Volume 12 (2021) Issue 1 (PDF)
Articles
Dallin D. Oaks (Brigham Young University, Provo (Utah) USA):
Abstract
Mother Goose and other nursery rhymes as authentic texts are valuable resources that can be used effectively to illustrate historical English language change. Even though these nursery rhymes contain some forms, structures, and word meanings that differ from the language of today, the texts are sufficiently recent that they are intelligible to modern audiences. This article will illustrate the relevance and usefulness of nursery rhymes in teaching about principles of language and language change, such as voicing, phonological processes, factors motivating phonological change, as well as actual changes in the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and lexicon of English.
Thomas Tinnefeld (Saarbrücken, Germany)
Abstract
In the present article, the teacher‘s role in the foreign general language and LSP classroom is analysed with respect to the last seventy years as well as modern developments which cover the period from March 2020 to the near future. In retrospective, a glace is cast on the grammar-translation method and the audio-lingual method. The recent developments dealt with cover the communicative approach and the constructivist approach, both of which are still widely used nowadays. The modern developments described refer to the virtual classroom and online teaching. In the article, it is shown that the teacher‘s role in the foreign language classroom from the 1950s to the present day (and certainly further into the future) has changed drastically: whereas up to the late 1970s, the teacher lived a relatively calm and steady life, with his or her role in the classroom being well-defined and stable, his or her role has undergone rapid changes ever since, with the latest developments speeding up this process even more. In accordance with this development, the teacher‘s importance has shown a certain volatility, starting from a relatively high level, then going down and now rising again. Inversely proportional, the complexity of his or her work has constantly increased and will continue doing so. This implies that the teaching profession has become a highly complex, dynamic and future-oriented field of activity.
Ángel Osle (Essex, United Kingdom)
Abstract
The present study explores the impact of using Telegram – a relatively new mobile application - on the development of speaking skills in a group of Chinese learners of Spanish. A total of 16 participants who were following a non-credited online Spanish course in a British university were recruited. Students were randomly allocated to a control and an experimental group. This study is an example of action research in the specific context of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). From a methodological point of view, quantitative and qualitative elements of analysis were combined by making effective use of triangulation. Through various questionnaires and the completion of two language tasks via Telegram, the effectiveness of a pedagogical intervention was assessed. In spite of certain methodological limitations, results highlight the potential benefits of using mobile applications in VLEs settings.
Sara Quintero Ramírez (Guadalajara, México) & Sonny A. Castro Yáñez (Guadalajara, México):
Resumen (español)
En el presente estudio cualitativo, tenemos el objetivo de identificar las representaciones que tienen tres profesores en activo de inglés como lengua extranjera respecto de la enseñanza de la gramática, así como examinar su práctica docente real en relación con este mismo tema. Con base en lo anterior, nos proponemos establecer un parangón entre las representaciones de los profesores y su verdadera práctica docente. A fin de conocer las representaciones, concebimos un cuestionario que aplicamos a los sujetos del estudio. Para examinar la práctica docente de los mismos, creamos una rejilla de observación con diferentes rubros concernientes a la enseñanza de la gramática. Llenamos dicha rejilla con base en las observaciones llevadas a cabo en diferentes sesiones. Los resultados de ambos instrumentos son comparados y nos permiten advertir tanto las correspondencias como las discrepancias respecto de las ideas preconcebidas que tienen los profesores de inglés y su práctica docente en términos reales.
Abstract (English)
The aim of this research was to identify three English language teachers’ representations about the role of grammar in language teaching and analyze their teaching practice according to the same topic. Based on this, we intended to establish a comparison between teachers’ representations and their real teaching practice. In order to know teachers’ representations, a questionnaire was applied to our subjects of study. In order to examine their teaching practices, we observed teachers, filling up an observation grid which presented different rubrics referring to the teaching of grammar. A comparison of the results of both instruments allowed us to determine correspondences and inconsistencies between teachers’ representations and their teaching practice in actual terms.
Ingela Holmström (Stockholm, Sweden)
Abstract (English)
Most second language (L2) learning happens in the same modality, i.e., a learner who has a spoken language as the first language most commonly learns additional spoken languages as L2. In such language acquisition cases, learners can build on what they already physically know about how to express language. But, if they begin to learn a sign language, they have to learn how to express language in a new modality, i.e. the visual-gestural one. It requires expressing the language using hands, arms, face, and body instead of the speech organs, and this is very unfamiliar for them. Furthermore, learners need to learn specific linguistic features that largely differ from those of spoken languages, such as spatiality, iconicity and simultaneity. In this paper, the teaching of such modality-specific features in a cohort of first-year hearing L2 students, who are learning Swedish Sign Language at the university level, is examined and described. This empirical study shows a language teaching context that largely differs from other language teaching contexts and how students experience this new language learning process.
Sammanfattning (Svenska)
Det vanligaste är att andraspråksinlärning sker inom samma modalitet som förstaspråket. Det betyder att inlärare som har ett talat språk som förstaspråk (L1) oftast lär sig andra talade språk som andraspråk (L2). I sådana fall av språktillägnande kan inlärarna utgå ifrån vad de redan vet om hur man uttrycker språk rent fysiologiskt. Men om inlärarna som har ett talat språk som L1 istället börjar lära sig ett teckenspråk som L2 måste de samtidigt lära sig att uttrycka språket i en ny modalitet, dvs. den visuellt-gestuella. Detta innebär att de istället för att använda talorganen uttrycker språket med händerna, armarna, ansiktet och kroppen, vilket kan upplevas som väldigt annorlunda och främmande. Inlärarna måste också lära sig teckenspråkets specifika särdrag som till stor del skiljer sig från det talade språkets, såsom spatialitet, ikonicitet och simultanitet. I föreliggande empiriskpå universitetsnivå. Studien skildrar en form av andraspråkundervisning som till stor del skiljer sig från annan sådan undervisning och beskriver också hur inlärarna själva upplever denna nya språkinlärningsprocess.a studie undersöks och beskrivs hur undervisningen av sådana modalitetsspecifika särdrag ser ut med utgångspunkt i en årskull förstaårsstudenter som läser svenskt teckenspråk som L2.
