Search

The use of machine translation (MT) tools is already widely spread among students as part of their language training. Our survey, carried out with over 400 Lansod students, aims to identify the tools used by students, to describe their procedures and to gather information regarding the perception of these tools. Results reveal that the use of these tools is often out of step with their conception, on the one hand because of a general confusion concerning MT tools, and on the other hand, because of insufficient awareness of their role in language learning. This first step in the Lansod sector underlines the need to train students in MT tools. It prompts us to further question the role of teachers in the handling of these tools by students.

This paper discusses the recent history of research and pedagogical practice in the field of autonomous language learning. First, the work of the Crapel is examined through one of the topics that has recently been the focus of a team effort: the affective dimension of both self-directed language learning and language learning advising. An overview of the self-directed learning schemes currently in use at the Université de Lorraine is then provided, showing the diversity of ways in which local language training has taken up the Crapel approach.

This study seeks to identify the dynamics of emotional relationships during counselling interviews in self-directed language learning. Counsellors’ and learners’ emotional states are inferred from tone of voice following analysis of audio recordings of their exchanges. Emotions expressed in every turn are characterized on valence and activation scales, and emotional relationships synthesized in a typology. Most of the observed emotional fluctuations are learner-initiated, and results suggest that counsellors regulate emotions in order to maintain an emotional climate, which is argued to favour self-directed learning tasks.

Adopting a feminist perspective, this exploratory and empirically based study of face-to-face advising dialogue will put into question two related aspects of advising that have seldom been discussed in the literature on advising: the gendered dimension and the psychological support. Based on the general and rarely discussed assumption that women’s speech is more emotional and best suited for establishing and maintaining more equal relationships than men’s speech, and on the fact that many language learning advisors in the world are women, this study examines the ways in which female and male advisors working in different educational contexts verbally establish a relationship where a learner’s autonomy can emerge. The preliminary results suggest that psychological support is provided through a wide range of verbal strategies and that gender seems less significant than work context to explain individual differences.