Malaysian and Indonesian Learners: They Are Judges of How They Learn English Most Effectively in and Out of Classrooms

The position of English is that of a Second Language in Malaysia and a Foreign Language in Indonesia. But the objective is the same that is to enable the learners to communicate effectively and efficiently in social and professional situations. Learners' beliefs and learners' strategies are also part of the learning processes. Strategies are ways of managing the complex information that the learners are receiving about the target language. This study aims to find out (i) the learners' beliefs on the importance of English (ii) what the learners will do (strategies) to manage their own learning. 100 respondents participated in the study. They responded to open ended questions. The results show that there are similarities and differences in the ways the Malaysian and Indonesian learners perceived the importance of English. They also have similarities and differences in their strategies to manage their own learning to achieve their goals. As a conclusion, even though the two countries adopted different language policy, the learners of English as a Second and Foreign Language have their own enthusiasms and they make judgements about how to learn the language effectively and they have the awareness of what language learning is like

Odnos in motiviranost mlajsih ucencev do ucenja tujega jezika

This paper focuses on young foreign language learners’ attitudes and motivations. An overview is given of the main issues in this research area, based on key European studies. Approaches to studying these affective learner characteristics are described. Some attention is devoted to data elicitation techniques and the importance of triangulation. Research findings are presented through overviews of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies carried out in different European settings. The latter are presented in more detail, because their findings seem to be more revealing of the early foreign language learning process. The overall conclusion of this review paper is that young foreign language learners’ attitudes and motivations are not stable learner characteristics but change over time, creating layers of complexity that warrant further research. Suggestions about possible future directions in researching young foreign language learner attitudes and motivations, and the application of its findings are also made. (DIPF/Orig.

Heritage Language and L2 Learning Connections: Views from within Japan

Bearing in mind the Japanese context, this paper elaborates on how maintenance of international children’s heritage language (HL) might contribute to the spread of bilingualism in the country. It also expands on the ways these young learners see themselves as well as how they are seen by their families and within their academic context. It is argued that young HL learners’ propensity towards bilingualism might not only pave these children’s way to the acquisition of a second and/or foreign language, but also contribute to future developments in foreign language learning among the monolingual sectors of society

Motivated Spanish learning among Anglo-Texan high school students : an exploration of theories, research, and experience, with implications for pedagogy

textResearch into foreign language and second language learning motivation has progressed steadily over the past half century. Several theories and models have been developed to explain how learners are motivated to learn a foreign language. Context-specific research, however, is lacking for Anglo-Texan high school students learning Spanish. This report applies the theories of foreign language learning motivation to this context, using personal experience and anecdotes from the author as a Spanish teacher and student, in order to prescribe pedagogical applications of the research for high school Spanish teachers in Texas who seek to increase their students' motivation.Curriculum and Instructio

Ketidaklaziman Kolokasi Pembelajar Bipa dan Implikasinya terhadap Pembelajaran Bahasa

Unacceptable Collocations by Learners of Indonesian as a ForeignLanguage and the Implication in Language Learning. Foreign language learners\u27ability to collocate words that are natural and acceptable in the target language isimportant in foreign language learning; however, it is notoriously difficult forforeign language learners and sometimes makes them frustrated. This studyattempts to describe the negative transfer of English collocations into Indonesiancollocations made by learners of Indonesian as a foreign language in their writingassignments. This study employed a qualitative descriptive method. The data werecollected from 36 writing assignments by 12 learners whose mother tongue isEnglish. They were trainee teachers with experience in teaching Indonesian inAustralia. The finding shows that there are 176 unnatural Indonesian collocations,some of which are negative transfers of learners\u27 mother tongue. This suggests thatdirect teaching of collocations should be given special emphasis in teachingIndonesian as a foreign language

Effects of hanyu pinyin on pronunciation in learners of Chinese as a foreign language

This paper provides evidence that the hanyu pinyin representation of the phonology of Chinese affects the production of Chinese phonology in instructed learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language. Pinyin generally has a one-to-one correspondence between graphemes and phonemes, but its transcription of some Chinese rimes does not represent the main vowel. As a consequence, learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language have non-target-like phonological representations of Chinese rimes, which in turn lead to non-target-like pronunciations. A hanzi reading-aloud task was used to elicit syllables containing the three rimes /iou/, /uei/ and /uən/ from final-year CFL students. Results show that learners often delete the vowels that are not represented in the pinyin transcription, but they produce the same vowels in the same rimes when the pinyin transcription represents them. It is concluded that the pinyin orthographic input interacts with the phonological input in shaping the phonological representations and pronunciation of Chinese syllables in intermediate as well as beginner CFL learners. Language teachers should therefore be aware of the effects of the pinyin orthography

A Preliminary Study on Why Second Language Learners Accept Ungrammatical Sentences: Its Theoretical Implications

Why do second language learners sometimes accept ungrammatical sentences in the target language? In the present study, we focus on Japanese-speaking learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and investigate whether such “grammatical illusion” effect would be observed in them and whether the effect could be dependent on their proficiency.　The results of one acceptability judgment questionnaire experiment and of one preliminary self-paced reading experiment are reported.　The results of the questionnaire experiment showed that the lower-proficiency Japanese EFL learners were more likely to accept ungrammatical sentences in English compared to the higher-proficiency learners.　The results of the self-paced reading experiment indicated that the reading time difference between ungrammatical sentences and their grammatical counterparts was significant for one native English speaker but not for two Japanese EFL learners.　It is suggested that the “grammatical illusion” effect (i.e., erroneous acceptance of ungrammatical sentences) in second language learners is more likely to be observed when their proficiency is lower, and possibly that second language learners can accept ungrammatical sentences during their real-time processing.　We discuss a new approach to second language acquisition from the perspective of the grammatical illusion phenomenon

Comparative assessment of young learners' foreign language competence in three Eastern European countries

This paper concerns teacher practices in, and beliefs about, the assessment of young learners' progress in English in three Eastern European countries (Slovenia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic). The central part of the paper focuses on an international project involving empirical research into assessment of young learners' foreign language competence in Slovenia, Croatia and the Czech Republic. With the help of an adapted questionnaire, we collected data from a non-random sample of primary and foreign language teachers who teach foreign languages at the primary level in these countries. The research shows that English as a foreign language is taught mostly by young teachers either primary specialists or foreign language teachers. These teachers most frequently use oral assessment/interviews or self-developed tests. Other more authentic types of assessment, such as language portfolios, are rarely used. The teachers most frequently assess speaking and listening skills, and they use assessment involving vocabulary the most frequently of all. However, there are significant differences in practice among the three countries

Increasing willingness to communicate among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students : effective teaching strategies

This article looks at English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) as one of the predictors of their participation in classroom activities and L2 use in the classroom. A review of the literature highlights the potential role of teachers’ discourse and interaction strategies as one of the causes of learners’ WTC. Through reviewing the relevant literature and by deriving some insights into the relationship between language teacher talk and learners’ opportunity to participate, we suggest ways in which teachers can intervene in their patterns of teacher-learner interaction to provide their learners with ample opportunities to volunteer ideas and to participate more in classroom activities

Orthographic input and phonological representations in learners of Chinese as a foreign language.

This paper provides evidence that the second language orthographic input affects the mental representations of L2 phonology in instructed beginner L2 learners. Previous research has shown that orthographic representations affect monolinguals' performance in phonological awareness tasks; in instructed L2 learners such representations could also affect pronunciation. This study looked at the phonological representations of Chinese rimes in beginner learners of Chinese as a foreign language, using a phoneme counting task and a phoneme segmentation task. Results show that learners do not count or segment the main vowel in those syllables where it is not represented in the pinyin (romanisation) orthographic representations. It appears that the pinyin orthographic input is reinterpreted according to L1 phonology-orthography correspondences, and interacts with the phonological input in shaping the phonological representations of Chinese syllables in beginner learners. This explains previous findings that learners of Chinese do not pronounce the main vowel in these syllables