Corpus analysis of primary one science textbooks for designing ELT materials

To make use of words or lists of words in various forms for various purposes is not new. We have been using lists of vocabulary words for tourists and students from various levels of education in the form of glossaries, lists of jargons, indexes and the like. Such lists are called corpus.The government’s recent policy on the teaching of Science in English calls for a fundamental support from language practitioners and researchers of these fields. Here, we highlights some important issues regarding the use of English as the medium of instruction for the teaching and learning of Science in primary schools. Among others, the language issue related to the lexical, syntactic and semantic patterns of English in Science and Technology (EST) has been ‘under-researched’. This, therefore, sets the focus of our study which undertakes to examine the language patterns existing in science authentic texts. Among the many conventional methods that can be adopted, such as functional-notional @ communicative method (Wilkins, 1976), structural @grammar approach (Chomsky, 1965), procedural approach (Prabhu, 1987) or instrospective and retrospective methods (Pressley and Afflerbach, 1995) which often times are limited and unsystematic, we propose to employ the method which involves the making of corpus of this subject area using lexical approach (Lewis, 1994). The lexical approach (Lewis, 1993; Willis, 1990, Willis & Willis, 1988, 1989) is chosen for a number of reasons: 1) it emphasises on the importance of co-text (i.e. language is not de-contextualised), 2) it provides a range of awareness-raising activities that direct the learner’s attention to chunks text composed, 3) it focuses on different forms of lexical item. The corpus produced can then be used by other researchers in this area for teaching and learning purposes. In this paper, we will discuss the preliminary stage of an ongoing research which aims to design teaching and learning materials through an analysis of a corpus of texts taken from Science textbooks for Primary One students in Malaysia. The topic of our research is ‘EST Teaching and Learning Materials via WWW Based on Corpus Analysis of Mathematics, Science and English Text Books in Malaysian Primary Schools’. This paper, however, only focuses on the use of the frequency list and corpus of Science texts to develop teaching and learning materials for English language learners of Primary One students

A Beginner’s Guide to Teaching ESL Abroad

This paper is a guidedbook for novice teachers of English as a Foreign Language abroad. Each chapter and subsection is introduced by a letter from a different inexperienced teacher who has stumbled upon some perplexing aspect of the job. The guide is divided into four chapters which follow a chronological sequence of experiences likely to be encountered by the beginning teacher abroad. The first chapter deals with finding a job, and putting it into perspective with regard to approaches and teaching­ learning assumptions. The second chapter is concerned with gaining both theoretical and personal perspectives on learning, teaching, language, and language acquisition. Chapter three offers some explanation of curriculum, explores three syllabus types (structural-grammatical, situational, and functional), and presents a lesson planning format. Chapter four is a collection of materials and techniques for use in the classroom

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING THROUGH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES DESIGNED IN A TEXTBOOK

In pursuing the alignment between the goal of communication purpose and communicative approach, six new textbooks were designed to facilitate teaching-learning activities in Center of English for International Communication (CEIC) at Language Institute. Only an impressionistic overview was conducted as a pre-use evaluation due to limitation of time and resources. Thus, the writer attempted to do an in-depth pre-use evaluation of the recently revised textbook. This research aimed at investigating the activity variations and types of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) activities presented in the revised textbook used for teaching Level 1 students. The speaking activities in the textbook were analyzed using Littlewoods (1981) theoretical framework on suggested communicative activities. The results showed that the textbook has various learning activities accommodating CLT activities, pre-communicative activities, structural activities, listening activities, vocabulary building activities, and reading activities. The CLT activities found in the textbook were differentiated between functional communication and social interaction activities. Functional communication activities specifically sharing information with restricted cooperation, in the form of class surveys and information gaps were dominant compared to other activities

Incomplete and Inaccurate Vocal Imitation after Knockdown of FoxP2 in Songbird Basal Ganglia Nucleus Area X

The gene encoding the forkhead box transcription factor, FOXP2, is essential for developing the full articulatory power of human language. Mutations of FOXP2 cause developmental verbal dyspraxia (DVD), a speech and language disorder that compromises the fluent production of words and the correct use and comprehension of grammar. FOXP2 patients have structural and functional abnormalities in the striatum of the basal ganglia, which also express high levels of FOXP2. Since human speech and learned vocalizations in songbirds bear behavioral and neural parallels, songbirds provide a genuine model for investigating the basic principles of speech and its pathologies. In zebra finch Area X, a basal ganglia structure necessary for song learning, FoxP2 expression increases during the time when song learning occurs. Here, we used lentivirus-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) to reduce FoxP2 levels in Area X during song development. Knockdown of FoxP2 resulted in an incomplete and inaccurate imitation of tutor song. Inaccurate vocal imitation was already evident early during song ontogeny and persisted into adulthood. The acoustic structure and the duration of adult song syllables were abnormally variable, similar to word production in children with DVD. Our findings provide the first example of a functional gene analysis in songbirds and suggest that normal auditory-guided vocal motor learning requires FoxP2

Oral Proficiency and Language Learning Strategies: A Preliminary Effort to Find Learner Internal Factors that Enhance Oral Proficiency of Second Language Learners

The purpose of this study was to test empirical sustainability of three major positions about the nature of internal linguistic input processing that is associated with the enhancement of second language learnings’ oral proficiency. These three positions are what may be called an implicit-only position, an explicit-only position, and a weak interface position, respectively. An implicit-only position asserts that input processing for oral proficiency is exclusively implicit. An explicit-only position asserts that it is exclusively explicit. A weak interface position asserts that the processing is mainly implicit even though explicit processing plays a limited but important role in oral proficiency enhancement. These three positions make distinct predictions about the relationship between oral proficiency and the use of two kinds of language learning strategies (i.e., cognitive strategies and functional-use strategies). An implicit-only position predicts that oral proficiency has zero correlation to cognitive strategies while it has a positive correlation to functional-use strategies. An explicit-only position predicts that oral proficiency has a positive correlation to both cognitive and functional-use strategies. A weak interface position predicts that oral proficiency has a slightly positive correlation to cognitive strategies while it has a positive correlation to functional-use strategies. By using these predictions as research hypotheses, this study tested the empirical sustainability of the three positions. The nature of internal linguistic input processing that is associated with the enhancement of oral proficiency could be best inferred based on a position that would be empirically verified by this hypothesis testing. This knowledge is mandatory to identify the internal learning process by which second language learning come to acquire oral proficiency. To test the hypotheses, 175 non-native English speaker subjects were selected by stratified random sampling from UTK (The University of Tennessee at Knoxville) international graduate students who lived in four UTK apartment complexes, and whose first language was Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. To measure the subjects’ use of the above two kinds of strategies, 31 items were selected from the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning, Version for English Speakers Learning a New Language (Oxford, 1990). To measure the subjects’ English oral proficiency, a 20-item oral proficiency scale was created for this study. These two tools comprised a questionnaire together with several demographic items. Data were collected by mail survey. As many as 124 subjects returned the questionnaire. Four subjects turned out not to belong to the population. The return rate was thus 72.5%. By factoring the respondents’ answers on the 31 strategy items using the principal axes method with the Varimax rotation, cognitive strategies and functional-use strategies were empirically defined. Cognitive strategies were defined as a combination of two strategy categories that emerged from the factor analysis (i.e., structural interest and transfer caution). Functional-use strategies were defined as a combination of three strategy categories that also emerged from the same analysis (i.e., idiom use, naturalistic exposure, and English for fun). The validity and the reliability of the oral proficiency scale were checked. Then, multiple R’s were computed between oral proficiency and each of these five categories. All the three functional-use strategy categories showed a medium correlation to oral proficiency (R’s between .564 and .622). The two cognitive strategy categories showed a small correlation to oral proficiency (R’s of .300 and .356). This result matched the prediction made by a weak interface position. It was concluded that the nature of internal linguistic input processing that was associated with the enhancement of the respondents’ oral proficiency was mainly implicit. At the same time, explicit learning of discrete grammatical items was concluded to play a limited but important role in the enhancement of the respondents’ English oral proficiency

Implicit structured sequence learning

A simple question: Do you know how you manage to speak your native language without making grammatical errors despite the fact that you probably do not know how to describe the grammatical rules you use? Sometimes such simple questions do not have simple answers. The amazing capacity to effectively communicate complex information and thoughts through the medium of language is the result of the way language, and more specifically, linguistic rules are learned: in an implicit manner. Learning is implicit when we acquire new information without intending to do so and without awareness that knowledge is acquired (Forkstam & Petersson, 2005). In this thesis, an implicit artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm (Stadler & Frensch, 1998) was investigated from two perspectives: as a model probing the acquisition of structural, or syntactic, aspects of natural language (Petersson, 2005; Petersson, Forkstam, & Ingvar, 2004) and as a model for implicit learning. Reber, in his seminal work on AGL (1967), proposed that successful task-performance of participants is due to their ability to learn new grammatical rules implicitly. This ability, he claimed, is comparable to the way humans acquire the syntax-rules of their native language without systematic explicit guidance or awareness of what is learned. The AGL paradigm used here is unique in combining implicit acquisition with core characteristics of the actual conditions for syntax learning: implicit learning from grammatical examples without performance feedback. Three studies employed the above paradigm in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate structured sequence processing, while one study investigated a well-characterized natural language paradigm to investigate syntactic and semantic processing and their interaction. Consequently Reber’s statement (1967) concerning the comparability of the processes involved in artificial and natural language syntax could be investigated at the neurobiological level

Towards a tailored approach to neuroplasticity enhancement based on brain and behavioral predictors of language learning success

Individual differences in the functional and morphological architecture of the dorsal and ventral language pathways may explain part of the variability observed in the ability to learn new words in healthy population and in language recovery of persons with aphasia (PWA). The traditional gold-standard of aphasia rehabilitation is speech and language therapy (SLT), yet in many cases its effectiveness is limited and aphasic subjects are left with enduring deficits. More recent studies suggest that benefits of SLT can be boosted by the use of additional therapeutic approaches such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The present project seeks to identify brain and cognitive predictors of treatment response that guide the choice of the language pathway (i.e. dorsal or ventral) and hemisphere (left or right) that must be potentiated to maximize individual benefits. For this, the implication of the dorsal and ventral pathways will be modulated with two validated word-learning tasks: phonological word-learning task and contextual word-learning task. Further, the activity of the left or right cerebral hemispheres will be modulated by using 3different tDCS conditions. This project will be implemented through two studies in two different samples: (i) 30 healthy adults, and (ii) 10 PWA. Each subject will participate in 3 sessions separated by a week. In each session, subjects will receive a different tDCS stimulation condition and will be required to perform the two learning tasks. A magnetic resonance imaging session will be acquired at baseline to obtain structural and functional information. The results of this project will provide helpful hints for making decision in the selection of therapeutic algorithms for tDCS as well as for the selection of tailor-made SLT for aphasic individuals.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

An investigation into the communicative potential of teachers' target language use in the foreign language classroom

This thesis describes an investigation into the capacity of foreign language (FL) teachers in Scottish secondary schools to make the target foreign language the sole or main means of communication with their pupils in the formal setting of the FL lesson. In the first part of the thesis, the reasons why FL teachers should behave in this way are explored. Relevant sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic theories are first discussed, together with their implications for FL teaching methodology. Contextual factors thought likely to influence the extent to which British FL teachers would be either willing or able to make the target language the medium of classroom communication are then reviewed. These have to do with a) the nature of the classroom as a social and sociolinguistic setting, and b) FL teachers' linguistic competence and beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning. Existing research on FL classroom interaction, and in particular on structural and functional characteristics of teacher FL talk, is also reviewed. The second part of the thesis reports an empirical study of the classroom talk of a group of teachers committed to the 'communicative approach' to FL teaching. These teachers' classroom use of French (the target FL) and English is described at several levels of detail, notably that of the teaching! learning activity and of the pedagogic move. Structural characteristics of teacher talk are also studied. Special attention is given to teachers' classroom management talk, and it is argued that the choice of French for this purpose is critical for enhancing pupils' experience of message-oriented target language use. comparison is made between the language use patterns of teachers characterised as 'High' and 'Low FL Users'; and an account is given of the discourse strategies which appear necessary to sustain high levels of FL use

Structural priming in artificial languages and the regularisation of unpredictable variation

We present a novel experimental technique using artificial language learning to investigate the relationship between structural priming during communicative interaction, and linguistic regularity. We use unpredictable variation as a test-case, because it is a well-established paradigm to study learners’ biases during acquisition, transmission and interaction. We trained participants on artificial languages exhibiting unpredictable variation in word order, and subsequently had them communicate using these artificial languages. We found evidence for structural priming in two different grammatical constructions and across human-human and human-computer interaction. Priming occurred regardless of behavioral convergence: communication led to shared word order use only in human-human interaction, but priming was observed in all conditions. Furthermore, interaction resulted in the reduction of unpredictable variation in all conditions, suggesting a role for communicative interaction in eliminating unpredictable variation. Regularisation was strongest in human-human interaction and in a condition where participants believed they were interacting with a human but were in fact interacting with a computer. We suggest that participants recognize the counter-functional nature of unpredictable variation and thus act to eliminate this variability during communication. Furthermore, reciprocal priming occurring in human-human interaction drove some pairs of participants to converge on maximally regular, highly predictable linguistic systems. Our method offers potential benefits to both the artificial language learning and the structural priming fields, and provides a useful tool to investigate communicative processes that lead to language change and ultimately language design