The IPAD and the Development of Speaking and Writing in the Secondary EFL Classroom

Recent research (Kukulska-Hulme & Viberg, 2018) indicates that mobile technology can support second language learning and educational literacy. The iPad is a mobile device that is having a large distribution in schools and an important impact on second language formal and informal learning. However, studies focused on the use of the iPad to specifically enhance and support second language learning and teaching are still scarce. Against this backdrop, this study sought to investigate learners’ and teachers’ perceptions of mobile learning, the implementation of technology-mediated language tasks and the potential impact of the iPad in developing writing and speaking skills in an English as a foreign language classroom in a secondary school in Italy. The data was collected through classroom observations, interviews, recorded teacher meetings, students’ written assignments, and lesson plans. The data collected has been analysed from a socio-cultural theory perspective. The analysis of written data was also informed by Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), and a Task-based language teaching (TBLT) framework was used to design writing and speaking tasks. Results show a positive influence on student motivation towards the performance of speaking tasks and improvements on technology-mediated second language writing tasks. In addition, the study found that the use of the iPad had a positive impact on the design of speaking and writing tasks for teachers. Moreover this action research study contributes to mobile assisted language learning by providing further understanding of how the iPad can enhance foreign language learning, especially teaching speaking and writing in the context of secondary education, and provides educators with recommendations on how to design specific language tasks

Proceedings of the Seventh Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics CLiC-it 2020

On behalf of the Program Committee, a very warm welcome to the Seventh Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics (CLiC-it 2020). This edition of the conference is held in Bologna and organised by the University of Bologna. The CLiC-it conference series is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC) which, after six years of activity, has clearly established itself as the premier national forum for research and development in the fields of Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing, where leading researchers and practitioners from academia and industry meet to share their research results, experiences, and challenges

The Pitch Range of Italians and Americans. A Comparative Study

Linguistic experiments have investigated the nature of F0 span and level in cross-linguistic comparisons. However, only few studies have focused on the elaboration of a general-agreed methodology that may provide a unifying approach to the analysis of pitch range (Ladd, 1996; Patterson and Ladd, 1999; Daly and Warren, 2001; Bishop and Keating, 2010; Mennen et al. 2012). Pitch variation is used in different languages to convey different linguistic and paralinguistic meanings that may range from the expression of sentence modality to the marking of emotional and attitudinal nuances (Grice and Baumann, 2007). A number of factors have to be taken into consideration when determining the existence of measurable and reliable differences in pitch values. Daly and Warren (2001) demonstrated the importance of some independent variables such as language, age, body size, speaker sex (female vs. male), socio-cultural background, regional accents, speech task (read sentences vs. spontaneous dialogues), sentence type (questions vs. statements) and measure scales (Hertz, semitones, ERB etc.). Coherently with the model proposed by Mennen et al. (2012), my analysis of pitch range is based on the investigation of LTD (long-term distributional) and linguistic measures. LTD measures deal with the F0 distribution within a speaker’s contour (e.g. F0 minimum, F0 maximum, F0 mean, F0 median, standard deviation, F0 span) while linguistic measures are linked to specific targets within the contour, such as peaks and valleys (e.g. high and low landmarks) and preserve the temporal sequences of pitch contours. This investigation analyzed the characteristics of pitch range production and perception in English sentences uttered by Americans and Italians. Four experiments were conducted to examine different phenomena: i) the contrast between measures of F0 level and span in utterances produced by Americans and Italians (experiments 1-2); ii) the contrast between the pitch range produced by males and females in L1 and L2 (experiment 1); iii) the F0 patterns in different sentence types, that is, yes-no questions, wh-questions, and exclamations (experiment 2); iv) listeners’ evaluations of pitch span in terms of ±interesting, ±excited, ±credible, ±friendly ratings of different sentence types (experiments 3-4); v) the correlation between pitch span of the sentences and the evaluations given by American and Italian listeners (experiment 3); vi) the listeners’ evaluations of pitch span values in manipulated stimuli, whose F0 span was re-synthesized under three conditions: narrow span, original span, and wide span (experiment 4); vii) the different evaluations given to the sentences by male and female listeners. The results of this investigation supported the following generalizations. First, pitch span more than level was found to be a cue for non-nativeness, because L2 speakers of English used a narrower span, compared to the native norm. What is more, the experimental data in the production studies indicated that the mode of sentences was better captured by F0 span than level. Second, the Italian learners of English were influenced by their L1 and transferred L1 pitch range variation into their L2. The English sentences produced by the Italians had overall higher pitch levels and narrower pitch span than those produced by the Americans. In addition, the Italians used overall higher pitch levels when speaking Italian and lower levels when speaking English. Conversely, their pitch span was generally higher in English and lower in Italian. When comparing productions in English, the Italian females used higher F0 levels than the American females; vice versa, the Italian males showed slightly lower F0 levels than the American males. Third, there was a systematic relation between pitch span values and the listeners’ evaluations of the sentences. The two groups of listeners (the Americans and the Italians) rated the stimuli with larger pitch span as more interesting, exciting and credible than the stimuli with narrower pitch span. Thus, the listeners relied on the perceived pitch span to differentiate among the stimuli. Fourth, both the American and the Italian speakers were considered more friendly when the pitch span of their sentences was widened (wide span manipulation) and less friendly when the pitch span was narrowed (narrow span manipulation). This happened in all the stimuli regardless of the native language of the speakers (American vs. Italian)

Learning to write at university level in Italy: A longitudinal corpus-based study of interpersonal and textual metadiscourse

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Vagueness Markers in Italian

Moving from a broad socio-pragmatic perspective, this study analyses how speakers of different ages use a class of items and constructions that codify intentional vagueness in Italian. Items as un po’ ‘a bit’, tipo ‘kind’, diciamo ‘let us say’, così ‘so’, e cose del genere ‘and things like that’, or cosa ‘thing’ constitute a class of linguistically heterogeneous means that often function in conversation as vagueness markers, i.e. elements by which speakers signal that their knowledge or communication are somehow only tentative, approximate and vague. Their use does not depend on language systemic factors, but is the result of a, more or less conscious, choice of speakers to enhance conversation for different reasons, which include facilitating the flow of conversation, signifying a vague categorization, and, eventually, being polite. Operating at the pragmatic level, vagueness markers represent elements that are readily available to speakers’ choices and contribute to characterize individual and generational discourse styles. Through a corpus-based analysis of listeners’ phone-ins to a Milan radio station, this study investigates how vagueness markers are used by speakers of different ages in 1976 and in 2010, and how Italian discourse styles have evolved in the last forty years

Investigating design issues in e-learning

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe adoption of information technology as an aid to organisational efficiency and effectiveness has a long history in business and public administration, but its application to the processes of teaching and learning in education has been relatively limited. At the dawn of the new millennium this began to change, as educational institutions around the world began to experiment with new ideas for the use of information technology. This happened at the same time that commercial organisations began to realise that they themselves could - because of the availability of IT based systems - invest in educational services focused on their own needs. It was against this background that this research project set out to study how South African higher education has incorporated new learning technologies in the delivery of programmes. The study began by exploring the emerging patterns of the use of e-learning in South African higher education. This was to establish a broad understanding of how e-learning was incorporated into the core business of universities. As the study progressed interviews with both teaching and support staff provided course descriptions which were used to expose the kind of considerations that were made in designing, developing and delivering those courses. The main purpose of the study was to answer the question: what pedagogical considerations are necessary for successful course design when using e-learning? By placing the course descriptions on a continuum developed as a part of the conceptual framework in the study it was possible to analyse the course design features that emerged. The framework and its differentiated learning designs (LD1/2/3) can be used for both design and evaluation of courses and can facilitate the use of technology in enhancing teaching and learning.South Afric

Vagueness Markers in Italian

Moving from a broad socio-pragmatic perspective, this study analyses how speakers of different ages use a class of items and constructions that codify intentional vagueness in Italian. Items as un po’ ‘a bit’, tipo ‘kind’, diciamo ‘let us say’, così ‘so’, e cose del genere ‘and things like that’, or cosa ‘thing’ constitute a class of linguistically heterogeneous means that often function in conversation as vagueness markers, i.e. elements by which speakers signal that their knowledge or communication are somehow only tentative, approximate and vague. Their use does not depend on language systemic factors, but is the result of a, more or less conscious, choice of speakers to enhance conversation for different reasons, which include facilitating the flow of conversation, signifying a vague categorization, and, eventually, being polite. Operating at the pragmatic level, vagueness markers represent elements that are readily available to speakers’ choices and contribute to characterize individual and generational discourse styles. Through a corpus-based analysis of listeners’ phone-ins to a Milan radio station, this study investigates how vagueness markers are used by speakers of different ages in 1976 and in 2010, and how Italian discourse styles have evolved in the last forty years

Proceedings of the Fifth Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics CLiC-it 2018

On behalf of the Program Committee, a very warm welcome to the Fifth Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics (CLiC-­‐it 2018). This edition of the conference is held in Torino. The conference is locally organised by the University of Torino and hosted into its prestigious main lecture hall “Cavallerizza Reale”. The CLiC-­‐it conference series is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC) which, after five years of activity, has clearly established itself as the premier national forum for research and development in the fields of Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing, where leading researchers and practitioners from academia and industry meet to share their research results, experiences, and challenges

Investigating the role of individual differences in learning English as a foreign language in a blended learning environment

Wydział AnglistykiGłównym celem niniejszej pracy było zbadanie związku pomiędzy wybranymi czynnikami kognitywnymi i afektywnymi oraz porównanie efektywności zastosowania dwóch podejść do nauczania języka obcego specjalistycznego, tj. podejścia tradycyjnego oraz blended learning w polskim kontekście edukacyjnym. Wstępne rozważania teoretyczne, zawarte w Rozdziale 1., poświęcone są przeglądowi odpowiedniej literatury dotyczącej natury różnic indywidualnych odpowiadających za odnoszenie sukcesu w nauce języka obcego, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem takich czynników jak strategie uczenia się, style uczenia się, uzdolnienia i motywacja. Z kolei Rozdział 2. przedstawia najważniejsze osiągnięcia w dziedzinie komputerowego wspomagania nauki języków obcych ze szczególnym naciskiem na metodę blended learning, która stanowi główny przedmiot badania opisanego w niniejszej pracy. W Rozdziale 3. uwaga została skupiona na omówieniu wyników badań empirycznych dotyczących roli rozmaitych czynników indywidualnych w nauce języka obcego wspomaganej komputerowo, co stanowiło wstęp do rozdziałów badawczych. Tak więc głównym celem Rozdziału 4. było przedstawienie kwestii metodologicznych związanych z omawianym badaniem, podczas gdy głównym założeniem Rozdziału 5. było zaprezentowanie szczegółowego opisu wyników badania przeprowadzonego dla celów niniejszej pracy doktorskiej. Wyżej wymienione rozdziały zostały uzupełnione o podsumowanie, implikacje pedagogiczne oraz sugestie co do kierunku dalszych prac w tej dziedzinie. Chociaż w toku badania nie udało się wykazać ponad wszelką wątpliwość przewagi któregokolwiek z dwóch zastosowanych podejść dydaktycznych, poczyniono wiele spostrzeżeń dotyczących wpływu obu rodzajów instrukcji na poziom opanowania języka obcego. Ponadto przedstawiono liczne wnioski dotyczące skomplikowanej zależności między różnymi czynnikami indywidualnymi a sukcesem w nauce języka obcego wspomaganej komputerowo.The main aim of the present work is to investigate the relationship between selected cognitive and affective individual learner variables and to explore the effectiveness of two pedagogical options, i.e. face-to-face and blended learning, in the process of learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the Polish educational context. The preliminary theoretical considerations included in Chapter 1 provide a discussion of relevant literature on the nature of individual learner factors accounting for differential success in FL learning, with particular emphasis being placed on such variables as language learning strategies, learning styles, foreign language aptitude and motivation. Chapter 2, in turn, presents an overview of the most crucial developments in the area of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) with particular attention being given to blended learning, which is the main theme of the study described in this work. In Chapter 3, the focus of attention is shifted to the presentation and discussion of empirical investigations into the role of specific IDs in foreign language learning aided by CALL, which serves as an introduction to the empirical part of the thesis. More specifically, the main aim of Chapter 4 is to outline methodological considerations of the current study; whereas the primary objective of Chapter 5 is to present in detail and discuss the results of the research project described in this dissertation. The two empirical chapters are followed by conclusions, pedagogical implications, and suggestions for further research in the investigated area. Although absolute predominance of either of the two approaches was not established in the course of the experimental intervention, a number of observations were made as to the differential effects of the treatments on the students’ FL attainment. In addition, valuable insights were obtained into the intricate interplay between different IDs and FL achievement in a CALL environment