Elia - 2007 - Nº 7

URI permanente para esta colecciónhttps://hdl.handle.net/11441/2483

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Personal investment in L2 task design and learning: a case study of two Japanese learners of English
(Universidad de Sevilla, 2007) Lambert, Craig; Minn, Danny
Learning styles and lexical presentation modes
(Universidad de Sevilla, 2007) Kassaian, Zohreh
The present study investigated the effect of two types of teaching methods on the retention of unfamiliar words. Sixty-six university students having either auditory or visual learning styles participated in teaching method environments which were either visual or aural. The retention of the vocabulary items was measured by tests of recall and recognition immediately after each training session, and after one week. Data analyses indicated that: 1) the subjects with visual style of learning retained vocabulary items they had learned visually better than the items they had learned aurally, but the subjects with aural style of learning did not show better retention for items they had learned aurally, 2) all the subjects retained visually presented items better than aurally presented items in the immediate and delayed tests, 3) the type of test, that is, recognition or recall, did not have any significant effect on the retention of visually/aurallypresented items , 4) the participants performed better in recognition test than in recall test for both aurally- and visually-presented items, 5) memory loss was greater for visually learned items compared to aurally learned items after one week.
Foreign language learners: words they hear and words they learn: a case study
(Universidad de Sevilla, 2007) Donzelli, Giovanna
Many studies investigate the plurality of factors that determine the learning of words, but few attempt to analyze the relationship between input and uptake. In the present study the oral input in the foreign language, received in class by a group of fourth graders, is analyzed according to the frequency lists developed by Nation (1986). The study also compares the input from the teacher’s speech with the input from the course-book and it offers some indications of the learners’ uptake. We set to answer questions such as 1) Which one of the two - books or teachers - seem to offer better chances for incidental acquisition to occur? 2) What proportion of the total vocabulary available in class is typically acquired by the learners? It is suggested that while the teacher’s speech as well as the written input available from the textbook represent equally rich lexical environments, the amount of vocabulary produced by the former is substantially greater than the one available from the latter. Our data show that a great proportion of vocabulary can be acquired by the learners in class. An indication is given of the factors that seem to determine the learners’ uptake.
Teaching L2 vocabulary through SMS language: some didactic guidelines
(Universidad de Sevilla, 2007) López Rúa, Paula
This article focuses on texting or SMS language, which is nowadays the most popular means of communication for a whole generation of mobile phone users. The introductory section comprises a parameter-based description of texting and a brief explanation of the features shared with other modalities of text-based electronic communication, after which the article provides an overview of the linguistic peculiarities of the system, i.e. its shortening mechanisms. It is suggested that an incursion into a subcode with which youngsters feel so identified could be beneficial for both L2 and L1 learning. This suggestion is illustrated by a series of exercises of different formats intended to practise the codification and interpretation of English texting. The conclusion drawn is that the exploitation of texting in the L2 classroom may be extremely interesting for several reasons: first, it may contribute to improving the students’ spelling and pronunciation skills in both the L1 and the L2, and it may also contribute to increasing their lexicon in the L2; second, students may acquire a better understanding of the notion of linguistic appropriateness and at the same time gain an insight into the functioning of languages and their flexibility to adapt themselves to different communicative situations.
Teaching L2 vocabulary through logic puzzles
(Universidad de Sevilla, 2007) McDonald, Kurtis
This article presents the idea of using logic puzzles as a task-based teaching technique in foreign language classrooms to foster second language vocabulary acquisition. The general advantages of using logic puzzles are that they can be both mentally challenging and fun for students while producing numerous pedagogical benefits. These benefits are believed to include an increased exposure to vocabulary presented in specific contexts with a distinct focus on comprehending meaning, a heightened mental engagement with the key vocabulary at a deep level of processing, and the fostering of inference skills and the ability to guess meaning from context, all in a relatively brief amount of class time. Furthermore, logic puzzles offer a great deal of adaptability in exactly how they are utilized in class. Ultimately, it can be concluded that logic puzzles should be explored more thoroughly for their potential benefits to classroom teaching and the learning of foreign languages through continued use and more substantial research studies.
Fair trade: two-way bilingual education
(Universidad de Sevilla, 2007) Lightbown, Patsy M.
One approach to bilingual education that has gained increasing support from parents, educators, and researchers in the United States is one in which English language learners and English proficient students share a classroom and receive instruction in both English and the dominant language of the English language learners. In most such two-way bilingual education programs, the stated goal is for both groups of students to learn each other’s language. In this paper, I briefly review the background to this approach.Following this, I present a case study of one such two-way bilingual program in which the student population came from Latino and African-American backgroundsSome of the Latino students were Spanishdominant while others knew little Spanish. The African-American students knew little or no Spanish when they arrived at school and, furthermore, many had limited experience with the variety of Standard American English spoken in the classroom. Students in the two-way bilingual education program did as well as or better than their peers who were being educated either in English-only classes or in transitional bilingual education classes. For students in the two-way program, Spanish reading ability for Spanish speakers developed at a faster rate than English reading ability for English speakers, and Spanish-dominant students did better in English than Englishdominant students did in Spanish. Data from classroom observation show that the formal assessment procedures were not able to capture much of the learning that took place in the classrooms. Nevertheless, the findings add to the evidence found in previous research that two-way bilingual education is an effective approach for both English proficient students and English language learners.
Creating a business word list for teaching business English
(Universidad de Sevilla, 2007) Konstantakis, Nikolaos
Foreign language students planning to study business at English-speaking universities have little or no previous training in English for Academic Purposes in general, or in Business English in particular. Nonetheless, these students rely heavily on their ability to read and fully comprehend a variety of business course books and other materials in the field. Reading comprehension, however, depends to a great extent on an individual’s vocabulary level. Vocabulary may be acquired by learning word lists. One very useful list of this kind is the General Service List (West, 1953) which includes the 2,000 most common words for teaching and learning English. Another potentially useful list, which is more specialised, is the Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000), which provides the most common words in academic texts. These two lists, however, fail to provide the prospective students of business with the technical vocabulary that is particular to their area of study. A third list, therefore, more specialised and business-oriented is required in order to cover this gap. The present paper describes the attempt to create a Business Word List.
Storybooks in the young learners’ EFL classroom as a resource for teaching vocabulary
(Universidad de Sevilla, 2007) Ahern, Aoife; García Bermejo, Mª Luisa; Fleta, Teresa
In the present paper we discuss the line of enquiry and the progression of a research project funded by the Universidad Complutense, Madrid, aimed at exploring the efficiency of different vocabulary teaching and learning methods as applied in young learners’ EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classes.The project has been focused on the use of stories as a central teaching resource and as a basis for vocabulary introduction and practice, including among its objectives that of comparing the outcome on vocabulary learning of the use of textbook-based materials with the results obtained through storybook-based teaching. As the project progresses, the resulta and information obtained are being incorporated through different means into pre- and in-service teacher training and development programmes. Preparation for the experimental stage included a teacher development seminar on storybook use for teaching vocabulary at the Teacher Support Centre (CAP) of Alcorcón, Madrid. This seminar, in turn, led to the creation of a website and cd-rom containing the materials designed by the participating in-service teachers and other relevant information, which is currently used by students of the Complutense Faculty of Education as a resource for their pre-service training.

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