. Eighty-two prelingually deafened children received the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant. Cochlear implantation with Cochlear Nucleus CI22 implant. The main outcome measures were open-set Phonetically Balanced Kindergarten word test, discrimination of sentences in noise, connective discourse tracking (CDT) using voice and telephone, speech intelligibility rating (SIR), vocabulary knowledge measured using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Revised), academic performance on French language, foreign language, and mathematics, and academic/occupational status. After 10 years of implant experience, 79 children (96%) reported that they always wear the device; 79% (65 of 82 children) could use the telephone. The mean scores were 72% for the Phonetically Balanced Kindergarten word test, 44% for word recognition in noise, 55.3 words per minute for the CDT, and 33 words per minute for the CDT via telephone. Thirty-three children (40%) developed speech intelligible to the average listener (SIR 5), and 22 (27%) developed speech intelligible to a listener with little experience of deaf person's speech (SIR 4). The measures of vocabulary showed that most (76%) of children who received implants scored below the median value of their normally hearing peers. The age at implantation was the most important factor that may influence the postimplant outcomes. Regarding educational/vocational status, 6 subjects attend universities, 3 already have a professional activity, 14 are currently at high school level, 32 are at junior high school level, 6 additional children are enrolled in a special unit for children with disability, and 3 children are still attending elementary schools. Seventeen are in further noncompulsory education studying a range of subjects at vocational level. This long-term report shows that many profoundly hearing-impaired children using cochlear implants can develop functional levels of speech perception and production, attain age-appropriate oral language, develop competency level in a language other than their primary language, and achieve satisfactory academic performance.

  19. Incidental Vocabulary Learning and Recall by Intermediate Foreign Language Students: The Influence of Marginal Glosses, Dictionary Use, and Summary Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ghabanchi, Zargham; Ayoubi, Elham Sadat

    2012-01-01

    This study is an attempt to compare the effect of four reading conditions on incidental vocabulary learning and recall of intermediate EFL learners. A sample population of 120 Iranian intermediate students read two short passages in one of four reading conditions: 1) L1 Marginal Glosses (MG1--provision of L1 translations of unknown words), 2) L2…

  20. Word Frequency and Trends in the Development of French Vocabulary in Lower-Intermediate Students during Year 12 in English Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richards, Brian; Malvern, David; Graham, Suzanne

    2008-01-01

    This article reports research into the development of vocabulary in lower-intermediate level learners of French as a foreign language in Year 12 in 20 schools in the south of England. The focus of attention is the role of less common, or non-basic, vocabulary at a stage in students' learning when they have just moved to a much more advanced…

  1. Behavioural relevance of atypical language lateralization in healthy subjects.

    PubMed

    Knecht, S; Dräger, B; Flöel, A; Lohmann, H; Breitenstein, C; Deppe, M; Henningsen, H; Ringelstein, E B

    2001-08-01

    In most humans, language is lateralized to the left side of the brain. It has been speculated that this hemispheric specialization is a prerequisite for the full realization of linguistic potential. Using standardized questionnaires and performance measures, we attempted to determine if there are behavioural correlates of atypical, i.e. right-hemispheric and bilateral, language lateralization. The side and degree of language lateralization were determined by measuring the hemispheric perfusion differences by functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography during a word generation task in healthy volunteers. Subjects with left (n = 264), bilateral (n = 31) or right (n = 31) hemisphere language representation did not differ significantly with respect to mastery of foreign languages, academic achievement, artistic talents, verbal fluency or (as assessed in a representative subgroup) in intelligence or speed of linguistic processing. These findings suggest that atypical hemispheric specialization for language, i.e. right-hemisphere or bilateral specialization, is not associated with major impairments of linguistic faculties in otherwise healthy subjects.

  2. Relationship among Iranian EFL Students' Foreign Language Anxiety, Foreign Language Listening Anxiety and Their Listening Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Serraj, Samaneh; Noordin, Noreen Bt.

    2013-01-01

    Anxiety is an influential factor in a foreign language learning domain and plays a crucial role in language learners' performance. The following study was conducted to explore the possible impact of Foreign Language Anxiety and Foreign Language Listening Anxiety on language learners' listening skill. The researcher was interested to know the…

  3. Foreign language reading and spelling in gifted students with dyslexia in secondary education.

    PubMed

    van Viersen, Sietske; de Bree, Elise H; Kalee, Lilian; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H; de Jong, Peter F

    2017-01-01

    A few studies suggest that gifted children with dyslexia have better literacy skills than averagely intelligent children with dyslexia. This finding aligns with the hypothesis that giftedness-related factors provide compensation for poor reading. The present study investigated whether, as in the native language (NL), the level of foreign language (FL) literacy of gifted students with dyslexia is higher than the literacy level of averagely intelligent students with dyslexia and whether this difference can be accounted for by the difference in their NL literacy level. The sample consisted of 148 Dutch native speaking secondary school students divided in four groups: dyslexia, gifted/dyslexia, typically developing (TD), and gifted. All students were assessed on word reading and orthographic knowledge in Dutch and English when they were in 7th or 8th grade. A subsample ( n  = 71) was (re)assessed on Dutch, English, French, and German literacy one year later. Results showed that Dutch gifted students with dyslexia have higher NL literacy levels than averagely intelligent students with dyslexia. As in the NL, a stepwise pattern of group differences was found for English word reading and spelling, i.e., dyslexia < gifted/dyslexia < TD < gifted. However, it was not found for French and German literacy performance. These results point towards compensation: the higher English literacy levels of gifted/dyslexic students compared to their averagely intelligent dyslexic peers result from mechanisms that are unique to English as a FL. Differences in results between FLs are discussed in terms of variation in orthographic transparency and exposure.

  4. An Integrative Approach to Foreign Language Teaching: Choosing Among the Options. ACTFL Foreign Language Education Series, Vol. 8.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jarvis, Gilbert A., Ed.

    This volume on foreign language teaching and learning concerns the following topics: lifelong learning, small-group learning, the minicourse, student attitudes toward foreign languages, problems in secondary schools, humanistic education, curricula in uncommonly taught languages, foreign languages in elementary and adolescent-centered education,…

  5. Educational Environment and Cultural Transmission in Foreign Language Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Memis, Muhammet Rasit

    2016-01-01

    Foreign language teaching is not to teach grammar and vocabulary of the target language and to gain basic language skills only. Foreign language teaching is teaching of the language's culture at the same time. Because of language and community develop and shape together, learning, understanding and speaking a foreign language literally requires…

  6. Addressing practical issues related to nursing care for international visitors to Hiroshima.

    PubMed

    Nishikawa, Mariko; Niiya, Kiyoka; Okayasu, Masako

    2014-04-01

    When nine million foreigners visited Japan in 2013, the federal government set a goal to attract an additional two and a half million visitors including medical tourists by 2020. This research investigates the attitudes and concerns of Japanese nurses when they are in a situation dealing with foreign patients. The data were collected from March through September 2010, from 114 nurses at three hospitals, in close proximity to popular tourist destinations in Hiroshima. A questionnaire was developed for this research, named Mari Meter, which included a section to write answers to an open question for the nurses to express their opinions. These responses were examined statistically and by word analysis using Text Mining Studio. Japanese nurses expressed greatest concern about payment options, foreign language skills, and issues of informed consent, when dealing with foreigners. The results confirm that, in order to provide a high quality of patient care, extra preparation and a greater knowledge of international workers and visitors are required by nursing professionals in Japan.

  7. Foreign Language Planning in Saudi Arabia: Beyond English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Payne, Mark; Almansour, Maram

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents findings from an exploratory study of foreign language planning in Saudi Arabia. In terms of official policy, the sole foreign language taught in Saudi public schools is English. Therefore, researching foreign languages there is often limited to researching the area of English as a Foreign Language. However, evidence shows that…

  8. 34 CFR 658.1 - What is the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... Foreign Language Program? 658.1 Section 658.1 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of... STUDIES AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROGRAM General § 658.1 What is the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program? The Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program is designed...

  9. 34 CFR 658.1 - What is the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Foreign Language Program? 658.1 Section 658.1 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of... STUDIES AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROGRAM General § 658.1 What is the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program? The Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program is designed...

  10. Influence of musical expertise on segmental and tonal processing in Mandarin Chinese.

    PubMed

    Marie, Céline; Delogu, Franco; Lampis, Giulia; Belardinelli, Marta Olivetti; Besson, Mireille

    2011-10-01

    A same-different task was used to test the hypothesis that musical expertise improves the discrimination of tonal and segmental (consonant, vowel) variations in a tone language, Mandarin Chinese. Two four-word sequences (prime and target) were presented to French musicians and nonmusicians unfamiliar with Mandarin, and event-related brain potentials were recorded. Musicians detected both tonal and segmental variations more accurately than nonmusicians. Moreover, tonal variations were associated with higher error rate than segmental variations and elicited an increased N2/N3 component that developed 100 msec earlier in musicians than in nonmusicians. Finally, musicians also showed enhanced P3b components to both tonal and segmental variations. These results clearly show that musical expertise influenced the perceptual processing as well as the categorization of linguistic contrasts in a foreign language. They show positive music-to-language transfer effects and open new perspectives for the learning of tone languages.

  11. Recognizing speech in a novel accent: the motor theory of speech perception reframed.

    PubMed

    Moulin-Frier, Clément; Arbib, Michael A

    2013-08-01

    The motor theory of speech perception holds that we perceive the speech of another in terms of a motor representation of that speech. However, when we have learned to recognize a foreign accent, it seems plausible that recognition of a word rarely involves reconstruction of the speech gestures of the speaker rather than the listener. To better assess the motor theory and this observation, we proceed in three stages. Part 1 places the motor theory of speech perception in a larger framework based on our earlier models of the adaptive formation of mirror neurons for grasping, and for viewing extensions of that mirror system as part of a larger system for neuro-linguistic processing, augmented by the present consideration of recognizing speech in a novel accent. Part 2 then offers a novel computational model of how a listener comes to understand the speech of someone speaking the listener's native language with a foreign accent. The core tenet of the model is that the listener uses hypotheses about the word the speaker is currently uttering to update probabilities linking the sound produced by the speaker to phonemes in the native language repertoire of the listener. This, on average, improves the recognition of later words. This model is neutral regarding the nature of the representations it uses (motor vs. auditory). It serve as a reference point for the discussion in Part 3, which proposes a dual-stream neuro-linguistic architecture to revisits claims for and against the motor theory of speech perception and the relevance of mirror neurons, and extracts some implications for the reframing of the motor theory.

  12. Assessing Foreign Language Proficiency of Undergraduates. Issues in Language Program Direction: A Series of Annual Volumes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teschner, Richard V., Ed.

    This collection of papers includes: "Foreign Language Testing Today: Issues in Language Program Direction" (Frank Nuessel); "Assessing the Problems of Assessment" (M. Peter Hagiwara); "Testing in Foreign Language Programs and Testing Programs in Foreign Language Departments: Reflections and Recommendations" (Elizabeth…

  13. Foreign Languages Sound Fast: Evidence from Implicit Rate Normalization.

    PubMed

    Bosker, Hans Rutger; Reinisch, Eva

    2017-01-01

    Anecdotal evidence suggests that unfamiliar languages sound faster than one's native language. Empirical evidence for this impression has, so far, come from explicit rate judgments. The aim of the present study was to test whether such perceived rate differences between native and foreign languages (FLs) have effects on implicit speech processing. Our measure of implicit rate perception was "normalization for speech rate": an ambiguous vowel between short /a/ and long /a:/ is interpreted as /a:/ following a fast but as /a/ following a slow carrier sentence. That is, listeners did not judge speech rate itself; instead, they categorized ambiguous vowels whose perception was implicitly affected by the rate of the context. We asked whether a bias towards long /a:/ might be observed when the context is not actually faster but simply spoken in a FL. A fully symmetrical experimental design was used: Dutch and German participants listened to rate matched (fast and slow) sentences in both languages spoken by the same bilingual speaker. Sentences were followed by non-words that contained vowels from an /a-a:/ duration continuum. Results from Experiments 1 and 2 showed a consistent effect of rate normalization for both listener groups. Moreover, for German listeners, across the two experiments, foreign sentences triggered more /a:/ responses than (rate matched) native sentences, suggesting that foreign sentences were indeed perceived as faster. Moreover, this FL effect was modulated by participants' ability to understand the FL: those participants that scored higher on a FL translation task showed less of a FL effect. However, opposite effects were found for the Dutch listeners. For them, their native rather than the FL induced more /a:/ responses. Nevertheless, this reversed effect could be reduced when additional spectral properties of the context were controlled for. Experiment 3, using explicit rate judgments, replicated the effect for German but not Dutch listeners. We therefore conclude that the subjective impression that FLs sound fast may have an effect on implicit speech processing, with implications for how language learners perceive spoken segments in a FL.

  14. Metamorphological awareness and EFL students' memory, retention, and retrieval of English adjectival lexicons.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Lawrence Jun

    2002-12-01

    Research has shown that foreign or second language learners' metalinguistic awareness has important effects on their acquisition of the target language. Important among a multitude of the concerns are problems these learners encounter when they have to process the morphological features of individual words, particularly in the acquisition of literacy skills. Nevertheless, for students who learn English as a foreign or second language for academic purposes, one of the biggest challenges in their advanced study is how they can effectively remember, retain, and retrieve the colossal number of newly learnt English vocabulary, including adjectival lexicons, to enhance their academic success. Results from the present report on the effects of metamorphological awareness of 65 adult Chinese EFL learners' memory, retention, and retrieval of adjectival lexicons show that, although the subjects in the two groups did not differ significantly in their performance on a pretest designed to check their lexical knowledge and no sex difference was observed, statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in both conditions (immediate and delayed retrievals) on a posttest. The experimental group and women predominantly performed better in the memory-retention-retrieval tasks assigned to them. Implications for educational research and practices are also discussed.

  15. A Qualitative Research on the Teaching Strategies and Class Applications of the High School Teachers Who Teach English in Turkey as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gocer, Ali

    2010-01-01

    Nowadays, whichever position the individuals work in, they feel the need to learn a foreign language even a second foreign language. In parallel with the need for a foreign language, the importance of the foreign language teaching increases. In language teaching, conditions such as the facilities of the environment, learner's features, the social…

  16. Pre-Service Preschool Teachers' Beliefs about Foreign Language Learning and Early Foreign Language Teaching in Slovenia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fojkar, Mateja Dagarin; Skubic, Darija

    2017-01-01

    The implementation of foreign languages in preschool education has prompted the need for qualified teachers. However, most recent studies report a gap between the supply of qualified foreign language teachers of young learners and the demand for such teachers as foreign languages are introduced earlier and earlier. The authors of this paper…

  17. The Effects of Multisensory Structured Language Instruction on Native Language and Foreign Language Aptitude Skills of At-Risk High School Foreign Language Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparks, Richard; And Others

    1992-01-01

    A multisensory structured language (MSL) approach was utilized with two groups of at-risk high school students (n=63), taught in either English and Spanish (MSL/ES) or Spanish only. Foreign language aptitude improved for both groups and native language skills for the MSL/ES group. A group receiving traditional foreign language instruction showed…

  18. The emotional impact of being myself: Emotions and foreign-language processing.

    PubMed

    Ivaz, Lela; Costa, Albert; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni

    2016-03-01

    Native languages are acquired in emotionally rich contexts, whereas foreign languages are typically acquired in emotionally neutral academic environments. As a consequence of this difference, it has been suggested that bilinguals' emotional reactivity in foreign-language contexts is reduced as compared with native language contexts. In the current study, we investigated whether this emotional distance associated with foreign languages could modulate automatic responses to self-related linguistic stimuli. Self-related stimuli enhance performance by boosting memory, speed, and accuracy as compared with stimuli unrelated to the self (the so-called self-bias effect). We explored whether this effect depends on the language context by comparing self-biases in a native and a foreign language. Two experiments were conducted with native Spanish speakers with a high level of English proficiency in which they were asked to complete a perceptual matching task during which they associated simple geometric shapes (circles, squares, and triangles) with the labels "you," "friend," and "other" either in their native or foreign language. Results showed a robust asymmetry in the self-bias in the native- and foreign-language contexts: A larger self-bias was found in the native than in the foreign language. An additional control experiment demonstrated that the same materials administered to a group of native English speakers yielded robust self-bias effects that were comparable in magnitude to the ones obtained with the Spanish speakers when tested in their native language (but not in their foreign language). We suggest that the emotional distance evoked by the foreign-language contexts caused these differential effects across language contexts. These results demonstrate that the foreign-language effects are pervasive enough to affect automatic stages of emotional processing. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. Multiple levels of bilingual language control: evidence from language intrusions in reading aloud.

    PubMed

    Gollan, Tamar H; Schotter, Elizabeth R; Gomez, Joanne; Murillo, Mayra; Rayner, Keith

    2014-02-01

    Bilinguals rarely produce words in an unintended language. However, we induced such intrusion errors (e.g., saying el instead of he) in 32 Spanish-English bilinguals who read aloud single-language (English or Spanish) and mixed-language (haphazard mix of English and Spanish) paragraphs with English or Spanish word order. These bilinguals produced language intrusions almost exclusively in mixed-language paragraphs, and most often when attempting to produce dominant-language targets (accent-only errors also exhibited reversed language-dominance effects). Most intrusion errors occurred for function words, especially when they were not from the language that determined the word order in the paragraph. Eye movements showed that fixating a word in the nontarget language increased intrusion errors only for function words. Together, these results imply multiple mechanisms of language control, including (a) inhibition of the dominant language at both lexical and sublexical processing levels, (b) special retrieval mechanisms for function words in mixed-language utterances, and (c) attentional monitoring of the target word for its match with the intended language.

  20. Strategies for Teaching Astronomy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bennett, J.

    2000-12-01

    No matter whether you are teaching school children, undergraduates, or colleagues, a few key strategies are always useful. I will present and give examples for the following five key strategies for teaching astronomy. 1. Provide a Contextual Framework: It is much easier to learn new facts or concepts if they can be ``binned" into some kind of pre-existing mental framework. Unless your listeners are already familiar with the basic ideas of modern astronomy (such as the hierarchy of structure in the universe, the scale of the universe, and the origin of the universe), you must provide this before going into the details of how we've developed this modern picture through history. 2. Create Conditions for Conceptual Change: Many people hold misconceptions about astronomical ideas. Therefore we cannot teach them the correct ideas unless we first help them unlearn their prior misconceptions. 3. Make the Material Relevant: It's human nature to be more interested in subjects that seem relevant to our lives. Therefore we must always show students the many connections between astronomy and their personal concerns, such as emphasizing how we are ``star stuff" (in the words of Carl Sagan), how studying other planets helps us understand our own, and so on. 4. Limit Use of Jargon: The number of new terms in many introductory astronomy books is larger than the number of words taught in many first courses in foreign language. This means the books are essentially teaching astronomy in a foreign language, which is a clear recipe for failure. We must find ways to replace jargon with plain language. 5. Challenge Your Students: Don't dumb your teaching down; by and large, students will rise to meet your expectations, as long as you follow the other strategies and practice good teaching.

  1. Foreign Language Research in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Volume 2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    de Bot, Kees, Ed.; And Others

    Papers from a conference on empirical research on foreign language instruction in Europe and the United States include: "Foreign Language Instruction and Second Language Acquisition Research in the United States" (Charles A. Fergurson, Thom Huebner); "Empirical Foreign Language Research in Europe" (Theo van Els, Kees de Bot,…

  2. The foreign-language effect: thinking in a foreign tongue reduces decision biases.

    PubMed

    Keysar, Boaz; Hayakawa, Sayuri L; An, Sun Gyu

    2012-06-01

    Would you make the same decisions in a foreign language as you would in your native tongue? It may be intuitive that people would make the same choices regardless of the language they are using, or that the difficulty of using a foreign language would make decisions less systematic. We discovered, however, that the opposite is true: Using a foreign language reduces decision-making biases. Four experiments show that the framing effect disappears when choices are presented in a foreign tongue. Whereas people were risk averse for gains and risk seeking for losses when choices were presented in their native tongue, they were not influenced by this framing manipulation in a foreign language. Two additional experiments show that using a foreign language reduces loss aversion, increasing the acceptance of both hypothetical and real bets with positive expected value. We propose that these effects arise because a foreign language provides greater cognitive and emotional distance than a native tongue does.

  3. Foreign Languages and Foreign Cultures.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berman, Russell A.

    2002-01-01

    Calls on foreign language departments to take a closer look at a long-standing component of their curriculum: culture. The discussion focuses on language and culture, teaching foreign cultures, and foreign cultures, transnationality, and globalization. (Author/VWL)

  4. 9 CFR 381.128 - Labels in foreign languages.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Labels in foreign languages. 381.128... in foreign languages. Any label to be affixed to a container of any dressed poultry or other poultry product for foreign commerce may be printed in a foreign language. However, the official inspection legend...

  5. The Link between Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety, Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity and Self-Rated English Proficiency among Chinese Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dewaele, Jean-Marc; Ip, Tsui Shan

    2013-01-01

    Previous research has suggested that high levels of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) have a negative effect on foreign language learning (Horwitz, 2001; Lu & Liu, 2011) while moderate levels of Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity (SLTA) are believed to boost foreign language learning (Ely, 1995). There is prima facie evidence that…

  6. Integrating Language-and-Culture Teaching: An Investigation of Spanish Teachers' Perceptions of the Objectives of Foreign Language Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Castro, Paloma; Sercu, Lies; Mendez Garcia, Maria del Carmen

    2004-01-01

    A recent shift has been noticeable in foreign language education theory. Previously, foreign languages were taught as a linguistic code. This then shifted to teaching that code against the sociocultural background of, primarily, one country in which the foreign language is spoken as a national language. More recently, teaching has reflected on…

  7. Thinking More or Feeling Less? Explaining the Foreign-Language Effect on Moral Judgment.

    PubMed

    Hayakawa, Sayuri; Tannenbaum, David; Costa, Albert; Corey, Joanna D; Keysar, Boaz

    2017-10-01

    Would you kill one person to save five? People are more willing to accept such utilitarian action when using a foreign language than when using their native language. In six experiments, we investigated why foreign-language use affects moral choice in this way. On the one hand, the difficulty of using a foreign language might slow people down and increase deliberation, amplifying utilitarian considerations of maximizing welfare. On the other hand, use of a foreign language might stunt emotional processing, attenuating considerations of deontological rules, such as the prohibition against killing. Using a process-dissociation technique, we found that foreign-language use decreases deontological responding but does not increase utilitarian responding. This suggests that using a foreign language affects moral choice not through increased deliberation but by blunting emotional reactions associated with the violation of deontological rules.

  8. Foreign Languages for Business in the Secondary School Curriculum.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grosse, Christine Uber

    A survey of the 20 most populous states concerning their secondary school provision of foreign languages for business is reported. State foreign language supervisors were interviewed for information on state policy or planning for the inclusion of foreign language for business or applied language studies, for information about specific programs or…

  9. 34 CFR 658.35 - What priority does the Secretary give?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... school foreign language instruction or that require each graduating student to earn two years of postsecondary credit in a foreign language (or have demonstrated equivalent competence in the foreign language... POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION UNDERGRADUATE INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE...

  10. Dutch courage? Effects of acute alcohol consumption on self-ratings and observer ratings of foreign language skills.

    PubMed

    Renner, Fritz; Kersbergen, Inge; Field, Matt; Werthmann, Jessica

    2018-01-01

    A popular belief is that alcohol improves the ability to speak in a foreign language. The effect of acute alcohol consumption on perceived foreign language performance and actual foreign language performance in foreign language learners has not been investigated. The aim of the current study was to test the effects of acute alcohol consumption on self-rated and observer-rated verbal foreign language performance in participants who have recently learned this language. Fifty native German speakers who had recently learned Dutch were randomized to receive either a low dose of alcohol or a control beverage that contained no alcohol. Following the experimental manipulation, participants took part in a standardized discussion in Dutch with a blinded experimenter. The discussion was audio-recorded and foreign language skills were subsequently rated by two native Dutch speakers who were blind to the experimental condition (observer-rating). Participants also rated their own individual Dutch language skills during the discussion (self-rating). Participants who consumed alcohol had significantly better observer-ratings for their Dutch language, specifically better pronunciation, compared with those who did not consume alcohol. However, alcohol had no effect on self-ratings of Dutch language skills. Acute alcohol consumption may have beneficial effects on the pronunciation of a foreign language in people who have recently learned that language.

  11. Shaping the Future of Foreign Language Education: FLES, Articulation, and Proficiency. Report of Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lalande, John F. II, Ed.

    Selected papers from the 1988 conference on foreign language issues for the future include: "Articulation for Elementary School Foreign Language Programs: Challenges and Opportunities" (Carol Ann Pesola); "Articulation: A Resolvable Problem?" (Dale L. Lange); "Profiles of Frustration: Second Language Learners with Specific Learning Disabilities"…

  12. Understanding Language Learning: Review of the Application of the Interaction Model in Foreign Language Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dixon, L. Quentin; Wu, Shuang

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: This paper examined the application of the input-interaction-output model in English-as-Foreign-Language (EFL) learning environments with four specific questions: (1) How do the three components function in the model? (2) Does interaction in the foreign language classroom seem to be effective for foreign language acquisition? (3) What…

  13. Experiment on building Sundanese lexical database based on WordNet

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dewi Budiwati, Sari; Nurani Setiawan, Novihana

    2018-03-01

    Sundanese language is the second biggest local language used in Indonesia. Currently, Sundanese language is rarely used since we have the Indonesian language in everyday conversation and as the national language. We built a Sundanese lexical database based on WordNet and Indonesian WordNet as an alternative way to preserve the language as one of local culture. WordNet was chosen because of Sundanese language has three levels of word delivery, called language code of conduct. Web user participant involved in this research for specifying Sundanese semantic relations, and an expert linguistic for validating the relations. The merge methodology was implemented in this experiment. Some words are equivalent with WordNet while another does not have its equivalence since some words are not exist in another culture.

  14. The Effect of Language Learning Strategies on Proficiency, Attitudes and School Achievement.

    PubMed

    Habók, Anita; Magyar, Andrea

    2017-01-01

    This study examines language learning strategy (LLS) use in connexion with foreign language attitude, proficiency and general school achievement among lower secondary students in Years 5 and 8 ( n = 868) in Hungary. An adapted version of the Strategies Inventory for Language Learning questionnaire was used for data collection. The results showed that Hungarian students mainly engage in metacognitive strategies in both years. Differences between more and less proficient language learners' strategy use have also been found. With regard to the effect of LLS on foreign language attitude, the foreign language mark and school achievement, path analysis indicated a good fit in both years. The metacognitive, social and memory strategies primarily influenced foreign language attitudes and marks in Year 5. The metacognitive strategies had a slight impact on school achievement as well as on foreign language marks. We demonstrated the dominant effect of metacognitive strategies and the low effect of memory strategies in Year 8. In addition, metacognitive strategies also influenced foreign language marks. The effect of foreign language marks on school achievement was also remarkable. There was a strong impact on the children's attitudes through these variables.

  15. The Status of Foreign Language Education: 1984.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wiley, Patricia Davis

    1984-01-01

    Presents a brief history of the status of foreign language instruction from 1953 to 1984. Summarizes research on effects of foreign language study. Describes the foreign language education program at the University of Tennessee--Knoxville, providing an overview of the organization, curricular content, and methodology. Evaluates Knoxville's unique…

  16. Incidental Foreign Language Acquisition from Media Exposure

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kuppens, An H.

    2010-01-01

    A number of experimental studies have demonstrated the incidental acquisition of a foreign language by children and adolescents when watching foreign language television. While such experiments can only establish short-term effects, this article investigates the extent to which children's foreign language skills benefit from their long-term…

  17. Foreign Language Effect and Psychological Distance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shin, Hong Im; Kim, Juyoung

    2017-01-01

    Does using a foreign language result in forming different moral decisions than using our mother tongue? Two studies were conducted to investigate whether there is a relationship between foreign language effects (differences between native vs. foreign language conditions) and psychological distance. Study 1 tested four moral dilemmas adapted from…

  18. Tact Training versus Bidirectional Intraverbal Training in Teaching a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dounavi, Katerina

    2014-01-01

    The current study involved an evaluation of the emergence of untrained verbal relations as a function of 3 different foreign-language teaching strategies. Two Spanish-speaking adults received foreign-language (English) tact training and native-to-foreign and foreign-to-native intraverbal training. Tact training and native-to-foreign intraverbal…

  19. Dictionary Use of Undergraduate Students in Foreign Language Departments in Turkey at Present

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tulgar, Aysegül Takkaç

    2017-01-01

    Foreign language learning has always been a process carried out with the help of dictionaries which are both in target language and from native language to target language/from target language to native language. Dictionary use is an especially delicate issue for students in foreign language departments because students in those departments are…

  20. The Effects of New Jersey's K-8 Foreign Language Authorization on K-5 Foreign Language Teaching: Two Teachers' Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raymond, Robert B. L.

    2012-01-01

    Recent research in language education policy (LEP) refocuses attention from the role of governments to local stakeholders that shape LEP. However, little attention has been given to teacher agency in LEP implementation for early foreign language (FL) education in the United States. This pilot study considers the role of foreign language elementary…

  1. Examination of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety and Achievement in Foreign Language in Turkish University Students in Terms of Various Variables

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dogan, Yunus; Tuncer, Murat

    2016-01-01

    This correlational survey study aimed to investigate whether the Turkish prep-class students' foreign language classroom anxiety levels and foreign language achievement significantly differ in terms of such variables as their gender, their experience abroad, perceived level of income and any third language (other than Turkish and English) they…

  2. The "Joint Venture" in International Business, Economics, and Foreign Languages at Appalachian State University: An Interdisciplinary Endeavor.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rothschild, Judith Rice

    1982-01-01

    A cooperative program of the economics and foreign languages departments offers three undergraduate majors: an economics B.A., with two foreign languages; a B.A. double major of economics and either French or Spanish, complemented by a second language; and a B.S. in business administration, individually designed, with one modern foreign language.…

  3. Foreign Languages and the Business World: A Close Partnership.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Portuondo, Alicia M.

    The role of foreign languages in the liberal arts colleges and of business training in the foreign language curriculum is examined. In recent years, student interests in foreign languages have shifted from the traditional focus on literary scholarship to practical applications and communication. International studies are also necessary in…

  4. Revisiting Problems with Foreign Language Aptitude

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Safar, Anna; Kormos, Judit

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated three of the issues recently raised in connection with the traditional concept of foreign language aptitude: the relationship between foreign language aptitude and working memory and phonological short-term memory capacity, the role of foreign language aptitude in predicting success in the framework of focus-on-form foreign…

  5. Foreign Language K-12. Program Evaluation 1991-92.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wadden, Jerry M.

    The Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools foreign language program for K-12 is described and evaluated. The evaluation report focuses on six areas, including: (1) school district mission and philosophy of foreign language instruction; (2) context (state policies and standards, foreign language program overview and enrollment, fiber-optic communication…

  6. Foreign Language Listening Anxiety and Listening Performance: Conceptualizations and Causal Relationships

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Xian

    2013-01-01

    This study used structural equation modeling to explore the possible causal relations between foreign language (English) listening anxiety and English listening performance. Three hundred participants learning English as a foreign language (FL) completed the foreign language listening anxiety scale (FLLAS) and IELTS test twice with an interval of…

  7. SURVEY OF PERSONNEL POLICIES IN RELATION TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCES.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    WELLEMEYER, JOHN F.

    THE PRINCIPLE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AGENCIES THAT OPERATE IN FIELDS REQUIRING FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCIES, THE U.S. MILITARY SERVICES AND SOME PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS, WERE SURVEYED TO DETERMINE THEIR OPERATING POLICIES THAT RELATE TO PERSONNEL WITH FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS. THE AGENCIES THAT HAVE THE GREATEST NEED FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS…

  8. 16 CFR 14.9 - Requirements concerning clear and conspicuous disclosures in foreign language advertising and...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... conspicuous disclosures in foreign language advertising and sales materials. 14.9 Section 14.9 Commercial... and conspicuous disclosures in foreign language advertising and sales materials. The Federal Trade... are being printed in foreign languages. In recent years the Commission has issued various cease-and...

  9. Teaching Reading in Foreign Language Classes: A Bibliography.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greenewald, M. Jane

    This bibliography of articles, books, and ERIC documents on the teaching of reading in foreign language classes is intended for university content reading specialists, reading coordinators and consultants, secondary and university foreign language teachers, and methodologists in foreign language education. More than 95 sources are listed in the…

  10. Foreign Languages: A Guide to Curriculum Development [Revision].

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connecticut State Board of Education, Hartford.

    The guide is designed to help school district planners develop and implement suitable foreign language curricula. Focusing on programs in grades K-12, it provides an overview of current philosophies, objectives, methods, and materials in foreign language education; illustrates how these may be implemented in a sequential foreign language program…

  11. Addressing the Standards for Foreign Language Learning. Dimension '97. Selected Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching and the South Carolina Foreign Language Teachers' Association (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Terry, Robert M., Ed.

    Seven papers from the annual conference are presented. "Developing Tomorrow's Technology-Using Foreign Language Teachers: Where We Are, Where We Are Going" (Marjorie H. DeWert, Audrey Heining-Boynton) looks at whether language teachers are being trained to take full advantage of educational technology. "Foreign Language Placement in…

  12. 76 FR 45543 - Board of Visitors, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Department of the Army Board of Visitors, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center AGENCY: Department of the Army, DOD. ACTION: Notice; cancellation. SUMMARY: The Board of Visitors, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center meeting scheduled for August 3 and 4, 2011...

  13. A SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    MICHEL, JOSEPH

    DESIGNED FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND PERSONS PREPARING TO BECOME FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS, THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS PUBLISHED BETWEEN 1892 AND 1966 CONTAINS SECTIONS OF--(1) THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE, (2) LINGUISTICS, INCLUDING APPLIED LINGUISTICS FOR SPECIFIC LANGUAGES, (3) PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE, (4) PHYSIOLOGY OF SPEECH, (5)…

  14. Foreign Language Teachers' Language Proficiency and Their Language Teaching Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richards, Heather; Conway, Clare; Roskvist, Annelies; Harvey, Sharon

    2013-01-01

    Teachers' subject knowledge is recognized as an essential component of effective teaching. In the foreign language context, teachers' subject knowledge includes language proficiency. In New Zealand high schools, foreign languages (e.g. Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish) have recently been offered to learners earlier in their schooling,…

  15. First- and second-language phonological representations in the mental lexicon.

    PubMed

    Sebastian-Gallés, Núria; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; de Diego-Balaguer, Ruth; Díaz, Begoña

    2006-08-01

    Performance-based studies on the psychological nature of linguistic competence can conceal significant differences in the brain processes that underlie native versus nonnative knowledge of language. Here we report results from the brain activity of very proficient early bilinguals making a lexical decision task that illustrates this point. Two groups of Spanish-Catalan early bilinguals (Spanish-dominant and Catalan-dominant) were asked to decide whether a given form was a Catalan word or not. The nonwords were based on real words, with one vowel changed. In the experimental stimuli, the vowel change involved a Catalan-specific contrast that previous research had shown to be difficult for Spanish natives to perceive. In the control stimuli, the vowel switch involved contrasts common to Spanish and Catalan. The results indicated that the groups of bilinguals did not differ in their behavioral and event-related brain potential measurements for the control stimuli; both groups made very few errors and showed a larger N400 component for control nonwords than for control words. However, significant differences were observed for the experimental stimuli across groups: Specifically, Spanish-dominant bilinguals showed great difficulty in rejecting experimental nonwords. Indeed, these participants not only showed very high error rates for these stimuli, but also did not show an error-related negativity effect in their erroneous nonword decisions. However, both groups of bilinguals showed a larger correct-related negativity when making correct decisions about the experimental nonwords. The results suggest that although some aspects of a second language system may show a remarkable lack of plasticity (like the acquisition of some foreign contrasts), first-language representations seem to be more dynamic in their capacity of adapting and incorporating new information.

  16. First Language Proficiency and Successful Foreign Language Learning: The Case of High School Students Learning French as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gnintedem, Antoine

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated whether there was a correlation between first language proficiency as measured by the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT II) Reading and Language Arts and foreign language proficiency as measured by the French Language Proficiency Test. Data for the independent variable, first language proficiency, was collected from the…

  17. Foreign Language in the Workplace.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lambert, Richard D., Ed.; Moore, Sarah Jane, Ed.

    1990-01-01

    Articles in this theme issue of the journal, devoted to the subject of languages in the workplace, include: "Language Use in International Research" (Eugene Garfield, Alfred Welljams-Dorof); "The Foreign Language Needs of U.S.-Based Corporations" (Carol S. Fixman); "Foreign Language Use Among International Business…

  18. Multilingual Effects on EFL Learning: A Comparison of Foreign Language Anxiety Experienced by Monolingual and Bilingual Tertiary Students in the Lao PDR

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phongsa, Manivone; Mohamed Ismail, Shaik Abdul Malik; Low, Hui Min

    2018-01-01

    Foreign language anxiety is common among adult learners, especially those who lack exposure to the language that they are learning. In this study, we compared the foreign language anxiety experienced by monolingual and bilingual tertiary students in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) who were learning English as a Foreign Language. The…

  19. The importance of the keyword-generation method in keyword mnemonics.

    PubMed

    Campos, Alfredo; Amor, Angeles; González, María Angeles

    2004-01-01

    Keyword mnemonics is under certain conditions an effective approach for learning foreign-language vocabulary. It appears to be effective for words with high image vividness but not for words with low image vividness. In this study, two experiments were performed to assess the efficacy of a new keyword-generation procedure (peer generation). In Experiment 1, a sample of 363 high-school students was randomly into four groups. The subjects were required to learn L1 equivalents of a list of 16 Latin words (8 with high image vividness, 8 with low image vividness), using a) the rote method, or the keyword method with b) keywords and images generated and supplied by the experimenter, c) keywords and images generated by themselves, or d) keywords and images previously generated by peers (i.e., subjects with similar sociodemographic characteristics). Recall was tested immediately and one week later. For high-vivideness words, recall was significantly better in the keyword groups than the rote method group. For low-vividness words, learning method had no significant effect. Experiment 2 was basically identical, except that the word lists comprised 32 words (16 high-vividness, 16 low-vividness). In this experiment, the peer-generated-keyword group showed significantly better recall of high-vividness words than the rote method groups and the subject generated keyword group; again, however, learning method had no significant effect on recall of low-vividness words.

  20. The Need for Foreign Language Competence in the United States. ERIC Digest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamayan, Else

    Americans generally lack foreign language competence, and their exposure to foreign languages in the United States is inadequate. Foreign language instruction is deficient in both quality and quantity, and although there are indications of improvement in both areas, it will be many years before the effects of improvements are clear. The…

  1. Look Out World, Here We Come!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Snyder, Barbara, Ed.

    1984-01-01

    The journal includes nine articles on the theme of a world view of foreign language teaching. They are: "The Foreign Language Articulation Task Force Survey: A Report" (Reid Baker); "Report of the Ohio Foreign Language Task Force" (Barbara Snyder); "The Akron Story Part I: Summer Foreign Language Camps" (John D. Durden and Sandra K. Strauber);…

  2. Progress Report on the South Carolina Market for Foreign Languages Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morgenroth, Robert L.; And Others

    The Market for Foreign Languages Study was begun in South Carolina to ascertain both the state's projected needs for modern foreign language competencies and the state's foreign language resources over the next five years. Questionnaires have been sent to industrial plants, secondary schools, and junior and senior colleges. Of the plants…

  3. Is There a Foreign Language Barrier in Engineering Research?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hawks, Carla; And Others

    Perception and effects of foreign language publications in engineering research are examined. Through the use of both survey and archival sources, including coverage in major scientific and technical databases as vended by DIALOG, various aspects of the foreign language barrier were measured. A foreign language barrier is said to exist when…

  4. Teacher to Teacher: Model Lessons for K-8 Foreign Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Redmond, Mary Lynn, Ed.; Lorenz, Eileen, Ed.

    This book provides resources for foreign language teachers, supervisors, and others involved in developing and implementing a curriculum. It is the outcome of a 1997 institute, "National Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Curriculum Reform for K-8 Foreign Language Education." The model shows how the national standards can be used…

  5. Bilingual Baby: Foreign Language Intervention in Madrid's Infant Education Centers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferjan Ramirez, Naja; Kuhl, Patricia

    2017-01-01

    The first years of life represent a unique window of opportunity for foreign language learning. However, key questions are: How much and what kind of foreign language exposure is needed to ignite learning? We conducted a foreign language (English) intervention in four public Infant Education Centers in Madrid, Spain. Intervention children (N =…

  6. New Perspectives and New Directions in Foreign Language Education. The ACTFL Foreign Language Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Birckbichler, Diane W., Ed.

    The five essays in this volume address broad trends and issues in foreign language education. "Bandwagons Revisited: A Perspective on Movements in Foreign Language Education" (Frank M. Grittner) suggests that the bandwagons flourish because of lack of standardization and centralized authority in American education. Characteristics and results of…

  7. Classroom Management in Foreign Language Education: An Exploratory Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Macías, Diego Fernando

    2018-01-01

    This review examines studies in the area of classroom management in foreign language education. It is organized into three large areas: The first area focuses on the distinctive characteristics of foreign language instruction that are more likely to impact classroom management in foreign language classes. The second area provides a description of…

  8. Foreign Language Week: A Successful Public Relations Model.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reschke, Claus

    A detailed description is presented of a foreign language (FL) week project that was organized and executed by the Houston Area Teachers of Foreign Languages (HATFL) during the 1979-80 academic year. The document describes the preparation activities of the organizing committee, the pre-foreign language week advertising campaigns, the design of…

  9. Foreign Language Study: Fact and Fancy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Virgil

    The purposes of this paper are to: (1) demonstrate the absolute necessity for foreign language study; (2) dispel some of the fancies or fantasies that have grown up concerning the learning of foreign languages; and (3) suggest various alternative programs in foreign language study and possible ways of implementing them. Some of the fallacious…

  10. Building a responsive teacher: how temporal contingency of gaze interaction influences word learning with virtual tutors

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Hanju; Kanakogi, Yasuhiro; Hiraki, Kazuo

    2015-01-01

    Animated pedagogical agents are lifelike virtual characters designed to augment learning. A review of developmental psychology literature led to the hypothesis that the temporal contingency of such agents would promote human learning. We developed a Pedagogical Agent with Gaze Interaction (PAGI), an experimental animated pedagogical agent that engages in gaze interaction with students. In this study, university students learned words of a foreign language, with temporally contingent PAGI (live group) or recorded version of PAGI (recorded group), which played pre-recorded sequences from live sessions. The result revealed that students in the live group scored considerably better than those in the recorded group. The finding indicates that incorporating temporal contingency of gaze interaction from a pedagogical agent has positive effect on learning. PMID:26064584

  11. The Effect of Language Learning Strategies on Proficiency, Attitudes and School Achievement

    PubMed Central

    Habók, Anita; Magyar, Andrea

    2018-01-01

    This study examines language learning strategy (LLS) use in connexion with foreign language attitude, proficiency and general school achievement among lower secondary students in Years 5 and 8 (n = 868) in Hungary. An adapted version of the Strategies Inventory for Language Learning questionnaire was used for data collection. The results showed that Hungarian students mainly engage in metacognitive strategies in both years. Differences between more and less proficient language learners’ strategy use have also been found. With regard to the effect of LLS on foreign language attitude, the foreign language mark and school achievement, path analysis indicated a good fit in both years. The metacognitive, social and memory strategies primarily influenced foreign language attitudes and marks in Year 5. The metacognitive strategies had a slight impact on school achievement as well as on foreign language marks. We demonstrated the dominant effect of metacognitive strategies and the low effect of memory strategies in Year 8. In addition, metacognitive strategies also influenced foreign language marks. The effect of foreign language marks on school achievement was also remarkable. There was a strong impact on the children’s attitudes through these variables. PMID:29379461

  12. Language Learning: A Worldwide Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Christian, Donna; Pufahl, Ingrid U.; Rhodes, Nancy C.

    2005-01-01

    Numerous reports and articles have decried the mediocrity of U.S. students' foreign language skills and have called for improved language education. One study that looked at foreign language education in 19 countries suggests several characteristics of successful foreign language programs: starting early, providing an articulated framework,…

  13. Even Teachers Get the Blues: Recognizing and Alleviating Language Teachers' Feelings of Foreign Language Anxiety.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horwitz, Elaine K.

    1996-01-01

    Argues that many nonnative foreign-language teachers experience foreign-language anxiety and that this anxiety can have negative consequences for language teaching. The article discusses how anxiety affects teachers' feelings of self-confidence, use of the target language, and instructional choices and offers suggestions for increasing teachers'…

  14. Accounting for ethnic-cultural and linguistic diversity in neuropsychological assessment of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy: A retrospective study.

    PubMed

    Peviani, Valeria; Scarpa, Pina; Toraldo, Alessio; Bottini, Gabriella

    2016-11-01

    Neuropsychological assessment is critical in both diagnosis and prognosis of patients with epilepsy. Beyond electrophysiological and anatomical alterations, other factors including different ethnic-cultural and linguistic backgrounds might affect neuropsychological performance. Only a few studies considered migration and acculturation effects and they typically concerned nonclinical samples. The current study aimed at investigating the influence of ethnic background and time spent in Italy on a full neuropsychological battery administered to both Italian and foreign-born patients and at providing a brief interview for obtaining relevant information on each patient's transcultural and language-related history. Clinical reports from 43 foreign-born patients with drug-resistant epilepsy were collected from the archives of Milan Niguarda Hospital. Epileptogenic zone, age, education, profession, illness duration, seizure frequency, handedness, and gender were considered in selecting 43 Italian controls. Ethnicity (Italian/foreign-born) and years spent in Italy were analyzed as main predictors on 21 neuropsychological scales by means of General(ized) Linear Models. An additional analysis studied two composite scores of overall verbal and nonverbal abilities. Ethnicity significantly affected the following: the verbal overall score, Verbal Fluency, Naming, Token-test, Digit Span, Attentional Matrices, Trail-Making-Test, Line-Orientation-Test, and Raven matrices; no effects were found on the nonverbal overall score, Word Pairs Learning, Episodic Memory, reading accuracy, visual span, Bells test, Rey Figure, and face memory and recognition. No significant effects of years spent in Italy emerged. While years spent in Italy does not predict neuropsychological performance, linguistic background had a strong impact on it. With respect to Italian-speaking patients, those who were foreign-born showed large task-related variability, with an especially low performance on language-related tests. Hence, language tests should not be considered as valid measures of neuropsychological impairment in this population, not even in foreign-born patients with good Italian fluency. Clinicians should consider such asymmetries in order to improve the accuracy of neuropsychological assessment of foreign-born patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. The Use of Newspapers and Magazines in the Foreign-Language Classroom. ERIC Focus Reports on the Teaching of Foreign Language, No. 31.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    James, Charles J.; Lange, Dale L.

    Newspapers and magazines have been used only on a limited basis in the foreign language classroom, because language study has traditionally led to the study of literature. However, this trend is now changing because (1) foreign language curriculum at the secondary school level is expanding to encompass new goals, and (2) the influence from college…

  16. LANGUAGE TEACHING--BROADER CONTEXTS. REPORTS OF THE WORKING COMMITTEES OF THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE ON THE TEACHING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, 1966.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    MEAD, ROBERT G., JR.

    TO FOCUS ATTENTION ON CURRENT PROBLEMS CONFRONTING THE PROFESSION, THE 1966 NORTHEAST CONFERENCE ON THE TEACHING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PUBLISHED ITS WORKING COMMITTEE REPORTS ON LANGUAGE LEARNING RESEARCH, WIDER USES FOR LANGUAGES, AND THE SUPERVISION AND COORDINATION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING. THE FIRST REPORT, "RESEARCH AND LANGUAGE LEARNING,"…

  17. Nociones de la programacion de lenguas extranjeras (Ensayo metodologico) (Programming Foreign Languages [A Methodological Study])

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Feldman, David

    1975-01-01

    Stresses the importance of language laboratories and other technical devices used in foreign language teaching, particularly in programed language instruction. Illustrates, by means of taxonomies, the various stages a foreign language learning program should follow. (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)

  18. [Union-Endicott Schools: Foreign Language Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Connell, Raymond S.

    This brochure describing language programs to both parents and prospective high school language students in Endicott, New York focuses on developing student motivation and interest. Topics discussed include: (1) reasons for studying foreign language, (2) stages of foreign language learning, (3) course offerings, (4) homework, and (5) examinations.…

  19. 34 CFR 658.4 - What definitions apply to the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... International Studies and Foreign Language Program? 658.4 Section 658.4 Education Regulations of the Offices of... UNDERGRADUATE INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROGRAM General § 658.4 What definitions apply to the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program? The definitions in 34 CFR 655.4 apply to this...

  20. 34 CFR 658.4 - What definitions apply to the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... International Studies and Foreign Language Program? 658.4 Section 658.4 Education Regulations of the Offices of... UNDERGRADUATE INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROGRAM General § 658.4 What definitions apply to the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program? The definitions in 34 CFR 655.4 apply to this...

  1. Investigating the Development of Foreign Language Anxiety: An Autobiographical Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trang, Tran Thi Thu; Baldauf, Richard B., Jr.; Moni, Karen

    2013-01-01

    Foreign language anxiety (FLA) has been found to exist in tertiary students learning foreign languages in many countries; however, limited research has explored how it develops. This study investigated how anxiety developed in students of English as a foreign language (EFL), focusing on changes in their feelings about EFL learning as they learned,…

  2. The Effects of Cooperative Learning on Foreign Language Anxiety: A Comparative Study of Taiwanese and American Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duxbury, John G.; Tsai, Ling-ling

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated the level of foreign language anxiety in the classroom, plus the correlation between foreign language anxiety and cooperative learning attitudes and practice among university students at one university in the United States and three universities in Southern Taiwan. Two instruments (The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety…

  3. Foreign Language Teaching and Learning in the Netherlands 1500-2000: An Overview

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilhelm, Frans

    2018-01-01

    The Netherlands are quite unique in that the Dutch have always learned various foreign languages. Until 1940, French was the most important foreign language. Between roughly 1870 and 1970, Dutch learners in grammar schools and higher secondary schools were even obliged to learn three foreign languages: French, German and English. Since 1970,…

  4. Foreign Languages and Your Career.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bourgoin, Edward

    Divided into two major parts, this book is intended to indicate careers in which people need foreign languages in their work and to provide suggestions and sources of further information for those who already have foreign language skills and those who are planning to acquire them. Part 1 discusses careers in which a foreign language is needed as a…

  5. Suggestion-Induced Modulation of Semantic Priming during Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

    PubMed Central

    Ulrich, Martin; Kiefer, Markus; Bongartz, Walter; Grön, Georg; Hoenig, Klaus

    2015-01-01

    Using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a primed visual lexical decision task, we investigated the neural and functional mechanisms underlying modulations of semantic word processing through hypnotic suggestions aimed at altering lexical processing of primes. The priming task was to discriminate between target words and pseudowords presented 200 ms after the prime word which was semantically related or unrelated to the target. In a counterbalanced study design, each participant performed the task once at normal wakefulness and once after the administration of hypnotic suggestions to perceive the prime as a meaningless symbol of a foreign language. Neural correlates of priming were defined as significantly lower activations upon semantically related compared to unrelated trials. We found significant suggestive treatment-induced reductions in neural priming, albeit irrespective of the degree of suggestibility. Neural priming was attenuated upon suggestive treatment compared with normal wakefulness in brain regions supporting automatic (fusiform gyrus) and controlled semantic processing (superior and middle temporal gyri, pre- and postcentral gyri, and supplementary motor area). Hence, suggestions reduced semantic word processing by conjointly dampening both automatic and strategic semantic processes. PMID:25923740

  6. A dataset on human navigation strategies in foreign networked systems.

    PubMed

    Kőrösi, Attila; Csoma, Attila; Rétvári, Gábor; Heszberger, Zalán; Bíró, József; Tapolcai, János; Pelle, István; Klajbár, Dávid; Novák, Márton; Halasi, Valentina; Gulyás, András

    2018-03-13

    Humans are involved in various real-life networked systems. The most obvious examples are social and collaboration networks but the language and the related mental lexicon they use, or the physical map of their territory can also be interpreted as networks. How do they find paths between endpoints in these networks? How do they obtain information about a foreign networked world they find themselves in, how they build mental model for it and how well they succeed in using it? Large, open datasets allowing the exploration of such questions are hard to find. Here we report a dataset collected by a smartphone application, in which players navigate between fixed length source and destination English words step-by-step by changing only one letter at a time. The paths reflect how the players master their navigation skills in such a foreign networked world. The dataset can be used in the study of human mental models for the world around us, or in a broader scope to investigate the navigation strategies in complex networked systems.

  7. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horwitz, Elaine K.; And Others

    1986-01-01

    Identifies foreign language anxiety as a conceptually distinct variable in foreign language learning and interprets it with the context of existing theoretical and empirical work on specific anxiety reactions. Discusses the effects of this anxiety on language learning and its pedagogical implications. (SED)

  8. Foreign language affects the contribution of intentions and outcomes to moral judgment.

    PubMed

    Geipel, Janet; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Surian, Luca

    2016-09-01

    We examine whether the use of a foreign language, as opposed to the native language, influences the relative weight intentions versus outcomes carry in moral evaluations. In Study 1, participants were presented with actions that had positive outcomes but were motivated by dubious intentions, while in Study 2 with actions that had negative outcomes but were motivated by positive intentions. Participants received the materials either in their native or a foreign language. Foreign language prompted more positive moral evaluations in Study 1 and less positive evaluations in Study 2. These results show that foreign language reduces the relative weight placed on intentions versus outcomes. We discuss several theoretical accounts that are consistent with the results such as that foreign language attenuates emotions (triggered by intentions) or it depletes cognitive resources. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. The Missing Link in Vision and Governance: Foreign Language Acquisition Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kramsch, Claire J.

    1987-01-01

    Foreign language acquisition research (concerned with the theoretical and practical issues related to socialization into and literacy in another language and culture) can help integrate language, literature, and culture in foreign language departments because it draws on insights gained from such diverse fields as anthropology, sociology,…

  10. The Emotional Impact of Being Myself: Emotions and Foreign-Language Processing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ivaz, Lela; Costa, Albert; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni

    2016-01-01

    Native languages are acquired in emotionally rich contexts, whereas foreign languages are typically acquired in emotionally neutral academic environments. As a consequence of this difference, it has been suggested that bilinguals' emotional reactivity in foreign-language contexts is reduced as compared with native language contexts. In the current…

  11. Foreign Language Anxiety of Students Studying English Language and Literature: A Sample from Turkey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elaldi, Senel

    2016-01-01

    A considerable number of foreign language learners experience a feeling of anxiety in language learning process. The purpose of this research was to find out foreign language anxiety levels of students studying in the Faculty of English Language and Literature at Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey when they were in preparatory class and when…

  12. Foreign Language Display Library Catalog. Supplement to Studies in Language and Language Behavior, Progress Report VIII.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ann Arbor Public Schools, MI.

    Designed as a tool for foreign language teachers attempting to keep updated on the constantly proliferating number of printed materials being produced for use in elementary and secondary school language classes, this catalog attempts to bring together in one collection a representative selection of foreign language texts, readers, workbooks, and…

  13. On national flags and language tags: Effects of flag-language congruency in bilingual word recognition.

    PubMed

    Grainger, Jonathan; Declerck, Mathieu; Marzouki, Yousri

    2017-07-01

    French-English bilinguals performed a generalized lexical decision experiment with mixed lists of French and English words and pseudo-words. In Experiment 1, each word/pseudo-word was superimposed on the picture of the French or UK flag, and flag-word congruency was manipulated. The flag was not informative with respect to either the lexical decision response or the language of the word. Nevertheless, lexical decisions to word stimuli were faster following the congruent flag compared with the incongruent flag, but only for French (L1) words. Experiment 2 replicated this flag-language congruency effect in a priming paradigm, where the word and pseudo-word targets followed the brief presentation of the flag prime, and this time effects were seen in both languages. We take these findings as evidence for a mechanism that automatically processes linguistic and non-linguistic information concerning the presence or not of a given language. Language membership information can then modulate lexical processing, in line with the architecture of the BIA model, but not the BIA+ model. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Bilinguals’ Existing Languages Benefit Vocabulary Learning in a Third Language

    PubMed Central

    Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

    2017-01-01

    Learning a new language involves substantial vocabulary acquisition. Learners can accelerate this process by relying on words with native-language overlap, such as cognates. For bilingual third language learners, it is necessary to determine how their two existing languages interact during novel language learning. A scaffolding account predicts transfer from either language for individual words, whereas an accumulation account predicts cumulative transfer from both languages. To compare these accounts, twenty English-German bilingual adults were taught an artificial language containing 48 novel written words that varied orthogonally in English and German wordlikeness (neighborhood size and orthotactic probability). Wordlikeness in each language improved word production accuracy, and similarity to one language provided the same benefit as dual-language overlap. In addition, participants’ memory for novel words was affected by the statistical distributions of letters in the novel language. Results indicate that bilinguals utilize both languages during third language acquisition, supporting a scaffolding learning model. PMID:28781384

  15. Bilinguals' Existing Languages Benefit Vocabulary Learning in a Third Language.

    PubMed

    Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

    2017-03-01

    Learning a new language involves substantial vocabulary acquisition. Learners can accelerate this process by relying on words with native-language overlap, such as cognates. For bilingual third language learners, it is necessary to determine how their two existing languages interact during novel language learning. A scaffolding account predicts transfer from either language for individual words, whereas an accumulation account predicts cumulative transfer from both languages. To compare these accounts, twenty English-German bilingual adults were taught an artificial language containing 48 novel written words that varied orthogonally in English and German wordlikeness (neighborhood size and orthotactic probability). Wordlikeness in each language improved word production accuracy, and similarity to one language provided the same benefit as dual-language overlap. In addition, participants' memory for novel words was affected by the statistical distributions of letters in the novel language. Results indicate that bilinguals utilize both languages during third language acquisition, supporting a scaffolding learning model.

  16. The Foreign Language Feature Film and Language Teaching Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chappell, Martin

    1986-01-01

    Analysis of foreign language films, featuring consideration of film sequence, image and film analysis, and literary adaptation, is an effective teaching activity with foreign language students. An example illustrates film analysis activities in a first-year French class. (CB)

  17. An Investigation of Lexical Progress of Teaching Foreign Languages (TFL) Learners in Terms of Part-of-Speech

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Çerçi, Arif

    2017-01-01

    In the related literature, it has been discussed that issues related to foreign language lexicon have been ignored; therefore, a solid theory of foreign language lexicon has not been constructed yet. In the framework of Turkish as a foreign language, the literature lacks both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. To this end, this longitudinal…

  18. Action for the '80s: A Political, Professional, and Public Program for Foreign Language Education. The ACTFL Foreign Language Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phillips, June K., Ed.

    This volume deals with issues in foreign language education that have come to the fore since the publication of the Report of the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies. It contains the following articles: "Action or Inaction: An Editorial Opinion," by June Phillips; (2) "ACTFL's 1980 Agenda: Intention…

  19. Study Abroad and Intercultural Communication. The Challenge of Communication. ACTFL Review of Foreign Language Education, Vol. 6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bourque, Jane M.

    Preparation for study abroad is a valid part of the foreign language program. One advantage of study abroad is the motivational focus it gives to home-based foreign languages programs. The possibility of participating in the foreign culture and actually using the language are incentives. Teaching intercultural communication and understanding is a…

  20. The Effects of Teaching Songs during Foreign Language Classes on Students' Foreign Language Anxiety

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dolean, Dacian Dorin

    2016-01-01

    Foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) has been the subject of several studies aimed to optimize learning of a foreign language in the classroom. However, few studies provide specific curriculum-based methodological strategies to be used in the classroom in order to lower the anxiety level. In this article, two experimental classes of 8th-grade…

  1. Adult Learners' Perceptions of the Significance of Culture in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brooks-Lewis, Kimberly Anne

    2014-01-01

    Is learning about culture important when learning a foreign language? One would think that after its long history in the field of foreign language teaching this question had been answered with a resounding "yes". However, I saw little evidence of this in the classroom when I returned to the university to learn a foreign language or when…

  2. Curriculum, Competence, and the Foreign Language Teacher. The ACTFL Foreign Language Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Higgs, Theodore V., Ed.

    The articles in this book address some of the major issues facing foreign language teachers in the next decade. These issues grow out of the concepts that received most attention in the 1970s: communicative competence, alternatives to traditional instruction, articulation of the curriculum in view of realities in U.S. foreign language departments,…

  3. Communication and Gamification in the Web-Based Foreign Language Educational System: Web- Based Foreign Language Educational System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Osipov, Ilya V.; Volinsky, Alex A.; Nikulchev, Evgeny; Prasikova, Anna Y.

    2016-01-01

    The paper describes development of the educational online web communication platform for teaching and learning foreign languages. The main objective was to develop a web application for teaching foreigners to understand casual fluent speech. The system is based on the time bank principle, allowing users to teach others their native language along…

  4. Academic Achievement through FLES: A Case for Promoting Greater Access to Foreign Language Study among Young Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taylor, Carolyn; Lafayette, Robert

    2010-01-01

    The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 established foreign languages as a core curricular content area; however, instructional emphasis continues to be placed on curricular areas that factor into state educational accountability programs. The present study explored whether foreign language study of first-year Grade 3 foreign language students who…

  5. Teacher Development in Slovenia for Teaching Foreign Languages at the Primary Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brumen, Mihaela; Fojkar, Mateja Dagarin

    2012-01-01

    The introduction of foreign languages into the first three-year cycle of primary school has spurred the need for qualified teachers, and is one of the main discussion points among experts in foreign language teaching. Most of the contemporary studies report that there is a global gap between the supply of qualified teachers of foreign languages to…

  6. Changing Patterns in Foreign Language Programs: Report of the Illinois Conference on Foreign Languages in Junior and Community Colleges, 1972.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rivers, Wilga M., Ed.; And Others

    This collection of articles on foreign language instruction in junior and community colleges focuses on four principal areas: the junior community college, the "Proceedings of the Illinois Conference on Foreign Languages in Junior and Community Colleges," factual information, and action reports. The articles discuss pluralism and the community…

  7. The Potential Sources of Foreign Language Reading Anxiety in a Jordanian EFL Context: A Theoretical Framework

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ahmad, Ismail Sheikh; Al-Shboul, Murad M.; Nordin, Mohamad Sahari; Rahman, Zainurin Abdul; Burhan, Mohd; Madarsha, Kamal Basha

    2013-01-01

    The last decade has witnessed an increasing research trend on foreign language reading anxiety as a skill related to but distinct from foreign language anxiety. However, sources of foreign language reading anxiety have rarely been investigated. Thus, the current study responds to the study by (Saito, Horwitz, & Garza, 1999) and extends the…

  8. The Effect of Language Exposure and Word Characteristics on the Arab EFL Learners' Word Associations.

    PubMed

    El-Dakhs, Dina Abdel Salam

    2017-08-01

    The present study investigates the patterns of word associations among Arab EFL learners and compares these patterns with those of native speakers of English. The study also examines the influence of increased language exposure and word characteristics on the learners' association patterns. To this end, 45 native speakers of English and 421 Arab learners of English at a Saudi university with two distinct levels of English language exposure completed a multiple-response word association test and their responses were analyzed, examined and compared. The results revealed strong influence for language exposure and word characteristics on the learners' associations and support a developmental approach to the second language lexicon where an increase in language exposure and word knowledge enhances mental word connectivity and increases its native-like similarity.

  9. Foreign Language "Think Tank" Symposium.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Kathleen H.

    At the Foreign Language"Think Tank" Symposium of April 1975, the following major problems of community college foreign language teachers were identified: (1) low enrollment; (2) attrition; (3) low achievers; (4) articulation with universities; and (5) lack of interest. Suggested solutions included: (Problem 1) advertisement, a foreign language…

  10. Foreign Language Teaching in Rudolf Steiner Schools. Guidelines for Class-Teachers and Language Teachers. First Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stott, Michael

    This book is intended for foreign language teachers interested in the approaches used in Rudolf Steiner schools, and also classroom teachers who teach foreign languages. Chapters address these issues: what the language lesson is to achieve; how the language lesson differs from other lessons; lesson design; examples of actual lessons; avoiding the…

  11. Scaling laws and model of words organization in spoken and written language

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bian, Chunhua; Lin, Ruokuang; Zhang, Xiaoyu; Ma, Qianli D. Y.; Ivanov, Plamen Ch.

    2016-01-01

    A broad range of complex physical and biological systems exhibits scaling laws. The human language is a complex system of words organization. Studies of written texts have revealed intriguing scaling laws that characterize the frequency of words occurrence, rank of words, and growth in the number of distinct words with text length. While studies have predominantly focused on the language system in its written form, such as books, little attention is given to the structure of spoken language. Here we investigate a database of spoken language transcripts and written texts, and we uncover that words organization in both spoken language and written texts exhibits scaling laws, although with different crossover regimes and scaling exponents. We propose a model that provides insight into words organization in spoken language and written texts, and successfully accounts for all scaling laws empirically observed in both language forms.

  12. Constructing a Voice in English as a Foreign Language: Identity and Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nasrollahi Shahri, Mohammad Naseh

    2018-01-01

    Situated in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context, this study navigates the intersection of language learner identity and foreign language engagement. Specifically, drawing on the concept of voice (Canagarajah, 2013; Johnstone, 1996; Kramsch, 2003), Bakhtin's (1981) theory of language, and the notion of investment (Darvin & Norton,…

  13. A Read-Aloud for Foreign Languages: Becoming a Language Master (Read It Aloud).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richardson, Judy S.

    1998-01-01

    Describes the use of some read-alouds from Alexandre Dumas'"The Count of Monte Cristo" which helped to demonstrate some principles of learning foreign languages. Describes briefly the read aloud selection, discusses some specific activities that relate to foreign language learning, and discusses specific language arts activities. (SR)

  14. FLEX: A Foreign Language Experience.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raven, Patrick T.

    An exploratory course was designed to give secondary school students exposure to all languages in the foreign language curriculum, in sequence, so they may decide which, if any, to enroll in. This course was begun in 1979 to counter an elitist image of foreign language courses. Course topics encouraged students to explore the languages fully by:…

  15. Exploring Korean Heritage Language Learners' Anxiety: "We Are Not Afraid of Korean!"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jee, Min Jung

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated Korean heritage language (KHL) learners' foreign language classroom anxiety, reading anxiety and writing anxiety using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) by Saito, Garza and Horwitz and the Writing Apprehension Test (WAT) by…

  16. 75 FR 47797 - Board of Visitors, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Department of the Army Board of Visitors, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center AGENCY: Department of the Army, DOD. ACTION: Notice; cancellation. SUMMARY: The Board of... be held on September 13 & 14, 2010 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Defense Language Institute Foreign...

  17. The Relationship between EFL Learners' Language Learning Strategy Use and Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Balci, Özgül; Ügüten, Selma Durak

    2018-01-01

    The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between language learning strategy use and foreign language achievement, focusing on differences in gender. A total of 263 English as a foreign language students enrolled in English preparatory class program at Necmettin Erbakan University, School of Foreign Languages participated…

  18. Integrating Intercultural and Communicative Objectives in the Foreign Language Class: A Proposal for the Integration of Two Models

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borghetti, Claudia

    2013-01-01

    The "intercultural turn" of the 1990s brought about the introduction of the terms "Foreign Language Education" and "Intercultural Foreign Language Education" (IFLE) in place of "language teaching". These terms broaden the aims of language education to include students' intercultural competence (IC),…

  19. Foreign Language Learners' Beliefs about CALL: The Case of a U.S. Midwestern University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sydorenko, Tetyana; Hsieh, Ching-Ni; Ahn, Seongmee; Arnold, Nike

    2017-01-01

    A significant body of research has examined language learners' attitudes toward particular technologies used in foreign language classrooms. However, literature is scarce on foreign language learners' beliefs toward computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in general. To narrow this gap, we investigated the constructs that compose a system of…

  20. Educational Success Prediction Instrument 2nd Version: A Foreign Language Perspective on Readiness to Take a Beginner High School Foreign Language Online Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparks, Lynne Marie

    2017-01-01

    Online foreign language course offerings have grown exponentially in secondary and post-secondary schools during the last two decades. Although numerous instruments and surveys exist to assess readiness for a student to take online courses, insufficient research has dealt with the particularities of learning a foreign language online. This study…

  1. Foreign Language Learning: Research and Development: An Assessment. Reports of the Working Committees of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1968.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bird, Thomas E., Ed.

    Included in this volume are the reports on foreign language research and development produced by the three working committees of the fifteenth annual Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Discussions of (1) the Indiana and Washington State programs, (2) "Artes Latinae," a complete project of programed learning…

  2. Tact training versus bidirectional intraverbal training in teaching a foreign language.

    PubMed

    Dounavi, Katerina

    2014-01-01

    The current study involved an evaluation of the emergence of untrained verbal relations as a function of 3 different foreign-language teaching strategies. Two Spanish-speaking adults received foreign-language (English) tact training and native-to-foreign and foreign-to-native intraverbal training. Tact training and native-to-foreign intraverbal training resulted in the emergence of a greater number of untrained responses, and may thus be more efficient than foreign-to-native intraverbal training. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

  3. Novel word retention in bilingual and monolingual speakers

    PubMed Central

    Kan, Pui Fong; Sadagopan, Neeraja

    2014-01-01

    The goal of this research was to examine word retention in bilinguals and monolinguals. Long-term word retention is an essential part of vocabulary learning. Previous studies have documented that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in terms of retrieving newly-exposed words. Yet, little is known about whether or to what extent bilinguals are different from monolinguals in word retention. Participants were 30 English-speaking monolingual adults and 30 bilingual adults who speak Spanish as a home language and learned English as a second language during childhood. In a previous study (Kan et al., 2014), the participants were exposed to the target novel words in English, Spanish, and Cantonese. In this current study, word retention was measured a week after the fast mapping task. No exposures were given during the one-week interval. Results showed that bilinguals and monolinguals retain a similar number of words. However, participants produced more words in English than in either Spanish or Cantonese. Correlation analyses revealed that language knowledge plays a role in the relationships between fast mapping and word retention. Specifically, within- and across-language relationships between bilinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in Spanish and English, by contrast, within-language relationships between monolinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in English and across-language relationships between their fast mapping and word retention performance in English and Cantonese. Similarly, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in the relationships among the word retention scores in three languages. Significant correlations were found among bilinguals' retention scores. However, no such correlations were found among monolinguals' retention scores. The overall findings suggest that bilinguals' language experience and language knowledge most likely contribute to how they learn and retain new words. PMID:25324789

  4. Novel word retention in bilingual and monolingual speakers.

    PubMed

    Kan, Pui Fong; Sadagopan, Neeraja

    2014-01-01

    The goal of this research was to examine word retention in bilinguals and monolinguals. Long-term word retention is an essential part of vocabulary learning. Previous studies have documented that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in terms of retrieving newly-exposed words. Yet, little is known about whether or to what extent bilinguals are different from monolinguals in word retention. Participants were 30 English-speaking monolingual adults and 30 bilingual adults who speak Spanish as a home language and learned English as a second language during childhood. In a previous study (Kan et al., 2014), the participants were exposed to the target novel words in English, Spanish, and Cantonese. In this current study, word retention was measured a week after the fast mapping task. No exposures were given during the one-week interval. Results showed that bilinguals and monolinguals retain a similar number of words. However, participants produced more words in English than in either Spanish or Cantonese. Correlation analyses revealed that language knowledge plays a role in the relationships between fast mapping and word retention. Specifically, within- and across-language relationships between bilinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in Spanish and English, by contrast, within-language relationships between monolinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in English and across-language relationships between their fast mapping and word retention performance in English and Cantonese. Similarly, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in the relationships among the word retention scores in three languages. Significant correlations were found among bilinguals' retention scores. However, no such correlations were found among monolinguals' retention scores. The overall findings suggest that bilinguals' language experience and language knowledge most likely contribute to how they learn and retain new words.

  5. The Word Frequency Effect on Second Language Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koirala, Cesar

    2015-01-01

    This study examines several linguistic factors as possible contributors to perceived word difficulty in second language learners in an experimental setting. The investigated factors include: (1) frequency of word usage in the first language, (2) word length, (3) number of syllables in a word, and (4) number of consonant clusters in a word. Word…

  6. How to Verify Plagiarism of the Paper Written in Macedonian and Translated in Foreign Language?

    PubMed Central

    Spiroski, Mirko

    2016-01-01

    AIM: The aim of this study was to show how to verify plagiarism of the paper written in Macedonian and translated in foreign language. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Original article “Ethics in Medical Research Involving Human Subjects”, written in Macedonian, was submitted as an assay-2 for the subject Ethics and published by Ilina Stefanovska, PhD candidate from the Iustinianus Primus Faculty of Law, Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje (UKIM), Skopje, Republic of Macedonia in Fabruary, 2013. Suspected article for plagiarism was published by Prof. Dr. Gordana Panova from the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University Goce Delchev, Shtip, Republic of Macedonia in English with the identical title and identical content in International scientific on-line journal “SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGIES”, Publisher “Union of Scientists - Stara Zagora”. RESULTS: Original document (written in Macedonian) was translated with Google Translator; suspected article (published in English pdf file) was converted into Word document, and compared both documents with several programs for plagiarism detection. It was found that both documents are identical in 71%, 78% and 82%, respectively, depending on the computer program used for plagiarism detection. It was obvious that original paper was entirely plagiarised by Prof. Dr. Gordana Panova, including six references from the original paper. CONCLUSION: Plagiarism of the original papers written in Macedonian and translated in other languages can be verified after computerised translation in other languages. Later on, original and translated documents can be compared with available software for plagiarism detection. PMID:27275319

  7. How to Verify Plagiarism of the Paper Written in Macedonian and Translated in Foreign Language?

    PubMed

    Spiroski, Mirko

    2016-03-15

    The aim of this study was to show how to verify plagiarism of the paper written in Macedonian and translated in foreign language. Original article "Ethics in Medical Research Involving Human Subjects", written in Macedonian, was submitted as an assay-2 for the subject Ethics and published by Ilina Stefanovska, PhD candidate from the Iustinianus Primus Faculty of Law, Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje (UKIM), Skopje, Republic of Macedonia in Fabruary, 2013. Suspected article for plagiarism was published by Prof. Dr. Gordana Panova from the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University Goce Delchev, Shtip, Republic of Macedonia in English with the identical title and identical content in International scientific on-line journal "SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGIES", Publisher "Union of Scientists - Stara Zagora". Original document (written in Macedonian) was translated with Google Translator; suspected article (published in English pdf file) was converted into Word document, and compared both documents with several programs for plagiarism detection. It was found that both documents are identical in 71%, 78% and 82%, respectively, depending on the computer program used for plagiarism detection. It was obvious that original paper was entirely plagiarised by Prof. Dr. Gordana Panova, including six references from the original paper. Plagiarism of the original papers written in Macedonian and translated in other languages can be verified after computerised translation in other languages. Later on, original and translated documents can be compared with available software for plagiarism detection.

  8. Innovation and Development of Foreign Language Teaching in China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Zheng-dong

    2006-01-01

    Foreign language teaching has been playing a dominant role in China's curriculum reform, especially in the present globalization of Chinese society and economy. However, the insufficient research into foreign language teaching and blindly adopting western theory demand China learn from its own experience and also develop western foreign language…

  9. Issues and Innovations in Foreign Language Education. Fastback 222.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benevento, Jacqueline

    Studies indicate that American students have an inadequate understanding of world affairs, with implications for United States national security, business interests in foreign markets, and education in general, and specific recommendations have been made for the improvement of foreign language instruction. Foreign language education in the 1980s…

  10. Learning to Learn a Foreign Language. Principles of Second Language Acquisition: An Orientation for Foreign Language Teachers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pfannkuche, Anthony; And Others

    The manual designed to accompany an orientation seminar for students concerning language learning processes and strategies and the design of their program includes materials for five sessions, in three sections. The first section covers language learning and acquisition in general and contains a survey of the participants' foreign language…

  11. Perceptions about the Dominance of English as a Global Language: Impact on Foreign-Language Teachers' Professional Identity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gayton, Angela Mary

    2016-01-01

    Using a novel theoretical framework that incorporates teacher identity, a school as community of practice, and English as a global language from a linguistic-imperialism perspective, this qualitative interview study with foreign-language teachers in Scotland, France, and Germany (N = 13) explores connections between foreign-language-learning…

  12. The Correlation among EFL Learners' Test Anxiety, Foreign Language Anxiety and Language Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cakici, Dilek

    2016-01-01

    The main aim of this study was to investigate the correlation among test anxiety (TA), foreign language anxiety (FLA) and language achievement of university preparatory students learning English as a foreign language. The sample of the research consisted of 301 (211 females, 90 males) attending a one-year EFL preparatory school at Ondokuz Mayis…

  13. "Foreign Language Activities" in Japanese Elementary Schools: Negotiating Teacher Roles and Identities within a New Language Education Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horii, Sachiko Yokoi

    2012-01-01

    In 2008, a new language education policy called "Gaikokugo Katsudou" [Foreign Language Activities] was issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science, and Technology (MEXT) in Japan. Effective 2011, foreign language education became mandatory in all Japanese public elementary schools for the first time. With this dramatic…

  14. The Foreign Language Effect on Moral Judgment: The Role of Emotions and Norms

    PubMed Central

    Geipel, Janet; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Surian, Luca

    2015-01-01

    We investigated whether and why the use of a foreign language influences moral judgment. We studied the trolley and footbridge dilemmas, which propose an action that involves killing one individual to save five. In line with prior work, the use of a foreign language increased the endorsement of such consequentialist actions for the footbridge dilemma, but not for the trolley dilemma. But contrary to recent theorizing, this effect was not driven by an attenuation of emotions. An attenuation of emotions was found in both dilemmas, and it did not mediate the foreign language effect on moral judgment. An examination of additional scenarios revealed that foreign language influenced moral judgment when the proposed action involved a social or moral norm violation. We propose that foreign language influences moral judgment by reducing access to normative knowledge. PMID:26177508

  15. The Foreign Language Effect on Moral Judgment: The Role of Emotions and Norms.

    PubMed

    Geipel, Janet; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Surian, Luca

    2015-01-01

    We investigated whether and why the use of a foreign language influences moral judgment. We studied the trolley and footbridge dilemmas, which propose an action that involves killing one individual to save five. In line with prior work, the use of a foreign language increased the endorsement of such consequentialist actions for the footbridge dilemma, but not for the trolley dilemma. But contrary to recent theorizing, this effect was not driven by an attenuation of emotions. An attenuation of emotions was found in both dilemmas, and it did not mediate the foreign language effect on moral judgment. An examination of additional scenarios revealed that foreign language influenced moral judgment when the proposed action involved a social or moral norm violation. We propose that foreign language influences moral judgment by reducing access to normative knowledge.

  16. "Piensa" twice: on the foreign language effect in decision making.

    PubMed

    Costa, Albert; Foucart, Alice; Arnon, Inbal; Aparici, Melina; Apesteguia, Jose

    2014-02-01

    In this article, we assess to what extent decision making is affected by the language in which a given problem is presented (native vs. foreign). In particular, we aim to ask whether the impact of various heuristic biases in decision making is diminished when the problems are presented in a foreign language. To this end, we report four main studies in which more than 700 participants were tested on different types of individual decision making problems. In the first study, we replicated Keysar et al.'s (2012) recent observation regarding the foreign language effect on framing effects related to loss aversion. In the second section, we assessed whether the foreign language effect is present in other types of framing problems that involve psychological accounting biases rather than gain/loss dichotomies. In the third section, we studied the foreign language effect in several key aspects of the theory of decision making under risk and uncertainty. In the fourth study, we assessed the presence of a foreign language effect in the cognitive reflection test, a test that includes logical problems that do not carry emotional connotations. The absence of such an effect in this test suggests that foreign language leads to a reduction of heuristic biases in decision making across a range of decision making situations and provide also some evidence about the boundaries of the phenomenon. We explore several potential factors that may underlie the foreign language effect in decision making. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. The Development of Word Recognition in a Second Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muljani, D.; Koda, Keiko; Moates, Danny R.

    1998-01-01

    A study investigated differences in English word recognition in native speakers of Indonesian (an alphabetic language) and Chinese (a logographic languages) learning English as a Second Language. Results largely confirmed the hypothesis that an alphabetic first language would predict better word recognition in speakers of an alphabetic language,…

  18. Why segmentation matters: experience-driven segmentation errors impair “morpheme” learning

    PubMed Central

    Finn, Amy S.; Hudson Kam, Carla L.

    2015-01-01

    We ask whether an adult learner’s knowledge of their native language impedes statistical learning in a new language beyond just word segmentation (as previously shown). In particular, we examine the impact of native-language word-form phonotactics on learners’ ability to segment words into their component morphemes and learn phonologically triggered variation of morphemes. We find that learning is impaired when words and component morphemes are structured to conflict with a learner’s native-language phonotactic system, but not when native-language phonotactics do not conflict with morpheme boundaries in the artificial language. A learner’s native-language knowledge can therefore have a cascading impact affecting word segmentation and the morphological variation that relies upon proper segmentation. These results show that getting word segmentation right early in learning is deeply important for learning other aspects of language, even those (morphology) that are known to pose a great difficulty for adult language learners. PMID:25730305

  19. Foreign Language Education Policy on the Horizon

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hult, Francis M.

    2018-01-01

    Language policy has developed into a major area of research that continues to expand and develop. This article examines potential directions for cross-pollination between the fields of language policy and foreign language education. First, publication trends are examined. Database searches were conducted for the journals "Foreign Language…

  20. Doctoral Degrees Granted in Foreign Languages in the United States: 1993.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benseler, David P.; Lannoch, Martha Calvert

    1994-01-01

    Findings are reported from the annual survey of doctoral degrees granted in foreign languages, literatures, cultures, linguistics, and foreign language education in the following categories: African, Asian, French, Germanic, Italian, Near and Middle Eastern, Slavic, and Spanish languages/literatures; classics; comparative literature; theoretical…

  1. Colorado Model Content Standards: Foreign Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Colorado State Dept. of Education, Denver.

    The model course content standards for foreign language instruction in Colorado's public schools, K-12, provide guidelines, not curriculum, for school districts to design language programs. An introductory section presents some basic considerations in program design. The two general standards for foreign language performance are that: (1) students…

  2. A Global Approach to Foreign Language Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conner, Maurice W., Ed.

    The papers collected here are largely devoted to foreign language education as a means of increasing international and cross-cultural understanding. Titles include: (1) "Language Is the Medium, Culture Is the Message: Globalizing Foreign Languages" (Lorraine A. Strasheim); (2) "Cultural Understanding for Global Citizenship: An Inservice Model"…

  3. Language switching-but not foreign language use per se-reduces the framing effect.

    PubMed

    Oganian, Y; Korn, C W; Heekeren, H R

    2016-01-01

    Recent studies reported reductions of well-established biases in decision making under risk, such as the framing effect, during foreign language (FL) use. These modulations were attributed to the use of FL itself, which putatively entails an increase in emotional distance. A reduced framing effect in this setting, however, might also result from enhanced cognitive control associated with language-switching in mixed-language contexts, an account that has not been tested yet. Here we assess predictions of the 2 accounts in 2 experiments with over 1,500 participants. In Experiment 1, we tested a central prediction of the emotional distance account, namely that the framing effect would be reduced at low, but not high, FL proficiency levels. We found a strong framing effect in the native language, and surprisingly also in the foreign language, independent of proficiency. In Experiment 2, we orthogonally manipulated foreign language use and language switching to concurrently test the validity of both accounts. As in Experiment 1, foreign language use per se had no effect on framing. Crucially, the framing effect was reduced following a language switch, both when switching into the foreign and the native language. Thus, our results suggest that reduced framing effects are not mediated by increased emotional distance in a foreign language, but by transient enhancement of cognitive control, putting the interplay of bilingualism and decision making in a new light. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Proceedings of the 1983 EMU Conference on Foreign Languages for Business (Ypsilanti, Michigan, April 7-9, 1983). Part II: Program Development and Retraining Strategies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Voght, Geoffrey M., Ed.

    A collection of 10 papers from the second part of the conference on the applications of foreign languages and international studies to business focuses on the development of programs in foreign languages for business purposes. The papers include: "Foreign Languages for Global Vocations: From Theory to Practice" (Rochelle K. Kelz), "A Grim(m) Fairy…

  5. Age of Acquisition Effects on Word Processing for Chinese Native Learners’ English: ERP Evidence for the Arbitrary Mapping Hypothesis

    PubMed Central

    Xue, Jin; Liu, Tongtong; Marmolejo-Ramos, Fernando; Pei, Xuna

    2017-01-01

    The present study aimed at distinguishing processing of early learned L2 words from late ones for Chinese natives who learn English as a foreign language. Specifically, we examined whether the age of acquisition (AoA) effect arose during the arbitrary mapping from conceptual knowledge onto linguistic units. The behavior and ERP data were collected when 28 Chinese-English bilinguals were asked to perform semantic relatedness judgment on word pairs, which represented three stages of word learning (i.e., primary school, junior and senior high schools). A 3 (AoA: early vs. intermediate vs. late) × 2 (regularity: regular vs. irregular) × 2 (semantic relatedness: related vs. unrelated) × 2 (hemisphere: left vs. right) × 3 (brain area: anterior vs. central vs. posterior) within-subjects design was adopted. Results from the analysis of N100 and N400 amplitudes showed that early learned words had an advantage in processing accuracy and speed; there is a tendency that the AoA effect was more pronounced for irregular word pairs and in the semantic related condition. More important, ERP results showed early acquired words induced larger N100 amplitudes for early AoA words in the parietal area and more negative-going N400 than late acquire words in the frontal and central regions. The results indicate the locus of the AoA effect might derive from the arbitrary mapping between word forms and semantic concepts, and early acquired words have more semantic interconnections than late acquired words. PMID:28572785

  6. African-American Students and Foreign Language Learning. ERIC Digest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, James J.

    The performance and attitudes of African-American students of foreign languages are discussed in this digest. Three major areas are reported: (1) Black English and foreign language learning, including theories of language deficiency, sociolinguistic research, phonology and syntax; (2) research on the performance of African-American students of…

  7. The Place of Foreign Languages in a Curriculum for Liberal Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moravcsik, Julius; Juilland, Alphonse

    1977-01-01

    The study of foreign languages in the liberal arts curriculum is defended. Foreign languages reveal the rules characterizing cognitive human activities; they help us to understand both common bonds of humanity and varieties of human behavior. Language study should be central to humanities study. (CHK)

  8. Foreign Language Aptitude Theory: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wen, Zhisheng; Biedron, Adriana; Skehan, Peter

    2017-01-01

    Foreign language (FL) aptitude generally refers to a specific talent for learning a foreign or second language (L2). After experiencing a long period of marginalized interest, FL aptitude research in recent years has witnessed renewed enthusiasm across the disciplines of educational psychology, second language acquisition (SLA) and cognitive…

  9. The Videocassette Challenge: Strategies for the Foreign Language Teacher.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mount, Richard Terry; And Others

    Foreign language teachers can tap the appeal of video successfully and enjoyably in the foreign language classroom. Potential difficulties include length of feature films and difficulty in understanding the language and story simultaneously. The instructor must select materials and equipment carefully and commit considerable time and energy to…

  10. 29 CFR 500.78 - Information in foreign language.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Information in foreign language. 500.78 Section 500.78... § 500.78 Information in foreign language. Each farm labor contractor, agricultural employer and... English or, as necessary and reasonable, in Spanish or another language common to migrant or seasonal...

  11. It Ain't over 'til It's Over: On Foreign Language Anxiety, First Language Deficits, and the Confounding of Variables.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horwitz, Elaine K.

    2000-01-01

    Replies on behalf of the authors of a previous article to a critique of their study on foreign language anxiety. Argues that factors other than cognitive-linguistic deficits contribute to problems in foreign language achievement. (Author/VWL)

  12. Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Current Programs and Projects. ERIC Digest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Higgins, Chris

    For many years, foreign language teachers have used the computer to provide supplemental exercises in the instruction of foreign languages. In recent years, advances in computer technology have motivated teachers to reassess the computer and consider it a valuable part of daily foreign language learning. Innovative software programs, authoring…

  13. Software Selection: A Primer on Source and Evaluation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burston, Jack

    2003-01-01

    Provides guidance on making decisions regarding the selection of foreign language instructional software. Identifies sources of foreign language software, indicates sources of foreign language software reviews, and outlines essential procedures of software evaluation. (Author/VWL)

  14. Application of Associative Experiment in Forming the Foreign Communicative Competence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mukhametzyanova, Leilya; Shayakhmetova, Leysan

    2014-01-01

    The article focuses on some problems in teaching foreign languages, solution of which is successfully achieved through the method of free associations. The article also concerns the functioning of associative experiment in the course of teaching of foreign languages. In a technique of teaching of foreign languages free associative experiment is…

  15. Strategies for Teaching Culture in Foreign Language Classes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Washington Association of Foreign Language Teachers, Pullman.

    This guide to cultural education as part of foreign language instruction begins with two short theme-setting papers: "Thoughts on Teaching Foreign Culture" by Howard L. Nostrand and "Modern Foreign Languages for Everyone: An Overview" by Alain Blanchet. A cultural events calendar presents a month-by-month program of activities built around…

  16. Using Films in Vocabulary Teaching of Turkish as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Iscan, Adem

    2017-01-01

    The use and utility of auditory and visual tools in language teaching is a common practice. Films constitute one of the tools. It has been found that using films in language teaching is also effective in the development of vocabulary of foreign language learners. The literature review reveals that while films are used in foreign language teaching…

  17. An Evaluation of a Counseling-Community Learning Approach to Foreign Language Teaching or Counseling-Learning Theory Applied to Foreign Language Learning. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gallagher, Rosina Mena

    This study evaluates the counseling-learning approach to foreign language instruction as compared with traditional methods in terms of language achievement and change in personal orientation and in attitude toward learning. Twelve students volunteered to learn Spanish or German under simultaneous exposure to both languages using the…

  18. Benefits of Multisensory Structured Language Instruction for At-Risk Foreign Language Learners: A Comparison Study of High School Spanish Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparks, Richard L.; Artzer, Marjorie; Patton, Jon; Ganschow, Leonore; Miller, Karen; Hordubay, Dorothy J.; Walsh, Geri

    1998-01-01

    A study examined the benefits of multisensory structured language (MSL) instruction in Spanish for 39 high school students at risk for foreign-language learning difficulties and 16 controls. On measures of oral and written foreign-language proficiency, the MSL and control groups scored significantly higher than those instructed using traditional…

  19. Cross-Cultural Learning: The Language Connection.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Axelrod, Joseph

    1981-01-01

    If foreign language acquisition is disconnected from the cultural life of the foreign speech community, the learning yield is low. Integration of affective learning, cultural learning, and foreign language learning are essential to a successful cross-cultural experience. (MSE)

  20. Frequency of word-use predicts rates of lexical evolution throughout Indo-European history.

    PubMed

    Pagel, Mark; Atkinson, Quentin D; Meade, Andrew

    2007-10-11

    Greek speakers say "omicronupsilonrho", Germans "schwanz" and the French "queue" to describe what English speakers call a 'tail', but all of these languages use a related form of 'two' to describe the number after one. Among more than 100 Indo-European languages and dialects, the words for some meanings (such as 'tail') evolve rapidly, being expressed across languages by dozens of unrelated words, while others evolve much more slowly--such as the number 'two', for which all Indo-European language speakers use the same related word-form. No general linguistic mechanism has been advanced to explain this striking variation in rates of lexical replacement among meanings. Here we use four large and divergent language corpora (English, Spanish, Russian and Greek) and a comparative database of 200 fundamental vocabulary meanings in 87 Indo-European languages to show that the frequency with which these words are used in modern language predicts their rate of replacement over thousands of years of Indo-European language evolution. Across all 200 meanings, frequently used words evolve at slower rates and infrequently used words evolve more rapidly. This relationship holds separately and identically across parts of speech for each of the four language corpora, and accounts for approximately 50% of the variation in historical rates of lexical replacement. We propose that the frequency with which specific words are used in everyday language exerts a general and law-like influence on their rates of evolution. Our findings are consistent with social models of word change that emphasize the role of selection, and suggest that owing to the ways that humans use language, some words will evolve slowly and others rapidly across all languages.

  1. Age of acquisition predicts rate of lexical evolution.

    PubMed

    Monaghan, Padraic

    2014-12-01

    The processes taking place during language acquisition are proposed to influence language evolution. However, evidence demonstrating the link between language learning and language evolution is, at best, indirect, constituting studies of laboratory-based artificial language learning studies or computational simulations of diachronic change. In the current study, a direct link between acquisition and evolution is established, showing that for two hundred fundamental vocabulary items, the age at which words are acquired is a predictor of the rate at which they have changed in studies of language evolution. Early-acquired words are more salient and easier to process than late-acquired words, and these early-acquired words are also more stably represented within the community's language. Analysing the properties of these early-acquired words potentially provides insight into the origins of communication, highlighting features of words that have been ultra-conserved in language. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Gruppeorganiseret og selvstyret fremmedsprogstilegnelse. Et undervisningseksperiment pa RUC [and] Skolesprogene. Om fremmedsprogenes status og funktion i gymnasiet. ROLIG Papir 22 (Group Organized and Self Managed Foreign Language Acquisition. A Research Project at RUC [and] School Languages. On the Status and Function of Foreign Languages in Secondary Schools. ROLIG Paper 22).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jakobsen, Karen Sonne

    Two articles highlight different issues on foreign language learning and instruction in Denmark. The first article describes a research project at Roskilde University Center that focuses on group organized and self managed foreign language acquisition. The idea for the project came about as a result of concern over problems related to foreign…

  3. The statistical trade-off between word order and word structure – Large-scale evidence for the principle of least effort

    PubMed Central

    Koplenig, Alexander; Meyer, Peter; Wolfer, Sascha; Müller-Spitzer, Carolin

    2017-01-01

    Languages employ different strategies to transmit structural and grammatical information. While, for example, grammatical dependency relationships in sentences are mainly conveyed by the ordering of the words for languages like Mandarin Chinese, or Vietnamese, the word ordering is much less restricted for languages such as Inupiatun or Quechua, as these languages (also) use the internal structure of words (e.g. inflectional morphology) to mark grammatical relationships in a sentence. Based on a quantitative analysis of more than 1,500 unique translations of different books of the Bible in almost 1,200 different languages that are spoken as a native language by approximately 6 billion people (more than 80% of the world population), we present large-scale evidence for a statistical trade-off between the amount of information conveyed by the ordering of words and the amount of information conveyed by internal word structure: languages that rely more strongly on word order information tend to rely less on word structure information and vice versa. Or put differently, if less information is carried within the word, more information has to be spread among words in order to communicate successfully. In addition, we find that–despite differences in the way information is expressed–there is also evidence for a trade-off between different books of the biblical canon that recurs with little variation across languages: the more informative the word order of the book, the less informative its word structure and vice versa. We argue that this might suggest that, on the one hand, languages encode information in very different (but efficient) ways. On the other hand, content-related and stylistic features are statistically encoded in very similar ways. PMID:28282435

  4. A Stroke of Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blaisdell, Bob

    2011-01-01

    The author reflects on foreign-language learning by his EFL students as well as his own foreign-language learning. He concludes by musing on the possible and fantastical devastation on language-ability wrought by strokes.

  5. How Can One Learn Mathematical Word Problems in a Second Language? A Cognitive Load Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moussa-Inaty, Jase; Causapin, Mark; Groombridge, Timothy

    2015-01-01

    Language may ordinarily account for difficulties in solving word problems and this is particularly true if mathematical word problems are taught in a language other than one's native language. Research into cognitive load may offer a clear theoretical framework when investigating word problems because memory, specifically working memory, plays a…

  6. Foreign Language Skills and Jobs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eddy, Peter A.

    Students of foreign languages insist on seeing the evidence that foreign language skills have something to do with getting jobs in the "real world." Evidence is being ammassed which does show this to be true. Several studies have revealed that American firms are looking for qualified personnel who possess language skills. A survey was initiated at…

  7. Nociones de la programacion de lenguas extranjeras: ensayo metodologico (Notions on the Programming of Foreign Languages: Methodological Experiment)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Feldman, David

    1975-01-01

    Presents a computerized program for foreign language learning giving drills for all the major language skills. The drills are followed by an extensive bibliography of documents in some way dealing with computer based instruction, particularly foreign language instruction. (Text is in Spanish.) (TL)

  8. Meeting the Needs of Foreign Language Teaching Assistants: Professional Development in American Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Angus, Katie

    2014-01-01

    In our post-9/11 globalized society, the bifurcated governance structure that has traditionally dominated foreign language (FL) departments is no longer desirable. According to the 2007 Modern Language Association (MLA) report entitled "Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World," these departments need to…

  9. Curricular Changes for Spanish and Portuguese in a New Era: The College and University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nuessel, Frank

    2010-01-01

    In the past two years, the Modern Language Association (MLA) has produced two significant proposals for curricular change in foreign languages. The first, "Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changing World," addressed the foreign language curriculum with specific suggestions for programmatic transformation. The second,…

  10. 17 CFR 232.306 - Foreign language documents and symbols.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Foreign language documents and... § 232.306 Foreign language documents and symbols. (a) All electronic filings and submissions must be in the English language, except as otherwise provided by paragraph (d) of this section. If a filing or...

  11. 17 CFR 232.306 - Foreign language documents and symbols.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Foreign language documents and... § 232.306 Foreign language documents and symbols. (a) All electronic filings and submissions must be in the English language, except as otherwise provided by paragraph (d) of this section. If a filing or...

  12. 17 CFR 232.306 - Foreign language documents and symbols.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Foreign language documents and... § 232.306 Foreign language documents and symbols. (a) All electronic filings and submissions must be in the English language, except as otherwise provided by paragraph (d) of this section. If a filing or...

  13. Influence of Sociocultural Context on Language Learning in Foreign Countries

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pazyura, Natalia

    2016-01-01

    Professional foreign language training is offered to cultivate the ability to master cross-cultural communication in the sphere of future professional activity. By means of intercultural competence of foreign language we are raising professional competence, too. In countries where English is the native language, it is taught to speakers of other…

  14. The Challenge of Communication. ACTFL Review of Foreign Language Education, Vol. 6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jarvis, Gilbert A., Ed.

    The relationship of communication to the foreign language profession is addressed in this volume. The following articles are presented: (1) "Communication and the Foreign Language Teacher," by Charles T. Brown; (2) "Rationale for Language Study," by Jane N. Lippman; (3) "Public Awareness: How Can Associations and Institutions Use Public Relations…

  15. Achievement Motivational Characteristics of University Foreign Language Learners: From the Classroom to the Tutoring Table

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Matthews, Paul H.

    2008-01-01

    What influences who seeks foreign language tutoring? Using expectancy value theory, the present study researches the characteristics of university foreign language students in the language classroom (n = 258) and seeking tutoring (n = 29). Students' performance and mastery goal orientations, achievement task values, self-efficacy for foreign…

  16. 46 CFR 201.6 - Documents in foreign languages.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 8 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Documents in foreign languages. 201.6 Section 201.6... PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE General Information (Rule 1) § 201.6 Documents in foreign languages. Every document, exhibit, or other paper written in a language other than English and filed with the Administration or...

  17. 46 CFR 502.7 - Documents in foreign languages.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 9 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Documents in foreign languages. 502.7 Section 502.7... General Information § 502.7 Documents in foreign languages. Every document, exhibit, or other paper written in a language other than English and filed with the Commission or offered in evidence in any...

  18. 37 CFR 1.69 - Foreign language oaths and declarations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 37 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Foreign language oaths and... Declaration § 1.69 Foreign language oaths and declarations. (a) Whenever an individual making an oath or declaration cannot understand English, the oath or declaration must be in a language that such individual can...

  19. 46 CFR 201.6 - Documents in foreign languages.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 8 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Documents in foreign languages. 201.6 Section 201.6... PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE General Information (Rule 1) § 201.6 Documents in foreign languages. Every document, exhibit, or other paper written in a language other than English and filed with the Administration or...

  20. 47 CFR 1.355 - Documents in foreign language.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Documents in foreign language. 1.355 Section 1... Proceedings Evidence § 1.355 Documents in foreign language. Every document, exhibit, or other paper written in a language other than English, which shall be filed in any proceeding, or in response to any order...

  1. Ten Ways to Cope with Foreign Language Anxiety.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donley, Philip

    1997-01-01

    Proposes strategies for reducing foreign language anxiety in the classroom: (1) discuss feelings with instructor and other students; (2) relax, exercise, and eat well; (3) prepare for and attend every class; (4) keep foreign language class in perspective; (5) seek opportunities to practice the language and accept errors are a part of the learning…

  2. Foreign Language Reading Anxiety in a Jordanian EFL Context: A Qualitative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-Shboul, Murad M.; Ahmad, Ismail Sheikh; Nordin, Mohamad Sahari; Rahman, Zainurin Abdul

    2013-01-01

    In the last two decades, investigating the sources of foreign language anxiety in general has increasingly attracted the attention of many researchers in the field of foreign language teaching. However, the sources of anxiety that influence the acquisition of certain specific language skills such as reading in particular have rarely been…

  3. The Professional Development of Future Professors of Foreign Languages: Looking Back, Looking Forward

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allen, Heather Willis; Negueruela-Azarola, Eduardo

    2010-01-01

    Although the professional development of graduate students in foreign language (FL) departments is of critical importance, discussion of its significance and evolution was all but absent in the 2007 Modern Language Association report "Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World," a document advocating curricular and…

  4. A Career-Oriented Foreign Language Program for Keystone Oaks School District, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grubesky, Marcia R.

    A career-oriented foreign language program is discussed that takes into account marketable skills of foreign language majors for a number of careers. The program is threefold. First, it recognizes the need for language skills to supplement technical, business, and professional skills to expand educational knowledge; capabilities in diplomacy and…

  5. Foreign Language Methodology Conference Workshop Reports, 1976.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carranza, Jose M., Ed.; Whitmer, Robert L., Ed.

    This collection resulting from a workshop on language teaching methodology contains the following papers: (1) "The Role of Culture in Foreign Language Learning," by N. Brooks; (2) "Guidelines and Ideas to Boost the Enrollment in Foreign Language Courses," by L.F. Gonzalez-Cruz; "Cooking in the Classroom," by K. Boykin; (4) "Performance Based…

  6. The Relationship between Anxiety and Attitude of Students Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language and Their Achievement on Target Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gocer, Ali

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to assess the anxiety connected with target language of the high school students learning Turkish as a foreign language. In this study, descriptive relational screening model was used. Two scales were used for collecting data. First scale was FLCAS-Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale; it was developed by Horwitz…

  7. Acquisition of Compound Words in Chinese-English Bilingual Children: Decomposition and Cross-Language Activation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheng, Chenxi; Wang, Min; Perfetti, Charles A.

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated compound processing and cross-language activation in a group of Chinese-English bilingual children, and they were divided into four groups based on the language proficiency levels in their two languages. A lexical decision task was designed using compound words in both languages. The compound words in one language contained…

  8. Offsetting the Affective Filter: A Classic Grounded Theory Study of Post-Secondary Online Foreign Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chametzky, Barry

    2013-01-01

    With the Internet, foreign language learners can interact more easily with native speakers from other countries than in previous generations. For learners to develop the ability to function in foreign environments, it is vital to understand their experiences in postsecondary online foreign language classes. If educators and educational theorists…

  9. The Evaluation of Second Language Fluency and Foreign Accent

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Chen-Huei

    2011-01-01

    What is second language fluency? What is a foreign accent? Is it possible for an adult second language learner to speak fluently with a heavy accent or vice versa? What factors contribute to the perception of fluency and a foreign accent? What acoustic attributes correlate with the perception of fluency and a foreign accent? To answer these…

  10. Foreign Language Anxiety: Understanding Its Status and Insiders' Awareness and Attitudes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trang, Tran Thi Thu; Baldauf, Richard B., Jr.; Moni, Karen

    2013-01-01

    Foreign language anxiety (FLA) has been found to exist in all of the cultures where it has been studied, yet the literature provides limited empirical evidence to indicate whether foreign language students and teachers, as the direct stakeholders in the phenomenon, are aware of it. This study investigated the extent to which foreign language…

  11. Foreign Languages: Human Capital Approach Needed To Correct Staffing and Proficiency Shortfalls. Report to Congressional Requesters.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Christoff, Joseph A.

    This report examines the use of foreign language skills within the Army, Department of State, Department of Commerce's Foreign Commercial Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, discussing the nature and impact of foreign language shortages, strategies for addressing these shortages, and efforts to address current and projected shortages.…

  12. Language effects in second-language learners: A longitudinal electrophysiological study of spanish classroom learning.

    PubMed

    Soskey, Laura; Holcomb, Phillip J; Midgley, Katherine J

    2016-09-01

    How do the neural mechanisms involved in word recognition evolve over the course of word learning in adult learners of a new second language? The current study sought to closely track language effects, which are differences in electrophysiological indices of word processing between one's native and second languages, in beginning university learners over the course of a single semester of learning. Monolingual L1 English-speakers enrolled in introductory Spanish were first trained on a list of 228 Spanish words chosen from the vocabulary to be learned in class. Behavioral data from the training session and the following experimental sessions spaced over the course of the semester showed expected learning effects. In the three laboratory sessions participants read words in three lists (English, Spanish and mixed) while performing a go/no-go lexical decision task in which event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. As observed in previous studies there were ERP language effects with larger N400s to native than second language words. Importantly, this difference declined over the course of L2 learning with N400 amplitude increasing for new second language words. These results suggest that even over a single semester of learning that new second language words are rapidly incorporated into the word recognition system and begin to take on lexical and semantic properties similar to native language words. Moreover, the results suggest that electrophysiological measures can be used as sensitive measures for tracking the acquisition of new linguistic knowledge. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Spelling Lessons for Gifted Language Arts Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richards, Janet C.; Gipe, Joan P.

    1993-01-01

    These strategies for teaching spelling to gifted students focus on student choice of words, personal dictionaries, cloze passages, categorizing or word sorting, words borrowed from other languages, word etymology, multiple meaning words, and onomatopoetic words. (JDD)

  14. Production Is Only Half the Story - First Words in Two East African Languages.

    PubMed

    Alcock, Katherine J

    2017-01-01

    Theories of early learning of nouns in children's vocabularies divide into those that emphasize input (language and non-linguistic aspects) and those that emphasize child conceptualisation. Most data though come from production alone, assuming that learning a word equals speaking it. Methodological issues can mean production and comprehension data within or across input languages are not comparable. Early vocabulary production and comprehension were examined in children hearing two Eastern Bantu languages whose grammatical features may encourage early verb knowledge. Parents of 208 infants aged 8-20 months were interviewed using Communicative Development Inventories that assess infants' first spoken and comprehended words. Raw totals, and proportions of chances to know a word, were compared to data from other languages. First spoken words were mainly nouns (75-95% were nouns versus less than 10% verbs) but first comprehended words included more verbs (15% were verbs) than spoken words did. The proportion of children's spoken words that were verbs increased with vocabulary size, but not the proportion of comprehended words. Significant differences were found between children's comprehension and production but not between languages. This may be for pragmatic reasons, rather than due to concepts with which children approach language learning, or directly due to the input language.

  15. Production Is Only Half the Story — First Words in Two East African Languages

    PubMed Central

    Alcock, Katherine J.

    2017-01-01

    Theories of early learning of nouns in children’s vocabularies divide into those that emphasize input (language and non-linguistic aspects) and those that emphasize child conceptualisation. Most data though come from production alone, assuming that learning a word equals speaking it. Methodological issues can mean production and comprehension data within or across input languages are not comparable. Early vocabulary production and comprehension were examined in children hearing two Eastern Bantu languages whose grammatical features may encourage early verb knowledge. Parents of 208 infants aged 8–20 months were interviewed using Communicative Development Inventories that assess infants’ first spoken and comprehended words. Raw totals, and proportions of chances to know a word, were compared to data from other languages. First spoken words were mainly nouns (75–95% were nouns versus less than 10% verbs) but first comprehended words included more verbs (15% were verbs) than spoken words did. The proportion of children’s spoken words that were verbs increased with vocabulary size, but not the proportion of comprehended words. Significant differences were found between children’s comprehension and production but not between languages. This may be for pragmatic reasons, rather than due to concepts with which children approach language learning, or directly due to the input language. PMID:29163280

  16. Making a World of Difference. Dimension: Language '91. Selected Papers from the Joint Meeting of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching and the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 1991).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Terry, Robert M., Ed.

    Papers from the 1991 joint Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT)/ Foreign Language Association of North Carolina (FLANC) conference are presented. Because the state of North Carolina is in the forefront of state-mandated foreign language education in the elementary schools (FLES), 4 of the 10 articles in this volume address FLES…

  17. Liberty of Word Order in Esperanto. Lektos: Interdisciplinary Working Papers in Language Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Verloren van Themaat, W. A.

    The liberty of deviation from the dominant word order in Esperanto and the natural languages is considered. Greenberg's classification of the languages according to four criteria, the liberty of word order in Sanskrit, and the norm of grammaticality in a constructed language are considered. Objection is made to St. Clair's argument that word order…

  18. Effect of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety on Turkish University Students' Academic Achievement in Foreign Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tuncer, Murat; Dogan, Yunus

    2015-01-01

    This study was carried out in order to identify to what extent the Turkish students' English classroom anxiety affects their academic achievement in English language. In this quantitative descriptive study, a correlational survey model was employed, and the convenience sampling was done. In order to collect data, the Foreign Language Classroom…

  19. The Effective Audio-Visual Program in Foreign Language and Literature Studies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lawton, Ben

    Foreign language teachers should exploit the American affinity for television and movies by using foreign language feature films and shorts in the classroom. Social and political history and literary trends illustrated in the films may be discussed and absorbed along with the language. The author teaches such a course in the Department of Italian…

  20. The Impact of Adventure Video Games on Foreign Language Learning and the Perceptions of Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Hao-Jan Howard; Yang, Ting-Yu Christine

    2013-01-01

    Several researchers have highlighted the potential of applying adventure video games in second language acquisition; however, few studies have investigated the impact of adventure games on foreign language learning. This study aimed to examine the effects of a commercial adventure video game on foreign language learning and learners' perceptions…

  1. Written Discourse as a Product of a Completed Level of Professionally-Oriented Foreign Language Speech Competence of University Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dmitrievykh, Irina L.; Kuklina, Svetlana S.; Cheremisinova, Rimma A.; Ogorodnikova, Natalia V.

    2017-01-01

    Contemporary foreign-language education focuses on the development of multicultural language personality of the university graduate, who has necessary competencies to implement in professional activities. One of such competences is professionally-oriented foreign language communicative competence that is responsible for the capability of a future…

  2. 1970 ACTFL Annual Bibliography of Books and Articles on Pedagogy in Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lange, Dale L., Comp.

    Compiled from a master list of about 300 journals and various book sources, this fourth annual selective bibliography published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) lists 1,734 items concerned with pedagogy in modern foreign languages, Latin, Greek, English as a second language, and applied linguistics. The 1970…

  3. 1969 ACTFL Annual Bibliography of Books and Articles on Pedagogy in Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lange, Dale L., Comp.

    Compiled from a master list of about 300 journals and various book sources, this third annual selective bibliography published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) lists 1,377 items concerned with pedagogy in modern foreign languages, Latin, Greek, English as a second language, and applied linguistics. The 1969…

  4. 1972 ACTFL Annual Bibliography of Books and Articles on Pedagogy in Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lange, Dale L., Comp.; And Others

    Compiled from a master list of about 300 journals and various book sources, this sixth annual selective bibliography published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) lists 3,632 items concerned with pedagogy in modern foreign languages, Latin, Greek, English as a second language, and applied linguistics. The 1972…

  5. 1971 ACTFL Annual Bibliography of Books and Articles on Pedagogy in Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lange, Dale L., Comp.

    Compiled from a master list of about 300 journals and various book sources, this fifth annual selective bibliography published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) lists 2,061 items concerned with pedagogy in modern foreign languages, Latin, Greek, English as a second language, and applied linguistics. The 1971…

  6. Utilizing Innovative Video Chat Technology to Meet National Standards: A Case Study on a STARTALK Hindi Language Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parveen, Shaheen; Pater, Cayley

    2012-01-01

    Responding to the need for foreign language fluency in ever-globalizing business and cultural spheres, the federal government and foreign language institutions in an eleven-member task force collaboratively published a set of nationally recognized, foundational standards for foreign language teaching. Rather than rely on teacher-centered…

  7. Language Teacher Candidates' Self-Assessment Process for Teaching to Young Learners in EFL Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Genç Ilter, Binnur

    2017-01-01

    Teaching a foreign language to young learners have some differences from teaching adults. Young children have concentration problems and they tend to change their mood every ten minutes and need more creative activities than adults. Therefore, foreign language teachers have to choose interesting activities for them and foreign language teacher…

  8. Exploring Languages and Cultures--An Exploratory Foreign Language Course. A Guide for Teachers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Milwaukee Public Schools, WI. Div. of Curriculum and Instruction.

    A working guide for teachers in planning and teaching an exploratory course in foreign language and culture presents the basic course structure for nine weeks. Instructional materials are not provided. Course objectives include: (1) exploration of foreign languages and cultures; (2) sensitization to value systems and customs of one's own and other…

  9. Creating Excitement and Involvement in the Foreign Language Classroom by Getting Away from the Textbook.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wattenmaker, Beverly; Lock, Joanne

    This paper presents a method for making foreign language learning meaningful and interesting through using language as a tool for communicating about the self and others. Drawing from techniques developed by behavioral scientists, the foreign language was used to develop students' self-awareness and confidence. Learning activities were created,…

  10. From Early Starters to Late Finishers? A Longitudinal Study of Early Foreign Language Learning in School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jaekel, Nils; Schurig, Michael; Florian, Merle; Ritter, Markus

    2017-01-01

    Foreign language education has now been implemented at the elementary school level across Europe, and early foreign language education has gained traction following language policies set by the European Commission. The long-term effects of an early start, however, have not received ample scientific scrutiny. The present study assessed early…

  11. Post-Secondary Foreign Language Teachers' Belief Systems about Language Teaching/Learning and Technology/Teaching with Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oda, Kazue

    2011-01-01

    While many studies have demonstrated the advantages of using computer technology in foreign language classrooms, many post-secondary foreign language (FL) teachers still remain reluctant to use technology in instruction. Even when teachers do use technology, critiques have indicated that it is oftentimes used merely to replicate traditional…

  12. Changes in Affective Profiles of Postsecondary Students in Lower-Level Foreign Language Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kondo-Brown, Kimi

    2013-01-01

    Recent surveys and research on second language (L2)/foreign language acquisition help explain the challenges that postsecondary students in lower-level foreign language (FL) courses may experience. The present study extends this line of research by examining changes in students' affective profiles in a two-year Japanese program (n = 382) at an…

  13. Children's Foreign Language Anxiety Scale: Preliminary Tests of Reliability and Validity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aydin, Selami; Harputlu, Leyla; Güzel, Serhat; Ustuk, Özgehan; Savran Çelik, Seyda; Genç, Deniz

    2016-01-01

    Foreign language anxiety (FLA), which constitutes a serious problem in the foreign language learning process, has been mainly seen as a research issue regarding adult language learners, while it has been overlooked in children. This is because there is no an appropriate tool to measure FLA among children, whereas there are many studies on the…

  14. The Children's Foreign Language Anxiety Scale: Reliability and Validity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aydin, Selami; Harputlu, Leyla; Ustuk, Özgehan; Güzel, Serhat; Çelik, Seyda Savran

    2017-01-01

    Foreign language anxiety (FLA) has been mainly associated with adult language learners. Although FLA forms a serious problem in the foreign language learning process for all learners, the effects of FLA on children have been mainly overlooked. The underlying reason is that there is a lack of an appropriate measurement tool for FLA among children.…

  15. Using a Humanoid Robot to Develop a Dialogue-Based Interactive Learning Environment for Elementary Foreign Language Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Chih-Wei; Chen, Gwo-Dong

    2010-01-01

    Elementary school is the critical stage during which the development of listening comprehension and oral abilities in language acquisition occur, especially with a foreign language. However, the current foreign language instructors often adopt one-way teaching, and the learning environment lacks any interactive instructional media with which to…

  16. Future Directions for the Learning of Languages in Universities: Challenges and Opportunities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pauwels, Anne

    2011-01-01

    The place of foreign language learning in education has a rich and diverse history since the introduction of compulsory schooling, with some countries including the learning of a foreign language as a compulsory part of the curriculum, whilst in others foreign language learning is seen as an optional subject suited for more academically minded…

  17. Usability of English Note-Taking Applications in a Foreign Language Learning Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roy, Debopriyo; Brine, John; Murasawa, Fuyuki

    2016-01-01

    The act of note-taking offloads cognitive pressure and note-taking applications could be used as an important tool for foreign language acquisition. Its use, importance, and efficacy in a foreign language learning context could be justifiably debated. However, existing computer-assisted language learning literature is almost silent on the topic.…

  18. The Foreign Language Classroom: New Techniques. Report of Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garfinkel, Alan, Ed.; And Others

    The summary of the 1983 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages includes these papers: "A Look at Our Profession: Common Concerns, Common Dreams" (Mary Finocchiaro's keynote address to the 1982 Central States Conference); "Traversing the Language 'Gateway': The Passport Lesson" (Dana Carton); "Personal Growth Through…

  19. Whose "Crisis in Language"? Translating and the Futurity of Foreign Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gramling, David J.; Warner, Chantelle

    2016-01-01

    This contribution questions to whom and to whose learning experience has the idiom of crisis that so pervades the domain of U.S. foreign language teaching been addressed. The authors report on an advanced foreign language classroom-based study from 2013, in which undergraduate German learners translated a 14-page prose poem about translingual…

  20. Effects of EFL Individual Learner Variables on Foreign Language Reading Anxiety and Metacognitive Reading Strategy Use.

    PubMed

    Lien, Hsin-Yi

    2016-08-01

    Past research has shown an association between foreign language reading anxiety and reading strategy. However, individual variables tend to affect foreign language anxiety and strategy use. The present study examined a hypothesized model that specified direct and indirect effects among English and foreign languages readers' distinct variables, including academic level; self-perceived English level; and satisfaction with reading proficiency, reading anxiety, and metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. A total of 523 volunteer Taiwanese college students provided 372 valid responses to a written questionnaire (281 women and 91 men; M age = 19.7 years, SD = 1.1) containing the translated versions of Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale, Survey of Reading Strategies Inventory, and self-assessment background questionnaire. The results showed that self-evaluation of reading proficiency did not correlate with academic level and readers' perceptions. Satisfaction had a direct effect on foreign language reading anxiety but not on metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Results of path analysis demonstrated that the perception learners who had their own reading proficiency predicted their foreign language reading anxiety and was a mediating variable for metacognitive reading strategy use. © The Author(s) 2016.

  1. Language Effects in Trilinguals: An ERP Study

    PubMed Central

    Aparicio, Xavier; Midgley, Katherine J.; Holcomb, Phillip J.; Pu, He; Lavaur, Jean-Marc; Grainger, Jonathan

    2012-01-01

    Event-related potentials were recorded during the visual presentation of words in the three languages of French-English-Spanish trilinguals. Participants monitored a mixed list of unrelated non-cognate words in the three languages while performing a semantic categorization task. Words in L1 generated earlier N400 peak amplitudes than both L2 and L3 words, which peaked together. On the other hand, L2 and L3 words did differ significantly in terms of N400 amplitude, with L3 words generating greater mean amplitudes compared with L2 words. We interpret the effects of peak N400 latency as reflecting the special status of the L1 relative to later acquired languages, rather than proficiency in that language per se. On the other hand, the mean amplitude difference between L2 and L3 is thought to reflect different levels of fluency in these two languages. PMID:23133428

  2. Bilingual reading of compound words.

    PubMed

    Ko, In Yeong; Wang, Min; Kim, Say Young

    2011-02-01

    The present study investigated whether bilingual readers activate constituents of compound words in one language while processing compound words in the other language via decomposition. Two experiments using a lexical decision task were conducted with adult Korean-English bilingual readers. In Experiment 1, the lexical decision of real English compound words was more accurate when the translated compounds (the combination of the translation equivalents of the constituents) in Korean (the nontarget language) were real words than when they were nonwords. In Experiment 2, when the frequency of the second constituents of compound words in English (the target language) was manipulated, the effect of lexical status of the translated compounds was greater on the compounds with high-frequency second constituents than on those with low-frequency second constituents in the target language. Together, these results provided evidence for morphological decomposition and cross-language activation in bilingual reading of compound words.

  3. Assessment Practices in Foreign Language Education: Dimension 2004. Selected Proceedings of the 2004 Joint Conference of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching and the Alabama Association of Foreign Language Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cherry, C. Maurice, Ed.; Bradley, Lee, Ed.

    2004-01-01

    "Dimension" is the annual volume containing the selected, refereed, edited proceedings of each year's conference. On the eve of its 40th anniversary, the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) plans a special series of articles on assessment within the foreign language profession. The 2004 edition of "Dimension"…

  4. An Investigation into the Relationship of Foreign Language Learning Motivation and Sign Language Use among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Hungarians

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kontra, Edit H.; Csizer, Kata

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this study is to point out the relationship between foreign language learning motivation and sign language use among hearing impaired Hungarians. In the article we concentrate on two main issues: first, to what extent hearing impaired people are motivated to learn foreign languages in a European context; second, to what extent sign…

  5. Thinking and Content Learning of Mathematics and Science as Cognitional Development in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): Teaching Through a Foreign Language in Finland

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jappinen, Aini-Kristiina

    2005-01-01

    This paper presents a study on thinking and learning processes of mathematics and science in teaching through a foreign language, in Finland. The entity of thinking and content learning processes is, in this study, considered as cognitional development. Teaching through a foreign language is here called Content and Language Integrated Learning or…

  6. The Sociolinguistics of Foreign-Language Classrooms: Contributions of the Native, the Near-Native, and the Non-Native Speaker. Issues in Language Program Direction, A Series of Annual Volumes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blyth, Carl, Ed.

    This collection of papers is divided into five parts. Part 1, "The Native Speaker," includes "The (Non)Native Standard Language in Foreign Language Education: A Critical Perspective" (Robert W. Train) and "The Native Speaker, the Student, and Woody Allen: Examining Traditional Roles in the Foreign Language Classroom"…

  7. How do we use language? Shared patterns in the frequency of word use across 17 world languages

    PubMed Central

    Calude, Andreea S.; Pagel, Mark

    2011-01-01

    We present data from 17 languages on the frequency with which a common set of words is used in everyday language. The languages are drawn from six language families representing 65 per cent of the world's 7000 languages. Our data were collected from linguistic corpora that record frequencies of use for the 200 meanings in the widely used Swadesh fundamental vocabulary. Our interest is to assess evidence for shared patterns of language use around the world, and for the relationship of language use to rates of lexical replacement, defined as the replacement of a word by a new unrelated or non-cognate word. Frequencies of use for words in the Swadesh list range from just a few per million words of speech to 191 000 or more. The average inter-correlation among languages in the frequency of use across the 200 words is 0.73 (p < 0.0001). The first principal component of these data accounts for 70 per cent of the variance in frequency of use. Elsewhere, we have shown that frequently used words in the Indo-European languages tend to be more conserved, and that this relationship holds separately for different parts of speech. A regression model combining the principal factor loadings derived from the worldwide sample along with their part of speech predicts 46 per cent of the variance in the rates of lexical replacement in the Indo-European languages. This suggests that Indo-European lexical replacement rates might be broadly representative of worldwide rates of change. Evidence for this speculation comes from using the same factor loadings and part-of-speech categories to predict a word's position in a list of 110 words ranked from slowest to most rapidly evolving among 14 of the world's language families. This regression model accounts for 30 per cent of the variance. Our results point to a remarkable regularity in the way that human speakers use language, and hint that the words for a shared set of meanings have been slowly evolving and others more rapidly evolving throughout human history. PMID:21357232

  8. The Importance of Foreign Language Education to the Hospitality Industry.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kluge, E. Alan

    In the hospitality industry there are three major needs for study of a foreign language: (1) the need to communicate with non-English speaking employees, (2) the need to assist foreign travelers; and (3) the need to work in a non-English speaking country. The strength of the need to know a foreign language depends on the employee's level within…

  9. Growth of language-related brain areas after foreign language learning.

    PubMed

    Mårtensson, Johan; Eriksson, Johan; Bodammer, Nils Christian; Lindgren, Magnus; Johansson, Mikael; Nyberg, Lars; Lövdén, Martin

    2012-10-15

    The influence of adult foreign-language acquisition on human brain organization is poorly understood. We studied cortical thickness and hippocampal volumes of conscript interpreters before and after three months of intense language studies. Results revealed increases in hippocampus volume and in cortical thickness of the left middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus for interpreters relative to controls. The right hippocampus and the left superior temporal gyrus were structurally more malleable in interpreters acquiring higher proficiency in the foreign language. Interpreters struggling relatively more to master the language displayed larger gray matter increases in the middle frontal gyrus. These findings confirm structural changes in brain regions known to serve language functions during foreign-language acquisition. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Foreign Language Instruction in a Global Community.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nugent, Stephanie A.

    2000-01-01

    As we move from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, foreign language programs are hampered by inadequate curricular emphasis and negligible funding for materials or teachers. Five goals for foreign language learning include communicative competence, cultural awareness, interdisciplinary connections, cross-cultural comparisons, and…

  11. The Case for Authentic Materials on Videodisc.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saint-Leon, Claire Brandicourt

    1988-01-01

    Foreign language video is invaluable for enhancing foreign language instruction, particularly when combined with laser videodisc technology, which allows learners to study minute details. Authentic materials should be made available on videodisks to fully exploit the resources of foreign language video. (Author/CB)

  12. Corporate Competition for Foreign Language Customers: Is There an Answer?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilkins, Wynona H.

    1976-01-01

    The proliferation of private organizations offering foreign language instruction to the public, and the advertising approaches of these organizations, are discussed. Suggestions are made for foreign language teachers in high schools and colleges to use in attracting more students. (RM)

  13. 76 FR 29901 - Electronic Fund Transfers

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-23

    ... generally be provided in English and in each of the foreign languages principally used by the remittance..., with several modifications. The proposed rule provides guidance on how and when foreign language disclosures must be provided, and proposes several foreign language disclosure alternatives. Additionally, the...

  14. Foreign Language Teacher Education. ERIC Digest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jarvis, Gilbert A.; Bernhardt, Elizabeth B.

    Foreign language education professionals agree that the profession lacks an established theory and methodological consistency. Foreign language teacher education has not changed much since the 1960s. Most programs consist of subject-matter content, general education requirements, and specialized education courses. Teacher trainee supervisors do…

  15. 34 CFR 657.5 - What definitions apply?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ..., DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDIES FELLOWSHIPS PROGRAM General § 657.5 What... activities, including training in modern foreign languages and various academic disciplines, in its subject... activities in modern foreign language training and related studies. (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1122) ...

  16. Toward a theory of distributed word expert natural language parsing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rieger, C.; Small, S.

    1981-01-01

    An approach to natural language meaning-based parsing in which the unit of linguistic knowledge is the word rather than the rewrite rule is described. In the word expert parser, knowledge about language is distributed across a population of procedural experts, each representing a word of the language, and each an expert at diagnosing that word's intended usage in context. The parser is structured around a coroutine control environment in which the generator-like word experts ask questions and exchange information in coming to collective agreement on sentence meaning. The word expert theory is advanced as a better cognitive model of human language expertise than the traditional rule-based approach. The technical discussion is organized around examples taken from the prototype LISP system which implements parts of the theory.

  17. How humans transmit language: horizontal transmission matches word frequencies among peers on Twitter.

    PubMed

    Bryden, John; Wright, Shaun P; Jansen, Vincent A A

    2018-02-01

    Language transmission, the passing on of language features such as words between people, is the process of inheritance that underlies linguistic evolution. To understand how language transmission works, we need a mechanistic understanding based on empirical evidence of lasting change of language usage. Here, we analysed 200 million online conversations to investigate transmission between individuals. We find that the frequency of word usage is inherited over conversations, rather than only the binary presence or absence of a word in a person's lexicon. We propose a mechanism for transmission whereby for each word someone encounters there is a chance they will use it more often. Using this mechanism, we measure that, for one word in around every hundred a person encounters, they will use that word more frequently. As more commonly used words are encountered more often, this means that it is the frequencies of words which are copied. Beyond this, our measurements indicate that this per-encounter mechanism is neutral and applies without any further distinction as to whether a word encountered in a conversation is commonly used or not. An important consequence of this is that frequencies of many words can be used in concert to observe and measure language transmission, and our results confirm this. These results indicate that our mechanism for transmission can be used to study language patterns and evolution within populations. © 2018 The Author(s).

  18. Model of the Dynamic Construction Process of Texts and Scaling Laws of Words Organization in Language Systems

    PubMed Central

    Li, Shan; Lin, Ruokuang; Bian, Chunhua; Ma, Qianli D. Y.

    2016-01-01

    Scaling laws characterize diverse complex systems in a broad range of fields, including physics, biology, finance, and social science. The human language is another example of a complex system of words organization. Studies on written texts have shown that scaling laws characterize the occurrence frequency of words, words rank, and the growth of distinct words with increasing text length. However, these studies have mainly concentrated on the western linguistic systems, and the laws that govern the lexical organization, structure and dynamics of the Chinese language remain not well understood. Here we study a database of Chinese and English language books. We report that three distinct scaling laws characterize words organization in the Chinese language. We find that these scaling laws have different exponents and crossover behaviors compared to English texts, indicating different words organization and dynamics of words in the process of text growth. We propose a stochastic feedback model of words organization and text growth, which successfully accounts for the empirically observed scaling laws with their corresponding scaling exponents and characteristic crossover regimes. Further, by varying key model parameters, we reproduce differences in the organization and scaling laws of words between the Chinese and English language. We also identify functional relationships between model parameters and the empirically observed scaling exponents, thus providing new insights into the words organization and growth dynamics in the Chinese and English language. PMID:28006026

  19. Model of the Dynamic Construction Process of Texts and Scaling Laws of Words Organization in Language Systems.

    PubMed

    Li, Shan; Lin, Ruokuang; Bian, Chunhua; Ma, Qianli D Y; Ivanov, Plamen Ch

    2016-01-01

    Scaling laws characterize diverse complex systems in a broad range of fields, including physics, biology, finance, and social science. The human language is another example of a complex system of words organization. Studies on written texts have shown that scaling laws characterize the occurrence frequency of words, words rank, and the growth of distinct words with increasing text length. However, these studies have mainly concentrated on the western linguistic systems, and the laws that govern the lexical organization, structure and dynamics of the Chinese language remain not well understood. Here we study a database of Chinese and English language books. We report that three distinct scaling laws characterize words organization in the Chinese language. We find that these scaling laws have different exponents and crossover behaviors compared to English texts, indicating different words organization and dynamics of words in the process of text growth. We propose a stochastic feedback model of words organization and text growth, which successfully accounts for the empirically observed scaling laws with their corresponding scaling exponents and characteristic crossover regimes. Further, by varying key model parameters, we reproduce differences in the organization and scaling laws of words between the Chinese and English language. We also identify functional relationships between model parameters and the empirically observed scaling exponents, thus providing new insights into the words organization and growth dynamics in the Chinese and English language.

  20. Anxiety about speaking a foreign language as a mediator of the relation between motivation and willingness to communicate.

    PubMed

    Wu, Chia-Pei; Lin, Huey-Ju

    2014-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine whether anxiety about speaking a foreign language mediated the relation between motivation and a willingness to communicate among 107 Taiwanese students sampled from two public universities and one private university. A regression analysis indicated that motivation was negatively related to university students' anxiety about speaking a foreign language and positively related to willingness to communicate. Furthermore, anxiety about speaking a foreign language was negatively related to university students' willingness to communicate, and also partially mediated the relationship between motivation and willingness to communicate. The findings suggest that high motivation and low anxiety about speaking a foreign language are needed for Taiwanese students to demonstrate a stronger willingness to communicate.

  1. CLIL in physics lessons at grammar school

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Štefančínová, Iveta; Valovičová, Ľubomíra

    2017-01-01

    Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is one of the most outstanding approaches in foreign language teaching. This teaching method has promising prospects for the future of modern education as teaching subject and foreign languages are combined to offer a better preparation for life in Europe, especially when the mobility is becoming a highly significant factor of everyday life. We realized a project called Foreign languages in popularizing science at grammar school. Within the project five teachers with approbation subjects of English, French, German and Physics attended the methodological courses abroad. The teachers applied the gained experience in teaching and linking science teaching with the teaching of foreign languages. Outputs of the project (e.g. English-German-French-Slovak glossary of natural science terminology, student activity sheets, videos with natural science orientation in a foreign language, physical experiments in foreign languages, multimedia fairy tales with natural contents, posters of some scientists) are prepared for the CLIL-oriented lessons. We collected data of the questionnaire for students concerning attitude towards CLIL. The questionnaire for teachers showed data about the attitude, experience, and needs of teachers employing CLIL in their lessons.

  2. Foreign Language Instruction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sawyer, Jesse O.

    1964-01-01

    This brief review of research in foreign language instruction during 1961-63 summarizes, compares, and interprets related studies dealing withsuch topics as (1) the effects and value of foreign language instruction at different educational levels, (2) methods and materials, (3) testing, and (4) electromechanical aids, such as the language…

  3. Translation and Foreign Language Teaching.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tinsley, Royal L., Jr.

    Translators and teachers of foreign languages need each other: translators need formal academic training and recognition and teachers of foreign languages need students. Unfortunately, translators know only too well that most FL teachers are not competent translators, and FL Departments generally consider translation as an activity beneath the…

  4. 34 CFR 669.3 - What activities may the Secretary fund?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... methods for teaching foreign languages, including the use of advanced educational technology; (b) The development and dissemination of new materials for teaching foreign languages, to reflect the results of... teaching and learning of foreign languages. These activities must include effective dissemination efforts...

  5. 34 CFR 669.3 - What activities may the Secretary fund?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... methods for teaching foreign languages, including the use of advanced educational technology; (b) The development and dissemination of new materials for teaching foreign languages, to reflect the results of... teaching and learning of foreign languages. These activities must include effective dissemination efforts...

  6. 34 CFR 669.3 - What activities may the Secretary fund?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... methods for teaching foreign languages, including the use of advanced educational technology; (b) The development and dissemination of new materials for teaching foreign languages, to reflect the results of... teaching and learning of foreign languages. These activities must include effective dissemination efforts...

  7. 34 CFR 669.3 - What activities may the Secretary fund?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... methods for teaching foreign languages, including the use of advanced educational technology; (b) The development and dissemination of new materials for teaching foreign languages, to reflect the results of... teaching and learning of foreign languages. These activities must include effective dissemination efforts...

  8. Promoting Foreign Language Study Outside the Foreign Language Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roberts, Louis

    A substantial change in the core curriculum and general education requirements at Syracuse University provided the context for an interdisciplinary approach to encouraging foreign language study among undergraduates. A unique "continuing skill requirement" dictates that students in upper division courses sharpen and consolidate skills…

  9. Contextualizing Attitudes toward Pronunciation: Foreign Language Learners in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huensch, Amanda; Thompson, Amy S.

    2017-01-01

    While previous work has shown a relationship between pronunciation attitudes and pronunciation performance, the connection between language learning motivation and pronunciation attitudes has been underexplored. This study investigated the relationship between 195 foreign language learners' attitudes toward pronunciation, the foreign languages…

  10. Foreign Language Analysis and Recognition (FLARe) Initial Progress

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-11-29

    University Language Modeling ToolKit CoMMA Count Mediated Morphological Analysis CRUD Create, Read , Update & Delete CPAN Comprehensive Perl Archive...DATES COVERED (From - To) 1 October 2010 – 30 September 2012 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Foreign Language Analysis and Recognition (FLARe) Initial Progress...AFRL-RH-WP-TR-2012-0165 FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANALYSIS AND RECOGNITION (FLARE) INITIAL PROGRESS Brian M. Ore

  11. Examination of the Relationship between Autonomy and English Achievement as Mediated by Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ghorbandordinejad, Farhad; Ahmadabad, Roghayyeh Moradian

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated the relationship between autonomy and English language achievement among third-grade high school students as mediated by foreign language classroom anxiety in a city in the north-west of Iran. A sample of 400 students (187 males, and 213 females) was assessed for their levels of autonomy and foreign language anxiety using…

  12. Considerations psycho-socio-linguistiques sur la conception des programmes de cours pour etudiants etrangers (Psycholinguistic and Sociolinguistic Considerations on the Development of Language Programs for Foreign Students).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    James, Ken

    1981-01-01

    Discusses psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic questions relevant to the development of language programs for foreigners, such as student motivation, language aptitude, learning styles, cultural differences, language styles, and communicative competence. Focuses particularly on the cultural problems faced by a foreigner, as a student, client, and…

  13. Combining Formal and Informal Learning: The Use of an Application to Enhance Information Gathering and Sharing Competence in a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sato, Yukiko; Rachmawan, Irene Erlyn Wina; Brückner, Stefan; Waragai, Ikumi; Kiyoki, Yasushi

    2017-01-01

    This study aims to enhance foreign language learners' language competence by integrating formal and informal learning environments and considers how they can improve their grammatical and lexical skills through the gathering (comprehension) and sharing (writing) of information in the foreign language. Experiments with German learners at a Japanese…

  14. Europe versus Asia: Foreign Language Education Other than English in Japan's Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kobayashi, Yoko

    2013-01-01

    The era of Asia has been felt in foreign language education in Japan, with more and more youth reportedly opting to study Chinese and Korean as the second foreign language. The shift in popularity, from European to Asian languages, not only reflects the societal demand for the institutional rearrangement of academic staff but also stirs teachers…

  15. Living with a Foreign Tongue: An Autobiographical Narrative Inquiry into Identity in a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Wei

    2014-01-01

    Learning a second language involves the development of an identity in the target language. This study is an autobiographical narrative inquiry into the issue of identity in a foreign language. Autobiographical accounts of my relationship with, and my feelings about, English at different stages in my learning journey are developed to show how my…

  16. Realizing the Potential of Foreign Language Instruction. Selected Papers from the 1990 Central States Conference (22nd, St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1990).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ervin, Gerard L., Ed.; And Others

    Selected papers from the conference on the future of second language teaching include: "Reasons for Shame, Reasons for Pride: Foreign Languages and Democracy in America" (Mary Hatwood Futrell); "Present's Tense but Future's Perfect: A Twenty-First Century Case for Foreign Language" (Alan Garfinkel, Holly Schrank);…

  17. Rationale for Language Study. The Challenge of Communication. ACTFL Review of Foreign Language Education, Vol. 6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lippman, Jane N.

    Enrollment trends and factors that influence foreign language study in colleges and universities are discussed. Most college foreign language programs have emphasized the study of literature and have not been committed to the training of teachers or the teaching of civilization or culture. It appears that students' concern about the job market and…

  18. Affective Factors in Korean as a Foreign Language: Anxiety and Beliefs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jee, Min Jung

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated changes in levels of anxiety about learning a foreign language (FL) and in the language beliefs of first-year Korean-as-a-foreign-language (KFL) students in a US university throughout a year. Twelve students who enrolled in both of the two semesters of the first-year Korean I and II classes participated in this study. The…

  19. The Analysis of Cultural and Intercultural Elements in Mandarin as a Foreign Language Textbooks from Selected Malaysian Public Higher Education Institutions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fong, Chan Suet; DeWitt, Dorothy; Leng, Chin Hai

    2018-01-01

    Language cannot be taught outside the culture of the society. A foreign language learner needs to learn the context and the cultural elements to avoid conflicts and misunderstanding arising from differing values, beliefs, and customs. Hence, foreign language instruction needs to emphasise intercultural communicative competence and include cultural…

  20. Listening as a Method of Learning a Foreign Language at the Non-Language Faculty of the University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kondrateva, Irina G.; Safina, Minnisa S.; Valeev, Agzam A.

    2016-01-01

    Learning a foreign language is becoming an increasingly important with Russia's integration into the world community. In this regard, increased requirements for the educational process and the development of new innovative teaching methods meet the requirements of the time. One of the important aspects of learning a foreign language is listening…

  1. Group Dynamic Assessment in an Early Foreign Language Learning Program: Tracking Movement through the Zone of Proximal Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davin, Kristin Johnson

    2011-01-01

    Although researchers have begun to explore the implementation of dynamic assessment (DA) with foreign language learners, few of these studies have occurred in the language classroom. Whereas DA is typically implemented in dyads, promising research in the field of foreign language learning suggests that DA may promote development with groups of…

  2. Language Anxiety: A Case Study of the Perceptions and Experiences of Students of English as a Foreign Language in a Higher Education Institution in the United Arab Emirates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lababidi, Rola Ahmed

    2016-01-01

    This case study explores and investigates the perceptions and experiences of foreign language anxiety (FLA) among students of English as a Foreign Language in a Higher Education Institution in the United Arab Emirates. The first phase explored the scope and severity of language anxiety among all Foundation level male students at a college in the…

  3. SUBTLEX-CH: Chinese Word and Character Frequencies Based on Film Subtitles

    PubMed Central

    Cai, Qing; Brysbaert, Marc

    2010-01-01

    Background Word frequency is the most important variable in language research. However, despite the growing interest in the Chinese language, there are only a few sources of word frequency measures available to researchers, and the quality is less than what researchers in other languages are used to. Methodology Following recent work by New, Brysbaert, and colleagues in English, French and Dutch, we assembled a database of word and character frequencies based on a corpus of film and television subtitles (46.8 million characters, 33.5 million words). In line with what has been found in the other languages, the new word and character frequencies explain significantly more of the variance in Chinese word naming and lexical decision performance than measures based on written texts. Conclusions Our results confirm that word frequencies based on subtitles are a good estimate of daily language exposure and capture much of the variance in word processing efficiency. In addition, our database is the first to include information about the contextual diversity of the words and to provide good frequency estimates for multi-character words and the different syntactic roles in which the words are used. The word frequencies are freely available for research purposes. PMID:20532192

  4. Statistical Word Learning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haebig, Eileen; Saffran, Jenny R.; Ellis Weismer, Susan

    2017-01-01

    Background: Word learning is an important component of language development that influences child outcomes across multiple domains. Despite the importance of word knowledge, word-learning mechanisms are poorly understood in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined…

  5. 9 CFR 317.7 - Products for foreign commerce; printing labels in foreign language permissible; other deviations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Products for foreign commerce... DEVICES, AND CONTAINERS General § 317.7 Products for foreign commerce; printing labels in foreign language permissible; other deviations. Labels to be affixed to packages of products for foreign commerce may be...

  6. 9 CFR 317.7 - Products for foreign commerce; printing labels in foreign language permissible; other deviations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Products for foreign commerce... DEVICES, AND CONTAINERS General § 317.7 Products for foreign commerce; printing labels in foreign language permissible; other deviations. Labels to be affixed to packages of products for foreign commerce may be...

  7. 9 CFR 317.7 - Products for foreign commerce; printing labels in foreign language permissible; other deviations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Products for foreign commerce... DEVICES, AND CONTAINERS General § 317.7 Products for foreign commerce; printing labels in foreign language permissible; other deviations. Labels to be affixed to packages of products for foreign commerce may be...

  8. The role of simultaneous and successive processing in EFL reading.

    PubMed

    Filickova, Marta; Kovalcikova, Iveta; Ropovik, Ivan

    2016-10-01

    This study examines the relationship between simultaneous and successive processing (the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive processing [PASS] theory processes) and reading skills in English as a foreign language (EFL). A group of 81 children were administered two batteries of tests. One was used to measure EFL reading skills, while the other one assessed simultaneous and successive processing. We hypothesised (a) cognitive processes to predict reading ability, as well as (b) the presence of a significant relationship between (c) simultaneous processing and reading comprehension and (d) successive processing and letter and word decoding. The findings confirmed that the anticipated relationships between these domains exist and are of moderate effect size. The research has helped to contribute to the understanding of how simultaneous and successive processing can affect EFL reading skills both on the level of basic word and letter decoding and reading comprehension. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

  9. A dataset on human navigation strategies in foreign networked systems

    PubMed Central

    Kőrösi, Attila; Csoma, Attila; Rétvári, Gábor; Heszberger, Zalán; Bíró, József; Tapolcai, János; Pelle, István; Klajbár, Dávid; Novák, Márton; Halasi, Valentina; Gulyás, András

    2018-01-01

    Humans are involved in various real-life networked systems. The most obvious examples are social and collaboration networks but the language and the related mental lexicon they use, or the physical map of their territory can also be interpreted as networks. How do they find paths between endpoints in these networks? How do they obtain information about a foreign networked world they find themselves in, how they build mental model for it and how well they succeed in using it? Large, open datasets allowing the exploration of such questions are hard to find. Here we report a dataset collected by a smartphone application, in which players navigate between fixed length source and destination English words step-by-step by changing only one letter at a time. The paths reflect how the players master their navigation skills in such a foreign networked world. The dataset can be used in the study of human mental models for the world around us, or in a broader scope to investigate the navigation strategies in complex networked systems. PMID:29533391

  10. Plasticity in the adult language system: a longitudinal electrophysiological study on second language learning.

    PubMed

    Stein, M; Dierks, T; Brandeis, D; Wirth, M; Strik, W; Koenig, T

    2006-11-01

    Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to trace changes in brain activity related to progress in second language learning. Twelve English-speaking exchange students learning German in Switzerland were recruited. ERPs to visually presented single words from the subjects' native language (English), second language (German) and an unknown language (Romansh) were measured before (day 1) and after (day 2) 5 months of intense German language learning. When comparing ERPs to German words from day 1 and day 2, we found topographic differences between 396 and 540 ms. These differences could be interpreted as a latency shift indicating faster processing of German words on day 2. Source analysis indicated that the topographic differences were accounted for by shorter activation of left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) on day 2. In ERPs to English words, we found Global Field Power differences between 472 and 644 ms. This may due to memory traces related to English words being less easily activated on day 2. Alternatively, it might reflect the fact that--with German words becoming familiar on day 2--English words loose their oddball character and thus produce a weaker P300-like effect on day 2. In ERPs to Romansh words, no differences were observed. Our results reflect plasticity in the neuronal networks underlying second language acquisition. They indicate that with a higher level of second language proficiency, second language word processing is faster and requires shorter frontal activation. Thus, our results suggest that the reduced IFG activation found in previous fMRI studies might not reflect a generally lower activation but rather a shorter duration of activity.

  11. Foreign Languages: Key Links in the Chain of Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mead, Robert G., Jr., Ed.

    The articles discuss the necessity of including foreign language as an integral part of the curriculum at all levels of instruction. The following chapters are included: "Elementary School Foreign Language: Key Link in the Chain of Learning" (rationale, innovations, immersion programs, and interdisciplinary approaches); "Foreign…

  12. Computer-Assisted Foreign Language Teaching and Learning: Technological Advances

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zou, Bin; Xing, Minjie; Wang, Yuping; Sun, Mingyu; Xiang, Catherine H.

    2013-01-01

    Computer-Assisted Foreign Language Teaching and Learning: Technological Advances highlights new research and an original framework that brings together foreign language teaching, experiments and testing practices that utilize the most recent and widely used e-learning resources. This comprehensive collection of research will offer linguistic…

  13. Teachers' Judgements of Students' Foreign-Language Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhu, Mingjing; Urhahne, Detlef

    2015-01-01

    Numerous studies have been conducted on the accuracy of teacher judgement in different educational areas such as mathematics, language arts and reading. Teacher judgement of students' foreign-language achievement, however, has been rarely investigated. The study aimed to examine the accuracy of teacher judgement of students' foreign-language…

  14. 34 CFR 656.5 - What activities may be carried out?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTERS PROGRAM FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDIES OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES General § 656.5 What activities may be carried out? (a... following purposes: (1) Linkage or outreach between foreign language, area studies, and other international...

  15. Internet Anxiety among Foreign Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aydin, Selami

    2011-01-01

    Little attention has been paid to the demotivating potential of new technologies in foreign language research. Thus, this study aims to investigate Internet anxiety among foreign language learners and to determine the relationships between Internet anxiety and certain variables. A background questionnaire, an Internet information test, and an…

  16. 5 CFR 9901.364 - Foreign language proficiency pay.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Foreign language proficiency pay. 9901... NATIONAL SECURITY PERSONNEL SYSTEM (NSPS) Pay and Pay Administration Premium Pay § 9901.364 Foreign language proficiency pay. (a) General provisions. (1) This section applies to employees who may be paid...

  17. Mandarin-English Bilinguals Process Lexical Tones in Newly Learned Words in Accordance with the Language Context.

    PubMed

    Quam, Carolyn; Creel, Sarah C

    2017-01-01

    Previous research has mainly considered the impact of tone-language experience on ability to discriminate linguistic pitch, but proficient bilingual listening requires differential processing of sound variation in each language context. Here, we ask whether Mandarin-English bilinguals, for whom pitch indicates word distinctions in one language but not the other, can process pitch differently in a Mandarin context vs. an English context. Across three eye-tracked word-learning experiments, results indicated that tone-intonation bilinguals process tone in accordance with the language context. In Experiment 1, 51 Mandarin-English bilinguals and 26 English speakers without tone experience were taught Mandarin-compatible novel words with tones. Mandarin-English bilinguals out-performed English speakers, and, for bilinguals, overall accuracy was correlated with Mandarin dominance. Experiment 2 taught 24 Mandarin-English bilinguals and 25 English speakers novel words with Mandarin-like tones, but English-like phonemes and phonotactics. The Mandarin-dominance advantages observed in Experiment 1 disappeared when words were English-like. Experiment 3 contrasted Mandarin-like vs. English-like words in a within-subjects design, providing even stronger evidence that bilinguals can process tone language-specifically. Bilinguals (N = 58), regardless of language dominance, attended more to tone than English speakers without Mandarin experience (N = 28), but only when words were Mandarin-like-not when they were English-like. Mandarin-English bilinguals thus tailor tone processing to the within-word language context.

  18. Examination of the Relationship Between Autonomy and English Achievement as Mediated by Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety.

    PubMed

    Ghorbandordinejad, Farhad; Ahmadabad, Roghayyeh Moradian

    2016-06-01

    This study investigated the relationship between autonomy and English language achievement among third-grade high school students as mediated by foreign language classroom anxiety in a city in the north-west of Iran. A sample of 400 students (187 males, and 213 females) was assessed for their levels of autonomy and foreign language anxiety using the Autonomy Questionnaire and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), respectively. Participants' scores on their final English exam were also used as the measurement of their English achievement. The results of Pearson correlation revealed a strong correlation between learners' autonomy and their English achievement (r [Formula: see text] .406, n [Formula: see text] 400, [Formula: see text]). Also, foreign language classroom anxiety was found to be significantly and negatively correlated with English achievement (r [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text].472, n [Formula: see text] 400, [Formula: see text]). Hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess the ability of autonomy to predict language learning achievement, after controlling for the influence of anxiety. In sum, the results of hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that foreign language classroom anxiety significantly mediates the relationship between autonomy and English language achievement. Implications for both teachers and learners, and suggestions for further research are provided.

  19. Doctoral Degrees Granted in Foreign Languages in the United States: 1995.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benseler, David P.; And Others

    1996-01-01

    Lists doctoral degrees granted in the United States in African languages and literatures; Celtic languages and literatures; comparative literature; foreign-/second-language acquisition and teaching; French, Germanic, and Italian languages and literatures; theoretical linguistics; Near and Middle Eastern languages and literatures; and Portuguese,…

  20. Automatically Detecting Authors’ Native Language

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-03-01

    exploring stylistic idiosyncrasies in the author’s writing [15]. Kop- pel used the data from International Corpus of Learner English version 1, which is... stylistic feature sets such as function words, letter n-grams, and er- rors and idiosyncrasies [15]. 1. Function words: 400 specific function words were...language on the choice of written second language words. Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Aspects of Computation Language Acquisition, pp. 9–16

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