Occupational Language Requirements and the Value of English in the US Labor Market

This paper is concerned with the English language requirements (both level and importance) of occupations in the United States, as measured by the O*NET database. These scores are linked to microdata on employed adult (aged 25 to 64) males, both native born and foreign born, as reported in the 2000 Census, one percent sample. Working in an occupation that requires greater English language skills, whether measured by the level of these skills or the importance of English for performing the job, has a large effect on earnings among the native born, and an even larger effect among the foreign born. This effect is reduced by 50 percent, but is still large, when worker characteristics, including their own English language skills, are held constant. Earnings increase with the respondent’s own proficiency in English, with the English proficiency required for the occupation, and when those with high levels of proficiency work in jobs requiring English language skills (interaction effect). There is, therefore, a strong economic incentive for the matching of worker’s English skills and the occupation’s requirements, and this matching does tend to occur in the labor market.English Language, Earnings, Occupation, Immigrants, Schooling

The Development of Language Learning Aptitude and Metalinguistic Awareness in Primary-School Children: A Classroom Study

In the typical foreign language classroom, many learners all over the world find themselves in a minimal-input environment. Existing research suggests that in such a setting, adolescents typically outperform younger children. The greater cognitive maturity of older learners manifests itself in greater language learning aptitude, greater metalinguistic awareness, and enhanced capacity for explicit learning. We examined whether the teaching and learning of either Esperanto or French would facilitate the development of language learning aptitude and metalinguistic awareness in 8-9-year-old children (N=28), thus setting the scene for enhanced explicit learning even at a young age. Following instruction in either Esperanto or French over a school year, children made significant gains on measures of aptitude, metalinguistic awareness, and L2 proficiency. Effect sizes in the Esperanto group were larger throughout, however, with greater homogeneity of performance in evidence and a closer association between aptitude, metalinguistic awareness, and L2 proficiency at the end of the treatment. Moreover, Esperanto proved significantly easier to learn than French, with larger gains in L2 proficiency achieved by the Esperanto group compared with the French group. Finally, we found that language-analytic ability emerged as a significant predictor of L2 achievement in the sample as a whole

Reading and learning from L2 text: Effects of reading goal, topic familiarity, and language proficiency

This study examined the effect of reading goal, topic-familiarity, and language proficiency on text comprehension and learning. English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students with high and low topic-familiarity read and recalled a text. Some were told in advance to expect a recall task in a particular language—the first language (L1) or second language (L2)—and recalled in the same language (the L1-L1 condition and the L2-L2 condition). Others were told of the L1 recall before reading and later recalled in the L2 (the L1-L2 condition). It was found that content recall was enhanced in the L1-L1 condition whereas incidental vocabulary learning benefited from the L2-L2 condition. Language proficiency affected overall content recall while topic-familiarity facilitated processing of specific content information. These findings suggest that reading goal affects resource allocation during text processing, with topic-familiarity and language proficiency intervening additively

EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF GENDER AND PROFICIENCY LEVELS ON TURKISH EFL LEARNERS’ BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Language learners’ beliefs about second language learning interact with their awareness, consciousness, attitude towards learning, strategy choices and motivations (Buyukyazi, 2010). Delving into learners’ beliefs provides an insightful view of learners’ perceptions and actions about their education, which also helps teachers to shape the language learning process with changing or adapting the methods and materials thereby reshaping the negative preconceptions of the learners about English language. To see the effect of the learners’ gender and language proficiency levels, 43 university level students contributed to the study. The data were collected with a 34-item Likert Scale called as The Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) developed by Horwitz. The data analysis revealed that while learners’ gender has no significant effect on the learners’ belief, their proficiency levels affect their beliefs about the nature of the language, foreign language aptitude, motivations and expectations from their second language learning procedures.Keywords: language learner’s belief; attitude; aptitude; preconceptio

Foreign to whom? Constraining the moral foreign language effect on bilinguals' language experience

The moral foreign language effect (MFLE) describes how people’s decisions may change when a moral dilemma is presented in either their native (NL) or foreign language (FL). Growing attention is being directed to unpacking what aspects of bilingualism may influence the MFLE, though with mixed or inconclusive results. The current study aims to bridge this gap by adopting a conceptualization of bilingualism that frames this construct as a composite and continuous measure. In a between-group analysis, we asked 196 Italian–English bilinguals to perform a moral dilemmas task in either their NL (i.e., Italian) or FL (i.e., English). In a within-group analysis, we evaluated the effects of FL age of acquisition, FL proficiency, and language dominance – all measured as continuous variables – on moral decision-making. Overall, findings indicate that differences within bilinguals’ language experience impact moral decisions in an FL. However, the effect of the linguistic factors considered was not ubiquitous across dilemmas, and not always emerged into a MFLE. In light of these results, our study addresses the importance of treating bilingualism as multidimensional, rather than a unitary variable. It also discusses the need to reconceptualize the FLE and its implications on moral decision-making

The theoretical significance of research on language attrition for understanding bilingualism

The most important and most controversial issue for bilingualism research is the question why children are better at language learning than adults: while all normally developing children reach fully native speaker proficiency, foreign language learners hardly ever do.     Researchers disagree as to whether this age effect is due to language-specific neurobiological and maturational processes or to more general factors linked to cognitive development and the competition of two language systems in the bilingual mind. As both scenarios predict non-native like behavior of second language (L2) learners, it has to date been impossible to conclusively establish which of them actually obtains.     I propose that new insights can be provided by including first language (L1) attriters in the comparison: migrants who are using their L2 dominantly, and whose L1 is consequently deteriorating. These speakers acquired their L1 without maturational constraints, but they experience the same impact of bilingualism and competition between languages as L2 learners do. They therefore provide a source of data that is non-native for reasons which are known.     If attaining native speaker proficiency is maturationally constrained, processing strategies should remain native-like in an L1 which has become non-dominant. If the persistent problems of L2 learners are due to issues such as lack of exposure and competition between languages, attriters should become more similar to foreign-language learners than to natives

CORRELATION BETWEEN METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY, FOREIGN LANGUAGE APTITUDE AND MOTIVATIONS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Language learning belief and language learning strategies are two essential predictors that have significant effect toward students’ language proficiency. Learners’ belief is dealing with what comes from inside the learners in learning the language, such as foreign language aptitude; difficulty of language learning; nature of language learning; learning and communication strategies; and motivation. Meanwhile, language learning strategies are learners’ plan in achieving certain goals or mastering the target language. A preliminary research was conducted in order to find what strategy mostly used by the learners. It turned out that the strategy mostly used by them was metacognitive strategies. Thus, this study aims to investigate about the correlation between metacognitive strategies and certain belief’ variables in students’ language learning which are foreign language aptitude and motivation. Moreover, twenty postgraduate students of English education department participated in this study. This study used correlational research, in which the BALLI (Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory) and SILL (Strategies Inventory for Language Learners) questionnaires were adopted as the instruments in collecting the data. The findings of this study indicated that there is negative linear correlation between metacognitive strategy and foreign language aptitude (rXY = -0,049) while there is significant positive linear correlation between metacognitive and motivation (rXY =+0,79) in students’ language learning. Furthermore, this study also provide some recommendations, which is it is expected that there will be more researches use studies using different respondents with various contexts. Secondly, the further research will use both of quantitative and qualitative data relating to this issue in order to make a more accurate data

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MODERN BOARD GAMES IN TEACHING GREEK AS L2 TO ADULT LEARNERS

The important role of communicative competence in foreign language learning highlighted the need for the use of task-based or content-oriented activities within the foreign language instructional context. Several studies have recently focused on such activities and, in particular, on the use of games (Peters, 2015; Petrovic, 2007; Yaccob & Yunus, 2019); their findings have attracted researchers’ interest as they underlined the positive effects, they seem to have on the development of language proficiency (Bush, 2015; Lan, Van & Huyen, 2019; Nguyen & Nga, 2003). Some of these studies have examined the effect of games on learners’ language development, competency and motivation in learning an L2 (Marzano, 2010; Stavy, Subon & Unin, 2019; Tuan, 2012), while others have focused on students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards their use in language classrooms (Hamzah & Dourado, 2010; Lawrence & Lawrence, 2013; Reyes-Chua & Lidawan, 2019). However, what has not been adequately researched is the impact of board games on adult students and their systematic integration and use within the language curricula (Phuong & Nguyen, 2017). In this study, we aim to present two different types of modern board games which have been adjusted for the teaching of Greek as a foreign language at B1 level (according to CEFR). The games were used to practice vocabulary and grammar as well as promote interpersonal communication according to the syllabus of the School of Modern Greek (2010). The study will compare the use of board games with conventional activities and tasks so as to assess their effectiveness as a tool in the adult foreign language classroom.  Article visualizations

Foreign Language Anxiety: Students' Perspectives and Pedagogical Implications

During the last four decades, researchers have shown an increasing interest in the effect of affective variables in language learning because of their decisive role in understanding individual differences in language learning success rate among language learners. This paper tries to shed some light on a particular affective factor, foreign language anxiety, which is a specific type of anxiety that affects the language learning process. To this end, the concept of foreign language anxiety and its sources are discussed in the first part of the paper. Foreign language anxiety is shown to be a rather widespread phenomenon and to have potential negative effects on various aspects of foreign language learning. It will be argued that its sources are multiple and varied, such as learner characteristics, teacher characteristics or classroom procedures. In the second part of the paper, students’ beliefs and perceptions of their own linguistic competence are analysed, as they have also been shown to play a crucial role. In fact, the way learners approach the task of learning a new language eventually influences their academic achievement and language proficiency. In the third and last part of this paper, some practical pieces of advice for teachers to deal with language learning anxiety are provided. Teachers have been reported to be a key element to help students cope with foreign language anxiety. As a matter of fact, their understanding of students’ interpretation of the affective factor information can help them develop teaching methods that will encourage learners to create a more positive self-concept. These new methodologies will in turn lead to more effective learning. While it is difficult to find a single method that would answer to the emotional and intellectual needs of all the anxious learners in the classroom, in this section I discuss four proposals that help teachers alleviate anxiety and encourage student participation. Firstly, teachers should help students understand the irrational nature of their self-perceptions and fears. Secondly, classroom atmosphere must be as friendly and relaxed as possible to be suitable for language learning. Thirdly, teachers should debate sensible expectations with students, help them develop more realistic expectations about foreign language learning, and make them aware of the fact that mistakes are part of the language learning process. Finally, teachers should create a positive learning environment and adopt the role of facilitator. In short, by understanding the phenomenon of language learning anxiety, by becoming acquainted with students’ language learning experiences and beliefs, and by providing some practical tips for teachers, this paper seeks to be of use to future language teachers such as mysel