Keywords
second language learning
previous experience
intercultural
How to Cite
Number of views: 617
Number of downloads: 459
Abstract
This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project set to investigate the piloting process of an innovative language program for university students. It challenges traditional English language teaching courses celebrating a view centered on learning; classes become spaces for students to understand the language they are learning through the development of small projects. The approach moves from a teaching transmission paradigm to one where the most important agent is each student who has to engage with a topic of his or her interest. Students are seen as individuals whose knowledge and understanding of the world is valued and not as people whose lack of language skills prevents themfrom engaging in discussions of complex topics. The objective of this innovation is to enhance students’ understanding and use of academic English in their field of interest. In this project, we argue that knowledge and understanding of the mother tongue and culture play key roles in the development of a second language. A number of studies suggest that students who had strong first language literacy skills achieved higher proficiency levels in their second language. Based on this argument and Vygotsky’s sociocultural learning theory, we designed disciplinary content language learning workshops for first-degree students. The main tenet is that students can develop academic English given that they know about their discipline. Findings so far reveal the difficulty of students to take distance from their previous learning experiences. They also show that students’ ideas expressed in English are far more complex than what would be expected of them given their second language skills. The complexity is not only related to thecontent, but to the way they construct their paragraphs and the understanding of how the register of their field may be used.
References
Bakhtin, M. (1981) The dialogic imagination (C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Transl.). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Byun, K. Y., Chu, H. J., Kim, M. J., Park, I., Kim, S. H., & Jung, J. Y. (2011). English-medium teaching in Korean higher education: Policy debates and reality. Higher Education, 62, 4, 431-449. doi: 10.1007/s10734-010-9397-4
Chen, Z., & Goh, C. (2011). Teaching oral English in higher education: Challenges to EFL teachers. Teaching in Higher Education, 16, 333-345. doi: 10.1080/13562517.2010.546527
Cummins, J. (1979). Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. Review of Educational Research, 49(2), 222-251. doi: 10.2307/1169960
Cummins, J. (1984). Bilingualism and special education: Issues in assessment and pedagogy. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters.
Davies, P. (2008). ELT in Mexican higher education should be mainly ESP, not EGP. Mextesol Journal, 32(1), 80-89.
Davies, P. (2009). Strategic management of ELT in public educational systems: Trying to reduce failure, increase success. TESL-EJ, 13(3). Retrieved from http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume13/ej51/ej51a2/
Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., Shin, J., Wu, S., Su, J., Burgess-Brigham, R., Unal Gezer, M., & Snow, C. (2012). What we know about second language acquisition: A synthesis from four perspectives. Review of Educational Research, 82(1), 5-60. doi: 10.3102/034654311433587
Doecke, B., Kostogriz, A., & Charles, C. (2004). Heteroglossia: A space for developing critical language awareness? English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 3(3), 29-42.
Dufva, M., & Voeten, M. (1999). Native language literacy and phonological memory are prerequisites for learning English as a foreign language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 20, 329-348.
Durgunoglu, A., Nagy, W., & Hancin-Bhatt, B. (1993). Cross-language transfer of phonological awareness. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 453-465. doi: 10.1037/0022-663.85.3.453
Ganschow, L., & Sparks, R. (2001). Learning difficulties and foreign language learning: A review of research and instruction. Language Teaching, 34, 79-98. doi: 10.1017/S0261444800015895
Greenfield, P. (1984). A theory of the teacher in the learning activities of everyday life. In B. Rogoff & J. Lave (Eds.), Everyday cognition: Its development in social context (pp. 17-138). London: Harvard University Press.
Holliday, A. (2007) Doing and writing qualitative research. London: Sage.
Holm, A., & Dodd, B. (1996). The effect of first written language on the acquisition of English literacy. Cognition, 59, 119-147. doi: 10.1016/0010-0277(95)00691-5
Meschyan, G., & Hernandez, A. (2002). Is native-language decoding skill related to second-language learning? Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 14-22. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.94.1.14
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994) Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lantolf, J. P., & Thorne, S. L. (2007). Sociocultural theory and second language learning. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 201-224). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Lemke, J. (1993). Discourse, dynamics, and social change. Cultural Dynamics, 6(1), 243-275. doi: 10.1177/092137409300600107
Olshtain, E., Shohamy, E., Kemp, J., & Chatow, R. (1990). Factors predicting success in EFL among culturally different learners. Language Learning, 40, 23-44. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1990.tb0953.x
Pang, E.S., & Kamil, M.L. (2004). Second-language issues in early literacy and instruction. Institute for Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. Temple University Center for Research in Human Development and Education. Retrieved from http://people.ucsc.edu/~ktellez/kamil-L2.pdf
Proctor, C., August, D., Carlo, M., & Snow, C. (2006). The intriguing role of Spanish language vocabulary in predicting English reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 159-169. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.98.1.159
Robinson, J. P., Rivers, W. P., & Brecht, R. D. (2006). Speaking foreign languages in the United States: Correlates, trends, and possible consequences. Modern Language Journal, 90, 457-472. doi: 10-1111/j.1540-4781.2006.00462.x
Sparks, R. (2001). Foreign language learning problems of students classified as learning disabled and non-learning disabled: Is there a difference? Topics in Language Disorders, 21(2), 38-54. doi: 10.1097/00011363-200102000-00006
Sparks, R., Ganschow, L., & Humbach, N. (2009). Long-term crosslinguistic transfer of skills from L1 to L2. Language Learning, 59(1), 203-243. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2009.00504.x
Sparks, R., Patton, J., Ganschow, L., Humbach, N., & Javorsky, J. (2006). Early first-language reading and spelling skills predict later second-language reading and spelling skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 162-174. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.100.1.162
Street, B. (1997). The implications of the “New Literacy Studies” for literacy education. English in Education, 31(3), 45-59. doi: 10.1111/j.1754-8845.1997.tb00133.x
Street, B. (2003). What is “new” in new literacy studies?. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 5(2), 77-92.
Wertsch, J. V. (1985) Vygotsky and the social formation of the mind. London: Harvard University Press.
License
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.