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Second language learning investment relates to the willingness and effort of learners to develop language competencies which will give them a good return in terms of personal or professional benefits. Research has often explored learning investment through learners in the target language context or language teachers. This study, however, explores learning investment with undergraduate learners who are obligated to learn English as a foreign language, regardless of their future profession. To this end, a Likert-scale questionnaire was first designed to examine four investment dimensions which have been identified in previous qualitative research: motivation, necessity, engagement and agency. For validity and reliability purposes, the questionnaire was administered to six second language research professors and 41 students who completed three compulsory English courses in a BA in Inclusive Education. Content, construct and convergent validity procedures were implemented to test the investment dimensions. Regarding reliability, equivalent forms were used to check the stability of answers and to avoid primacy and fatigue effects. In addition, internal consistency and inter-item correlations were checked through Cronbach Alpha coefficients. After the validity and reliability procedures, the four dimensions of learning investment were explored among the language learners. The statistical analyses revealed favorable motivation and engagement results. Nonetheless, they raised some concerns regarding necessity and agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through either morphological or functional approaches, previous research has examined how instructed second language (L2) learners develop control over a challenging area of French: the use of the imparfait. In order to better understand this challenge, this cross‐sectional study utilized both approaches and examined how 94 university Hispanophone learners of French developed control over 5 L2 imperfective functions with 4 verb types in 2 written narratives. Each L2 learner was assigned to 1 of 6 groups depending on the number of imperfective instances in their texts. In order to identify features of learner language, L2 imperfective use was compared to the imperfective found in first language (L1) Spanish (n = 31) and L1 French (n = 47) narratives. The analyses of the 2,176 instances of L2 imperfective use revealed that this form develops in accordance with a trend whereby a decrease is found from the characterization/state combination, to habituality/telics, to progressivity/nonpunctual dynamic verbs, to inchoative characterization/states, and to frequentation/activities. In contrast to the L1 imperfective in Spanish and French, the L2 imperfective showed variability across these combinations. Moreover, in the L2 narratives, learners favored the characterization/state association at the expense of using other imperfective functions with other verb types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, curricular changes and financial investments are currently underway to promote the integration of technology in public education and English language learning at a young age. This study examines the iCTs that have become part of the daily instructional practices and educational settings of teachers of English who work with young learners in public schools. To this end, this mixed-methods study draws on a quantitative descriptive-exploratory design and a qualitative multiple-case study. The quantitative data were collected through a Likert questionnaire administered to 28 secondary school teachers of English across 17 municipalities in five regions of Southeast Mexico and 2,944 learners. The qualitative data were gathered from a subsample of six teachers through longitudinal classroom observations, teacher and administrator interviews, and school visits. The non-parametric analyses of the quantitative data and the categorical aggregation analyses of the qualitative data reveal that the use of some multimedia and mobile-assisted communication resources is emerging in the L2 public classrooms. in line with findings from other international contexts, variables that seem particular to public education for young learners and their school setting, however, led teachers to prefer using their own technological devices that included laptops, multimedia material, and cellphones, rather than those in the schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical and empirical research offers support for explicit instruction on metacognition and cognitive strategies as an effective way to improve L2 listening skills. This study is aimed at identifying whether both metacognition and cognitive strategies are worked on in a university- level French class on a daily basis. A second-year French-class teacher and his students (n=26) were observed during five listening-based sessions over a semester. Quantitative data was collected with regard to six dimensions of explicit metacognitive instruction of listening skills, using a teacher self-evaluation questionnaire, a student questionnaire and a structured observation. The results reveal implicit cognitive work during the pre-, while- and post-listening teaching stages. Nonetheless, strategy assessment, and the explicit teaching of metacognitive strategies for planning, monitoring, controlling and problem identifying, both remain controversial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article discusses the use of multimedia in secondary language education in universities. The authors comment on the importance of technological education and literacy in the study of vocabulary. They also consider the benefits gained in past studies of multimedia usage and computer-aided instruction in linguistics education.

Previous research has examined the organization of second-language French narratives through discourse or morphological analyses. At the discourse level, the analyses have investigated the foreground/background relationship. Conversely, at the morphological level, the analyses have examined the role played by verbal morphology and verbal predicates. Different methodological caveats have limited the interpretation of findings in both types of analyses. In order to provide new data, this cross-sectional study examined the evolution of discourse and morphological resources in the written narratives of Mexican Spanish-speaking learners of French whose language learning experience is limited to the classroom. The learners in the cross-sectional sample (n = 11) were selected from a population of 88 participants who completed lexical, past-tense and general proficiency tests. They also generated two written narratives during silent-film retelling tasks. The cross-sectional sample selection was based on the learners' test scores and the results of parametric statistical analyses. The narratives were analyzed for the identification of foreground/background clauses, verbal morphology and verbal predicates. The results reveal that, as learners' past-tense knowledge increases, the organization of narratives consolidates through a developmental path that involves the interrelated growth of discourse and morphological features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]