Suchergebnisse

We form very rapid personality impressions about speakers on hearing a single word. This implies that the acoustical properties of the voice (e.g., pitch) are very powerful cues when forming social impressions. Here, we aimed to explore how personality impressions for brief social utterances transfer across languages and whether acoustical properties play a similar role in driving personality impressions. Additionally, we examined whether evaluations are similar in the native and a foreign language of the listener. In two experiments we asked Spanish listeners to evaluate personality traits from different instances of the Spanish word "Hola" (Experiment 1) and the English word "Hello" (Experiment 2), native and foreign language respectively. The results revealed that listeners across languages form very similar personality impressions irrespective of whether the voices belong to the native or the foreign language of the listener. A social voice space was summarized by two main personality traits, one emphasizing valence (e.g., trust) and the other strength (e.g., dominance). Conversely, the acoustical properties that listeners pay attention to when judging other's personality vary across languages. These results provide evidence that social voice perception contains certain elements invariant across cultures/languages, while others are modulated by the cultural/linguistic background of the listener. ; This study was funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, National Research Agency) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, European Regional Development Fund) under projects PSI2017- 84539-P and PSI2014-52181-P, the Catalan Government (2017 SGR 268), and the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 613465 - AThEME. CB was supported by the People Program (Marie Curie Actions, FP7-PEOPLE 2014–2016) under REA agreement n°623845 and now is supported by the Beatriu de Pinòs program (AGAUR, BP00381). PB was supported by supported by grant AJE201214 from French Foundation for Medical Research, and grants ANR-16-CONV-0002 (Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain), ANR-11-LABX-0036 (Brain and Language Research Institute) and the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University (A*MIDEX).

This paper describes our on-going research into first and foreign language use in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms. First, we compiled a corpus for indirect observation of twenty YouTube videos featuring primary and secondary school CLIL lessons taught in five European countries. Second, data were gathered through direct observation of four secondary school groups of CLIL Technology classes taught at the IES Benicalap (Valencia, Spain). The results provide insight into when and how first and foreign languages (in this case, English) were used in these CLIL classrooms, especially in regard to instruction, class management and feedback. ; Temirova, F.; Westall Pixton, DL. (2015). Analysis of first and foreign language use in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences. 178:217-221. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.03.184 ; S ; 217 ; 221 ; 178

Despite the fact that the globalised world of the 21st century offers numerous possibilities to non-native speakers of a foreign language to use it every day, speaking is still considered as one of the most stressful and anxiety-provoking skills by foreign language learners. The main aim of this work is to offer a closer perspective on foreign language speaking anxiety and its causes among non-native language speakers. We offer a meta-analysis of 10 studies, which especially focus on factors that affect foreign language learners so that they feel anxious when speaking a foreign language.

Americans are among the least likely in the world to speak another language, and this lack of foreign language skills has a negative impact on the economic and national security of the U.S. and on the careers of individuals. In the U.S. the need for foreign language skills in the workforce is predicted to increase, and many positions requiring foreign language skills cannot always be filled. The need for an increase in foreign language skills in the U.S. and across the Anglophone world has been clearly demonstrated by a series of reports. A strategic social marketing campaign is needed, and in order for the campaign to be effective, the Language Enterprise, defined as the partnership of academe, government, and private enterprise, must play an active role. The "Many Languages One World" Essay Contest and Global Youth Forum is a noteworthy example of a high-profile event made possible by a Language Enterprise collaborative partnership. Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP), especially Business Language Studies (BLS) represent an approach to foreign language education with the potential to transform both our classrooms and the future professional lives of our students

Language learning has long been regarded as a female domain in both commonsense notions about gender and academic research. In fact, there have been numerous studies on girls' superior performance in language education (Arnot et al. 1996; Burstall 1975; Boyle 1987) and the reasons behind this phenomenon, and more recently, boys have been painted as victims of feminized language learning in education politics (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority 1998). According to poststructuralist research, however, gendered identities are continuously constructed in discourse, which links specific behavior to images of femininity or masculinity. Based on the assumption that these understandings of gender identities play a role in students' attitudes towards certain practices, this paper will examine the relationship between dominant gender discourses on language learning and boys' interest in Foreign Language Learning (FLL). For this purpose, poststructuralist gender theory will be applied to popular narratives based on dominant gender discourses, namely sex difference research and male underachievement in language education, in order to show that their perpetuation of the idea that language is a female domain is a possible factor in boys' lack of FLL interest. The paper aims to illustrate that dominant gender discourses should be problematized as a hindrance to boys' FLL interest rather than reinforced through educational politics and academic research.

Amid a recent wave of revived interest in citizenship and citizenship education, foreign language education is emerging as an important but under-researched site for the education of citizens under conditions of globalization and massive social, economic, and political changes. This qualitative study deconstructed the concept of good citizenship embedded in China's and America's foreign language curricula during the past decade. The study presented a comparative critical discourse analysis of four interwoven data sets: (a) foreign language policies and/or curriculum standards bounded by the two contexts of this study: Shanghai in China and Utah in the U.S.; (b) EFL (English as a foreign language) and CFL (Chinese as a foreign language) instructional materials developed for the 1st through 3rd and 10th through 12th graders in Shanghai and Utah, respectively; (c) media accounts relating foreign language education with citizenship education in the two countries; and (d) relevant academic publications. Together with a body of critical literature on ideology in curriculum, a two-dimensional citizenship matrix consisting of nationalism, cosmopolitanism, neoliberalism, and Confucianism assisted in the identification and comparison of the country-specific sociopolitical and sociocultural meanings associated with being a good citizen in China and the U.S. Three sets of findings were reported in response to the three research questions. First, among a jumble of meanings and expectations, the most widely shared imaginary embedded in China's EFL curriculum is an individual whose allegiance is to the nation and the market, whereas the second popular perception is someone who observes Confucian moral principles and adopts a global perspective. Second, the dominant good citizenship notion embedded in America's CFL curriculum is characterized by a marked neoliberal orientation. Third, the two cases demonstrated two chief differences and two major similarities. Due to the unique social contexts, cultural institutions, and global power differentials of China and the U.S., the good citizenship discursive fields of two cases were qualitatively different both in terms of intent and belonging. The discursive fields were similar in that the neoliberal-nationalism discourse was prevalent and the officially preferred good citizenship notion was oppressive in nature in both cases.

Pragmatics and culture in communicative language teaching -- Linking pragmatics and intercultural language learning -- Developing a view of language use as social action -- Reflection on experience as resource for intercultural learning -- Combining performance and reflection for learning -- Developing intercultural perspectives on language use

This book brings together current thinking on informal language learning and the findings of over 30 years of research on captions (same language subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) to present a new model of language learning from captioned viewing and a future roadmap for research and practice in this field. Language learners may have normal hearing but they are 'hard-of-listening' and find it difficult to follow the rapid or unclear speech in many films and TV programmes. Vanderplank considers whether watching with captions not only enables learners to understand and enjoy foreign language television and films but also helps them to improve their foreign language skills. Captioned Media in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching will be of interest to students and researchers involved in second language acquisition teaching and research, as well as practising language teachers and teacher trainers. Robert Vanderplank is Director of Oxford University Language Centre and a Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford, where he is also Director of the Kellogg College Centre for the Study of Lifelong Language Learning and maintains the LARA database on language attrition research (www.lara.ox.ac.uk). His research interests and publications include television and language learning, listening comprehension, learner strategies, language testing and assessment, language maintenance and attrition, and learner autonomy