Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: aptitud lingüística

Resumen:

Despite previous research having demonstrated the comparative effects of processing instruction and output-based instruction, further investigation is required to examine the relationships between individual differences in cognitive abilities and these instructional types. This study investigated the associations among three instructional approaches and learners’ language aptitude and working memory in acquiring four Chinese classifiers. Eighty-six second language (L2) Chinese learners from one Chinese university were divided into three experimental groups – processing instruction (PI), meaning-based output instruction (MOI), combined instruction (CI) – and a control group. Tests measuring treatment effects included an untimed grammatical judgment test and an oral elicited imitation test. The LLAMA test and a counting span task were...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: estrategias de aprendizaje

Resumen:

Major advances have been made in understanding language learning strategies (LLS). However, rapid changes in human interaction induced by the internet and web 2.0 warrant a re-assessment of LLS in today’s context, especially vis-à-vis digital nativeness. Therefore, a large-scale quantitative investigation involving 891 college students was conducted. Their LLS use patterns and frequency and their level of digital fluency were examined using two instruments: Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and Teo’s Digital Natives Assessment Scale (DNAS). The participants reported moderate usage of all the strategies described in SILL. However, they reported using specific SILL categories (compensation, memory, and metacognitive) more frequently than others (social, cognitive, and affective). Participants with different levels...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: feedback/retroalimentación

Resumen:

This study explored the relative effect of recasts on second language (L2) Korean learners’ accuracy development of the object relative clauses (RCs) and the honorific subject–verb (S-V) agreement in Korean and its relationship with language analytic ability (LAA). Forty-five L2 Korean learners participated in the study and five Korean native speakers participated as their dyadic partners. The learners were assigned into the recast group (n = 27) and the control group (n = 18). The recast group received recasts to their errors of the target forms from an interlocutor, a native Korean speaker, during their engagement in four communicative activities, but no recasts were provided to the control group. Three language tests (i.e. a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest) to measure accuracy development and a LAA test were...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: factores afectivos

Resumen:

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In line with current trends in the field to reduce the number of items in scales and to provide thorough validation evidence, the study aimed to develop and validate a short-form version of the 21-item Boredom in Learning English Outside of School (BLEOS) scale. A multinational dataset of n = 1,133 participants was divided into two samples: the first sample was used to develop the Short-form Boredom in Learning English Outside of School (S-BLEOS) scale while the second sample was used to validate the scale. Development efforts included examining the underlying factor structure of the 21-item scale and selecting items through a combination of factor loadings, item reliabilities, and inter-item...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: propuesta didáctica

Temas: materiales audiovisuales

Resumen:

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El cine nos ofrece numerosas posibilidades de explotación didáctica en el aula de E/LE, por tratarse de una prestigiosa fuente de ocio, en la que se representan los valores culturales propios. Es un material adecuado para trabajar las variantes de la lengua y acostumbra al alumno a la variedad de registros y a los diferentes sociolectos, dialectos y acentos. En suma, es un material potente porque aporta los aspectos esenciales de acto comunicativo. En este artículo, presentamos el proyecto realizado con estudiantes brasileños de segundo año de bachiller con un nivel de español A2, en el cual se utilizó el cine como herramienta didáctica para desarrollar la competencia comunicativa, la creatividad y...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: cognición y procesamiento

Resumen:

This study examined the effects of working memory and topic familiarity on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ oral performance from psycholinguistic perspective. Sixty-one sophomores majoring in English from a university in China were divided into high and low working memory capacity groups to perform two oral tasks of familiar and unfamiliar topics. The results demonstrated that working memory exerted significant effect on accuracy, fluency and overall grade, but no significant effect on syntactic or lexical complexity was found. Topic familiarity significantly affected lexical complexity, accuracy, fluency and overall grade, but syntactic complexity remained unaffected. Moreover, working memory and topic familiarity had significant interaction effects on fluency. Participants with high working memory capacity achieved the...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: expresión oral

Resumen:

Within the same learning context, learners’ outcomes in terms of oral fluency vary greatly. This study tracked the relative contributions that first language (L1) and initial second language (L2) fluency skill and working memory (WM) made to L2 fluency development. We assessed the performance of French-speaking Grade 6 learners’ (n = 47, mean age: 11) in a 10-month intensive English program in Quebec, Canada using a picture-cue monologic task based on The Suitcase Story and a semi-structured interview based on the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). Working memory was assessed using a backward digit span task and phonological memory (PM) via non-word repetition and serial non-word recognition tasks. Overall, results suggest that L1 fluency, WM and PM played only a minor role in learners’ L2 fluency outcomes, whereas learners’ pre-...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: factores afectivos

Resumen:

Willingness to communicate (WTC), which plays a crucial role in second or foreign language learning, has a dynamic and complex nature, fluctuating during communicative events. This study examines how the situational WTC of four Japanese speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL) emerges and fluctuates, focusing on the roles of language proficiency and affective and conditional factors. Low-intermediate and advanced speakers were engaged in an interactive, communicative activity with an interlocutor. All utterances were recorded, transcribed, and analysed and combined with the qualitative data from participants’ self-ratings and a stimulated recall interview after the activity to assess fluctuations in WTC. The findings indicate that levels of WTC are influenced differently between low-intermediate and advanced speakers. Although...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: factores afectivos

Resumen:

The present study investigated how second or foreign language (L2) learners cope with boredom in class, using Q methodology. The participants were 40 undergraduate English majors (12 male, 28 female). By-person factor analysis identified three coping profiles, namely, acceptors , escapers , and strivers . The acceptors viewed coping as a personal responsibility and acknowledged boredom as a natural and temporary emotion. These learners reminded themselves of the value of the lesson, reflected on the causes of boredom, and planned to prepare for future situations, showing a reflective and mindful attitude. The escapers tackled boredom through mental or behavioral disengagement. They tended to distract themselves or share their feelings with peers. While they avoided confronting boredom directly, they neither blamed themselves nor the...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: lexicografía

Resumen:

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En este estudio, parto de la base de que, por un lado, no todos los estudiantes de E/LE de un mismo nivel tienen las mismas necesidades, al intervenir diferentes variables que permiten diferenciar a un estudiante de otro; por otro lado, es necesario emplear el diccionario como herramienta de aprendizaje activo y autónomo del léxico de E/LE. Para ello, y a partir de mis experiencias prácticas en el aula sobre el uso del diccionario monolingüe de aprendizaje de E/LE (DIMAELE) con estudiantes italianos de E/LE, presentaré, en primer lugar, una breve justificación sobre su uso en el aula. En segundo lugar, expondré la idea argumentada de que los DIMAELE existentes deben mejorar la representación de las...

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