Tracing trajectories of young learners. Ten years of school English learning

An early start of foreign language (FL) teaching has been encouraged on the basis that the main gains in this period lie in the development of positive attitudes and motivation. But the view that those positive effects will remain unchanged over learners' language-learning trajectories is at odds with the currently prevailing notion that motivation is a complex and evolutionary process that fluctuates over time. In fact, research has shown that the positive attitudes attested in the first years of primary school wane after a while. But we still know very little about young learners' motivational development, and longitudinal studies are very scarce. This 10-year longitudinal study looked at the trajectories of a group of young learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from age 6 to age 16 using a mixed-methods design. It examined their outcomes in relation to their language-learning aptitude and motivation, and it observed the ways in which their levels of motivation rise and fall over time. The triangulation of data from different sources, and principally from yearly individual interviews, provided us with insights to better understand the role played by internal and external factors in those trajectories and some of the challenges for FL teaching to young learners

What is the best age to learn a second/foreign language?

The answer to the question about the best age to learn a second/foreign language is 'it depends'. It depends on who, where, in what teaching/learning conditions, and with what aims. Here are outlined advantages and challenges at different stages of the lifespan

Starting age and other influential factors: Insights from learner interviews

The present study uses oral interviews with foreign language learners in search of influential factors in their language learning histories. The sample for the study was drawn from a larger sample of intermediate/advanced learners of English as a foreign language with a minimum of 10 years of exposure/instruction. The sample includes 6 early learners (range of starting age: 3.2-6.5) and 6 late learners (starting age: 11+). Half of them in each group were among those with the highest scores on two English language tests in the larger sample and half among those with the lowest scores on those same tests. A qualitative analysis of the interviews of these learners yields insights into their experience of foreign language learning and the role played in it by starting age and other significant factors, such as motivation and intensive contact with the language

Boys like games and girls like movies. Age and gender differences in out-of-school contact with English

It is commonly agreed in the field of foreign language (FL) learning that, in the absence of massive amounts of input in the traditional classroom, FL learning is a long and slow process for the majority of students (Muñoz, 2008; Nunan 1991; Pickard, 1995). Recent research has highlighted the key role of the amount and intensity of input in this process, together with its quality (Muñoz, 2012). However, in many contexts nowadays, FL learners are enriching their limited contact with the target language in the classroom with unlimited contact outside the classroom thanks to the easy and immediate availability of the Internet and digital media

The role of age and proficiency in subtitle reading. An eye-tracking study

Research suggests that watching video material with the soundtrack in the second language (L2) and subtitles may improve L2 acquisition (e.g., MonteroPerez, Van Den Noorgate, & Desmet, 2013). Studies have focused on different language dimensions, especially vocabulary and listening comprehension, but important issues concerning the adequacy of native language (L1) and second or foreign language1 subtitling to different learner characteristics remain unexplored. In this respect, the use of eye tracking may provide promising insights, because it can shed light on how different learners read the screen text in the L1 and in the L2 (d'Ydewalle and De Bruycker, 2007; Winke, Sydorenko, & Gass, 2013). The present study aims at exploring the effects of age and proficiency on the reading behaviour of foreign language learners by using eye-tracking methodology. These learner variables are of crucial importance for pedagogically oriented research concerned with the use of audiovisual material in the foreign language classroom. This study focuses on the two types of subtitling that foreign language learners are most likely to encounter in real-life situations (classroom, home)2 : interlingual subtitling with the soundtrack in the L2 and the on-screen text in the L1 (L1 subtitles), and intralingual subtitling with the soundtrack in the L2 and the subtitles in the same language (also known as same-language subtitles or captions)

The Foreign Language Classroom: Current Perspectives and Future Considerations

The Modern Language Journal has long been an important venue for the publication of research and reflection on the teaching and learning of foreign languages (FL) in classroom contexts. In this article, we offer a perspective on the contemporary FL classroom, informed by a descriptive survey of all studies that took place in FL classes that were published in the Modern Language Journal (MLJ) between 2001 and 2014 inclusive (N = 97). This yielded a profile of FL classrooms in terms of geographical locations; languages being taught; the amount and distribution of instructional time; and the age and language backgrounds of the students. The findings revealed that FL environments benefiting from research investigations in the MLJ typically involve older learners in on-site (rather than virtual) classes that afford limited exposure to the FL, which was typically English (in non-English speaking countries) and French, German or Spanish (in English-speaking countries). We consider the implications of these findings for the study of FLs in the future and identify aspects of FL classrooms that merit greater research attention as the MLJ moves into its second centenary. Keywords: foreign language; language teaching; language learning; language classrooms; EFL; instructional tim

More evidence concerning the aspect hypothesis: The acquisition of English progressive aspect by Catalan-Spanish instructed learners

A robust finding of studies investigating the Aspect Hypothesis is that learners at early stages of acquisition show a strong preference for using the progressive aspect as associated with activity verbs. As they advance in their acquisition of the second or foreign language, learners move from this prototypical association to associations traditionally considered to be more peripheral (e.g.-ing with accomplishments or achievements). Within this framework, the goal of this paper is to provide further evidence from groups of learners with different proficiency levels with regard to the acquisition of progressive aspect by tutored learners of English who are bilingual Catalan-Spanish. This is done by eliciting data by means of two different task types and by looking at both tokens and types. Our results are consistent with previous research according to which-ing morphology is closely associated with durative lexical aspect, although not necessarily with activity predicates. The study also shows that the type of task has an influence on the frequency and the distribution of learners" progressive forms

Measuring the visual in audio-visual input: The effects of imagery in vocabulary learning through TV viewing

This exploratory study investigates the effects of imagery on word learning through audio-visual input. A total of 82 adolescent EFL learners were exposed to 8 episodes of a TV series under four conditions, depending on the language of the on-screen text (L1 or L2) and whether they were pretaught target words or not. The effects of co-occurrence of the word with its image, and the image time on screen (ITOS) were explored, alongside frequency, proficiency, and learning condition variables. Results showed that both image-related variables and frequency predicted word-form learning, while only ITOS predicted word-meaning recall, with a longer exposure to image associated to higher gains, suggesting that, at this age and proficiency level, the images associated with the words can be conducive to learning

Differences in attainment and performance in a foreign language: the role of working memory capacity

The goal of this study is to investigate the role of working memory capacity in L2 attainment and performance. The study uses an L1 reading span task to measure working memory of a group of 59 high- intermediate/advanced learners of English, and a film retelling task to measure their oral production. The analysis first showed a moderate to high correlation between proficiency measured by a general proficiency test and learners' fluency, lexical complexity, and accuracy but not structural complexity on the retelling task. Secondly, no correlation was found between overall proficiency and working memory. Thirdly, a weak correlation was found between fluency and lexical complexity, and working memory. When the group was split into top and bottom levels of proficiency, moderate correlations were found between lexical complexity and working memory only for the high-proficiency group. The results are discussed in the light of previous research

Measuring the visual in audio-visual input: The effects of imagery in vocabulary learning through TV viewing

This exploratory study investigates the effects of imagery on word learning through audio-visual input. A total of 82 adolescent EFL learners were exposed to 8 episodes of a TV series under four conditions, depending on the language of the on-screen text (L1 or L2) and whether they were pretaught target words or not. The effects of co-occurrence of the word with its image, and the image time on screen (ITOS) were explored, alongside frequency, proficiency, and learning condition variables. Results showed that both image-related variables and frequency predicted word-form learning, while only ITOS predicted word-meaning recall, with a longer exposure to image associated to higher gains, suggesting that, at this age and proficiency level, the images associated with the words can be conducive to learning