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20230719T101520230719T1800Europe/Amsterdam[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied LinguisticsHybrid Session (onsite/online)AILA 2023 - 20th Anniversary Congress Lyon Editioncellule.congres@ens-lyon.fr
"Digital influencing" and its learning potentials in multilingual classrooms
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics10:45 AM - 11:15 AM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 08:45:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 09:15:00 UTC
Digital influencing and its learning potentials in multilingual classrooms
Recently, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research advertised a funding program that deals with language learning and teaching in today's immigration society. One of the main concerns is to relate language education in school to the various places where students learn languages in their everyday environment. Our talk will focus on "digital influencing", a communicative genre with increasing popularity among pupils and students. Digital influencers use media platforms such as Instagram or YouTube to influence audience's behavior. Accordingly, the overarching illocution of the texts is a directive one. This overall purpose, however, is achieved by an ensemble of different illocutions and patterns of linguistic action, such as assertions and reasoning. We will analyze the structure of some examples of digital influencing in different languages to reconstruct learning potentials that may be of great use in educational settings. This will include suggestions of how to make use of multilingualism in classrooms and to promote critical media literacy at the same time.
In recent years there have been an increasing demand among scholars and in politics to relate institutionalized forms of language learning to learners' everyday activities (BMBF 2021, Bührig 2021 and – earlier – Schlickau 2009). In our presentation, we would like to focus on "(digital) influencing", a genre that is rapidly becoming more popular across age groups and which can be assumed to increasingly penetrate everyday life. For example, influencer advertising in Germany is expected to almost double in volume between 2020 and 2024 (Statista 2021). Also, we observe numerous students currently opting for theses examining this topic. Since "influencing" takes place using so-called "pull media", users actively engage with the content. From a linguistic point of view, it is thus an interesting and complex form of language use that aims to induce recipients to take a certain action or change their attitude(s). In this respect, the text function, which is in principle directive, is realized through different linguistic actions or linguistic action patterns such as asserting, justifying, arguing, etc. We moreover hold that it is highly advisable to examine "influencing" and its learning potentials against the background of multilingualism. In our presentation, communicative structures will be analyzed and compared using examples from different languages. On the basis of our empirical findings, we will evaluate the suitability of "influencing" as a "Querstrebe" ("crossbar", Bührig 2021) for institutional language support. We expect our results to be highly beneficial for the promotion of multilingualism. In everyday life, multilingual pupils or students may often watch, listen to, or read digital influencers' products in their heritage language, but probably make them the subject of a conscious examination of their multilingualism to a limited extent at best. Such a conscious examination can be promoted by introducing parts of this material into the context of a language lesson. As experts of their heritage languages (using 'multilingualism as a resource'), multilingual students might explain the structure of "their" materials so that the entire group can understand that purposes of action are sometimes realized through different linguistic forms in different languages. In that manner, such an approach will also promote intercultural competence.
Bührig, Kristin (2021) Praxen des Kritisierens: Befunde und Perspektiven aus sprachwissenschaftlicher Sicht. In: Job, Ulrike (Hg.) (2021) Kritisches Denken. Verantwortung der Geisteswissenschaften. Tübingen: Narr, Francke, Attempto (71-91).
Schlickau, Stephan (2009) Neue Medien in der Sprach- und Kulturvermittlung: Pragmatik – Didaktik – Interkulturelle Kommunikation (=Hildesheimer Schriften zur Interkulturellen Kommunikation, Band 1). Frankfurt/Main etc.: Lang.
Social Network Analysis in Language Teaching and Learning: Lessons and Possibilities
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics11:15 AM - 11:45 AM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 09:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 09:45:00 UTC
Social network analysis is an emerging field of research in Applied Linguistics; the scope and utility of mapping the social realities of language learners is yet to be determined. Although sociocultural research in language learning has long recognized the primacy of social interaction for language development, our understanding of the role of relationships in language learning is still insufficient to support our students in our classrooms and beyond. There are many questions that social network analysis can help teachers, learners, and researchers to answer agentively: How important are families, friends, acquaintances, and teachers for language learning or developing a multilingual identity? What qualities in a relationship matter most for learning a new language? How do relationships change over time and how do these changing connections affect language learning or language attitudes? Given the complexities of language teaching in a globally fraught political context, I will argue that social network analysis offers precisely the kind of information we need to understand student agency within the sociocultural and structural constraints (and opportunities) of classroom learning.
Social network analysis is an emerging field of research in Applied Linguistics; the scope and utility of mapping the social realities of language learners is yet to be determined. Although sociocultural research in language learning has long recognized the primacy of social interaction for language development, our understanding of the role of relationships in language learning is still insufficient to support our students in our classrooms and beyond. There are many questions that social network analysis can help teachers, learners, and researchers to answer agentively: How important are families, friends, acquaintances, and teachers for language learning or developing a multilingual identity? What qualities in a relationship matter most for learning a new language? How do relationships change over time and how do these changing connections affect language learning or language attitudes? These questions and many others should be asked by language teachers and language learners. In this talk, I will consider the lessons and possibilities of social network analysis in language teaching and language learning at a time of global challenge and opportunity. Social network analysis is in many ways tailored to this moment where language learning is defined by its complexity, mobility, and innovation within an ever-expanding set of transnational and multilingual learning contexts (The Douglas Fir Group, 2016). The global COVID-19 crisis highlighted the interconnectedness of us. It is in this moment of realization that understanding the multilingual resources students recruit, accrue, and access via their social networks can contribute to understanding language learning in all the unique settings around the world, many very far from the university foreign language classroom. The transdisciplinary nature of research on social networks in language learning and language teaching is both a strength and a hurdle. Who is utilizing this tool and how is the understanding that is generated being used? Who are the stakeholders and what form will the research take? I will argue that in the hands of teacher-researchers and students, the collaborative use of social network analysis offers language teachers an incredible tool for understanding the social support that students access within and beyond classrooms. Relationships are powerful yet underutilized assets for language learning. Current work with social networks in applied linguistics builds on our understanding of relational ties as the invisible framework that supports language learning in classrooms and other social spaces. Engaging this perspective to better understand how languages are learned can shift pedagogical focus towards the development of the social relationships that motivate and sustain language learning, including multilingual families, peers, and communities. Given the complexities of language teaching in a globally fraught political context, I will argue that social network analysis offers precisely the kind of information we need to understand student agency within the sociocultural and structural constraints (and opportunities) of classroom learning. But only, if we are able to engage in this research collaboratively.
Presenters Avary CARHILL-POZA Professor Of Applied Linguistics, University Of Massachusetts Boston
Use of digital sources in writing a graduate thesis
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics11:45 AM - 12:15 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 09:45:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 10:15:00 UTC
Academic writing is a complex and cognitively demanding task, which entails that students search, read and critically evaluate a substantial number of sources that are then synthesised and incorporated in the students' own texts. This ability of using sources efficiently is a cornerstone to academic literacy (Cumming et al., 2016), while the way how students handle the sources affects the text quality (Leijten et al., 2019). To our knowledge, research on the use of sources in writing longer authentic academic texts over an extended period of time is scarce (cf. Ivanov et al., 2022). The aim of this paper is to analyse what kind of, when and how digital sources are used in the process of writing a graduate thesis (15 ECTS) in the teacher education programme through the lens of Simple View of Writing (Berninger & Amtmann, 2003). The data was collected using a keystroke logging software (Inputlog), that recorded all events on the participant's laptop in 62 writing sessions of approximately 258 hours over 9 weeks. The recording was administered by the participating student, a 46-year-old female, at the end of her education for primary school teacher. The in-built function of Inputlog was used to analyse the data quantitatively to provide a picture of when and to which extent the student used digital sources, while manual qualitative analysis was used first to categorise the sources and establish at what stage of the text production they were consulted and then to reveal how these individual sources were incorporated in the student thesis. The results show how digital sources are used to compose the body of the thesis as well as to monitor the writing process and revise the thesis. For example, less than one third of the consulted peer reviewed articles were used in the final version of the thesis. The fine analysis of how they formed the thesis is ongoing. The results may inform the instruction in literature searching and referencing while writing a graduate thesis as well as contribute to students' awareness of how digital sources can be efficiently used.
References Berninger, W. V. & Amtmann, D. (2003). Preventing written expression disabilities through early and continuing assessment and intervention for handwriting and/or spelling problems: Research into practice. In R. Karen & S. Graham (Eds.), Handbook of Learning Disabilities (pp. 345–363). The Guilford Press. Cumming, A., Lai, C., & Cho, H. (2016). Students' writing from sources for academic purposes: a synthesis of recent research. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 23, 47–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2016.06.002 Ivanov, S., Johansson, A., & Waldmann, C. (2022). Writing Fluency and Digital Source Use in Authentic Academic Writing. HumaNetten, 48, 262–289. https://doi.org/10.15626/hn.20224811 Leijten, M., Van Waes, L., Schrijver, I., Bernolet, S., & Vangehuchten, L. (2019). Mapping master's students' use of external sources in source-based writing in L1 and L2. Studies in Second LanguageAcquisition, 41(3), 555–582. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263119000251
Artificial Intelligence, quasi-otherness and the Posthumanist Applied Linguistics
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics12:15 PM - 12:45 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 10:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 10:45:00 UTC
This paper contributes to the concept and practice of a posthumanist Applied Linguistics, as proposed by Alastair Pennycook, with a broader focus on human-machine sociotechnical relations. An alternative to the tradition of human-computer interaction research in Computer Science is sought in favour of a language-in-use perspective to address the challenges imposed on social, educational and civic participation practice by the insertion of algorithms and conversational agents in anthropocentrist discourse communities. The concept of quasi-otherness, drawn from post-phenomenology, is applied to the study of interactions between humans and artificial intelligence agents, designed to share human interaction spaces and social activities using natural language. The concept of quasi-alterity allows for a posthumanist approach to conversation and discourse analysis not only because it supports the principle of symmetry among humans and non-humans put forward by Bruno Latour, but also because it helps clarify misconceptions and inadequate metaphors that hinder the investigation of human-plus-non-human meaning-making. This theoretical inroad supports an inventory of precautionary methodological principles for research on artificial intelligence and language-in-use by applied linguists of both humanist and non-humanist backgrounds.
Computer science seeks to build "transparent" human-machine interfaces through a series of techniques in natural language processing powered by machine-learning that generate probabilistic models of human-to-human conversations. The relatively success of such formalist, behaviorist approach in more or less controlled usage contexts is acknowledged by both computer scientists and the general public, who employ anthropomorphic metaphors which point to a certain (language) ideology that applied linguistics needs to problematize.
While a subject-object stance on these metaphors would easily dismiss them as playful anthropomorphism, a more symmetrical approach to artificial intelligence (henceforth AI) language-processing technologies can take the human-machine relation implied to the next level and, thus, open important issues for research in a posthumanist Applied Linguistics (Pennycook, 2018). I argue that post-phenomenology has an important contribution to make in this agenda because it seeks to describe the human-machine relation from the internal structure of the experience, consequently, outside the subject/object divide.
Postphenomenlogy analyzes the character of the bodily-perceptual relations human beings have with technology and the ways technologies affect human relations with the world (Rosenberger & Verbeek, 2015). Among these are "alterity relations", in which the device becomes a presence with a "quasi-other" quality (Ihde, 1990). To what extent are the language choices and language performances of users affected by this quasi-alterity is an example of the research questions opened for a posthumanist applied linguist. Wittkower Wittkower (2022, p.357), for example, argues that interfaces based on "encoded pseudo-mental contents" require the user to conceptualize intentionality and knowledge (a theory of mind) in the device for it to work properly. In other words, the allegedly intelligent device imposes on the user certain uses of natural language which, in turn, require a second order understanding" of the machine`s pseudo-understanding (Wittkower, 2022, p. 261).
This example alone supports the need for certain precautionary methodological principles in the study of natural language used in quasi-alterity relations with AI. Namely, one needs to investigate not only the utterances by the machine and the human user, but also how the second-order understanding by the user restricts her (first-order) use of language towards the device. This argument is part of the preliminary findings of an ongoing research project. These findings suggest that a post-phenomenological approach to human-AI helps a posthumanist Applied Linguistics protect itself from anthropomorphisms that obscure, instead of eroding, the subject/object dichotomy.
References:
Ihde, D. (1990). Technology and the lifeworld: From garden to earth. Indiana University Press. Pennycook, A. (Org.). (2018). Posthumanist Applied Linguistics. Routledge. Rosenberger, R., & Verbeek, P.-P. (Orgs.). (2015). Postphenomenological investigations: Essays on human-technology relations. Lexington Books. Wittkower, D. E. (2022). What Is It Like to Be a Bot? Em S. Vallor (Org.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology (p. 357–373). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190851187.013.23
Effects of Classroom Environment on L2 Learners’ Affective Factors
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics03:00 PM - 03:25 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 13:00:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 13:25:00 UTC
This study aims at exploring the influence of classroom environment (CE) on learners' affective factors. Recent studies have reported that CE has a significant impact on learners' affections and consequently on the progress of L2 learning (e,g., Khajavy, MacIntyre & Barabadi, 2018). This is especially true in the EFL context, where there are few opportunities to use the target language outside of the classroom. In such a context, classroom is an essential basis of using and communicating in the target language and therefore it has a greater influence on learners' emotions and L2 progress (Peng & Woodrow, 2010).
However, to our knowledge, a handful of studies has been implemented to examine the effects of CE on learners' emotions. Among them, Khajavy, MacIntyre and Barabadi (2018) report that positive CE increases EFL secondary-level learners' enjoyment and willingness to communicate (WTC) whereas it decreases their anxiety. Still, more studies conducted in a different context are awaited to apply the findings to classroom teaching practice. This study therefore attempts to replicate Khajavy, MacIntyre, and Barabadi (2018) at tertiary level in the Japanese EFL context and to reveal the effects of CE on learners' affections by adding relatively new concepts of their mindset (Dweck, 2006) and grit (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009).
Participants were Japanese-university students learning EFL. They were voluntarily asked to respond to two types of inventories; CE inventory and affective factors inventory. The former, originally developed by Peng & Woodrow (2010), consists of 13 items covering three types of CE factors, i.e., (a) teacher support, (b) student cohesiveness, and (c) task orientation. The latter is composed of 17 items for three kinds of affective factors: (a) enjoyment and (b) anxiety of learning EFL, and (c) WTC. In addition, data are collected on language learners' mindset (18 items, Lou & Noels, 2017) and grit (eight items, Duckworth & Quinn, 2009).
The data collected were analyzed by using the structural equation model. The results showed that positive CE increases participants' enjoyment and WTC, and decreases their anxiety, whereas it does not influence their mindset and grit. In the presentation, latest results will be reported in full detail, especially comparing with Khajavy, MacIntyre, and Barabadi (2018). Implications for future research and pedagogy will also be discussed.
Duckworth, A.L, & Quinn, P.D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 166-174. Dweck, C. S. 2006. Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House. Khajavy, G.H., MacIntyre, P.-D., & Barabadi, E. (2018). Role of the emotions and classroom environment in willingness to communicate: Applying doubly latent multilevel analysis in second language acquisition research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40(3), 605-624. Lou, N. M., & Noels, K. A. (2017). Measuring language mindsets and modeling their relations with goal orientations and emotional and behavioral responses in failure situations. The Modern Language Journal, 101, 214–243. Peng, J.-E., & Woodrow, L. (2010). Willingness to communicate in English: A model in the Chinese EFL classroom context. Language Learning, 60(4), 834-876.
Playing with gestures and memory: Evidence of L2 grammatical morpheme learning
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics03:25 PM - 03:50 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 13:25:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 13:50:00 UTC
For about one third of children and adolescents in Germany, the language of schooling is not their first or only first language (Bryant & Rinker, 2021). This generates a particular need to understand practice activities which balance demands and support for learning (Muñoz, 2007). When perceiving a sequence of events, it is often possible to predict the next item (Grisoni et al., 2017). Given that many young L2 learners of English struggle with using grammatical morphemes, such as the plural {-s} and possessive {-s}, and that predictive processes play an important role in learning, it is unsurprising that researchers have called for experiments to determine which gestures help, and have mentioned linguistic units as relevant (Gullberg, 2013, p. 1872). Since instructional gestures can be independent of any given first language, teaching gestures may be particularly useful when teaching multilingual students. The current study (N = 19) was conducted to ask whether gestures which embody grammatical morphemes during group instruction can contribute to procedural learning. To explore this issue, the speeded fragment completion task (Heyman et al., 2015) was adapted for gesture and used to assess response time before and after learning. In week 1 and 3 in a self-paced task, children completed 32 phrases such as the car's wind_w (window) or the cars cr_sh (crash). All phrases were completed in both a two-gesture condition (which visually distinguished between the plural and possessive "s") and a one-gesture condition (with a single "s" gesture). In week 2 training consisted of four hours of classroom activities aimed at encouraging learners to work together to create multisensory mental representations of these same L2 constructions. Some activities, such as performing gestures for word-picture pairs, took place in one large group. Other games such as "Gesture Memory" were played in small groups (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Sample Gesture Memory items (images adapted from Unsplash) A linear mixed effects model fit to participants' button press latencies shows a decrease in mean response times after instruction in the two-gesture test condition (p = .039*). This increase in procedural learning suggests that diverse learners can benefit from embodied L2 group instruction visually distinguishing between grammatical morphemes which differ in meaning but sound the same. References Bryant, D., & Rinker, T. (2021). Der Erwerb des Deutschen im Kontext von Mehrsprachigkeit. Narr Francke Attempto. Grisoni, L., Miller, T. M., & Pulvermüller, F. (2017). Neural Correlates of Semantic Prediction and Resolution in Sentence Processing. The Journal of Neuroscience, 37(18), 4848–4858. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2800-16.2017 Gullberg, M. (2013). Gestures and second language acquisition. In C. Müller, A. J. Cienki, E. Fricke, S. H. Ladewig, D. McNeill, & S. Tessendorf (Eds.), Body-Language-Communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction (pp. 1868–1875). De Gruyter Mouton. Heyman, T., De Deyne, S., Hutchison, K. A., & Storms, G. (2015). Using the speeded word fragment completion task to examine semantic priming. Behavior Research Methods, 47(2), 580–606. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-014-0496-5 Muñoz, C. (2007). Age-related differences and second language learning practice. In R. DeKeyser (Ed.), Practice in a Second Language: Perspectives from Applied Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology (pp. 229–255). CUP. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667275.014
Promoting Second Language Development of English Modality Through Online Concept-Based Language Instruction: A Mixed Methods Study
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics03:50 PM - 04:15 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 13:50:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 14:15:00 UTC
This study developed and examined the effectiveness of an online concept-based language instruction (C-BLI) platform on the second language (L2) development of English modality, using a sequential explanatory mixed methods design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). The focus on modality was chosen because of its importance in communication, the difficulty it causes for L2 learners, and the lack of effective treatment in textbooks (Tyler, 2012). This online C-BLI platform is grounded in sociocultural theory (SCT; Lantolf & Poehner, 2014) and cognitive linguistic (CL) analysis of modality (Sweetser, 1990; Talmy, 1988), with the former providing a developmental framework and the latter offering a linguistic framework. C-BLI based on synergy between the two is known to facilitate L2 development, particularly of complex linguistic features (Lantolf et al., 2021). However, to date no C-BLI study has focused on modality or delivered instruction with a fully computerized system. E-tutors are promising for enabling access to effective instruction, especially since SCT and CL are often unfamiliar to instructors and because it is difficult to translate them into rigorous and accessible pedagogical materials (Tyler, 2012). In Phase 1 (instructional intervention), 78 L2 English learners at a US university were randomly assigned to concept-based instruction, rule-based instruction, or a control group. Learners' language use and conceptual understanding were measured before, immediately after, and one week after online learning, using multiple-choice and language analysis tasks. Results showed that learners in the C-BLI group made statistically significant and large gains in their conceptual understanding over time, and also demonstrated a clear advantage over the other two groups. The gains in their language use scores, however, were less sizeable. In order to gain further insights into these quantitative results and better understand the effectiveness of online C-BLI, six learners were systematically selected for Phase 2 (longitudinal follow-up), based on a cluster analysis of Phase 1 data. Learners' observations, understanding, and use of modality in daily life, and the roles of in-person mediation, were documented by language journal, journal discussion, and interview. Findings from this study offer further evidence on using SCT and CL to inform L2 instruction and understand learner development. Methodologically, the use and strengths of principled integration in mixed methods research are exemplified. Pedagogically, similar theoretically-motivated and empirically-tested e-tutors can be developed for other L2s and other complex linguistic features.
References: Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Sage. Lantolf, J. P., & Poehner, M. E. (2014). Sociocultural theory and the pedagogical imperative in L2 education: Vygotskian praxis and the research/practice divide. Routledge. Lantolf, J. P., Xi, J., & Minakova, V. (2021). Sociocultural theory and concept-based language instruction. Language Teaching, 54(3), 327–342. Sweetser, E. (1990). From etymology to pragmatics: Metaphorical and cultural aspects of semantic structure. Cambridge University Press. Talmy, L. (1988). Force dynamics in language and cognition. Cognitive Science, 12, 49–100. Tyler, A. (2012). Cognitive linguistics and second language learning: Theoretical basics and experimental evidence. Routledge.
Parental influence on children’s L2 English motivation
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics04:15 PM - 04:40 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 14:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 14:40:00 UTC
This study explores parental influence on children's L2 motivation and the internalization process of parents' beliefs on L2 learning. Drawing on the self-determination theory (SDT) framework (Ryan & Deci, 2017), it focuses on parental involvement in children's L2 learning at home using a mixed-method approach. In the first phase, 212 parent–child (aged 8–12 years) dyads participated in the quantitative study to reveal the relationship between parents' beliefs and children's affective variables. Structural equation modeling analysis displayed that children's perception of parental involvement positively influenced their perceived competence and interest in other countries, affecting their L2 learning motivation. In the second phase, the interview data were collected from two different family groups of children (aged 10–12 years) and parents to reveal children's process of internalizing their parents' beliefs regarding children's L2 learning. The phenomenological approach was used for the in-depth analysis of the parental influence on children's process of internalizing their parents' beliefs and integrating them into their own personal value systems, focusing on the lived experience in learning English at home. Children in Group 1 (six families) learned English outside of school in addition to their school curricula (n = 18); children in Group 2 (four families as a baseline) learned English only at school (n = 10). Using the qualitative software MAXQDA, the data were analyzed through a coding process. The results were then shown via diagrams depicting categories. We found that parents' lived experiences of their involvement in children's L2 learning at home were identified as 1) part of the daily interactions between parents and children, 2) a time for parents to re-learn English through their children's learning, 3) an investment in their children's future, and 4) parents' self-satisfaction in child-rearing. Meanwhile, children's lived experiences were identified as: a) part of their daily activities with their parents, b) study time, and c) a fun time with their parents. Group 2 children tended to identify their lived experiences as a) and b), while Group 1 children were likely to recognize c) in their L2 learning experience. This may be because Group 1 children had more opportunities to participate in cultural events (e.g., Christmas party) with their parents. Regarding children's motivation, both groups learned English for intrinsic (i.e., it is fun to study/know about different cultures) and extrinsic reasons (i.e., it is important/helpful for their future). Group 1 parents tended to use supportive behaviors to facilitate the internalizing process. In SDT, Group 1 parents' parenting behaviors are categorized into three dimensions (autonomy support, involvement, and structure); these supportive behaviors from people around the learners satisfy learners' basic psychological needs-autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2017)-which are key factors for enhancing autonomous motivation in L2 learning (e.g., Alamer, 2022). References Alamer, A. (2022). Basic psychological needs, motivational orientations, effort, and vocabulary knowledge: A comprehensive model. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44(1), 164–184. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. The Guilford Press.
Adolescents’ Learning of Civics in Second-Language Classrooms: Opportunities and Difficulties from a Student Perspective
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics04:40 PM - 05:05 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 14:40:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 15:05:00 UTC
The aim of this study is to explore what difficulties and opportunities second-language (L2) students in grade nine, perceive when reading texts in civics. The data is based on thirty-six Think Aloud (TA) and exit interviews with eighteen L2 students in grade nine, aged 14-15. A four-field model is constructed and presented to demonstrate that the four key components of a) literacy abilities, b) disciplinary literacy abilities, c) prior knowledge, d) content area knowledge, and their interaction with each other are central for supporting L2 students' civics learning and literacy development. In this study, the four-field model is used as an analytical tool and a conceptual framework for analyzing the difficulties and opportunities that L2 students perceive and express when they read two civics-specific texts. Findings indicate that making a distinction between literacy abilities and disciplinary literacy abilities is difficult for all participants. The difficulties with civics texts are mainly in relation to (a) high degree of civics-specific terms and everyday words (b) dense content, (c) long text passages, (d) few or hidden clues, (e) ambiguous pictures, and (f) insufficient prior knowledge about the main topic.
In civic education, the reading of texts in textbooks is crucial, and it is reasonable to think that the students' possibilities to understand the content of the texts play a role in their learning in civics. However, knowledge about the opportunities and difficulties for the students' meaning-making needs to include not only linguistic aspects of the reading but also perspectives of the role of students' prior knowledge when they face texts in civics. This knowledge is important to develop, to be able to work scaffolding in the classroom when civics is taught. In fact, when L2 students' challenges in civics classrooms are discussed, students' level of prior knowledge and literacy abilities are pointed out as two factors that matter for L2 students' goal achievement in civics (Lai, 2018; Gibson, 2017; Deltac, 2012). In addition, studies that underline the importance of prior knowledge for content learning also emphasize that this knowledge needs to be assessed and activated to support students' content-area learning (Jaffee, 2016; Vacca, Vacca & Mraz, 2014). Regarding literacy abilities, their role in content-area learning has been studied from various perspectives. For instance, from a form-focused perspective, the language forms and structures in the texts are studied in order to facilitate L2 students with language barriers, such as difficulties with reading comprehension due to complex sentences, dense content, and understanding of the content-specific concepts (Schleppegrell, 2012; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008, 2012). With a form-focused perspective, there is a risk of students using literacy abilities without having a comprehensive understanding of the purpose of a text and how to read it (Moje, 2015). In order to integrate the form with the content, content-focused activities are suggested by scholars within the field of disciplinary literacy, who claim that the tasks in content area classrooms should be designed to support both language and content area learning (Echevarria, Vogt & Short, 2017; Yoder, Kibler & van Hover, 2016; de Schonewise & Klinger, 2012). For instance, when it comes to reading and learning from texts, L2 students need to activate their reading abilities not only for decoding the texts, but also for decontextualizing and understanding the main concepts and identifying important passages in texts that are often written in an academic language using content-specific terms and abstract concepts. For those students who are in the process of learning an L2 and have not yet received enough opportunities to develop their L1 and L2, the process of learning from the discipline-specific contexts in social studies can be experienced as more challenging. Against this background, I argue that that the four key components of a) literacy abilities, b) disciplinary literacy abilities, c) prior knowledge, d) content area knowledge, and their interaction with each other are central for supporting L2 students' civics learning and literacy development.
Presenters Pantea Rinnemaa PhD Candidate, University Of Gothenburg
Investigating the application of strength-based practices for students with exceptionalities to promote inclusion and belonging in the second language learning context
Oral Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics05:05 PM - 05:30 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 15:05:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 15:30:00 UTC
A key element of inclusive education has been the intent of removing barriers to learning for students, and ensuring have access to appropriate and effective strategies, resources, and approaches to support learning and personal development (Haug, 2016). The main themes uncovered through attempts to define inclusion primarily reflect a deficit-based approach focusing primarily on students with exceptional learning or developmental needs within the mainstream classroom (Garrett, 2022). There continues to be the perpetuation of the message that students with diverse learning needs may not have equable access programs to the support strategies necessary for them to experience academic success in French second language (FSL) (Cobb, 2015).
Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2008) highlights in impact that the provision of the identified psychological well-being needs (autonomy support, competency, and relatedness) can have on student engagement, motivation, and subsequently on their experienced success in learning. This research explores the relevance of providing students these well-being needs through the intentional application of strength-based practices within their respective second language (L2) learning environments for the promotion of their learning, second language acquisition (SLA), engagement, and well-being.
An Appreciative Inquiry research design (Cooperrider et al., 2000) was applied to this investigation, implicating the educator participants in the learning, development, and adoption of strength-based practices within their daily instructional operations and structures. Data were collected through individual participant educator interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations throughout an academic school year. This presentation will share examples of the specific practices that were developed and applied in these elementary French Immersion classrooms to provide a more inclusive and engaging approach to L2 instruction for students displaying a wide range of exceptional learning and developmental needs. The findings of this study hold invaluable implications with regard to ways to further support L2 learners with SLA.
Cobb, C. (2015). Is French immersion a special education loophole? … And does it intensify issues of accessibility and exclusion? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 18(2), 170-187. Cooperrider, D., Sorensen, P., Whitney, D., & Yaeger, T. (2000). Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Human Organization toward a Positive Theory of Change. Stipes Pub., Champaign, Il.
Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (2008). Facilitating optimal motivation and psychological well-being across life's domains. Canadian Psychology, 49(1), 14-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0708-5591.49.1.14
Garrett, M.D. (2022). Investigating Strength-based practices within a Dual-dimensional Model of Inclusionary Student Learning.
Presenters Melissa Garrett Assistant Professor, University Of New Brunswick Co-authors
Effects of pedagogical reinforcements on emotional prosody observed in voiceover acting
Poster Presentation[SYMP57] OPEN CALL - New fields of research in Applied Linguistics05:30 PM - 05:55 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 15:30:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 15:55:00 UTC
Voiceover acting has been adopted in English classrooms as an enjoyable activity to improve the speaking skill (Henrichsen, 2015, Talavan & Rodríguez-Arancón, 2019). Research of phonetic aspects of emotion reveal that pitch and voice quality change depending on different types of scene setting (e.g., different interlocutors with different emotions) in the voiceover activity (Belanger, et al., 2015). It is also reported that the pronunciation quality of EFL learners improved through voiceover activity. However, comparison of different instructional reinforcements has not been done widely. Thus, it is not clear which aspects of segmental and suprasegmental features improved through interventions. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of different pedagogic reinforcements of voiceover on the improvement of emotional prosody produced by Japanese learners of English. We are especially interested in identifying acoustic features of their emotional prosody of a dialog after they received a pedagogic reinforcement. The participants in this study were 40 Japanese university students (CEFR A2 level). All the participants were provided a script of a scene of a quarrel between two cartoon characters (approximately 30 seconds), selected from a Disney movie "Shrek," and instructed to read their lines to the videoclip in a pair. They were divided into two groups according to their pedagogical reinforcements. One group of the students (Group 1) observed original intonation curves on Praat while receiving the instructions of timing of pitch rise and fall, and repeated and shadowed the sounds. The other group of the participants (Group 2) watched the video clip, receiving the instructions of articulations of consonants and vowels, and practiced synchronizing the character's gestures, paying attention to the shape of the cartoon's mouth, facial expressions and body movements. The training sessions lasted for five weeks, with a 15-minute training session each week. They were videotaped after the reinforcement. Both segmental and suprasegmental features were analyzed. As segmental features, VOT and the length of consonants and vowels were measured while pitch range, intonation curve, speech rate of an utterance, and intensity were measured for the analysis. The expected results are that both groups improved their emotional prosody, but there is some tendency that Group1 outperformed Group 2 in pitch aspects while Group 2 outperformed Group 1 in aspects of segmental duration. Their introspection results will also be reported at the conference. Reference Belanger, T., Menezes, C., Barboa, C., Helo, M., & Shirazifard, K. (2015). The voice of love. Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, UK: the University of Glasgow. Paper number 523. Henrichsen, L. (2015). Video voiceovers for helpful, enjoyable pronunciation practice. In J. Levis, R. Mohammed, Z. Zhou, & M. Qian (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference, University of California, Santa Barbara, Sept. 2014. (pp. 267-273), Ames, IA: Iowa State University. Talavan, N. & Rodríguez-Arancón, P. (2018). Voice-over to improve oral production skills. In J. D. Sanderson & C. Botella- Tejera (Eds.), Focusing on audiovisual translation research (English edition)(pp. 211-236). Universitat de Valencia.
Stephan Schlickau
Avary CARHILL-POZA
Sergej Ivanov
Annelie Johansson
Marcelo El Khouri Buzato
Maiko Ikeda
Osamu Takeuchi
Natasha Janzen Ulbricht
Shoko Tanaka
Pantea Rinnemaa
Melissa Garrett
Paula Kristmanson
