The role of interactional and cognitive mechanisms in the evolution of (proto)language(s)

This paper discusses the role of interactional and cognitive mechanisms in the emergence of (proto)linguistic structures and the evolution of (proto)language(s). Both the social, interactive nature of human communication and the interactional timescale have received increasing attention in investigations of how structure emerges in language. This has also led to an increasing focus on the mechanisms involved in the dialogic co-construction of structure and meaning in interaction. These include ad hoc constructionalization, interactive alignment, conceptual pacts, reuse and modification, and local forms of entrenchment, routinisation and schematisation. Interactional and cognitive mechanisms like these do not only play a crucial role in the emergence of structure in modern languages. They can also help explain how the first (proto)constructions came into being in hominin interaction. Frequently re-occuring, temporary, local (proto)construc- tions acquired increasing degrees of entrenchment, which led to their subsequent diffusion throughout hominin communities. They were then subject to processes of conventionalisation and cumulative cultural evolution. This process is hypothesised to eventually have led to the gradual transition from protolanguage to languag

Second Language Acquisition, WE, and language as a complex adaptive system (CAS)

The field of Second Language Acquisition/Development (SLA/D) has evolved to a point where the paradigm gap between SLA/D and world Englishes (WE), identified by Sridhar and Sridhar (1986), has narrowed. The closing of the gap is due in part to SLA/D and WE leaving behind their ontological inheritance of a static competence from linguistics and finding common ground in a view of language as a complex adaptive system. While differences between the two fields are real and will rightly prevail, there may now exist an opening for a dialogue that can lead to a closing of the gap.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143707/1/weng12304.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143707/2/weng12304_am.pd

Essentials of a Theory of Language Cognition

Cognition is not just ‘in the head’; it extends well beyond the skull and the skin. Non‐Cartesian Cognitive Science views cognition as being embodied, environmentally embedded, enacted, encultured, and socially distributed. The Douglas Fir Group (2016) likewise recognizes languages as emergent, social, integrated phenomena. Language is the quintessence of distributed cognition. Language cognition is shared across naturally occurring, culturally constituted, communicative activities. Usage affects learning and it affects languages, too. These are essential components of a theory of language cognition. This article summarizes these developments within cognitive science before considering implications for language research and teaching, especially as these concern usage‐based language learning and cognition in second language and multilingual contexts. Here, I prioritize research involving corpus‐, computational‐, and psycho‐linguistics, and cognitive psychological, complex adaptive system, and network science investigations of learner–language interactions. But there are many other implications. Looking at languages through any one single lens does not do the phenomena justice. Taking the social turn does not entail restricting our research focus to the social. Nor does it obviate more traditional approaches to second language acquisition. Instead it calls for greater transdisciplinarity, diversity, and collaborative work.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147861/1/modl12532_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147861/2/modl12532.pd

Bridging the Gap: Cognitive and social approaches to research in second language learning and teaching.

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139862/1/SSLA2014.pd

“Estoy Explorando Science”: Emerging Bilingual Students Problematizing Electrical Phenomena Through Translanguaging

As science education continues to embrace science-as-practice, equitable science learning environments must value and leverage emergent bilingual students’ ways of communicating. This study investigates the translanguaging practices of a group of elementary-aged emergent bilingual students while they problematized electrical phenomena. Building on asset-oriented theories for supporting student learning, I utilize translanguaging as a theoretical and pedagogical lens for understanding how emergent bilingual students leverage their full semiotic repertoires for productive disciplinary engagement. The study took place in an out-of-school program focused on creating opportunities for students to problematize electrical phenomena, specifically electrical resistance. I present a close analysis of students constructing models of electric flow through a circuit and how electrical resistance regulates that flow. The findings also include evidence that students engaged in different kinds of translanguaging practices when problematizing electrical phenomena and co-constructing knowledge with each other and the instructor. Specifically, students drew from and used multiple linguistic and non-linguistic semiotic resources for communicating their models. Finally, the findings suggest that the instructor\u27s pedagogical moves and own translanguaging practices implicitly signaled to students when and how to participate in translanguaging practices themselves. The findings emphasize the importance of desettling what counts as productive forms of communication in science for elementary-aged emergent bilingual students by eschewing pedagogical models that police discursive boundaries. Therefore, equitable science learning environments must create opportunities for emergent bilingual students to leverage their full semiotic repertoires for meaning-making, by inviting and valuing multiple languages and gestures

Does Portfolio-Based Language Assessment Align with Learning-Oriented Assessment? Evidence from Literacy Learners and their Instructors

A high-stakes Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA) protocol that was fully implemented in all Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) programs in 2019 requires instructors and students to set language-learning goals and complete, compile, and reflect on numerous authentic language tasks. Due to the language barriers incurred when communicating with beginner English-as-a-second-language literacy learners (BELLs), no PBLA research has been conducted with BELLs. To address this gap, we interviewed 26 BELLs (n = 2 from 13 L1s) and their instructors (n = 4) about their understanding and use of PBLA. Student interviews were conducted with the assistance of bilingual interpreters in the students’ L1s. All the interviews were then transcribed and thematically analyzed in relation to PBLA’s alignment with the six dimensions in Turner and Purpura’s (2016) learning-oriented assessment framework: contextual, elicitation, proficiency, learning, instructional, interactional, and affective. Results have implications for optimizing learning, and task-based instruction and assessment practices in LINC.Le protocole d’évaluation linguistique basé sur le portefolio (Portfolio-Based Language Assessment - PBLA) à enjeux élevés a été entièrement mis en œuvre dans tous les programmes des cours de langue pour les immigrants au Canada (Language instruction for Newcomers to Canada - LINC) en 2019.  Ce protocole exige que les enseignants et les élèves fixent des objectifs d'apprentissage des langues et accomplissent, compilent et réfléchissent à de nombreuses tâches linguistiques authentiques. En raison des barrières linguistiques rencontrées lors de la communication avec des apprenants débutants en anglais langue seconde peu littératiés, aucune recherche PBLA n'a été menée auprès des apprenants. Pour combler cette lacune, nous avons interviewé 26 apprenants (n = 2 de 13 L1) et leurs enseignants (n = 4) au sujet de leur compréhension et de leur utilisation du PBLA. Les entretiens avec les élèves ont été menés avec l’aide d’interprètes bilingues dans les L1 des élèves. Ensuite, tous les entretiens ont été transcrits et analysés de manière thématique en relation avec l'alignement du PBLA avec les six dimensions du cadre d'évaluation axé sur l'apprentissage de Turner et Purpura (2016): contextuel, élicitation, compétence, apprentissage, pédagogique, interactionnel et affectif. Les résultats ont des implications pour l'optimisation de l'apprentissage et les pratiques d'enseignement et d'évaluation basées sur les tâches dans l'enseignement de la langue pour les nouveaux arrivants au Canada

Film Annotation for the L2 Classroom: A Tech-Mediated Model for Intercultural Learning

abstract: With the fast pace of globalization and the rise of encounters in digital spaces, CALL scholars have become increasingly interested in how digital tools mediate intercultural encounters. However, despite their evident success in connecting students from around the world, current online intercultural exchanges continue to present problems such a promotion of positive experiences over deep intercultural learning and lack of real-life value (O’ Dowd, 2018). In addition, digitally-mediated intercultural learning research is based on the same theoretical approaches to learning that guide CALL research (Firth & Wagner, 1997; Lafford, 2017). Although such frameworks are successful in allowing researchers to conceive of digital tools as mediators for human interaction, they have yet to embrace the potential of digital artifacts themselves as intercultural interlocutors. Aiming to address this gap in the research, this investigation used Atkinson’s (2010, 2014) sociocognitive approach to language learning to understand the role that digital tools have in intercultural learning. Also integrating Dervin’s (2011) liquid approach to interculturality—which focuses on understanding intercultural learning as a co-constructed process—the research questions that guided this investigation asked: (a) does film annotation mediate intercultural learning? and, (b) in what ways does film annotation mediate intercultural learning? In answering these questions, the study looked at the intercultural learning process of five advanced learners of Spanish, as they interacted with annotated film clips, and engaged in peer discussion around the themes of colonialism and coloniality presented in the film clips. Data were collected through pre and post-tests, video recordings of peer discussions, and screen recordings of participants’ interaction with the annotated film clips. Findings showed that film annotation allowed participants to notice, retrieve and take notes on important cultural information, which they later incorporated in discussion with peers. Based on this evidence, and aligned with the aforementioned theoretical frameworks, this investigation poses that intercultural learning is a fluid, iterative process. The study also suggests that digital artifacts—as well as human interlocutors—play an important role in enabling learning processes, therefore, the role of such artifacts should be studied more in depth.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Spanish 201

On Language Learner Agency: A Complex Dynamic Systems Theory Perspective

Agency has attracted considerable attention, especially of late. Nevertheless, perceptions of language learners as nonagentive persist. In this article the Douglas Fir Group’s call for a transdisciplinary perspective is heeded in a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory’s (CDST) conceptualization of agency. It is suggested that CDST maintains the structureâ agency complementarity while bringing to the fore the relational and emergent nature of agency. Coordination dynamics is identified as a possible mechanism for the phylogenetic and ontogenetic emergence of agency. CDST further characterizes agency as spatiallyâ temporally situated. It can be achieved and changed through iteration and coâ adaptation. It is also multidimensional and heterarchical. In this era of posthumanism, an issue that is also taken up is whether it is only humans who have agency. The article then discusses educational practices that could support learner agency. Finally, the article closes with a discussion of agency and ethical action.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147771/1/modl12536_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147771/2/modl12536.pd

Constructivism and Its Perspectives Related to Teaching And Learning Process In The Classroom : A Conceptual Framework

Constructivism is a view that emphasizes the active role of students in building understanding and making sense of the information. The constructivist teaching is learner centered where students are actively involved in knowledge construction rather than mere passive listeners. Constructivists‟ views can be organized in two forms: psychological and social. In constructivists‟ view such as Piaget, students construct knowledge by transforming, organizing, reorganizing previous knowledge whereas in social constructivists‟ view such as Vygotsky, opportunities are provided to students to learn through social interaction in construction of knowledge and understanding. The paper is an attempt toexamine constructivist teaching and learning by providing in-depth analysis of features of constructivist theory and its two forms (psychological and social) and the organization of a constructivist classroom