Flexibility and Interaction at a Distance: A Mixed-Model Environment For Language Learning

This article reports on the process of design and development of two language courses for university students at beginning levels of competence. Following a preliminary experience in a low-tech environment for distance language learning and teaching, and a thorough review of the available literature, we identified two major challenges that would need to be addressed in our design: (1) a necessity to build sufficient flexibility into the materials to cater to a variety of learners' styles, interests and skill levels, therefore sustaining learners' motivation; and (2) a need to design materials that would present the necessary requisites of authenticity and interactivity identified in the examined literature, in spite of the reduced opportunities for face-to-face communication. In response to these considerations, we designed and developed learning materials and tasks to be distributed on CD-ROM, complemented by a WebCT component for added interactivity and task authenticity. Although only part of the original design was implemented, and further research is needed to assess the impact of our environment on learning outcomes, the results of preliminary evaluations are encouraging

A Review of Verbal and Non-Verbal Human-Robot Interactive Communication

In this paper, an overview of human-robot interactive communication is presented, covering verbal as well as non-verbal aspects of human-robot interaction. Following a historical introduction, and motivation towards fluid human-robot communication, ten desiderata are proposed, which provide an organizational axis both of recent as well as of future research on human-robot communication. Then, the ten desiderata are examined in detail, culminating to a unifying discussion, and a forward-looking conclusion

Overcoming language barriers and boundaries: Video-mediated eTandem

Ces dernières années, une initiative a été lancée dans les établissements d'enseignement supérieur du Japon pour faciliter les partenariats de recherche et la collaboration aux niveaux local et international. Les objectifs sont de fournir aux jeunes chercheurs une plate-forme pour perfectionner leurs compétences et promouvoir les échanges scientifiques. Cet article rend compte d'une initiative de recherche collaborative entre deux universités nationales au Japon qui ont utilisé une plate-forme eTandem à des fins d'échange scientifique. Les échanges en face à face et par vidéo ont permis aux étudiants de partager des idées de recherche, de travailler en réseau et de jeter les fondations possibles pour de futurs projets de collaboration. Les participants (n = 26) se sont rencontrés chaque semaine dans un environnement d'apprentissage informel. Des enregistrements audio de 13 dyades en tandem ont été collectés et analysés afin d'identifier les défis linguistiques et les échanges les plus significatifs. L'analyse des données a révélé que les étudiants étaient capables de donner et de recevoir des commentaires critiques sur divers aspects de leur apprentissage, en particulier dans les domaines suivants: la conception de posters, le contenu de la recherche, la présentation, la structure organisationnelle de la recherche scientifique et la terminologie hautement spécialisée. Nous avons noté que tout gain dans ces domaines variait de façon importante entre les individus et résultait peut-être davantage d'efforts multiples effectués au cours de la période plutôt que de l'expérience eTandem en tant que telle

DHBeNeLux : incubator for digital humanities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg

Digital Humanities BeNeLux is a grass roots initiative to foster knowledge networking and dissemination in digital humanities in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. This special issue highlights a selection of the work that was presented at the DHBenelux 2015 Conference by way of anthology for the digital humanities currently being done in the Benelux area and beyond. The introduction describes why this grass roots initiative came about and how DHBenelux is currently supporting community building and knowledge exchange for digital humanities in the Benelux area and how this is integrating regional digital humanities in the larger international digital humanities environment

Collaborative concept mapping activities in a classroom scenario

The aim of this study is to test collaborative concept mapping activities using computers in a classroom scenario and to evaluate the possibilities that Elkar-CM offers for collaboratively learning non-technical topics. Elkar-CM is a multi-lingual and multi-media software program designed for drawing concept maps (CMs) collaboratively. Concept mapping is a widely accepted technique that promotes meaningful learning. Graphically representing concepts of the learning domain and relationships between them helps students integrate new knowledge into their current cognitive structure. This study was carried out with Social Education degree students at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). The experiment included two learning activities. First, all students collaboratively constructed in the classroom a CM on the subject of Moral Development. Second, students were organised into groups to complete the CM generated in the first part.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, grant TIN2009-14380, the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, grant (EHU09/09) and the Basque Government, grant IT421-10.Elorriaga Arandia, JA.; Arruarte Lasa, A.; Calvo Fabo, I.; Larrañaga Olagaray, M.; Rueda Molina, U.; Herrán Izagirre, E. (2011). Collaborative concept mapping activities in a classroom scenario. Behaviour and Information Technology. 32(12):1292-1304. doi:10.1080/0144929X.2011.632649S12921304321

L2 Investment in the Transnational Context: A Case Study of PRC Scholar Students in Singapore

Despite growing research on mainland Chinese international students’ intercultural language learning and adjustment experiences in Anglophone countries, few studies have delved into these students’ socially constructed language learning practices as an essential component of their study-abroad journey, especially in Singapore which shares linguistic and cultural affinities with China. As such, building on Darvin and Norton’s (2015) theory of investment at the intersection of identity, capital, and ideology, this case study focuses on Chinese foreign talent students in Singapore and aims to understand how they invest in learning English as an additional language (L2) and assert their legitimate place in the transnational context. Based on the analysis of data collected from two focused students (Baoyu and Gongcai, both pseudonyms), this study reveals the varied, complex, and agentive ways in which the two cases invested in English learning and English-mediated social interactions. It showed that both participants developed different investment pathways, which were shaped by their endeavors to reconstruct desired identities and their motivation to actualize capital conversion. Their investment in English language learning was also largely impacted by dominant ideologies and institutional policies. This study contributes to the field by highlighting the role of social networks in shaping learners’ investment practices, the influence of cultural capital on their investment choices, and the role of agency in challenging prevailing ideologies and navigating sociocultural dynamics in the study-abroad context. This study also proposes educational and policy implications concerning Chinese foreign talent students in Singapore and points out directions for future research

Disrupting Digital Monolingualism: A report on multilingualism in digital theory and practice

This report is about the Disrupting Digital Monolingualism virtual workshop in June 2020. The DDM workshop sought to draw together a wide range of stakeholders active in confronting the current language bias in most of the digital platforms, tools, algorithms, methods, and datasets which we use in our study or practice, and to reverse the powerful impact this bias has on geocultural knowledge dynamics in the wider world. The workshop aimed to describe the state of the art across different academic disciplines and professional fields, and foster collaboration across diverse perspectives around four points of focus: Linguistic and geocultural diversity in digital knowledge infrastructures; Working with multilingual methods and data; Transcultural and translingual approaches to digital study; and Artificial intelligence, machine learning and NLP in language worlds. Event website https://languageacts.org/digital-mediations/event/disrupting-digital-monolingualism/ This report forms part of a series of reports produced by the Digital Mediations strand of the Language Acts & Worldmaking project, in this case in collaboration with the translingual strand of the Cross-Language Dynamics project (based at the Institute of Modern Languages Research), both funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Open World Research Initiative. Digital Mediations explores interactions and tensions between digital culture, multilingualism and language fields including the Modern Languages

Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research

This paper reviews the published articles on eTourism in the past 20 years. Using a wide variety of sources, mainly in the tourism literature, this paper comprehensively reviews and analyzes prior studies in the context of Internet applications to Tourism. The paper also projects future developments in eTourism and demonstrates critical changes that will influence the tourism industry structure. A major contribution of this paper is its overview of the research and development efforts that have been endeavoured in the field, and the challenges that tourism researchers are, and will be, facing

Alternancia de lenguas en la comunicación mediada por ordenador entre las personas del Congo

Tesis de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Filología, leída el 12/11/2018Language research in Computer-mediated communication (hereafter CMC) is a relatively new and dynamically evolving field (Herring et al. 2013). Unlike offline (or face-to-face) communication, CMC is, according to Herring (1996), a communication that takes place between human beings via the instrumentality of computers or other devices (e.g. Smartphones, tablets, etc.) that allow users to connect to the Internet. CMC implies the use of the Web 2.0 as a medium of communication. Understood as an umbrella term covering different phenomena – e.g. social networking communication, netspeak and so on – CMC includes different channels such as instant messaging, email, chatrooms, online forums, social networking services, and so on. CMC is characterised by two fundamental and opposing modes (Crystal 2001, 2003). The synchronous mode (or real-time conversation) takes place as all participants (senders and receivers) are simultaneously online during text message exchange (i.e. chat rooms). The asynchronous mode, on the other hand, requires the messages to be stored in the addressees’ inbox until they can be read (e.g. email). Nevertheless, Facebook, on which the present thesis is based, is a CMC channel that involves both synchronous and asynchronous modes (Pérez- Sabater 2012; Maíz-Arévalo 2015). While the literature on CMC is fast-growing, much evidence from many other languages and cultures is still needed (Herring 2010; Thurlow & Puff 2013). Hundreds of languages notably used in CMC remain under-investigated around the world. In the particular case of Congo- Brazzaville, no attempt to investigate the nature of the impact which CMC is making on language(s) has been undertaken so far, though online materials have increasingly penetrated the country...El cambio de código o alternancia de lenguas (Codeswitching), el préstamo, la transferencia cultural y lingüística, la convergencia y el calco lingüístico, generalmente conocidos como fenómenos lingüísticos, son los resultados inherentes del contacto de lenguas. Según los datos, estos fenómenos se producen tanto en la comunicación presencial (o frente a frente) como en la comunicación online (Blom and Gumperz 1972; Poplack, 2001; Gumperz 1961; 1982a; Myers-Scotton 1992, 1993a, 1993b, 2006; Cardenas-Chloros 2009; Bullock & Toribio 2009). Por ello, el presente estudio se centra en el análisis de algunos de estos resultados en un contexto muy específico de la comunicación online (o comunicación mediada por ordenador; CMC en inglés), que es la comunicación mediante la red social Facebook. A pesar de todos los intentos de investigar lenguas en la comunicación online, existe un gran número de idiomas que sigue estando insuficientemente investigado en el contexto de la comunicación mediada por ordenador. En el caso particular del Congo-Brazzaville, no se ha llevado a cabo hasta la fecha ningún intento de investigar la naturaleza de la incidencia que la CMC está teniendo en los usos lingüísticos, aunque la comunicación online en estas lenguas es diaria. La presente tesis tiene la intención de corregir este desequilibrio mediante el análisis del cambio de código (o alternancia de lenguas) en la comunicación online en Congo-Brazzaville. Según los datos, en 2017 el número de usuarios activos de internet es de 400.000 personas son usuarios activos de Internet en la actualidad, y unos sesenta idiomas se hablan dentro de las fronteras nacionales. Por ello, el estudio del cambio de código entre los usuarios de Facebook en Congo es obviamente importante no sólo para investigar el fenómeno como tal, sino también para proveer datos sobre el impacto de CMC (sobre todo Facebook) sobre los idiomas en Congo-Brazzaville. Así pues, el objetivo del presente estudio es doble: (1) evaluar los diferentes idiomas involucrados en el discurso en Facebook de los congoleños y (2) examinar las motivaciones sociolingüísticas del cambio de código, así como la estructura sintáctica en la que se produce...Fac. de FilologíaTRUEunpu

Critical Appraisal of Artificial Intelligence-Mediated Communication

Over the last two decades, technology use in language learning and teaching has significantly advanced and is now referred to as Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Recently, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into CALL has brought about a significant shift in the traditional approach to language education both inside and outside the classroom. In line with this book's scope, I explore the advantages and disadvantages of AI-mediated communication in language education. I begin with a brief review of AI in education. I then introduce the ICALL and give a critical appraisal of the potential of AI-powered automatic speech recognition (ASR), Machine Translation (MT), Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs), AI-powered chatbots, and Extended Reality (XR). In conclusion, I argue that it is crucial for language teachers to engage in CALL teacher education and professional development to keep up with the ever-evolving technology landscape and improve their teaching effectiveness