Showing papers in "The Modern Language Journal in 2013"

Foreign Language Learning Motivation in Higher Education: A Longitudinal Study of Motivational Changes and Their Causes.

Abstract: This article reports on a study involving first-year modern foreign languages students enrolled in German degree courses at two major universities in the United Kingdom. It explores the experience of these students from a motivational angle. A longitudinal mixed-methods approach was employed in order to address the time- and context-sensitive nature of motivational attributes. The data suggest that despite students' increasing wish to become proficient in German, their effort to engage with language learning decreased over the course of the year. This change occurred in conjunction with decreasing levels of intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy beliefs. The relationships between motivational changes and contextual factors in higher education are discussed against the backdrop of students' transition experience from school to university. The article concludes by outlining pedagogical suggestions for how to counteract decreasing motivation of modern foreign languages students during their first year university studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials in the classroom ecology

Abstract: Though there is an extensive literature on materials in language teaching, little if any of it examines the relationship between materials such as textbooks and the totality of the classroom experience. The present study makes use of the concept of classroom ecology (Tudor, 2001; van Lier, 1996) to explore the interrelationships among materials and other crucial elements in an advanced ESL grammar class offered in the Intensive English Program of an American university. We focus in particular on the ways in which the textbook-Azar's (2002) Understanding and using English grammar-constituted the de facto curriculum of the course, and how it provided structure for the majority of the classroom interaction. Finally, we speculate on the relationship between the materials and language learning in this classroom. We argue that the framework of ecology, with its emphasis on affordances and emergence, provides a compelling lens through which to study the ways in which materials are actually deployed in classrooms, and how teachers and students conceive of the work being done there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factors Influencing the Use of Captions by Foreign Language Learners: An Eye‐Tracking Study

Abstract: This study investigates caption-reading behavior by foreign language (L2) learners and, through eye-tracking methodology, explores the extent to which the relationship between the native and target language affects that behavior. Second-year (4th semester) English-speaking learners of Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish watched 2 videos differing in content familiarity, each dubbed and captioned in the target language. Results indicated that time spent on captions differed significantly by language: Arabic learners spent more time on captions than learners of Spanish and Russian. A significant interaction between language and content familiarity occurred: Chinese learners spent less time on captions in the unfamiliar content video than the familiar, while others spent comparable times on each. Based on dual-processing and cognitive load theories, we posit that the Chinese learners experienced a split-attention effect when verbal processing was difficult and that, overall, captioning benefits during the 4th semester of language learning are constrained by L2 differences, including differences in script, vocabulary knowledge, concomitant L2 proficiency, and instructional methods. Results are triangulated with qualitative findings from interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between foreign language classroom anxiety and psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism among adult Bi- and multilinguals.

Abstract: The present study focuses on the link between three global personality traits (Psychoticism, Extraversion, and Neuroticism), one sociobiographical factor (knowledge of languages) and levels of foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) (Horwitz et al., 1986) in the second (L2), third (L3) and fourth (L4) language of two groups of adult language learners and users. The first group consisted of 86 students who were enrolled at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK and the second group consisted of 62 students from University of Les Illes Balears in Mallorca, Spain. The main aim was to check whether FLCA is unrelated to a basic personality trait reflecting anxiety (Neuroticism), as is generally reported in the Second Language Acquisition literature. Correlation analyses revealed that Neuroticism has a significant link with FLCA in the foreign languages of both groups, sharing between 9% and 25% of variance. Moderately significant relationships were found between Psychoticism, Extraversion and FLCA in one group only. Language knowledge had an effect on FLCA in some languages. Strong correlations between FLCA values in L2, L3 and L4, suggest that levels of FLCA are relatively stable across the foreign languages known by the learners/users.

The interactions between the effects of implicit and explicit feedback and individual differences in language analytic ability and working memory

Abstract: This study investigated the interactions between two types of feedback (implicit vs. explicit) and two aptitude components (language analytic ability and working memory) in second language Chinese learning. Seventy-eight L2 Chinese learners from two large U.S. universities were assigned to three dyadic NS-NNS interaction conditions and received implicit (recasts), explicit (metalinguistic correction), or no feedback (control) in response to their non-target-like oral production of Chinese classifiers. The treatment effects were measured by a grammaticality judgment test and an elicited imitation test. The Words in Sentences subtest of the MLAT was used to measure language analytic ability; a listening span test was utilized as the measure of working memory. A principal components analysis and a structural equation modeling analysis established that working memory was an aptitude component. Multiple regression analyses showed that language analytic ability was predictive of the effects of implicit feedback, and working memory mediated the effects of explicit feedback; all the statistically significant results involved delayed posttest scores. Interpretations were sought with recourse to the mechanisms of the cognitive constructs and the processing demands imposed by the different learning conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign language reading anxiety: Chinese as a foreign language in the United States

Abstract: This study examined the foreign language (FL) reading anxiety level of English-speaking university students learning Chinese as a foreign language ( n = 114) in the United States. Data from two anxiety measures, a background information questionnaire, and an email interview indicated that learners of Chinese experienced a level of FL reading anxiety similar to general FL anxiety. FL reading anxiety was associated with course level and experience with China but not with gender. Moreover, FL reading anxiety was found to be negatively correlated with FL reading performance among Elementary Level I and Intermediate Level students but not among Elementary Level II students. Unfamiliar scripts, unfamiliar topics, and worry about comprehension were identified as the major sources of FL reading anxiety. Findings suggest that reading anxiety was a salient problem for learners of Chinese whose native language was English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beliefs about peer interaction and peer corrective feedback: Efficacy of classroom intervention

Abstract: This study investigates the beliefs of second language learners regarding peer interaction and peer corrective feedback (CF) as well as the feasibility of a second language intervention, aimed at changing those beliefs. The classroom intervention was designed to promote collaborative learning and to train learners to provide CF to each other. Participants were university-level learners in 4 required English classes in Japan ( N = 167), each assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions. While all experimental classes were given peer interaction instruction, 2 classes were given CF training (prompts or recasts). Another class served as the control group. Questionnaires were administered before and after the intervention and selected learners ( n = 36) were interviewed. The quantitative (factor-analysis and matched-samples t-tests) and qualitative (grounded theory methodology) analyses revealed that, while learners held positive beliefs about peer interaction and peer CF from the onset, the intervention facilitated trust in their classmates as learning resources, and those who were given CF training displayed an increased willingness to and confidence in providing CF. Also, 2 classroom-specific variables emerged for the intervention to be effective on language development: a collaborative classroom environment and positive social relationships between learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exploration of Chinese EFL students' emotional intelligence and foreign language anxiety.

Abstract: This study examined 510 Chinese students' emotional intelligence (EI) and English classroom learning anxiety at three universities in Hangzhou, People's Republic of China. Results obtained from the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) showed the following results: (a) More than half of the Chinese college students possessed a middle to high level of EI and at least one third experienced language anxiety in English class; (b) Moderate to relatively strong associations were found among students' EI, foreign language anxiety (FLA), English achievement, and self-rated English proficiency; (c) FLA had a significant and partial mediating effect on EI in predicting students' English achievement; and (d) FLA also significantly and partially mediated the relationship between EI and self-rated English proficiency. Results and implications are discussed in the context of the importance of emotional factors affecting the learning of English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed methods research: Toward new research designs in applied linguistics

Abstract: Despite criticisms questioning its raison d'etre (e.g., Giddings & Grant, 2007), mixed methods research has been welcomed in social research as a methodology in its own right (Greene, 2008). Recently, it has also been acknowledged and advocated in applied linguistics (Dornyei, 2007; Hashemi, 2012). In an attempt to investigate the status of this relatively new trend in applied linguistics, the current study examines the nature of the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods in terms of research designs, sampling designs, and quality of interpretations. Content analysis of 205 research articles published in seven comprehensive international peer reviewed applied linguistics journals between 1995 and 2008 reveals that concurrent designs are more prevalent than sequential designs and that studies make limited use of mixed designs that are detailed in the mixed methods literature. Moreover, although a considerable number of articles used both qualitative and quantitative methods, only a small number achieved high degrees of integration at various stages of the study as a quality standard for mixed research. The study concludes with several implications for making more effective use of mixed methods research in applied linguistics and calls for a more systematic treatment of this trend as a versatile research methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching pronunciation: Is explicit phonetics instruction beneficial for FL learners?

Abstract: Pronunciation instruction has been shown to improve learners' L2 accent in some, though certainly not all, cases. A core component of traditional pronunciation instruction is explicit lessons in L2 phonetics. Studies suggest that Spanish FL learners improve their pronunciation after receiving instruction, but the effect of phonetics instruction has not been directly compared with other pedagogical alternatives. This study reports on the pronunciation gains that first, second, and third year learners ( n = 95) made after receiving either explicit instruction in Spanish phonetics or a more implicit treatment with similar input, practice, and feedback. The target phones included a variety of consonants that are problematic for English speakers learning Spanish: stop consonants (/p, t, k/), approximants ([]), and rhotics (/, r/). Learners' production of the target phones was measured in a pretest, posttest, delayed posttest design using a word list reading task. Learners in both groups improved their pronunciation equally, suggesting that it might be the input, practice, and/or feedback included in pronunciation instruction, rather than the explicit phonetics lessons, that are most facilitative of improvement in pronunciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emergent perspective on the use of the first language in the English-as-a-foreign-language classroom

Abstract: This study investigates contextual features surrounding the use of a first language (L1) in a Japanese university English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) course during peer interaction in the extended preparation phase leading up to two oral presentation tasks (OP1 and OP3), performed seven months apart. Interaction data were analysed in terms of the amount of L1 production, the distribution of L1 use within and across tasks and dyads, and the focus of learner talk. Contextual influences on L1 use were also investigated. The amount of L1 use increased from OP1 to OP3 and the overall proportion of L1 talk was higher than that found in previous studies. Within dyads, learners generally used less L1 over time. This was attributed to the shifting focus of talk from procedural to content-creation activity. Some learners were consistently high or low users of L1, while others varied. Variability was attributed to differences in second language (L2) proficiency, levels of engagement with the task and/or interlocutor, and the negotiation of task control and pedagogic roles within a dyad. Finally, it was found that the language chosen for the initial utterance of an exchange may influence that of following utterances. The results support the contention that L1 use emerges naturally in classroom discourse and that attempts to influence it should involve raising awareness of contextual conditions surrounding its emergence.

An Investigation Into Second Language Aptitude for Advanced Chinese Language Learning

Abstract: In this study I examine the construct of aptitude in learning Chinese as a second language (L2) to an advanced level. I test 2 hypotheses: first, that L2 aptitude comprises 4 components-working memory, rote memory, grammatical sensitivity, and phonemic coding ability-and second, that L2 aptitude affects learning both directly and indirectly (mediated by strategy use and motivation). Native speakers of English ( n = 96) studying advanced Chinese took the Modern Language Aptitude Test and a phonological working memory test and responded to motivation and strategy use questionnaires. Using end-of-course listening, reading, and speaking proficiency test results as measures of Chinese learning, I constructed a structural equation model to test the hypotheses. The model fit the observed data. Of the 4 components foreseen to comprise L2 aptitude, rote memory contributed the most and working memory the least. Aptitude, strategy use, and motivation had about the same impact on learning but varied in how well they predicted the individual skills of listening, reading, and speaking. The results shed light on L2 aptitude in the particular context of an advanced L2 Chinese course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating Age in the Use of L1 or English-Only Instruction: Vocabulary Acquisition by Korean EFL Learners

Abstract: This study examines the effects of teachers' language use-first language Korean (L1) or second language English (L2)-on the vocabulary acquisition and retention of two age groups: elementary school children after only a few years of English study ( n = 443) and adults at university with demonstrably higher levels of proficiency ( n = 286). Its context is the frequent recommendation by policy makers that L2 teachers should maximize the use of the target language and do so from the very beginning of instruction. We focused on the effects of language use on vocabulary learning because vocabulary teaching frequently involves L1 use even in an otherwise L2 communicative classroom. Our findings suggest that both age groups benefit from links being made with the L1, but that young learners benefit more and that differences in L2 proficiency levels, which often accompany age differences of L2 instructed learners, are a possible contributing, though not a deciding, factor in this conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Development of Chinese Fluency during Study Abroad in China.

Abstract: This article is part of a longitudinal study of American college students studying Mandarin in China. Its main data are drawn from monthly speaking events (four sessions with each student) conducted in Chinese with each of 29 participants in a study-abroad program in China. The study yielded these results: (a) Students made significant progress in their fluency development, especially during the first month; (b) speaking Chinese both inside and outside of class helped fluency; (c) students who consistently spoke Chinese in class and out of class made more progress than those who did not; and (d) time on task, the amount of time that students spent using Chinese, was the most important factor in determining fluency development. The quantitative analysis that is the focus of this article is supplemented by qualitative data from individual students, reflecting the position that only a combination of quantitative and qualitative data can reveal a complete picture of the nature of language acquisition during study abroad. The article concludes with implications for the design and conduct of programs in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capturing L2 accuracy developmental patterns: Insights from an error-tagged EFL learner corpus

Abstract: The present article addresses the issue of second language accuracy developmental trajectories and shows how they can be captured via an error-tagged version of an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner corpus. The data used in this study were extracted from the International Corpus of Learner English (Granger et al., 2009) and consist of a total of 223 learner essays. Each composition was (a) manually and exhaustively annotated for errors following the Louvain error-tagging taxonomy (Dagneaux, Denness, & Granger, 1998) and (b) individually rated by two (sometimes three) testing experts according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2001) descriptors for linguistic competence. As a result, each text was assigned a B1 (lower intermediate), B2 (upper intermediate), C1 (advanced), or C2 (near-native) score. A refined counting method, potential occasion analysis, which relies on both an error-tagged and a part-of-speech-tagged version of the learner data, was used to quantify the errors. This allowed the analysis to trace the type of development displayed by more than 40 error types along the B1–C2 proficiency range. The results indicate that the EFL error developmental patterns tend to be dominated by progress and stabilization trends and that progress is often located between B1 and B2.

Explicit Information, Grammatical Sensitivity, and the First-Noun Principle: A Cross-Linguistic Study in Processing Instruction

Abstract: This study presents the results of four experiments in the framework of processing instruction conducted with four language learner groups (Spanish, n = 43; German, n = 46; Russian, n = 44; and French, n = 48; discussed in that order). In each experiment, the processing problem was held constant (the First-Noun Principle) although the structure was unique to the language. The independent variables were explicit information prior to treatment and grammatical sensitivity as measured by the Modern Language Aptitude Test. Two dependent measures were included: (a) trials-to-criterion (how long it took participants to begin processing correctly) and (b) improvement over time (pretest/posttest). Results show that explicit information may be useful for the processing of some structures but not others; however, explicit information is not necessary. Results also show that grammatical sensitivity does not significantly correlate with any of the measures under any conditions except for the German group that received explicit information. Our conclusion is that when instructed SLA is viewed as processing, variables such as explicit information and grammatical sensitivity may not play the same role as when instructed SLA is viewed as rule learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arabic and English During Study Abroad in Cairo, Egypt: Issues of Access and Use

Abstract: This article provides a snapshot of the experiences of 18 students studying abroad in Cairo, Egypt. Using a modified version of the language contact profile (Freed, Segalowitz, & Dewey, 2004), I investigate their language use and find that students use English more than they use Arabic and that there is considerable individual variation in Arabic use. Using interviews, I explore factors promoting study abroad participants' use of English and limiting their use of Arabic. The data indicate that students have difficulty gaining access to native speakers of Arabic compared to their use of English with other international students. Furthermore, gaining access to native speakers of Arabic does not guarantee the use of Arabic; their Arabic proficiency, interactional goals, and identification as foreigners can promote the use of English above Arabic. Finally, I examine the ways in which students are nevertheless able to overcome these limitations to gain access to native speakers and use Arabic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Function of Gesture in Lexically Focused L2 Instructional Conversations

Abstract: The purpose of the present study is to investigate the mediational function of the gesture-speech interface in the instructional conversation that emerged as teachers attempted to explain the meaning of English words to their students in two EFL classrooms in the Ukraine. Its analytical framework is provided by Vygotsky's sociocuhural psychology (e.g., Lantolf & Thorne, 2006) and McNeill's (1992, 2005) theory of gesture-speech synchronization, in particular his notion of catchment--recurrent gestural features that perform a cohesive function. Although the interactions between teachers and students were brief, lasting a mere one minute and fourteen seconds, they were pedagogically rich and remarkably informative regarding the role of gesture in classroom instructional conversations. The analyses suggest that the gesture-speech interface is a potent mediational tool through which students imagistically display details of their understandings of L2 word meanings that do not always emerge through the verbal medium alone. For their part, the teachers integrated gesture into their instructional talk as a way of remediating and improving student understandings. Finally, students signaled their modified understandings by appropriating and using the teachers' gestures in their own expressive moves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning to be funny in Spanish during study abroad: L2 humor development

Abstract: The present study examines an area of SLA that has to date received little attention: the development of L2 humor. Both creation and comprehension of humor in an L2 can be challenging for learners, even those with advanced proficiency (e.g., Bell, 2005; Shardakova, 2010). At the same time, learners at all proficiency levels have been shown to use L2 humor and research suggests that with increased proficiency and exposure to the language, learners can develop their L2 humor abilities (Bell, 2005; Davies, 2003, 2005; Shardakova, 2010). Previous research, however, has not examined the processes by which L2 learners develop their humor skills. Using a language socialization framework, the present article analyzes a case study of one study abroad student who developed his ability to be funny in Spanish conversations with age peers during one semester in Spain. Factors that may have been associated with a reduction in failed humor over time included developing friendships, eliminating deadpan humor, and revoicing the words, expressions, and ways of speaking in the L2 to which the learner was exposed during study abroad.

Perception of Mandarin Tones: The Effect of L1 Background and Training

Abstract: This study investigates whether native Hmong speakers' first language (L1) lexical tone experience facilitates or interferes with their perception of Mandarin tones and whether training is effective for perceptual learning of second (L2) tones. In Experiment 1, 3 groups of beginning level learners of Mandarin with different L1 prosodic background (Hmong, Japanese, and English) took a perception test on Mandarin tones. Both the English and Japanese groups outperformed the Hmong group in perceptual accuracy of Mandarin tones. In Experiment 2, 18 learners with different L1 background received either perception training only or perception with production training on Mandarin tones for 6 hours within 3-4 weeks. Both training paradigms were effective for perceptual learning of Mandarin tone contrasts as the two training groups' perceptual accuracy improved significantly at posttest compared with a control group. Although Hmong speakers initially had more difficulties in perception of Mandarin tones than the other 2 groups, they are by no means disadvantaged by their L1 prosodic background as they gain L2 experience after intensive training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specific Syntactic Complexity: Developmental Profiling of Individuals Based on an Annotated Learner Corpus

Abstract: This study tracks the development of syntactic complexity in the writing of two beginning German as a second language learners with English as a first language over four semesters of collegiate language study by using developmental profiling techniques applied to an annotated learner corpus. The focus of the investigation is on individual developmental pathways and differences between learners who follow the same instructional sequences. The study explores variation in terms of frequencies of the selected complexity features (coordinate, nominal, and nonfinite verb structures) using corpus analysis techniques with semi-automatic corpus annotation. Two developmental profiles emerge from an in-depth contextual investigation of the target linguistic phenomena. The results show that the general developmental trend is for increasing frequency and range of syntactic complexity features with learners diverging more from one another in the second half of the observation period. This study addresses existing gaps in interlanguage complexity research by focusing on benchmarking development rather than gauging proficiency, addressing specific rather than global complexity measures, and targeting instructed learners at beginning rather than high-intermediate and advanced proficiency levels. Suggestions for future developmental second language acquisition research and foreign language pedagogy are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interface of language aptitude and multilingualism: Reconsidering the bilingual/multilingual dichotomy

Abstract: This study is an attempt to fill the gap in SLA research regarding the understudied interface of language aptitude and multilingualism. Although there have been numerous studies lauding the benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism, very few studies have examined the relationship between language aptitude and previous language experience (cf. Sanz, 2000). Using the Cognitive Ability for Novelty in Acquisition of Language (Foreign) aptitude test (CANAL-FT), which is based on Sternberg's (2002) triarchic theory of human intelligence, the language aptitude scores from 79 Brazilian language learners were analyzed using one-way ANOVAs. Interviews were also conducted to obtain further insight to the participants' language learning experiences. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were employed; the results indicate that previous language experience has an effect on language aptitude, thus supporting the concept of language aptitude as a dynamic feature. Furthermore, even those participants with a small amount of previous language learning experience outperformed those with no language learning experience other than English on the CANAL-FT, as did those participants who exhibited the feature of Perceived Positive Language Interaction (PPLI). Thus, the results also indicate a need to closely monitor the linguistic background of participants in future studies, as previous language experience was shown to have a significant effect on language aptitude scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategy Inventory for Language Learning–ELL Student Form: Testing for Factorial Validity

Abstract: As the school-aged English language learner (ELL) population continues to grow in the United States and other English-speaking countries, psychometrically sound instruments to measure their language learning strategies (LLS) become ever more critical. This study adapted and validated an adult-oriented measure of LLS (50-item Strategy Inventory for Language Learning [SILL]; Oxford, 1990) for school-aged ELLs in a sample of 1,057 elementary, middle, and high school students. The two-stage validation process resulted in a shorter, 28-item version of the instrument, which we entitled the SILL-ELL Student Form. The results of confirmatory factor analyses indicated a good fit to the validation (GFI = .92, CFI = .93, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .05) and combined (GFI = .95, CFI = .95, RMSEA = .03, SRMR = .04) samples. The new measure has strong psychometric characteristics for use with school-aged ELLs to diagnose their use of LLS in six distinct categories and is approximately half as long as the original SILL, which enhances it.s pragmatic value for busy classrooms. Additionally, this study addressed some of the theoretical issues with strategy categorization noted in the literature. Other applications of the measure for practice and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing the Noticing of Recasts via Computer‐Delivered Feedback: Evidence That Oral Input Enhancement and Working Memory Help Second Language Learning

Abstract: This study investigates whether practice with computer-administered feedback in the absence of meaning-focused interaction can help second language learners notice the corrective intent of recasts and develop linguistic accuracy. A group of 218 beginning Anglophone learners of Spanish received 1 of 4 types of automated feedback (no feedback, utterance rejection, recasts, or enhanced recasts) in the written mode or the oral mode, in response to noun-adjective gender or number agreement errors. For both modalities, written and oral posttests conducted up to 2 months after treatment revealed that recasts yielded more target-like production and learner repair than either no feedback or utterance rejection and that utterance rejection was in turn more effective than no feedback. Two factors were found to increase the effectiveness of computer-delivered recasts: oral, but not typographical, input enhancement (orally enhanced recasts were more beneficial than orally unenhanced and typographically enhanced recasts) and working memory (higher span learners were superior to lower span learners in all recast groups). We discuss the implications of our results for the area of error treatment as an instructional focus technique and suggest avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Hand to Choreograph Instruction: On the Functional Role of Gesture in Definition Talk

Abstract: This article examines the coordination of speech and gesture in teachers' definition talk, that is, vocabulary explanations addressed to language learners. By analyzing one ESL teacher's spoken definitions, the study demonstrates in the details of the unfolding talk how a teacher crafts and choreographs his definitions moment by moment, while attending to the student's linguistic needs. The study draws upon McNeill's (1999/1992) notion of gesture-speech co-expressiveness, McNeill and Levy's (1993) idea of gestural cohesion, and Kendon's (2000) notion of turn contextualization through gesture. The study identifies three major functional roles of gesture: reinforcing the meaning of verbal utterances; disambiguating the meaning oflexical items; and establishing gestural cohesion across turns at talk. Through the fine-grained analysis of five excerpts, this study contributes to our understanding of the interactional and informational aspects of gesture in second language teaching. The article discusses implications for the study of gesture in general, and the role of gesticulations in providing comprehensible input to second language learners in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tracking Learners' Progress: Adopting a Dual ‘Corpus cum Experimental Data’ Approach

Abstract: The article discusses the potential of combining learner corpus research with experimental studies in order to fine‐tune the understanding of learner language development. It illustrates the complementarity of the two methodological approaches with data from an on‐going study of the acquisition of the English tense and aspect system by French learners. The first research question relates to the development of accuracy of tense and aspect usage in written production over time; longitudinal learner corpus data is used to answer this question. Its results are then incorporated into an experimental study that addresses the second research question, which seeks to uncover reasons why some tense and aspect features remain difficult to master even for advanced L2 learners. The first part of the article reviews the status of longitudinal research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and describes the Longitudinal Database of Learner English (Longdale) used for the study. The second half of the paper presents the results of the learner corpus analysis. These reveal that over a period of 3 years, learners’ tense and aspect errors decrease. However, the English progressive continues to present considerable learning difficulties. Two follow‐up experiments investigated which elaborations of the progressive epistemic schema L2 learners continue to find difficult. They showed that advanced learners master the most salient elaboration of the present progressive (i.e., ongoingness, including extended ongoingness). By contrast, their understanding of less core uses (i.e., planned events)is much less precise. The article concludes with suggestions for the teaching of tense and aspect to advanced EFL learners.

Codeswitching and participant orientations in a Chinese as a foreign language classroom

Abstract: Using a conversation analysis approach to codeswitching (CS; Auer, 1984, 1998), this study examines the relationship between participants' orientations to two in-class interactions and their CS practices in a Chinese as a foreign language classroom. Specifically, the analysis focuses on a teacher and one focal student's converging and diverging orientations towards two different types of classroom interaction: assessment talk and an instructed language learning activity. When a mismatch in their orientations occurs, the teacher and student deploy CS as an interactional resource to achieve a common pedagogical goal. CS is thus shown to be a constitutive interactional practice through which the teacher and student accomplish foreign language teaching and learning. Moreover, the close observation of teacher-student interaction in this study encourages language teaching professionals and classroom researchers to consider how CS indexes students' understanding of the pedagogical focus in different classroom activities and how its strategic deployment might foster language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Styling in a Language Learned Later in Life.

Abstract: This article analyses the styles of English produced by an adult migrant who started to speak the language later in life, and it approaches them from the perspective of quantitative style-shifting and discursive stylization. After defining style and the procedures needed to justify the term 'L2,' the study describes the focal informant's diasporic experience in London and then shows how his style-shifting and some of his L2 speech variants chime with now well-established local patterns. It then turns to stylization in the performance of character speech in narrative, exploring the complex and not always effective relationship between linguistic form, discursive context, and socio-indexical resonance, first in the informant's performance of Anglo vs. Indian styles and then in his production of vernacular Anglo. The article concludes with a characterization of his participation in the London sociolinguistic economy and comments on linguistic anthropology's potential value to studies of L2 style. Overall, it seeks to navigate a route between a priori assumptions about linguistic deficiency in SLA on the one hand, and romantic celebrations of difference in sociolinguistics on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languaging in Translation Tasks Used in a University Setting: Particular Potential for Student Agency?

Abstract: This paper explores the value of judiciously used L1-to-L2 translation in meaning-focused, advanced-level academic language (L2) education. It examines the teacher-led discourse (TLD) arising when translation tasks were used and compares it to the TLD engendered when four other grammar-focused tasks were used with three different groups of students within a functioning university course in English at a Swedish university. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of audio-recorded lessons revealed that, when translation was used, (i) there were particularly high levels of student-initiated referential questions that break the initiation-response-feedback (IRF) pattern, whereas (ii) there was a less-frequent focus on targeted L2 grammar as student attention tended to be drawn to vocabulary. Qualitative analysis of teacher scaffolding suggests that the teacher used translation to create a forum for student-centered discussion of various aspects of English language use in order to meet one of the course goals. The relatively strong presence of student-initiated interaction suggests that translation may have particular potential to engender student involvement and attention. It is argued that translation therefore may have an important yet limited place in academic-level language education where knowledge of the L1 is shared. (Less)

Capturing the Dynamics of Second Language Development via Learner Corpus Research: A Very Long Engagement

Abstract: This introductory paper highlights the promising potential of learner corpora to facilitate investigations of the developmental processes underlying L2 learning. It offers a critical discussion of the aspects in which the disciplines of learner corpus (LC) research and SLA would benefit from closer interdisciplinary engagement and introduces the studies gathered in this special issue with the goal of exploring such mutually informative connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]