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Translanguaging-to-learn during collaborative dialogue in task-based interaction: The potential of utilizing Arabic as a heritage language for additional language learning
Abstract
While the linguistic diversity in European societies is increasing, language policies enforced in schools remain largely monolingual (Yağmur & Extra, 2011, p. 1193). Increasing number of children today speak Arabic as a heritage language (HL) at home, but they are commonly not allowed to use these languages in their learning processes at schools in Germany (Auer & Wei, 2007, p. 5). The monolingual school reality posits a serious challenge to the maintenance of children’s HL. Hence, the present study investigated how learners use their existing linguistic repertoire when translanguaging-to-learn during task-based peer interaction (Cenoz & Gorter, 2021).
In this longitudinal multiple-case study, two speakers of Arabic engaged in problem-solving tasks in the foreign language (FL) classroom at two points in time: Time 1 as 8-year-olds and Time 2 as 11-year-olds, i.e. at a time close to the arrival in the host country and 3 years later. In this way the study investigates how the learners use their HL, next to the L2 German and the FL English, as a tool for learning, building on Vygotskyan sociocultural theory (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Vygotsky, 1987).
The results show a dynamic change in learners’ language use, as HL use plays a dominant role as the main mediating tool in the interaction at Time 1, next to the FL, but disappears from the learner interaction after 3 years at Time 2, replaced by the L2 German. While both languages are used respectively (L1 at time 1 and L2 at Time 2) for scaffolding and for solving target-language-related linguistic problems, the use of the HL enables learners to engage in a more collaborative patterns of learning, whereas the L2 use at Time 2 is connected patterns involving less equality and mutuality, the more proficient learner appropriating the task resolution (Storch 2002). Hence, the use of the HL appears essential for collaborative patterns of interaction especially when one of the learners is at low levels of L2 and TL proficiency. Translanguaging-to-learn therefore offers the possibility for learners to use their HL as a mediational means for learning, even when the HL use seems to be replaced by the L2 in the long run.
Teachers of Arabic as a foreign language (AFL) in Russia mainly focus on reading and grammar, not oral skills. Russian students learning AFL have limited opportunities to practice oral skills (listening & speaking) outside the classroom, meet native speakers of Arabic and practice oral skills with them. This study aims to propose a model for online collaboration among Russian AFL teachers and students and Arabic-speaking teachers and students in African Arab countries through video-conferencing platforms to help Russian students practice oral skills. First, the host teacher contacts the collaborating teacher. The host and guest teachers select the platform, set the practice schedule together, prepare the material and online resources for oral practice. They try the platform and its different tools, how to share the screen, call on students, breakout rooms…etc, how to upload/share material. The practice material may consist of Arabic language functions, things around the students, daily activities, experiences and students’ environment, describing pictures, talking about cultural topics and so on. Only Standard Arabic should be used. No explanation in L1 (Russian), no translation, no explanation of grammatical rules, no use of Arabic grammatical terms, and no writing of the question and answer on the board. The students should depend on their ears. They use short sentences and concrete objects, nouns, verbs … etc. Vocabulary and sentence structure are taught together. Pictures, gestures, and short videos are used while the students are answering the questions. Some students ask questions, others answer. The same question pattern ما هذا؟ ماذا يفعل is used when the teacher asks about names of objects and actions (verbs). They ask questions to help students discriminate singular, dual, plural, masculine and feminine forms and verb conjugations. Mistakes are corrected instantly. The students repeat the correct form, new word or question several times. Correct answers are reinforced. Positive feedback is given for every answer. Benefits and shortcomings of online international collaboration between students and teachers from different countries are given.
Following the multilingual trend in language education, translanguaging advocates active use of multiple languages and other meaning-making resources in a dynamic and integrated way in teaching and learning. When it comes to foreign language education, translanguaging advocates a view that the languages the learners already have should and can play a very positive role in learning additional languages. Moreover, the knowledge already acquired through the learners’ first and/or prior learned languages also plays an important role in foreign-language-medium education. This view is more than a pedagogic or theoretical perspective; it is a political stance, a decolonizing stance, that this article explores. It discusses the implications of the political naming of languages and critiques notions such as academic English.
Learning through the medium of a second or additional language is becoming very common in different parts of the world because of the increasing use of English as the language of instruction and the mobility of populations. This situation demands a specific approach that considers multilingualism as its core. Pedagogical translanguaging is a theoretical and instructional approach that aims at improving language and content competences in school contexts by using resources from the learner's whole linguistic repertoire. Pedagogical translanguaging is learner-centred and endorses the support and development of all the languages used by learners. It fosters the development of metalinguistic awareness by softening of boundaries between languages when learning languages and content. This Element looks at the way pedagogical translanguaging can be applied in language and content classes and how it can be valuable for the protection and promotion of minority languages. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
The multilingual turn refers to a recent series of shifts in the core philosophical underpinnings in traditional foreign and second language classroom practice. These changes promote the normalization of processes and practices characteristic of bi- /multilingual speakers. This, in turn, has stimulated new ways of teaching and learning in the classroom. The goal of this article is twofold: first to chart the central developments that have led to the emergence of the multilingual turn thus far, and second to provide an account of how classroom translanguaging is fundamental to present and future developments. We present the conceptual framework undergirding the multilingual turn, before providing an overview of traditional tenets of foreign and second language education. We then examine translanguaging and its implications for language education, and end with a presentation of strategies that may facilitate the implementation of the multilingual turn in the additional language classroom.
This article seeks to develop Translanguaging as a theory of language and discuss the theoretical motivations behind and the added values of the concept. I contextualize Translanguaging in the linguistic realities of the 21st century, especially the fluid and dynamic practices that transcend the boundaries between named languages, language varieties, and language and other semiotic systems. I highlight the contributions Translanguaging as a theoretical concept can make to the debates over the Language and Thought and the Modularity of Mind hypotheses. One particular aspect of multilingual language users’ social interaction that I want to emphasize is its multimodal and multisensory nature. I elaborate on two related concepts: Translanguaging Space and Translanguaging Instinct, to underscore the necessity to bridge the artificial and ideological divides between the so-called sociocultural and the cognitive approaches to Translanguaging practices. In doing so, I respond to some of the criticisms and confusions about the notion of Translanguaging.
This book presents research on the learning of foreign languages by children in primary school settings. It covers issues that have been under-researched within this group of learners such as implicit/explicit learning, interaction, feedback provision, first language use, metalinguistic awareness, noticing and individual variables.
Research examining the cognitive consequences of bilingualism has expanded rapidly in recent years and has revealed effects on aspects of cognition across the lifespan. However, these effects are difficult to find in studies investigating young adults. One problem is that there is no standard definition of bilingualism or means of evaluating degree of bilingualism in individual participants, making it difficult to directly compare the results of different studies. Here, we describe an instrument developed to assess degree of bilingualism for young adults who live in diverse but predominantly English-speaking communities. We demonstrate the reliability and validity of the instrument in analyses based on 408 participants. The relevant factors for describing degree of bilingualism are (1) the extent of non-English language proficiency and use at home, and (2) non-English language use socially. We then use the bilingualism scores obtained from the instrument to demonstrate their association with (1) performance on executive function tasks, and (2) to previous classifications of participants into categories of monolinguals and bilinguals.
Research has shown that tasks provide second language (L2) learners with many opportunities to learn the L2. Task repetition has been claimed to benefit L2 learning since familiarity with procedure and/or content gives learners the chance to focus on more specific aspects of language. Most research on task repetition has focused on adult populations, but child learners are an under-researched group. The same goes for first language (L1) use during L2 interaction, which has been mainly studied among adult L2 learners whereas little is known about L1 use among child L2 learners interacting while they complete communicative tasks. This study explores to what extent and for which purposes children in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting use their shared L1 (Spanish). Furthermore it also considers how task repetition (exact vs. procedural task repetition) influences their L1 use. Forty-two EFL learners worked in pairs while they completed a spot-the-difference task twice. Our findings showed a significant decrease in L1 use when learners repeated the task in the two conditions but a minor effect of task repetition on the functions the L1 served.
This 2003 book comprehensively covers all major topics of Vygotskian educational theory and its classroom applications. Particular attention is paid to the Vygotskian idea of child development as a consequence rather than premise of learning experiences. Such a reversal allows for new interpretations of the relationships between cognitive development and education at different junctions of the human life span. It also opens new perspectives on atypical development, learning disabilities, and assessment of children's learning potential. Classroom applications of Vygotskian theory are discussed in the book. Teacher training and the changing role of a teacher in a sociocultural classroom is discussed in addition to the issues of teaching and learning activities and peer interactions. Relevant research findings from the US, Western Europe, and Russia are brought together to clarify the possible new applications of Vygotskian ideas in different disciplinary areas.
This article provides support for a theoretical orientation toward viewing dialogue as both a means of communication and a cognitive tool. Data to support this position come from an analysis of the language‐related episodes isolated in the dialogue of two grade 8 French immersion students as they carry out a jigsaw task. During the task, the students work out a story line and write it out. As they do so, they encounter linguistic problems. To solve them, the students use their first language (L1) and second language (L2) in order to communicate to each other and as tools to aid their L2 learning. The language‐related episodes discussed provide evidence of language use as both an enactment of mental processes and as an occasion for L2 learning. Variation in how other pairs of students in the class perform the task supports existing evidence that the same task does not provide similar occasions for L2 learning to all student dyads.
This article examines what we call micro-level language policy-in-process – that is, how a target-language-only policy emerges in situ in the foreign language classroom. More precisely, we investigate the role of language policing, the mechanism deployed by the teacher and/or pupils to (re-)establish the normatively prescribed target language as the medium of classroom interaction in the English as a foreign language classroom of an international school in Sweden. Using ethnomethodological conversation analysis, we have identified a regular three-step sequence for language policing: (1) a (perceived) breach of the target-language-only rule, (2) an act of language policing and (3) an orientation to the target-language-only rule, usually in the guise of medium switching to the target language. Focusing primarily on teacher-to-pupil policing, where the teacher polices pupils’ (perceived) use of their L1 (Swedish), we identify three different categories of teacher-policing. These categories are based on particular configurations of features deployed in the three steps, such as initiator techniques (e.g. reminders, prompts, warnings and sanctions) and pupils’ responses to being policed (e.g. compliance or contestation).
An enduring issue in immersion education focuses on the appropriate use of the L1 in the one-way or two-way immersion classroom. In this article we discuss several key constructs (mediation, languaging, the cognition/emotion relationship, zone of proximal development) that are central to a Vygotskian sociocultural theory of mind perspective on second language learning and teaching. Each discussion of a theoretical construct is followed by a review of one or more key research studies from one-way or two-way immersion contexts whose findings we highlight or re-interpret in light of Vygotsky’s insights. The theory and research yield three important guiding principles with the goal of helping educators to make decisions about their language use choices in the immersion classroom.
Until recently, the assumption of the language-teaching literature has been that new languages are best taught and learned monolingually, without the use of the students’ own language(s). In recent years, however, this monolingual assumption has been increasingly questioned, and a re-evaluation of teaching that relates the language being taught to the students’ own language has begun. This article surveys the developing English language literature on the role of students’ own language(s) in the language classroom. After clarifying key terms, the paper charts the continuing widespread use of students’ own languages in classrooms around the world and the contemporary academic and societal trends which have led to a revival of support for this. It then explores key arguments which underpin this revival, and reviews a range of empirical studies which examine the extent and functions of own-language use within language classrooms. Next, the article examines the support for own-language use that a range of theoretical frameworks provide, including psycholinguistic and cognitive approaches, general learning theory and sociocultural approaches. Having explored the notion of ‘optimal’ in-class own-language use, the article then reviews research into teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards own-language use. It concludes by examining how a bilingual approach to language teaching and learning might be implemented in practice.
The present article focuses on the uses of the first language (L1) made by 22 pairs of grade 8 French immersion students as they complete one of two different tasks: a dictogloss and a jigsaw. The outcome of each task is a story written by each student pair. We propose a coding scheme for the uses made of the L1, exemplify them, and report on exploratory analyses intended to describe differences between and within the tasks in terms of the amount of English (L1) used. We also address the relationship between the amount of L1 use and the quality of students’ writing, and the variability in task performance across student pairs.
This paper explores peer–peer interactions of children using a spot-the-differences task in an EFL context in Hungary. The children were asked to practise with several sets of similar spot-the-differences tasks and the analysis focuses on the observable changes from the first to the last repetition. After the task performances were recorded, the children were invited to watch their first and last performances and comment on the changes they noticed in an interview. Both the analysis of their dialogues performing the tasks and their reflections clearly indicate that peer–peer interactions with this age group at a very low level of competence can bring various benefits and thus primary language teachers could consider introducing similar communication tasks with children with some confidence.
In this introduction to the special issue on Romance languages as heritage languages, I aim to contextualize the scope of this issue and the contribution it makes to the emerging field of linguistic studies to heritage language bilingualism. Key issues pertaining to the empirical study and epistemology of heritage language bilingualism are presented as well as a critical introduction to the individual articles that comprise this issue.
This paper focuses on the processes involved in collaboration using a microanalysis of one dyad’s work with a computer-based environment (the Envisioning Machine). The interaction between participants is analysed with respect to a ‘Joint Problem Space’, which comprises an emergent, socially-negotiated set of knowledge elements, such as goals, problem state descriptions and problem solving actions. Our analysis shows how this shared conceptual space is constructed through the external mediational framework of shared language, situation and activity. This approach has particular implications for understanding how the benefits of collaboration are realised and serves to clarify the possible roles of the computers in supporting collaborative learning.
After a brief introduction on regional and immigrant minority languages across Europe (1), we will deal with multilingualism and language rights (2). Next, we will go into the European discourse on foreigners and integration (3). Against this background, we will offer cross-national perspectives on community language teaching, derived from the findings of the Multilingual Cities Project on current practices in this domain in six major European cities and countries (4). In the final section, we will offer a reconciliation of the MCP outcomes with the current European discourse on trilingualism (5).
Sociocultural Theory (SCT) originated in the writings of Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky (1896–1934).
Der durch Migrationen hervorgerufene sprachliche und kulturelle Wandel der Gesellschaft ist unübersehbar und unüberhörbar. Die Frage aber, welche Herausforderungen dem Bildungswesen hieraus erwachsen und wie dieses sie lösen kann, findet in der Pädagogik im allgemeinen recht wenig Beachtung. Die zentrale These dieser Studie lautet, daß das nationalstaatlich verfaßte deutsche Bildungswesen im 19. Jahrhundert ein monolinguales Selbstverständnis herausbildete. Dieses Selbstverständnis regiert die Schule bis heute – und zwar um so sicherer, als der Vorgang seiner Herausbildung selbst im Vergessen versunken ist. Unter den Umständen wachsender Pluralität in der Schülerschaft aber, die sich als Konsequenz der Migration für Bildung und Erziehung eingestellt hat, erweist sich dieses Selbstverständnis mehr und mehr als dysfunktional: Es begrenzt die Kompetenzen, die zur Bewältigung der Komplexität schulischer Arbeit unter den Umständen sprachlicher Vielfalt nötig sind. Die Untersuchung konzentriert sich auf Entwicklung, Wandlung und jetzige Erscheinungsformen der monolingualen Orientierung im Lehrberuf. Im Kern steht die Frage, wie es zur „Vernatürlichung“ der Vorstellung kam, daß die Schule einsprachig organisiert sein müsse, daß sich Bildung am besten im Medium einer einzigen Sprache vollziehe und daß die Entfaltung von Einsprachigkeit in der Nationalsprache der ganze Zweck der Bildung sei. Vorgestellt werden außerdem die Sicht- und Handlungsweisen heutiger Lehrerinnen und Lehrer, die alltäglich vor der Aufgabe stehen, eine vielsprachige und kulturell heterogene Schülerschaft zu unterrichten.
This article examines the potential of pedagogical translanguaging in a community/heritage language context. With focus on Arabic as a multidialectal and multiglossic language, the paper primarily examines the function of translanguaging practices in teacher-learner and learner-learner interaction to construct and negotiate linguistic knowledge in the standard variety of the language. The results show that the learners’ linguistic repertoires (multiple varieties of Arabic and English) are actively and dynamically employed in the exchanges to negotiate linguistic knowledge (lexical and grammatical) in a setting that venerates the standard variety as a medium of instruction with a monolingual policy. Also, the results show how these multidialectal practices are sometimes utilised to acknowledge and give voice to the heritage learners’ dialectal identities. It is argued that community/heritage language learning contexts are ideal translanguaging spaces in which heritage language learners find ample opportunities for identity negotiation and knowledge construction. These opportunities are augmented in a classroom atmosphere that gives legitimacy to their dialects and challenges the monolingual ideology. Pedagogical implications are discussed for Arabic heritage and mainstream second language programmes with heritage learners.
This paper arose as a result of dialogue between researchers involved in a research project undertaken across England, Finland, France, and Romania. The research aimed to improve the educational experience for Roma children in school, who face sustained racism, discrimination and poverty, alongside reduced levels of access to and inequitable outcomes in education, by focusing on translanguaging as a transformative pedagogy. A close reading of the translanguaging literature revealed an oft assumed sociocultural understanding of learning. This paper is an exploration of the synergies and tensions between sociocultural theory as a learning theory and translanguaging as a theory of language in use and as a pedagogical approach in order to suggest a conceptual integration useful to both. In particular, we focus on the formation and form of Vygostkian inner speech, given its central role in higher mental activity such as learning. We examine movement between external speech in collaborative activity (and to oneself) to condensed inner speech in reimagining Guerrero's (2005) schema, by fusing translanguaging theory with Vygotskian notions of sense and meaning, and everyday and scientific concepts. We also consider translanguaging in joint activity in terms of neo-Vygotskian notions of cumulative and exploratory talk, arguing the usefulness of microgenetic analysis to reveal learning in action within joint activity. The paper therefore provides both a renewal of sociocultural understandings of language and learning, and conceptual tools for a more refined and robust articulation and analysis of the operation of translanguaging-to-learn.
A growing body of research suggests that a balanced use of the first language (L1) in the foreign language classroom yields beneficial effects for second language (L2) learning. Still, the extent to which young learners in foreign language contexts actually make use of their L1 while completing tasks is in need of further research, especially in an approach that has become prevalent in Europe: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). The current longitudinal study analyzes the oral interactions of 32 young Spanish learners (ages 8–10) when performing a communicative task twice in two consecutive academic years. We have analyzed the learners’ L1 use and the functions it serves, the differences between two foreign language instructional settings (mainstream foreign language lessons and CLIL) and the changes over a year. Our findings confirmed the facilitative role of the L1 which mainly served to assist learners as they coped with unknown vocabulary. CLIL learners used their L1 significantly less than mainstream learners, and, interestingly, the L1 was more frequently used the second time the learners carried out the task. The findings shed light on the facilitative role of the L1 for task completion by young learners in foreign language settings.
This article presents and analyzes speech data from secondary-level learners of Spanish who are engaged in a problem-solving speaking task commonly used in classrooms and in research. It applies a Vygotskyan perspective to understand the nature of selected aspects of their speech activity, such as talk about the task, talk about the talk, and the use of English. The findings suggest that encoding-decoding perspectives, prevalent in much second language research on learner-to-learner speech activity, are inappropriate for capturing and understanding what these learners are attempting to accomplish during their face-to-face activity. In other words, not all speech activity between classroom learners during classroom communicative tasks is necessarily communicative in intent.
This article continues the debate sparked by Cook (2001) in the most recent issue of the Canadian Modern Language Review examining when and how much the target language (TL) should be used in second language (SL) and foreign language (FL) teaching, and why. In this paper, I agree with Cook that SL or FL teachers should maximize their use of the TL; I also argue that doing so benefits students' TL proficiency. Aside from agreeing with Cook that there is indeed a place for the teacher to use the students' L1 in SL and FL teaching, I also highlight some disadvantages when teachers rely too extensively on the L1. I also call into question what 'maximize' really means in terms of an optimal or acceptable amount of TL and L1 use by teachers.
In this entry, we first define collaborative dialogue (a type of languaging). Following that, we discuss some of the research which suggests that collaborative dialogue is a source of L2 learning and development, and ways in which collaborative dialogue mediates L2 learning and development. This is followed by a discussion of studies which consider the impact context has on the quality and quantity of collaborative dialogue. We conclude with a statement of why collaborative dialogue is important to both learners and teachers of second or foreign languages.
This study investigates the functions served by language in classroom interaction among learners of Spanish at different levels of language competency. Learners collaborated on the production of a writing task. We develop and illustrate a taxonomy of language functions. Our goals are to shed light on the general role of L1 in the L2 classroom and to gain insight into the use of L2 as a tool for thought. We find that the frequency of L2 use among advanced-level participants far exceeds that of beginning-level students. We discuss the implications of this with respect to the role of language in general as a psychological tool and the possibility of an L2 serving in this capacity. We also discuss the pedagogical implications of our findings.
Este estudio investiga las funciones que sirve el lenguaje en la interacción en el aula entre estudiantes de español a diferentes niveles de dominio lingüístico. Los estudiantes colaboraron en una tarea de expresión escrita. Se desarrolla e ilustra una taxonomía de las funciones identificadas con el propósito de esclarecer el papel que juega la primera lengua en el aula de segundas lenguas y de contribuir al entendimiento del uso de la segunda lengua como instrumento del pensamiento. Los resultados indican que la frecuencia de uso de la segunda lengua entre el grupo de nivel avanzado supera con creces al uso entre el grupo de principiantes. Se discuten las implicaciones de estos resultados con respecto al rol del lenguaje en general como instrumento sicológico y la posibilidad de que una segunda lengua pueda funcionar de este modo. Se discuten también implicaciones pedagógicas de los resultados.
This article focuses on the idea of sociocultural theory and the pedagogical imperative. Sociocultural theory has long been used as a lens to explain the processes involved in second language learning and instruction. This article extensively refers to some of the major theorists in the field of linguistics. It then presents selected data and findings from a recent study by Ferreira on ESL writing instruction that adopts Vygotsky's original perspective on theory and research. Two studies, by Negueruela and Poehner, have focused heavily on grammar learning and are already well known in the literature. These studies have approached grammar as conceptual knowledge that may help learners more effectively to create meanings that express their particular communicative intentions. This theory not only informs but also guides research carried out under controlled laboratory conditions, which includes the classroom setting when it is treated as a quasi-experimental venue.
This article examines collaboration during small-group tasks with young language learners studying Spanish. After five days of classroom dynamic assessment (DA) targeting WH-question formation, students worked in small groups on a collaborative writing task. This research sought to determine whether learners were able to mediate their peers during this task and if so, whether this mediation might be traced back to participation in classroom DA. Findings revealed that students drew upon collective knowledge to complete the task. While the learners did not appropriate forms of mediation used during DA, characteristics such as repetition and first language usage appeared in peer scaffolding. We conclude that classroom DA can be supplemented by small-group tasks and that assistance, albeit in different forms, emerged in these two contexts.
Peer tutoring, cooperative learning, and peer collaboration are contrasted with one another along dimensions of equality and mutuality of engagement. It is argued that peer tutoring tends to foster dialogues that are relatively low on equality and varied in mutuality; cooperative learning foster ones that are relatively high in equality and low to moderate in mutuality; and peer collaboration fosters ones that are high in both. There are also some important variations in task and reward structure that cut across the three approaches. In general, the peer learning arrangements that seem most likely to generate productive instructional dialogues are those that encourage joint problem solving, that rely on intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards, and that discourage competition between students.
This paper draws on the Vygotskian methodological construct of microgenesis to study collaborative activity in an intermediate
Spanish as a foreign language classroom. In this study, the construct of microgenesis is drawn upon to refer to both, the methodological tool to investigate language learning instances as observed in short periods of time (i.e. minutes), and also to refer to those
observed language learning instances as the object of study. The Sociocultural approach to Second Language Learning (SLL) (Lantolf and Appel 1994; Donato 2000; Lantolf 2000; Lantolf and Thorne 2006) underpinning this investigation sees interaction as the enabling process that becomes essential for the individual to achieve
learning and development. I refer to learning as the process through which participants are able to change, transform (i.e.
develop) their use and/or understanding (see Wells 1999: 111) of the target language. Pairs/trios of students were audio-recorded while collaborating to complete three language
tasks in the classroom during an academic semester in a UK university. Microgenetic analysis of the data (transcribed protocols)
allowed us to gain further understanding of collaborative activity and of the importance of language as a mediational tool
to co-construct meaning and learning opportunities. The results show that although each instance of microgenesis is unique,
there are certain characteristics and patterns shared by the various instances identified in the data set. The investigation
also highlights the importance of studying discourse markers to help us identify the learners’ level of regulation. Finally,
we focus on a specific aspect of microgenesis that appears to be crucial for driving the learner's second language (L2) forward,
and which following van Lier (2000: 252), I refer to as microgenesis affordance.
This book explains that mainstream elementary classroom teachers with little or no English-as-a-Second-Language training can meet the needs of linguistically diverse students by integrating the teaching of English with the content areas of the regular curriculum. It begins with a strong theoretical underpinning for this practice, drawing on a functional model of language, sociocultural theories of learning, and current research on second language development. It demonstrates the ways in which content areas provide a context for teaching English skills, from speaking and listening to reading and writing. This integration is illustrated with a wide range of teaching and learning activities across the curriculum, supplemented with programming and assessment formats and checklists. Seven chapters focus on (1) "Scaffolding Language and Learning"; (2) "Classroom Talk: Creating Contexts for Language Learning"; (3) "From Speaking to Writing in the Content Classroom"; (4) "Writing in a Second Language across the Curriculum: An Integrated Approach"; (5) "Reading in a Second Language"; (6) "Listening: An Active and Thinking Process"; and (7) "Learning Language, Learning through Language, and Learning about Language: Developing an Integrated Curriculum." A glossary of teaching activities is included. (Contains 97 references.) (SM)
The uniquely human capacity of using arbitrary signs to transfer concept and experience over great distances in time and place is what we call language. We use language with a purpose, and we use whatever features are at our disposal to achieve our ends, regardless of the fact that some speakers think that certain features should be held together and not used in combination with certain other features. The phenomenon of language is not necessarily a construction, and while all individual languages are constructed, it is not possible to clearly delimit them from each other. The crucial phenomenon is language, not any specific language. While some Some speakers think languages should be kept apart, others combine three, four, or more different sets of features (i.e. so-called ‘languages’) in their linguistic production. This is characteristic of polylingualism (where multilingualism is characterised by the knowledge of several separate languages). These speakers do not choose their features randomly. Particularly in late-modern urban youth groups the simultaneous use of features from many different sources is frequent.
This paper presents and discusses quantitative recall data from a longitudinal study that investigated the effects of Dynamic Assessment (DA) on diagnosing and promoting listening comprehension in French as a second language. We first define the theoretical concept of DA based on Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, which integrates mediation and assessment into a unified pedagogical activity; next we outline the research design of the study, rooted in Vygotskyan genetic methodology; finally, we provide a microgenetic analysis of learner recall of idea units contained in three different authentic aural text genres. The data show improvement in listening ability as measured by an increase in the number of idea units recalled over time and as a result of mediation. It also shows that learners are able to transfer their ability, to some extent, to more complex texts. We explain the constraints on transferability.
This paper presents data of 13 and 14 year old intermediate and advanced learners of French working collaboratively to complete a text reconstruction task. The task was designed to focus the students’ attention and discussion on the form of the message they were constructing. It was hypothesised that this kind of opportunity to produce language would promote their language learning by (1) making them aware of gaps in their existing knowledge which they would subsequently seek to fill; (2) raising their awareness of the links between the form, function and meaning of words as they worked to construct their intended message; and (3) obtaining feedback that they would receive from their peers and their teacher as they completed the task. The results support the hypothesis and also provide rich insights for teachers, researchers and curriculum planners into the language learning process in a collaborative setting; the students’ understandings of how language ‘works'; and the effects of certain grouping patterns on the ensuing student talk.
This study examined the ways that 5th graders and their teachers constructed third spaces in bilingual and bicultural communities of practice in a dual-language school. Students and teachers used students' funds of knowledge to connect with and transform academic tasks and discourses and to create third spaces. In transformational third spaces, students' personal experiences were merged with official discourses to inform the curricula and enrich learning. However, the linguistic and cultural resources of the bilingual students were not fully capitalized upon; thus, crucial moments that offered potential for learning and discovery were underutilized.
Both common sense and expert knowledge tell us that learning a language other than the mother tongue is a complex process that happens through and over time. Time, indeed, is a construct implicated in many of the problems that second language acquisition researchers investigate. The purpose of this chapter is to survey longitudinal SLA research published in the last three years and to offer a critical reflection of best current longitudinal practices and desirable directions for future longitudinal SLA research. We highlight recent trends in longitudinal SLA research, paying particular attention to broad design choices and foci of research organized around four trends in SLA longitudinal investigation, and we describe key exemplary studies under each trend. We close by reflecting on some of the challenges and opportunities that await these longitudinal research programs in the future.