How do general psychological processes inform FLL pedagogy? Presenting a new instructional framework

Learning invariably proceeds by relating new facts to the already familiar and present in the conceptual structure. In the context of FL study the familiar is, of course, the student’s mother tongue. Drawing on the learner’s L1 (or another mastered tongue) and showing comparisons and contrasts between the languages mirrors, facilitates and accelerates the processes which occur independently in his/her mind. At the same time, when in a new situation, we look for familiar orientation points and similarities owing to our instinctive need for safety. This is also why the target language should literally be taught in the framework of the learner’s L1. Instruction in the Language Interface Model (LIM; Gozdawa-Gołębiowski 2003a,b, 2004a,b, 2005) proceeds from an explication of how relevant rules operate in the students’ L1 through an explanation of corresponding L2 rules and subsequent interface formation, modifying the L1 rule to accommodate L2 data, with practice first expecting the learner to apply the FL rules to L1 examples before moving to more traditional exercises, to finally end with competence expansion – integrating the two competences, leading to the development of multicompetence and allowing for the obliteration of the rules governing the structure of the utterance from the learner’s conscious mind

The Impact of Demographics, Life and Work Circumstances on College and University Instructors’ Well-Being During Quaranteaching

In response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions around the world were forced into lockdown in order to contain the spread of the virus. To ensure continuous provision of education, most transitioned to emergency remote instruction. This has been particularly the case in higher education (HE) institutions. The circumstances of the pandemic have brought unprecedented psychological pressure on the population, in the case of educators and students exacerbated by the transition to a mode of instruction that was completely novel to the majority. The present study examines how college and university instructors dealt with teaching online in these unparalleled circumstances, with a focus on how factors connected with their daily lives and livelihoods influenced their well-being. Between April and September 2020, a comprehensive online survey was filled out by 804 HE instructors from 92 countries. We explore how sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, relationship status, living conditions, and length of professional experience non-trivially affect situational anxiety, work-life synergy, coping, and productivity. The results contribute to a better understanding of the impact of the pandemic and emergency remote instruction on college and university instructors’ well-being by explaining the mechanisms mediating the relationship between individual, contextual, and affective variables. It may provide helpful guidelines for college and university administrators as well as teachers themselves as to how help alleviate the adverse effects of the continuing pandemic and possible similar disruptions leading to school closures on coping and well-being

Modelling communities and populations: An introduction to computational social science

In sociology, interest in modelling has not yet become widespread. However, the methodology has been gaining increased attention in parallel with its growing popularity in economics and other social sciences, notably psychology and political science, and the growing volume of social data being measured and collected. In this paper, we present representative computational methodologies from both data-driven (such as “black box”) and rule-based (such as “per analogy”) approaches. We show how to build simple models, and discuss both the greatest successes and the major limitations of modelling societies. We claim that the end goal of computational tools in sociology is providing meaningful analyses and calculations in order to allow making causal statements in sociological explanation and support decisions of great importance for society

Chapter 8 Peer Interactions and Second Language Learning

"This collection explores student mobility and study abroad programmes across Europe, presenting original research on personal, linguistic, and intercultural development during study abroad experiences. The volume synthesizes work from the 2016-2020 Cost Action 15130 ‘Study Abroad Research in European Perspective’ research network, offering a multidisciplinary account of the intersection of language learning and study abroad in Europe amidst the changing contemporary higher education landscape, as well as new directions for future research. The initial section comprises short survey chapters outlining key themes and literature, connecting traditional study abroad research with new multilingual and transnational realities. This is supported by a main section containing original empirical studies in a wide range of European contexts and a short afterword bringing together policy and pedagogical proposals. Taken together, the collection shines a light on the impact of the internationalisation of higher education on linguistic dimensions of student mobility while including a range of lesser studied settings and languages. New insights are offered on language learning, identity, interculturality, student agency and motivation, and transnational social networks in the study abroad context. This book will be of particular interest to students, researchers and institutions interested in the intersection of language learning and study abroad, including such areas as multilingualism, higher education, and applied linguistics.

From linguistic innovation in blogs to language learning in adults : what do interaction networks tell us?

Social networks have been found to play an increasing role in human behaviour and even the attainment of individuals. We present the results of two projects applying SNA to language phenomena. One involves exploring the social propagation of ne ologisms in a social software (microblogging service), the other investigating the impact of social network structure and peer interaction dynamics on second-language learning outcomes in the setting of naturally occurring face-to-face interaction. From local, low-level interactions between agents verbally communicating with one another we aim to describe the processes underlying the emergence of more global systemic order and dynamics, using the latest methods of complexity science. In the former study, we demonstrate 1) the emergence of a linguistic norm, 2) that the general lexical innovativeness of Internet users scales not like a power law, but a unimodal, 3) that the exposure thresholds necessary for a user to adopt new lexemes from his/her neighbours concentrate at low values, suggesting that—at least in low-stakes scenarios—people are more susceptible to social influence than may erstwhile have been expected, and 4) that, contrary to common expectations, the most popular tags are characterised by high adoption thresholds. In the latter, we find 1) that the best predictor of performance is reciprocal interactions between individuals in the language being acquired, 2) that outgoing interactions in the acquired language are a better predictor than incoming interactions, and 3) not surprisingly, a clear negative relationship between performance and the intensity of interactions with same-native-language speakers. We also compare models where social interactions are weighted by homophily with those that treat them as orthogonal to each other

IL-6-174 G/C and -572 C/G Polymorphisms and Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

Associations between interleukin 6 (IL-6) polymorphisms and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remain controversial and ambiguous. The aim of this meta-analysis is to explore more precise estimations for the relationship between IL-6-174 G/C and -572 C/G polymorphisms and risk for AD. Electronic searches for all publications in databases PubMed and EMBASE were conducted on the associations between IL-6 polymorphisms and risk for AD until January 2012. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using fixed and random effects models. Twenty-seven studies were included with a total of 19,135 individuals, involving 6,632 AD patients and 12,503 controls. For IL-6-174 G/C polymorphism, the combined results showed significant differences in recessive model (CC vs. CG+GG: OR = 0.65, 95%CI = 0.52–0.82). As regards IL-6-572 C/G polymorphism, significant associations were shown in dominant model (CG+GG vs. CC: OR  = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.62–0.86) and in additive model (GG vs. CC, OR  = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.46–0.96). In conclusion, genotype CC of IL-6-174 G/C and genotype GG plus GC of IL-6-572 C/G could decrease the risk of AD

Towards a plurilingual habitus: engendering interlinguality in urban spaces

This article focuses on the potential of the multilingual city to create spaces in which monolingual hegemonies may be challenged, inclusive, intercultural values may be nurtured, and plurilingualism may be valorised. Following a contextualisation of linguistic diversity in theories of globalisation and superdiversity, discourses of deficit and power are addressed, arguing that the problematisation of multilingualism and pathologisation of plurilingualism reflect a monolingual habitus. Bringing about a shift towards a plurilingual habitus requires a Deep Approach, as it involves a critical revaluing of deep-seated dispositions. It suggests that the city offers spaces, which can engender interlinguality, a construct that includes interculturality, criticality and a commitment to creative and flexible use of other languages in shared, pluralistic spaces. It then proposes critical, participatory and ethnographic research in three multidimensional spaces: the urban school and a potential interlingual curriculum; networks, lobbying for inclusive policy and organising celebratory events in public spaces; and grass roots-level local spaces, some created by linguistic communities to exercise agency and maintain their languages and cultures, and some emerging as linguistically hybrid spaces for convivial encounter