scholarly journals “That German stuff”: Negotiating Linguistic Legitimacy in a Foreign Language Classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Ennser-Kananen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
School Classroom ◽  
High School Classroom

This qualitative case study of one German suburban high school classroom in the Midwestern United States examines how learners of German negotiate their linguistic legitimacy, which is defined as discursively constructed acceptance or validation for their language use. Specifically, it investigates how the students negotiated legitimacy for using their target language German in their classroom. Based on the premise that linguistic legitimacy is crucial for the maintenance and development of speakers’ languages, data was collected and analyzed from classroom recordings, semi-structured interviews, and participant observations. Findings revealed that, while English dominated the lessons as the default legitimate language among the students, using German was accepted and valued under certain circumstances. Such instances of linguistic legitimacy included the use of German for entertainment or in role plays, a pattern which points to the students’ desire to mitigate investment and display “uninvestment” in learning or using German. Implications for foreign language (FL) pedagogy and teacher education are discussed.

scholarly journals Understanding Basic English Users’ Classroom Interaction: A Case Study

HOW ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-44
Author(s):  
Ximena Rocío Contreras-Espinosa ◽  
Karen Michell Villamizar-Mantilla
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Classroom Interaction ◽  
Public University ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Basic English

This qualitative case study seeks to understand the importance of interaction in an A1-English language course at a public university in Colombia. Data were collected through six non-participant observations and four semi-structured interviews. Data were organized and analyzed by using MAXQDA software. These instruments provided enough information of the participants’ perspectives about the importance of interaction when learning a new language. With these instruments, it was also possible to find the types of interaction that occurred between the participating teacher and students in the observed foreign language classroom. The findings reveal five different interaction patterns that emerged depending on its purpose, who started them, when they occurred, and how they were given.

A contextualised examination of target language use in the primary school foreign language classroom

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Carless
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Classroom Language

Abstract This article discusses an issue which is of longstanding and central importance to foreign language teachers in a variety of contexts, namely teacher use of classroom language. It uses detailed qualitative case study data to explore how and why an expert practitioner uses English in her Hong Kong Primary school language classroom. Through the interplay between teacher beliefs, experiences and classroom transcript data, the paper develops a contextualised picture of classroom language use with young foreign language learners. The paper suggests that it is not necessarily the language proficiency of the learners which plays a major role in the quantity of target language use, but the teachers’ own proficiency, experience and beliefs.

scholarly journals The translation of onomatopoeias in comics: linguistic and pedagogical implications

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-88
Author(s):  
Rosa Munoz-Luna
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comic Strips ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract The present paper aims to compare and analyse three versions of Garfield comic strips, the original and two different translations into Spanish (from the United States, Spain and Argentina, respectively). More specifically this case study focuses on the treatment of onomatopoeias and interjections in the translations, with the purpose of examining the degree of influence of culture and context in the different linguistic equivalents. Finally, some pedagogical implications of the use of comic strips in the foreign language classroom are also discussed.

Emic perspectives on young Danish learners’ foreign language classroom anxiety

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110012
Author(s):  
Katalin Fenyvesi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Children’S Views ◽  
Classroom Anxiety

This study explores what young Danish learners found anxiety-provoking or difficult in their English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Participants ( n = 32) were early and later starters (ages 8 years vs. 10 years) at two primary schools where children were not assessed in English. The qualitative inquiry aimed to examine what differences characterized 8- and 10-year-old children’s views and how their foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) changed over time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each child in one-on-one settings and the answers were analysed by thematic analysis. The emerging themes revealed three main categories of situations that made children anxious. The first one concerned being afraid of making mistakes. The second category comprised social situations in which children were asked to speak in English in front of their peers and they were anxious that other children would criticize them or laugh at them. The third category comprised situations in which children felt insecure, for example, they did not understand their teacher’s talk in the target language, did not know the meaning of words they were supposed to learn, did not understand the task at hand, or they had to do tasks they thought were beyond their abilities. Children who experienced a decrease of FLCA after one year of instruction indicated that appropriate support from the teacher had reduced FLCA in some of these situations. Pedagogical implications of the different causes of anxiety are discussed.

scholarly journals Inverse translation and the language student: A case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-193
Author(s):  
Lucía Pintado Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Inverse Translation ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article explores the agency of the student in translation in language teaching and learning (or TILT). The purpose of the case study discussed here is to gain an overview of students’ perceptions of translation into the foreign language (FL) (also known as “inverse translation”) following a module on language and translation, and to analyse whether there is any correlation between students’ attitude to translation, its impact on their language learning through effort invested, and the improvement of language skills. The results of the case study reveal translation to be a potentially exciting skill that can be central to FL learning and the analysis gives indications of how and why language teachers may optimise the implementation of translation in the classroom. The outcome of the study suggests that further research is needed on the impact of translation in the language classroom focussing on both teachers’ expectations and students’ achievements.

A Qualitative Case Study of Exemplary Principal Leadership in the United States Virgin Islands: An Application of Kouzes and Posner’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

2021 ◽  
pp. 194277512199005
Author(s):  
Suetania Emmanuel ◽  
Clinton A. Valley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Principal Leadership ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
United States Virgin Islands ◽  
The United States ◽  
Virgin Islands ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Exemplary Leadership ◽  
Five Practices

Effective leadership is foundational to the success of all organizations. This qualitative case study aimed to explore exemplary principal leadership in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). The study was based on Kouzes and Posner’s model of exemplary leadership. Interviews were held with school principals, teachers, and nonteaching staff members in three schools in USVI. The principal leaders in the USVI were found to exhibit the five practices of exemplary leadership as postulated by Kouzes and Posner. The study recommends that the Education department in USVI should develop guidelines and professional development opportunities to enhance exemplary leadership practices among principals.

scholarly journals Sprachnormbezogene Akkommodation in der Hochschullehre

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-62
Author(s):  
Philip C. Vergeiner
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Sociocultural Context ◽  
Standard Variety ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Rule Analysis ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between accommodation processes and social norms in varietal choice within tertiary education in Austria. The investigation consists of (a) a content analysis of metalinguistic statements in semi-structured interviews and (b) a variable rule analysis of actual language variation in university lectures.The findings show that there are norms prescribing that listeners must have at least be able to comprehend a particular variety, whereas accommodation to actual language use does not appear to be required to the same extent. However, the norms depend strongly on group membership: while there is a norm prescribing the use of the standard variety in the presence of speakers of German as a foreign language, there is no such norm for Austrians vis-à-vis people from Germany, although speakers from both groups may lack the ability to understand the respective nonstandard varieties. This difference can be explained by the sociocultural context and differing language attitudes.

Factors predicting classroom WTC in English and French as foreign languages among adult learners in Spain

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110540
Author(s):  
Elvira Barrios ◽  
Irene Acosta-Manzano
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
French Language ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Relative Standing

This study aimed to identify associations and predictors of willingness to communicate (WTC) of adult foreign language (FL) learners and whether they are contingent upon the FL being learned. To this end, our research investigated learner variables associated with WTC in adult FL learners of English and of French in an under-researched field of WTC studies in Spain. More specifically, the following variables were studied: gender, age, level of multilingualism, perceived relative standing in the class, language proficiency, teacher’s use of the FL in class, out-of-class foreign language use (OCFLU) and the two emotions of foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA). Of the 9 independent variables examined, FLCA and language proficiency were found to be predictors of the WTC of both English and French language learners; additionally, enjoyment was found to be a predictor of WTC of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and OCFLU, of learners of French as a foreign language (FFL). Our findings indicate that the construct of WTC needs to be further studied as research may produce dissimilar results depending on the instructional setting, population and foreign language. Pedagogical implications for language teaching practices seeking to enhance adult FL learners’ WTC were also drawn from the study results.

scholarly journals Exploring the Writing Challenges Faced by M.Phil. and Ph.D. Scholars: A Case

2021 ◽  
Vol VI (IV) ◽  
pp. 34-41
Author(s):  
Hina Iqbal ◽  
Muhammad Saeed
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Interactive Programming ◽  
Report Quality ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Language Courses

Academic writing plays a pivotal role in developing research proposals. The present study aimed to explore the grammatical errors that M.Phil/PhDs scholars commit in academic writing. The present study employed a qualitative case study designed to explore the challenges in the English language faced by the M.Phil and PhDs scholars. The 20 Ph.D. and 36 M.Phil scholars were selected by busing purposive sampling technique. Data were collected by using two self-developed semi-structured interviews protocol. Thematic analysis approach was employed for data analysis. The findings revealed that all the participants reported that correct use of tenses was a big hurdle that entailed the other grammatical mistakes and reduced the report quality because all the lexical aspects are linked with these mechanics. The study recommended that English language courses be offered to postgraduate, M. Phil and Ph.D. scholars to learn the technical aspects of the language and provide students with online interactive programming.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document