UCLan Open Journals (University of Central Lancashire)
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Get PDFBiographical details and contact details of contributors to Woody Guthrie Annual Volume 1(2015
WHERE GRAMMAR MEETS CONTEXT: TEACHING PRAGMATICS IN L2 FRENCH
Get PDFLanguage teaching traditionally focuses on grammar, often ignoring the effects of the context within which it is used. A recent study (Work, 2010) of the interaction of discourse context (pragmatics) with the selection of appropriate grammatical structures (syntax) shows this to be a source of problems for learners. This paper presents cross-sectional and cross-linguistic classroom data from 143 instructed English-speaking second language (L2) learners of Spanish and French of different proficiency levels as well as from 13 native speakers (NS) examining null and postverbal subjects in Spanish, subject dislocation and c’est clefts in French and object clitic left dislocation (CLLD) in both languages. The results indicate that the interface structures investigated were vulnerable, that is, particularly subject to learner error. Overall, learners showed significant differences from NS in the production and perception of these structures. Even advanced learners demonstrated a wide range of discourse-pragmatic proficiency. Contact with the target language alone has not been found to be sufficient to acquire accurate language use in context and instruction in pragmatics has been found to be successful (Bouton, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994; Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Kasper, 1997, 2001). Based on this research and current theories of L2 acquisition, and in an effort to connect theory with practice, instructional units of integrated and sequenced classroom activities for improving pragmatic competence were developed. These units are composed of awareness activities, plentiful authentic language input, interpretation and analysis, and finally production activities
Free Coffee and Cake! A Retention Initiative to Promote First Year Business School Students’ Social Interaction With Their Peers And Staff.
Get PDFThis paper discusses the findings from a small case study which involved implementing a social initiative with year 1 students on retention ‘hotspot’ programmes in the Business School. Financed by the internal TLA fund, this initiative involved running four coffee and cake events over an academic year specifically for students on the hotspot programmes. The purpose of these events was to facilitate student interaction with other students and lecturers in the department, to promote social engagement, connectedness to the department and feelings of belonging. With increasing tuition fees and the tendency for students to live off campus, many students attend only formal timetabled teaching events and do not engage in additional activities. Arguably therefore, not all students fully connect to the university or department, thus affecting their feelings of belonging. A sense of belonging appears repeatedly in the literature as contributing towards student retention. Students and staff took part in an evaluation of the coffee and cake events in April 2012 and this paper discusses the findings. Results showed that the coffee and cake events contributed towards students’ feelings of belonging and made students feel valued. In particular, students particularly benefited from the liaisons with staff in a more relaxed, non-teaching environment
USING CORPUS DATA TO TEACH COLLOCATIONS IN MEDICAL ENGLISH
Get PDFCorpus linguistics provides English teachers with an opportunity to analyse large amounts of language data to facilitate language learning and allows teachers to produce authentic in-house materials. Textbooks started to integrate corpus data (see Carter & McCarthy, 1997). However, surprisingly, corpus-based activities and materials have not completely reached the classroom. Following Johns (1991), this preliminary study aims to assess the relevance of corpus data in a mainstream ESP classroom, specifically, in teaching medical English using a data-driven learning approach. A longitudinal critical needs analysis on 323 Turkish medical students revealed that students perceive learning meanings of English words with collocations as a highly important need. The present study seeks to satisfy the perceived needs of medical students who are learning medical English. Considering students’ content knowledge, medical specialists were consulted to choose a relevant medical journal. A self-compiled specialised corpus was built from research articles in the Journal of Medical Case Reports. The corpus comprised 31,731 words. The corpus data were used to teach students collocations and to produce in-house ESP materials, such as concordance lines, that foster autonomous learning and active participation in first-year medical students. Pedagogical applications of corpus work are discussed
STUDENTS’ L1 USE: A STUMBLING BLOCK OR A FACILITATOR IN L2 LEARNING?
Get PDFThis article explores Japanese university students\u27 use of their first language (L1) in English discussion classes taught by two teachers who share the L1. First, the amount of L1 use in six observed classes was quantified by using a 20-second sampling procedure. Then, turns including Japanese words or phrases were identified and categorized based on various functions: (a) for scaffolded help; (b) for task control; (c) for social purposes; (d) as accidental reactions; (e) as responses to L1 use; and (f) as private speech. The amount of L1 use and its functions were examined in relation to teachers\u27 attitudes toward an English-only policy, which is an institutional requirement. Data from observations and interviews indicated that in general, students were following the English-only rule, in particular, while engaged in Student-Student interactions. The data also revealed the variability in the amount of students\u27 L1 use between the teachers, which ranged from 0% to 14.7%, and this difference seems to have resulted from a contrast in the teachers\u27 interpretations of the language policy and their flexibility in dealing with students\u27 L1 use. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, the L1 played cognitive and social roles in L2 learning, and was most frequently used for social purposes, that is to say, to establish a positive learning environment. Hence, the author argues that before prohibiting any use of L1, teachers should recognize the educational values that L1 holds and decide how much L1 should be accepted, depending on the purpose of the class and the needs of students
International Electronic Link-Up to Promote Interaction in Foreign Language
Get PDFFor two academic years, students of French at UCLan and students of English at the IUT (University Institute of Technology) in Lannion have taken part in an electronic exchange programme designed to promote and extend the practice of their linguistic skills. In the year under review here, students interacted with each other on a one-to-one basis, using any form of electronic communication available to them. There were also several group sessions set up via Skype or video-conferencing. The current paper seeks to explore the implementation of such an electronic exchange from the English students’ perspective, its role in encouraging interaction and Its advantages and disadvantages from the students’ and the lecturers’ point of view. Findings will serve to further develop and enhance the project in future years and provide guidance for other practitioners
Does Planning Really Help?: Effectiveness of Planning in L2 Writing
Get PDFPre-task planning (i.e., planning prior to composing) has long been assumed to lead to L1 and L2 writing improvement. This assumption has historically been supported by L1 writing research from the field of cognitive psychology. However, the results of recent research on pre-task planning and L2 writing suggest that pre-task planning alone has minimal impact on features of L2 writers’ texts. This article provides an overview of how pre-task planning is theorized to impact L1 writers’ texts and examines recent quantitative L2 writing research on pre-task planning, the results of which suggest that pre-task planning may be moderated by general L2 proficiency as well as knowledge of the targeted writing genre. Areas for future L2 writing research are discussed as are the potential implications of future research
Building Future Research Capacity In Student Healthcare Practitioners Through Research-Informed-Teaching.
Get PDFThe Research-Informed-Teaching (RIT) agenda aims to broaden the scope of learning and teaching within higher education (Jenkins, Healey and Zetter, 2007). This may encompass raising students’ awareness of the research environment and knowledge base relevant to their discipline, developing advanced skills in critical appraisal of published research, engaging active researchers in the delivery of teaching, plus facilitating students’ direct experience of research processes and conduct. It may be anticipated that that RIT is already intrinsic to the nature of professional education in healthcare, where Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is a now a fundamental requirement of professional regulation (Health and Care Professions’ Council (2014). However frameworks of RIT are not necessarily sufficiently defined to promote the required depth of critical reflection on clinical practice (Dey, Downe, Milston, Roddam and Hart, 2009)
A CORPUS-BASED PROPOSAL FOR THE GRADING OF VOCABULARY TEACHING MATERIALS FOR THE LEGAL ENGLISH CLASS
Get PDFThe introduction of legal English as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of the Law Degrees taught at Spanish universities due to the implementation of the Bologna Reform has led to the design of syllabuses which are intended to enable students to become proficient users of this English variety with both academic and professional purposes. This paper presents a corpus-based proposal for the grading of materials for the teaching of legal vocabulary which can be extrapolated to other varieties of English for Specific and Academic Purposes (ESAP). In order to exemplify it, a sample list of 33 crime nouns (obtained from the legal English textbooks consulted) has been examined in terms of their frequency, keyness and text range values in an ad hoc legal corpus of 2.6 million words, UKSCC. After doing so, Chung’s (2003) automatic term recognition (ATR) method has been applied so as to establish their level of specialisation. Our proposal relies on the assumption that the information obtained after taking these different parameters into consideration might be helpful for the ESAP instructor to rank the vocabulary inventories obtained from specialised corpora so that the materials derived from them can be graded according to the students’ needs
Enhancing Engagement With Mandatory Modules: Forensic Science Students And Learning The Law
Get PDFThis article investigates the lack of engagement which forensic science students have demonstrated with seminars in law, taught by the author at the University of Central Lancashire. With the students’ seminar performance accounting for 25 per cent of their overall module grade, the second year undergraduate module is a requisite for their course and covers the foundations of criminal and civil law as well as the role and scope of forensic science within the legal system. In exploring this issue and its implications for the student experience and assessment, motivational theories and literature, proposals for more creative teaching practices and ideas for curriculum development are discussed, in the hope that feasible solutions can be formulated to aid the planning of engaging lessons for this module in future academic years and improve the learning and teaching experience for both students and lecturers of law-science, interdisciplinary or requisite modules