Foreword to the Issue
It is with great enthusiasm that we present the first issue of JLLT’s 16th volume. This issue brings together five articles from the United Kingdom, Austria, Turkey, and Germany that explore a diverse range of topics, including the evolution of a major English accent, the foundational principles of first language acquisition, the cognitive advantages of bilingualism, the pedagogical use of social media for language learning, and the implications of artificial intelligence in the foreign language classroom.
The first article, written by Joanna Dornbierer-Stuart (Birmingham City University, UK), provides profound insights into the ever-changing nature of Received Pronunciation (RP). Through an in-depth analysis of two generations of the same prominent British family – King Charles and Prince Willia –, the author examines how the accent is shifting. By using both real-time and apparent-time constructs, the research confirms a trend towards incorporating features typically associated with regional Southern British English. This study provides valuable evidence that RP is a living variety of speech, not a static standard, and suggests that teaching practices and reference materials should be updated to reflect these ongoing changes, based on descriptive data rather than prescriptive ideals.
The second article shifts the focus to the fundamental principles of language acquisition. Jason Chan (MCI Management Center Innsbruck, Austria) synthesises four major theories of first language acquisition. The author explores the contributions of behaviorism, nativism, cognitivism, and interactionism to our understanding of how children develop their vocabulary and grammar. Chan's analysis emphasises that while innate capabilities and cognitive development are foundational, the quality and richness of a child’s linguistic environment are paramount in shaping their overall language competence. This interaction between a growing lexicon and developing syntax is explored in detail, with findings that have direct applications for both native language and foreign language pedagogy.
Building on the discussion of language development, the next contribution considers the cognitive effects of acquiring more than one language. Emine Altıntaş (University of Education Karlsruhe, Germany) & Nalan Kızıltan (Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey) investigate the potential link between bilingualism and critical thinking. Their quantitative study, conducted with monolingual and bilingual high school students in Germany, reveals that the bilingual participants demonstrated superior performance across various measures of critical thinking, including metacognition, flexibility, and open-mindedness. The authors conclude that a clear correlation exists, highlighting the cognitive benefits of bilingualism beyond simple language proficiency.
The pedagogical applications of language are further explored in the next article, which looks at innovative teaching methods. Minjie Xing (The University of Manchester, UK) & Amily Guenier (Lancaster University, UK) examine an innovative pedagogical approach. The authors report on a study where language learners used social media to create digital stories, engaging a wide audience and fostering meaningful intercultural dialogue. Their research indicates that strategically incorporating multimodal elements and rich linguistic features, such as wordplay and dialects, boosted student motivation. The students involved in the project described the experience as empowering, autonomous, and highly beneficial for both their language skills and cultural awareness.
This exploration of technology in the language classroom continues with our final article, which addresses the challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence (AI). In their article, Johanna Lea Korell, Maximilian Irion & Roland Ißler (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Germany) explore the use of AI in foreign language education. They empirically analyse how secondary school students learning Spanish use AI for written language mediation tasks through video observations and screen recordings. Their findings highlight a critical challenge: without the ability to formulate precise and targeted prompts, the use of AI can introduce more difficulties than solutions. The study underscores the need for students to develop specific skills for interacting with AI effectively in academic contexts.
We extend our sincere gratitude for your continued support of JLLT. We hope that you find the articles in this issue to be an interesting and stimulating read. Your readership is what makes our work meaningful. We encourage you to engage with the research presented here, to reflect on its findings, and to consider how your own work might contribute to the ongoing scholarly discourse. JLLT relies on the contributions of dedicated academics and practitioners, and we hope that these studies will inspire you to consider submitting your own articles in the future.
Thomas Tinnefeld
JLLT
Editor