The relationship between input factors and bilingual proficiency: Evidence from French-English bilingual children

International audienceThe overall aim of this paper is to explore how certain input factors relate to bilingual children’s performance in English and French. The participants of our study were 38 French- English bilingual children aged six to eight, of middle to high socio-economic status, attending an international school in France. Data on the children’s language experiences and family background were collected through questionnaires given to the parents and the children. Language proficiency was measured using the standardised French and English versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Having examined the strength of the relationship between overall language exposure estimates and the language proficiency measures in each language, we then turn our attention to the relationship between the children’s current language input and each of the language proficiency measures, followed by the children’s current language output and the language proficiency measures. Next we investigate the relationship between the child’s stronger language and a number of variables related to language use. These are: the language the child finds easier to speak and prefers speaking; the language the child finds easier to read in and prefers reading in; the child’s cultural allegiance; the language used with friends in the school playground; the language used with toys, and the language(s) the child would choose to use in his/her perfect school. We will present the results of this study and discuss the implications of our findings. Here we highlight the need to find ways of promoting the child’s weaker language, especially if it is the minority language which is available only in a restricted number of domains. We pay particular attention to the important role played by friends in the promotion of the children’s weaker language

Relating input factors and dual language proficiency in French-English bilingual children

International audienceThe input factors that may cause variation in bilingual proficiency were investigated in 38 French-English bilinguals aged six to eight, of middle to high socio-economic status, attending an international state school in France. Data on children’s current and cumulative language exposure and family background were collected through questionnaires given to parents and children. Language proficiency was measured using the standardised French and English versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix, a rating scale of oral competence, completed by children’s French and English teachers.The results indicated significant correlations between the language proficiency measures and current amount of overall exposure to each language, as well as current input and output quantity. Cumulative length of exposure was also a significant predictor for all the language proficiency measures. Furthermore, the child’s dominant language was a reliable indicator of variables related to language use, including the child’s preferred language for speaking and reading, and the language used with peers in the school playground. The implications of these findings are discussed, highlighting particularly the need to find ways of promoting the child’s weaker language

Effect of degree of bilingualism on metalinguistic awareness in English-French bilingual children

International audienceNumerous studies have demonstrated that bilingual children have a processing advantage on verbal and non-­‐verbal problem solving tasks requiring high levels of control of attention, a skill component enabling subjects to suppress distracting or misleading information while focusing their attention on some other element (e.g. Ben-­‐ Zeev, 1977; Bialystok, 1986a and1986b; Ricciardelli, 1992; Bialystok and Majumder, 1998; Cromdal, 1999; Bialystok and Martin, 2004; Bialystok and Shapero, 2005; Bialystok and Martin-­‐Rhee, 2008).A study was conducted to investigate the effects of differing levels of bilingualism on metalinguistic awareness. The participants were 38 English-­‐French bilingual children aged six to eight, of middle to high socio-­‐economic status, attending an international school in France. Language proficiency was measured using the standardised English and French versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Dunn et al., 1987; Dunn et al., 1993). Metalinguistic awareness, considered here in terms of Bialystok’s analysis and control framework (Bialystok and Ryan, 1985; Bialystok, 1986a and 2001) and Cummins’ (1976) threshold hypothesis, was assessed through seven metalinguistic tasks based on Ricciardelli (1993), which were given to the children in both their languages.The results were generally consistent with Bialystok’s and Cummins’ predictions. High level balanced bilinguals outperformed dominant bilinguals on tasks requiring a high degree of control of linguistic processing and on certain analysis tasks, but importantly in our study, only when the child’s best score, sometimes coming from the weaker language, was considered. The results also showed that although certain dominant bilinguals performed better on the metalinguistic tasks given in their stronger language, others did not. Furthermore, the results revealed that even children who were considered to be balanced bilinguals may perform quite differently on the two language versions of the same metalinguistic task

L’analyse de ressources multimodales dans les échanges pédagogiques en ligne : questions méthodologiques

International audienceCette communication portera sur les interactions pédagogiques synchrones qui utilisent la visioconférence, décrite par Kern comme « a quintessential technological support for providing communicative practice with speakers at a distance, since it is the closest approximation to face-to-face conversation » (2014: 344) (« un soutien technologique par excellence qui permet de fournir une pratique communicative avec des locuteurs à distance, puis qu’il se rapproche le plus à la conversation en face à face »). La transmission par vidéo donne accès à plusieurs modes qui sont porteurs de sens – le discours oral ainsi que d’autres éléments multimodaux tels que les gestes, le regard et la position et le mouvement du corps. Avec le nombre croissant de formations de langue en ligne, ainsi que les projets de télécollaboration, il est important pour les praticiens de la communication médiatisée par ordinateur d’avoir une meilleure compréhension de la contribution des ressources multimodales aux situations pédagogiques et aux contextes d’apprentissage. De même, il est important de comprendre comment les ressources sémiotiques diverses sont orchestrées dans les situations interactives médiatisées par les technologies (Stockwell 2010).Nous examinerons différentes approches méthodologiques qui peuvent être déployées pour analyser les ressources sémiotiques multimodales dans les interactions pédagogiques en ligne. D’abord, nous discuterons de l’importance de déterminer les unités d’analyse pertinentes, puisque celles-ci auront un impact sur la granularité de la transcription et orienteront l’analyse des données (Ellis & Barkhuizen 2005). Ensuite, en prenant appui sur trois de nos études, nous explorerons des méthodes différentes qui peuvent être employées pour étudier les échanges pédagogiques multimodaux, en fonction des questions de recherche et des unités d’analyse investiguées. Dans les trois études, nous nous focaliserons sur le rôle joué par la médiatisation technologique dans les échanges pédagogiques en ligne et en particulier sur les affordances fournies par la webcam pour l’enseignement des langues par visioconférence.Les deux premières études s’appuieront sur un corpus d’interaction par Skype entre des étudiants français non spécialistes en anglais et une enseignante native d’anglais. Ce corpus, constitué de données expérimentales a été utilisé pour mener une étude quantitative (Guichon & Cohen 2014), ainsi qu’une étude qualitative (Cohen & Guichon 2014). Nous comparerons ces deux approches méthodologiques et montrerons les limites de l’approche quantitative pour cerner certains aspects de l’interaction dans un corpus d’apprentissage multimodal. Ensuite, dans la deuxième étude, nous explorerons quelques pistes pour une analyse qualitative et descriptive sur de courts extraits tirés du même corpus, dans la lignée des travaux sur les gestes (ex. McNeill 1992), tels qu’ils ont été repris par les chercheurs en apprentissage en langue seconde (McCafferty & Stam 2008; Tellier & Stam 2010). L’objectif de cette étude est d’élargir notre compréhension du potentiel et des limites de la webcam dans les dispositifs de formation en ligne. Nous explorerons la contribution de différentes ressources sémiotiques non-verbales (gestes, regards, expressions faciales) et leur orchestration multimodale (Norris 2004). Nous nous interrogerons sur les limites de la démarche expérimentale et la nécessité de conduire des recherches à partir de données plus écologiques, comme cela sera illustré par la troisième étude (Guichon & Wigham à paraître) qui s’appuie sur un projet de télécollaboration entre des étudiants irlandais non spécialistes en français et des apprentis enseignants de français langue étrangère en France.Mots clefsressources multimodales ; interactions en ligne ; visioconférence ; mimogestualité ; méthodologie RéférencesCohen, C. & Guichon, N. (2014). Researching nonverbal dimensions in synchronous videoconferenced-based interactions. Presentation at CALICO Conference, University of Athens, OH, USA.Ellis, R. & Barkhuizen, G.P. (2005). Analysing learner language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Guichon, N. & Cohen, C. (2014). The impact of the webcam on an online L2 interaction. Canadian Modern Language Review, 70(3), 331–354.Guichon, N. & Wigham, C.R. (à paraître). A semiotic perspective on webconferencing-supported language teaching, ReCALL journal.Kern, R.G. (2014). Technology as Pharmakon: The Promise and Perils of the Internet for Foreign Language Education. The Modern Language Journal, 98(1), 340-358.McCafferty, S.G. & Stam, G. (Eds.). (2008). Gesture: Second Language Acquisition and Classroom Research. New York: Routledge.McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Norris, S. (2004). Analyzing multimodal interaction – A methodological framework. New York: Routledge. Stockwell, G. (2010). Effects of multimodality in computer-mediated communication tasks. Dans M. Thomas & H. Reinders (Eds.). Task-based language learning and teaching with technology (pp. 83-104). London: Continuum.Tellier, M. & Stam, G. (2010). Stratégies verbales et gestuelles dans l’explication lexicale d’un verbe d’action. Dans V. Rivière (Ed.). Spécificités et diversité des interactions didactiques (pp. 357-374). Paris: Rivenue Éditions

The relationship between linguistic factors and bilingual proficiency in French-English bilingual children

International audienceThis paper explores input factors that may cause variation in bilingual language proficiency in 38 bilingual children attending an international school. Results indicate a strong association between language exposure estimates and proficiency measures. The child's stronger language is shown to be a reliable predictor of variables related to language use. Abstract: The overall aim of this paper is to explore how certain linguistic factors relate to bilingual children's performance in English and French. The participants of our study are 38 French-English bilingual children aged six to eight, of middle to high socio-economic status, attending an international school in France. Data on the children's language experiences and family background were collected through two questionnaires -one completed by the parents, and the other given orally by the researcher to the children. Language proficiency was measured using the standardised French and English versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix, a rating scale completed by the children's French and English teachers. Having examined the strength of the relationship between overall language exposure estimates and the language proficiency measures in each language, we then turn our attention to the relationship between each of the proficiency measures and, first, the amount of current language input to which the children are exposed, and second, the children's current amount of output in each language. Next we investigate the relationship between the child's stronger language and several variables related to language use, including the language the child finds easier to speak, the language the child prefers reading in and the language used with friends in the school playground

The effect of language experiences on oral proficiency in the bilingual child’s two languages

International audienceThis study aims to identify how differing language experiences impact on the level of oral proficiency attained in the bilingual child’s two languages. Participants were 39 seven- to eight-year-old French-English bilingual children from high SES families attending an international state school in France. Detailed information on the children’s language experiences was gathered through two questionnaires, one completed by the parents and one given orally to each child.Proficiency was assessed in each language using the English and French versions of the standardised Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, along with criterion-referenced evaluations of oral competence in each language completed by the children’s English and French teachers, and by the researcher, following several individual interviews with each child.Initial analysis of the questionnaires shows that most of the children in the sample fall into one of three family types: nineteen children with one English-speaking and one French-speaking parent who generally follow the OPOL strategy, nine with two French-speaking parents who having lived several years in an English-speaking country, have returned to France and eight with two English-speaking parents who are in France on a short- or long-term basis.Preliminary results suggest that certain factors have a determining role in accounting for the level of oral competence attained in each of the child’s languages but that these factors operate differentially according to family type. The factors identified are quality and quantity of input, discourse strategies within the family and wider community, age and contexts of acquisition, motivation, and child’s rank in the family in relation to siblings.This research is the first part of a Ph.D project which will examine the extent to which degree of bilingualism and language experiences influence bilingual children’s cognitive development and, in particular, metalinguistic awareness in their two languages

Gun Violence, Policing, and Young Communities of Color

Young people of color are leading the response to recent instances of gun violence. Young people do not all experience gun violence at the same rate nor do they feel its consequences evenly. Our research on young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 years old highlights the very different experiences young people have with guns, gun violence, and policing across racial and ethnic groups

New Media and Youth Political Action

To rigorously consider the impact of new media on the political and civic behavior of young people, The MacArthur Research Network on Youth and Participatory Politics (YPP) developed and fielded one of the first large-scale, nationally representative studies of new media and politics among young people. The two principal researchers for the survey component of the YPP, Cathy J. Cohen of the University of Chicago and Joseph Kahne of Mills College, oversaw a research team that surveyed nearly 3,000 respondents between the ages of 15 and 25 years of age. Unlike any prior study of youth and new media, this study included large numbers of black, Latino, and Asian American respondents, which allows for unique and powerful statistical comparisons across race with a focus on young people.Until now there has been limited opportunity and data available to comprehensively explore the relationship between new media and the politics of young people. One of the few entities to engage in this type of rigorous analysis has been the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The YPP study expands on this field-leading work by including an extensive battery of items addressing participatory politics and adequate numbers of participants from different racial and ethnic groups, thus allowing for analysis of how different groups of young people were engaged with new media in the political realm.The YPP study findings suggest that fundamental changes in political expectations and practices may be occurring -- especially for youth. The analysis of the data collected reveals that youth are taking advantage of an expanded set of participatory practices in the political realm in ways that amplify their voice and sometimes their influence, thus increasing the ways young people participate in political life. The YPP researchers label this expanded set of opportunities and actions participatory politics

Cet obscur objet de l'interaction médiatisée : la webcam dans un échange pédagogique en ligne

International audienceDe plus en plus de projets télécollaboratifs reposent sur les outils de visioconférence poste-à-poste pour servir de moyens d’échange synchrone entre les apprenants (cf. par exemple Jauregi, de Graaff & Canto, 2011) ou des tuteurs et des apprenants (cf. Develotte, Guichon, Kern, 2008). Les recherches portant sur l’apport de l’image de la webcam ont par exemple souligné l’intérêt de disposer d’indices paralinguistiques pour désambiguïser la communication entre les interactants et faciliter l’intercompréhension (cf. Wang, 2004). D’autres auteurs ont mis en valeur le potentiel de la visioconférence pour développer les compétences interculturelles (O’Dowd, 2006). Certains chercheurs en revanche se sont montrés plus circonspects vis-à-vis du potentiel de la multimodalité et ont montré que celle-ci pouvait provoquer une division de l’attention (Sweller, 2005). Dans le champ de l’enseignement-apprentissage des langues, les études empiriques continuent de voir le jour mais de nombreuses questions demeurent, sur les plans linguistique et didactique, parmi lesquelles deux feront l’objet de cette étude : En quoi le fait de voir son interlocuteur influence-t-il le déroulement d’une interaction pédagogique en ligne ? Comment les interlocuteurs interprètent-ils les éléments verbaux et non-verbaux dans une interaction pédagogique médiatisée par la webcam, et comment ces éléments influencent-ils la gestion et la progression de l’échange ? Pour répondre à ces questions, les outils de l’analyse conversationnelle peuvent permettre d’aborder les échanges médiatisés non plus seulement du point de vue subjectif des acteurs qui rapportent leurs perceptions par rapport à l’image (cf. Yamada & Akahori, 2009) mais en examinant attentivement les phénomènes liés au rythme de l’interaction, à la prise d’information permise par la webcam et aux comportements en partie théâtralisés des interactants (de Chanay, 2011). Nous postulons qu’une analyse de ce genre peut fournir des indications pour guider la formation des futurs enseignants en les amenant à développer des stratégies sémio-didactiques (Guichon, 2013), mobilisant de manière étroitement liée des compétences pédagogiques propres à la conduite des interactions orales en L2 et des compétences sémiotiques exploitant de manière adéquate les ressources et les contraintes des outils de médiatisation. Afin de pouvoir mettre au jour des stratégies de communication parmi des apprenants variés confrontés à une même situation, nous avons recueilli un corpus, non pas en situation écologique comme cela a par exemple été fait par Drissi (2011), mais en mettant au point une situation quasi expérimentale de négociation du sens médiatisée par la webcam. Dans cette étude, 20 étudiants français du secteur LANSAD ayant un niveau B2 en anglais ont décrit quatre photos à une enseignante inconnue, native d’anglais, pendant une interaction par le logiciel de visioconférence Skype pendant un échange d’une dizaine de minutes. Les 20 interactions ont été enregistrées avec un logiciel de capture d’écran dynamique et ont été analysées avec ELAN, outil d’annotation de son et de vidéo. L’objectif de cette étude est d’élargir notre compréhension du potentiel et des limites de la webcam dans les dispositifs de formation en ligne. En adoptant une approche qualitative, nous utiliserons les outils de l’analyse conversationnelle (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999 ; Traverso, 2007) pour analyser les gestes, les mimiques et les regards des apprenants et de l’enseignante et le rôle qu'ils jouent dans l'interaction. En conduisant une description fine des interactions, nous analyserons aussi la contribution de l’image fournie par la webcam en terme de mise en scène de soi (1) comme locuteur non natif et (2) comme expert en charge de l’interaction

The Impact Of The Webcam On An Online L2 Interaction

International audienceIt is intuitively felt that visual cues should enhance online communication, and this experimental study aims to test this prediction by exploring the value provided by a webcam in an online L2 pedagogical teacher-to learner interaction. A total of 40 French undergraduate students with a B2 level in English were asked to describe in English four previously unseen photographs to a native English-speaking teacher of EFL via Skype, a free web-based videoconferencing tool, during a 10-minute interaction. Twenty students were assigned to the videoconferencing condition and 20 to the audioconferencing condition. All 40 interactions were recorded using dynamic screen capture software and were analyzed with ELAN, a sound and video annotation tool. Participants' perceptions of the online interaction are first compared with regard to the issues of social presence and their understanding and appreciation of the online interaction, using data gathered from a post-task questionnaire. The study then explores whether seeing the interlocutor's image impacts on the patterns of these synchronous exchanges and on the word search episodes. Results indicated that the impact of the webcam on the online pedagogical interaction was not as critical as had been predicted