6,158 research outputs found
Understanding insertion and integration in a study abroad context: the case of English-speaking sojourners in France
No full textThis paper draws on a recent study of British students of languages undertaking a year abroad in France, in a variety of placements (as language teaching assistants, as exchange students, and as workplace interns). The data were gathered in the context of the 2011-2013 LANGSNAP project, a larger study undertaken which investigated both the language learning and social integration of British students spending an academic year abroad in France, Spain or Mexico Having made a positive choice to specialise in languages at university, and having already reached a relatively advanced level in French during their secondary school education, it could be assumed that these students were positively motivated to further develop their language skills, to deepen their intercultural understanding, and to integrate socially within the local society. Indeed, in pre-departure interviews (in French), the participating students unanimously expressed the wish to integrate and in particular to make French same-aged friends. The paper first of all presents an overview of the range of tools used to gather both quantitative and qualitative data on participants’ social integration. The paper then goes on to evaluate the degree of success of even such highly motivated participants in achieving this declared goal, and to consider social, sociolinguistic and personal factors which appear to influence the degree of social integration achieved by individual participants
Placement type and language learning during residence abroad
No full textThe “year abroad” is a longstanding component of British university degree programmes in languages. As noted by other commentators (Coleman, 1997 and this volume; Collentine, 2009), the British “year abroad” is typically undertaken by language majors with several years’ prior language study and a relatively advanced proficiency level in their target language(s). It is a common requirement for programme completion, to spend two academic semesters abroad. However students can have considerable latitude in how the time abroad is spent, and assessment by the home institution is relatively “light touch”, typically involving e.g. a substantial project or long essay. Today, languages students typically undertake one of three placement types: as English language teaching assistants, on other forms of work placement, or as Erasmus exchange students following relevant academic programmes at a partner university. Numbers of U.K. languages students undertaking the classic university student exchange version of the year abroad are relatively stable at around 7,500 per year, a much smaller number than incoming international students at U.K. universities, though numbers undertaking teaching assistantships and other work placements have risen (British Academy & University Council for Modern Languages, 2012; King, Findlay, & Ahrens, 2010). The linguistic benefits of the year abroad have been tracked in various research studies (Coleman, 1996, 1997; Ife, 2000; Klapper & Rees, 2012; Meara, 1994; Willis, Doble, Sankarayya, & Smithers, 1977). In general, this research indicates that while learners make considerable progress in their target L2, the variability which is characteristic of residence abroad programmes more widely (Kinginger, 2008) affects this group as well (on this see especially Klapper & Rees, 2012). The research project “Social Networks, Target Language Interaction and Second Language Acquisition During the Year Abroad: A longitudinal study“ (the LANGSNAP project: http://langsnap.soton.ac.uk) was planned to provide fuller evidence on L2 acquisition during the year abroad, including documenting development on a range of language domains, and connecting progress in L2 to a range of individual, social and contextual variables. (See Mitchell, 2014 for an overview.)The project tracked a cohort of 56 students majoring in French or Spanish, before, during and after spending their year abroad in France, Spain or Mexico during the academic year 2011-12.This chapter reports one aspect of the findings of this project: the experience of the French L2 participants (N=29) of different placement types in France, and how placement type related to aspects of their target language developmen
Subjunctive use and development in L2 French: a longitudinal study
No full textWe investigated Subjunctive use and development in French L2. Participants were 29 university learners of French, studying French at a UK university who additionally took part in a 9-month stay abroad in France, and 10 native speakers of French. Data were collected from two production tasks (speaking and writing) and a grammaticality judgement task. The results show that all participants made some use of the Subjunctive from the beginning, with only limited development in its use in the course of the study. It is more frequently used in writing than in speaking, consistent with French corpus-based research (O’Connor DiVito 1997). The judgement findings reveal significant differences between different Subjunctive triggers, with learners consistently better able to recognise affirmative triggers over conjunctions and negatives. Overall, it appears that affirmative Subjunctive triggers represent a key source of development, with most change evident for lower proficiency learner
Phosphate amendment of metalliferous tailings, Cannington Ag-Pb-Zn mine, Australia: implications for the capping of tailings storage facilities
No full textThis study appraised the use of phosphate fertilisers in immobilising metals in mine tailings to prevent their uptake into Curly Mitchell grass (Astrebla lappacea), when grown on capped, phosphate-amended tailings. Leaching experiments showed that Pb mobility was reduced by both bone meal and superphosphate amendment. Bone meal amendment also reduced Cd mobility. By contrast, Cd, Mn and Zn mobility increased in superphosphate-amended tailings due to increased acid production and, Cu was mobilised in bone meal-amended tailings possibly through the formation of soluble metal-complexing organic compounds. Arsenic and Sb were mobilised in both treatments due to phosphate ligand exchange. Greenhouse trials used Curly Mitchell grass grown on 1-m-high columns stacked with waste materials and different amendments overlain by clean topsoil. Curly Mitchell grass showed substantial uptake of Cd, Mn, Pb and Zn from unamended tailings and waste rock, where these were penetrated by the plant's root system. Addition of phosphate fertilisers to the surface of tailings did not result in reduced metal uptake by Curly Mitchell grass. In tailings capped with limestone, the limestone layer formed an effective physical barrier preventing root penetration into the tailings and led to substantially reduced metal uptake in grass. The study demonstrates that thorough mixing of waste materials and fertilisers as well as irrigation may be required for successful phosphate immobilisation of metals in base metal tailings. Alternatively, the placement of a thin layer of crushed limestone on top of the tailings pile prior to capping may lead to the formation of a chemical and physical barrier and prevent the transfer of environmentally significant elements into the above-ground biomass of Mitchell grasses. © 2012 Springer-Verlag
Multilingual migrants in England: factors affecting their language use
No full textThe aim of this study has been to explore how multilingual immigrant students, who are competent in a number of linguistic varieties, experience (and make use of) their multilingualism and express their linguistic identities in educational settings in England. The study was carried out in the context of an EU funded research network, Languages in a Network of European Excellence (see www.linee.info for further details). The research took the form of qualitative interviewing, classroom observation and focus group work in two educational institutions, combined with questionnaires on student and teacher attitudes towards multilingualism. The researchers have endeavoured to explain immigrants’ use and attitudes towards the different languages in their repertoire by referring to social network theory, language hierarchies and educational policies, as well as investigating attitudes of parents, teachers and friends. The findings suggest that many factors combine to explain language attitudes and use, and that students’ multilingualism, although positively valued by the students themselves, is threatened by other values such as the high status of Englis
Trace element uptake by Mitchell grasses grown on mine wastes, Cannington Ag–Pb–Zn Mine, Australia: implications for mined land reclamation
No full textThis study was conducted to determine the metal (Ag, Al, As, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb, Zn) tolerance and uptake of Mitchell grasses when grown on waste rocks and tailings of a base metal mine, Australia. The objective of conducting such phytoremediation studies was to gain data relating to the implementation and effectiveness of capping and revegetation strategies for mine waste repositories in regions of native grasslands. Pot trials demonstrate that Mitchell grasses are metal tolerant and have the ability to accumulate significant concentrations of metals (Pb, Zn) into their above-ground biomass. Concentrations of metals in Mitchell grasses were evaluated in terms of maximum allowable dietary levels in livestock. The pot trial project revealed that if Mitchell grasses were to be used for mined land reclamation and were grown on tailings, the grasses could potentially accumulate large quantities of Zn in their tissue, potentially causing harmful effects on animals feeding on them. Hence, it is undesirable that Mitchell grasses are grown on and their root system come in contact with tailings with elevated level of Zn. Otherwise, the species may accumulate phyto- and zootoxic concentrations of Zn. The metal tolerance, the tendency to accumulate metals in the above-ground biomass and the significant root penetration depth of Mitchell grasses have implications for the design of tailings storage facilities. Capping of waste repositories, containing elevated metal concentrations and using a cover system without capillary breaks, clay layers or alternative strategies, may not be sustainable in the long term. The application of phosphate amendments to tailings may represent an alternative strategy to limit the uptake of metals by Mitchell grasses. The pot trials prove that the addition of phosphate to mine wastes decreases the bio-availability of metals in these materials and reduces the Pb and Zn concentration in Mitchell grasses growing on them. Thus, the addition of phosphate amendments to the top layers of metalliferous mine wastes may represent an alternative waste management strategy
The role of dynamic contrasts in the L2 acquisition of Spanish past tense morphology
No full textThis study examines the second language acquisition of Spanish past tense morphology by three groups of English speakers (beginners, intermediates and advanced). We adopt a novel methodological approach-- combining oral corpus data with controlled experimental data-- in order to provide new evidence on the validity of the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (LAH) in L2 Spanish. Data elicited through one comprehension and three oral tasks with varying degrees of experimental control show that the emergence of temporal markings is determined mainly by the dynamic/non-dynamic contrast (whether a verb is a state or an event) as beginner and intermediate speakers use Preterit with event verbs but Imperfect mainly with state verbs. One crucial finding is that although advanced learners use typical Preterit-telic associations in the least controlled oral tasks, as predicted by the LAH, this pattern is often reversed in tasks designed to include non-prototypical (and infrequent) form-meaning contexts. The results of the comprehension task also show that the event-Preterit and state-Imperfect associations observed in the production data determine the interpretation that learners assign to the Preterit and the Imperfect as well. These results show that beginner and intermediate learners treat event verbs (achievements, accomplishments and activities) in Spanish as one single class that they associate with Preterit morphology. We argue that dynamicity contrasts, and not telicity, affect learners’ use of past tense forms during early stages of acquisition
In situ U-Pb and Nd-Hf-(Sr) isotopic investigations of zirconolite and calzirtite
No full textAlthough the calcium- and titanium-bearing zirconsilicates, zirconolite and calzirtite, are common minerals in carbonatites little is known regarding their trace element or isotopic characteristics. Available data indicate that they can have significant contents of U. Pb, Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, rare earth elements (REEs), minor Sr and low Rb/Sr and Lu/Hf ratios. Their compositions indicate that they have potential for U Pb age determination together with Nd Hf and possibly Sr isotopic analyses. In this study, zirconolite and calzirtite from carbonatites occurring at Phalaborwa (South Africa), Prairie Lake (Canada), Afrikanda and Kovdor (Kola, Russia), Gull (Siberia, Russia) and Jacupiranga (Brazil) were selected for an isotopic analysis by in situ techniques. Ion microprobe analyses using a CAMECA 1280 ion microprobe show that reliable Pb Pb ages can be obtained from these minerals as they have extremely high U concentrations, coupled with negligible common Pb. Although these minerals have low Rb/Sr ratios, their low Sr concentrations, in most cases, render in situ Sr isotopic analyses difficult. In contrast, their high Sm, Nd and Hf concentrations, with generally low Lu/Hf ratios, permit precise in situ isotopic analysis of Nd and Hf
Inception and early evolution of the Ordovician Macquarie Arc of Eastern Gondwana margin: Zircon U-Pb-Hf evidence from the Molong Volcanic Belt, Lachlan Orogen
No full textThe Ordovician Macquarie Arc is faulted against and surrounded by coeval Gondwana-derived quartz turbidites, in the Lachlan Orogen of southeastern Australia. How these juvenile, island arc rocks were emplaced and structurally interleaved with continental margin sequences of eastern Gondwana is an ongoing debate. Understanding the inception of this arc is critical in building an accurate Early Paleozoic reconstruction for eastern Gondwana. However, the arc's inception and early evolution are poorly-constrained due to the lack of reliable geochronological data. Integrated field observations, zircon U-Pb-Hf, mineral and whole rock geochemistry are presented here for the oldest units of the Molong Volcanic belt, which is a central strand of the dissected Macquarie arc. Geochemistry indicates that these are calc-alkaline rocks with high-K (locally shoshonitic) to medium-K affinities. The stratigraphically-lowest mafic volcanic and volcano-sedimentary rocks of the Mitchell Formation have a unimodal earliest Ordovician zircon U-Pb age of 479.8 ± 3.8 Ma, with uniform depleted mantle like initial zircon εHf values of +12 to +13. The lack of pre-Ordovician zircons and the uniform positive initial εHf value indicate that the Macquarie arc was initiated in an intra-oceanic setting, far from the influence of eastern Gondwana. The stratigraphically overlying Fairbridge Volcanics includes some more evolved volcano-sedimentary components and has a polymodal, but mostly Ordovician, zircon U-Pb age population, with a youngest component at 444.3 ± 2.4 Ma. Overall, its Ordovician grains show a greater spread in initial εHf values from +14 down to +8 than the Mitchell Formation, which suggests some continental influence, at least 35 million years after the arc was initiated. The lack of any significant Gondwanan inheritance in Early Ordovician volcaniclastic rocks of the Macquarie Arc along with geochemical comparisons with modern island arcs, suggest that the arc evolved outboard of Gondwana probably as a result of steep, easterly-directed subduction. As the Macquarie arc approached eastern Gondwana there would have been increasing quantities of continent derived sediment subducted beneath the arc which may account for the decreasing and more variable zircon initial εHf values and the appearance of sparse Precambrian continental detritus at the arc's moribund stage. The collision of the Macquarie island arc with Gondwana initiated the Benambran Orogeny and reflects an important mechanism of episodic continental growth involving the addition of juvenile oceanic crust to a continental margin, which contrasts and alternates with periods of purely accretionary growth
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