Search

This exploratory Australian study tested a novel mobile-based language learning service intervention (via WhatsApp) called 'Chatloop' with 31 newly arrived migrants. This intervention was offered in tandem with the traditional Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) classroom curriculum. A mixed methods approach was employed to trial the intervention of Chatloop with AMEP students at two Queensland TAFE campuses. Quantitative data were gathered to measure changes in participants' English proficiency, and qualitative interviews gathered narratives about the experience of using Chatloop. Chatloop intervention group participants perceived it to be an interactive learning service that significantly improved their reading and writing skills, acculturation, and enhanced social connections. Being able to access Chatloop on their mobile device 24/7 was deemed to be an added advantage as compared to traditional classroom learning; it provided an opportunity to learn more about Australian culture and communication patterns, at their convenience. These findings suggest that such mobile interventions can be a valuable means of enhancing migrant's English language learning and warrants future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated levels of communicative anxiety (CA) among three generations of Korean immigrants (i.e., first, 1.5, and second generation) in Australia. A survey asking about their levels of CA in Korean (i.e., heritage language) and in English (i.e., majority language) was completed by 137 Korean immigrants. Some of the survey respondents participated in the open-ended questions and interviews, which asked about anxiety-arousing situations and coping strategies. Overall, all three generations of Koreans showed very low levels of CA in Korean. Regarding CA in English, the first-generation group showed a moderate level of anxiety whereas the second-generation group showed a very low level of anxiety. The 1.5-generation group revealed relatively low levels, but still 'some' degree of CA in both Korean and English. Among many contexts, public speaking provoked the most anxiety, both in Korean and English, and for all three generations. Various linguistic and socio-emotional reasons interplayed, and strategies similar to those used by successful foreign or second language learners were reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational research has been witnessing a 'spatial turn' and an 'affective turn' which have informed studies on pedagogy and foreign/second language acquisition. Drawing on a teacher-researcher ethnographic study, this paper examines the implications of primary students' affective engagement in the space of Chinese language and culture learning in Australia. In seeking to make a contribution to the field of Children's Geographies, the study, which used participant observation, journal entry and interview data, examined how a desire to learn is evoked. More specifically, the paper focuses on how affective geographies manifest in pedagogical encounters, with regard to students' relational experiences with peers and educators. By placing the spotlight on the ways in which affect is integral to pedagogic instruction, we investigate not only how the dynamics within the microgeography of the classroom are imbued with affects but also their powerful potential to alleviate 'large-scale' tensions between two nation-states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how research on the teaching of pragmatics, specifically as it relates to the use of explicit and implicit instruction, can serve as a guide for expanding the instruction of social language to immigrant students in Australia as well as other students. The curriculum and expectations from the Australian Migrant English Program (AMEP) are used as an example, but teachers working in similar programs can benefit as well. Several activities specific to explicit and implicit instruction are used to illustrate how to teach social language to learners from beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Theory & Practice of Second Language Acquisition is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Profile: Issues in Teachers' Professional Development is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study investigates the impact of an inquiry‐based teacher education course in nurturing second language (L2) teachers' research mindset, defined herein as their cognition and action toward research. One hundred and thirty pre‐ and in‐service L2 teachers of various nationalities participated in a teacher education course on instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) at an Australian university. The course was designed following an inquiry‐based approach, with course activities focused on promoting teacher learners' curiosity about ISLA issues and their engagement both with and in research. Data were collected before, during, and after course participation, using a precourse survey, written reflections, and focus group interviews. Findings revealed that the inquiry‐based course activities enabled the teacher learners to adopt a stronger research mindset. They were able to articulate the importance of research for teaching practice and gained firsthand experience as well as increased confidence in conducting research. They also showed inclination toward research‐informed teaching and were keen to maintain their newly established favorable relationship with research, despite acknowledging concerns about their future actual research engagement, mostly due to time constraint and lack of institutional support. These findings suggest implications for nurturing language teachers' research mindset within L2 teacher education courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on motivation in learning Italian in Australia have mostly shed light on students' creation of an ideal Italian self (e.g., Caruso and Fraschini). In doing so, they appear mainly to explore students' psychological reactions to the Italian learning process. Our study aims to complement previous research through the use of a three-level model (D'Orazzi, Motivation) that incorporates the analysis of psychological and cognitive components at the micro level, pedagogical dynamics at the meso level, and social context at the macro level. While taking a strongly quantitative approach, its results also build on and potentially contrast with those of a recent qualitative study undertaken by D'Orazzi and Hajek on university students' motivation when learning Italian in an English-speaking country such as Australia. In this article, we analyze survey data collected among students of Italian enrolled at a selection of Australian universities. Two online questionnaires were sent to students who answered fifty-one Likert scale questions addressing their learning experience as beginner students over one year of Italian studies. Our results point to the multidimensional and dynamic nature of second language learning motivation over time (Oakes and Howard), also following Danesi's argument that pedagogical factors need to be considered in studies on L2 learning motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current mixed-method study investigated two groups of Korean-speaking short-term sojourners in Australia. One group (students) was composed of learners enrolled in English training programs, whereas the other group (workers) was of learners in the workplace. We administered questionnaires and a semi-structured interview to examine their willingness to communicate (WTC) in English as their second language (L2) and explored the relationship between this variable and the sojourners' amount of L2 contact and their oral fluency in English. Our quantitative analyses show that the student group showed a higher level of WTC and amount of L2 exposure than the worker group. For both groups, WTC significantly predicted sojourners' amount of L2 exposure. However, oral fluency was found neither to be associated with WTC nor with the amount of L2 exposure. Qualitative theme-based analysis suggests that the two sojourn groups demonstrated similarities and differences in their attitudes and motivations related to WTC and unwillingness to communicate (unWTC). The students demonstrated a stronger tendency to engage in L2 interaction than the workers, aligning with their significantly higher frequency of reported L2 exposure. The workers' attitudes were characterized by feelings of ambivalence, with co-existence of both WTC and unWTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German has been at the centre of several recent studies on language learning motivation in Australia (e.g. D'Orazzi 2020a; Schmidt 2014) and elsewhere (e.g. Ammon 2020; Busse 2013; Riemer 2011). This study focuses on exploring motivation and changes in its component parts that students may experience when learning German at beginner level over two semesters at Australian universities. It does so by means of a three-dimensional (micro-meso-macro) framework proposed by D'Orazzi (2020a) who draws upon similar three-level models of analysis designed by the Douglas Fir Group (2016), Gayton (2018) and Gruba et al. (2016). Quantitative and qualitative methods are utilised to analyse data collected over time by means of two online questionnaires and two rounds of interviews. This longitudinal approach allows us to trace the nature and extent of changes in students' motivation over one year of studies and compare our outcomes with previous research on motivation in learning German at Australian universities (e.g. Schmidt 2011). The complex interconnection of motivational components shared by research participants allows to offer an updated overview of university students' understanding and experience of German learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: How does second dialect acquisition in a second language compare to that in a first language in terms of rates and predictors of second dialect vocabulary use? Design/methodology/approach: A lexical preference task was completed by four groups of participants residing in Australia: first language speakers of Australian (L1D1) and American (L1D2) English, and first language speakers of Russian who acquired Australian (L2D1) and American (L2D2) English first. The participants named objects which are denoted by different words in American and Australian English (e.g. bell pepper vs capsicum). Data and analysis: The response was coded as either American or Australian, and percentage of use of Australian items was calculated for each group. Findings/conclusions: L1D1 used Australian words the most and L1D2 the least. L2D1 and L2D2 fell between the two L1 groups. L1D2 rate of use was predicted by proportion of life spent in Australia. L2D1 were more likely to choose Australian words if they had lived in Australia longer and had positive attitudes toward Australia. L2D2 were less likely to use Australian words the longer they had lived in the USA. Similar, but not identical, factors predict second dialect acquisition in the first and second languages. Originality: The research is innovative in considering second dialect acquisition in second language speakers and creates a bridge between second language and second dialect acquisition research. Significance/implications: The finding that second language speakers may be more flexible in second dialect acquisition than first language speakers has important implications for our understanding of cognitive and social constraints on acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gesture-based methods of teaching second languages have increasingly attracted interest. Previous research has linked gesture with language learning; however, little is known about the impact on learners' language production, and even less is known about the impact of the unique Intentional Teaching Gestures (ITG) used in many second language programs. This empirical case study investigated the impact of learning with ITG on the oral language production of 170 primary school students learning Japanese as a second language in Australia, using a quasi-experimental approach with Story Re-tell methodology. Findings identify that viewing ITG increased learners' language retrieval and quantity of oral language produced and highlight the pedagogical value of viewing ITG as a scaffolding tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores language learners' motivation from the perspective of vision, a concept that has specifically been identified as one of the next challenges for motivation research. Having conceptualized vision as a powerful motivational component of the language learning process, and focusing on the learner's individual perspective, we employed Q methodology to identify the visions, as imagined here and now, of students' second language (L2) selves. While Q methodology is becoming increasingly popular in applied linguistics, thanks to its ability to offer a scientific and holistic investigation of subjectivity, no study has previously employed it to gain in‐depth understanding of how learners of Italian in an Anglophone context envision themselves as future bilingual or multilingual speakers. Students from an Australian university ranked statements related to imagined scenarios of L2 selves, and factor analysis of these ranks exposed 3 motivational profiles: 'the multilingual fan with an edge,' 'the mobile and linguistically competent,' and 'the lover of the Italian culture.' By engaging in new and fresh ways to understand language students and their self‐visions, this study contributes to the understanding of motivation and provides a useful tool for comparison for other languages, as well as other institutional and geographical contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although international students have been a notable research topic in higher education for more than 100 years, to date only one qualitative literature review has been published on the topic. In order to help researchers better understand the intellectual landscape of global research related to international students, we conducted a quantitative scientometric review of 3685 relevant journal articles published between 1900 and 2018 and indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. The findings show that the number of articles published in the field has increased rapidly, especially since 2006, and this expansion has been led primarily by Australia, the U.K., and the USA, as these three countries not only produced most of the high-yielding research institutions and productive authors, but also published a majority of the prolific journals. Among the numerous topics discussed in these selected articles, cross-cultural adjustment, mental health problems, second-language acquisition, intercultural development, and student migration were most frequently studied, while social integration, graduate employability, and student satisfaction have emerged as new trends. These results complement the existing qualitative literature review from a quantitative perspective and provide valuable insights into and implications for global research related to international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies is the property of Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Language practices represent significant barriers to engagement in higher education for many learners from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. In Australia, such students may be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners, students from rural and remote locations, learners who are the first in their family to access higher education, from non-English speaking backgrounds, learners with interrupted schooling due to refugee or asylum seeker experiences, or first language speakers of English dialects that vary from the dominant forms privileged in the academy. While subject-specialist language and engagement with text can present ongoing challenges for many learners, such linguistic barriers--and the practical implications for academics engaged in teaching--often receive limited attention in institutional policy. This article reports on research that sought to critically examine how ten academics from different disciplines and university contexts perceive their role in the linguistically diversified academy, particularly but not exclusively, in relation to students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. The experiences of the ten academics who contributed to this research offer a useful vantage point from which to consider the various ways in which language may be conceptualized in higher education, the possibilities for embedding linguistic support in content area instruction, and the need to ensure tailored and responsive language assistance for learners throughout their studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-sectional study investigates the acquisition of yes/no questions in Japanese as a second language (L2) based on the Prominence Hypothesis from Bettoni and Di Biase in 2015 within the Processability Theory from Pienemann in 1998, and Pienemann, Di Biase, and Kawaguchi in 2005 as the theoretical framework. Speech data were collected from twenty university Japanese L2 learners in Australia, ranging from beginner to super-advanced levels, utilizing naturalistic conversation and a "spot the differences task" to elicit question sentences. The learners' speech was transcribed and their use of yes/no questions was analyzed based on the Prominence Hypothesis. Question particles (e.g., ka? ne? deshoo?) used by the learners were also analyzed. The results indicated that the acquisition of yes/no questions in Japanese L2 generally followed the developmental stages defined by the Prominence Hypothesis. However, 'prosody only' (i.e., use of rising intonation), which is hypothesized as the first L2 question construction after single word questions, was not used by the L2 Japanese learners. Instead the learners used sentence-final question particles from the beginning to indicate the interrogative mood. Also, as the learners' developmental stages progressed, they became able to utilize a wider variety of question particles. These findings are important both theoretically and practically in learning and teaching Japanese L2. This study provides empirical evidence supporting the Prominence Hypothesis in a typologically head-last, subject-object-verb (SOV) language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]