| 1. |
- Deutschmann, Mats, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Designing oral participation in second life : a comparative study of two language proficiency courses
- 2009
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Ingår i: ReCALL. - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. - 0958-3440 .- 1474-0109. ; 21:2, s. 206-226
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The following paper presents two stages of an action research project involving two oral proficiency courses held in the virtual world Second Life. Course 1 was conducted during the Autumn of 2007. Based on the experiences of this course, we redesigned many aspects of it in order to improve student activity in terms of oral participation and gave the course again in Spring 2008. By analysing the recordings of four 90-minute sessions, two from each course, we were able to measure student participation based on floor space, turn lengths and turn-taking patterns, and in the study we discuss how different changes in design may have contributed to more favourable outcomes. Results seem to indicate that meaning focussed task design, which involves authenticity and collaborative elements, has a direct impact on learner participation and engagement. Furthermore, our results seem to suggest that technical and social initiations into a complex environment such as SL are important factors that have to be worked into the course design.
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| 2. |
- Engwall, Olov, et al.
(författare)
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Learner and teacher perspectives on robot-led L2 conversation practice
- 2022
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Ingår i: ReCALL. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0958-3440 .- 1474-0109. ; 34:3, s. 344-359
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article focuses on designing and evaluating conversation practice in a second language (L2) with a robot that employs human spoken and non-verbal interaction strategies. Based on an analysis of previous work and semi-structured interviews with L2 learners and teachers, recommendations for robot-led conversation practice for adult learners at intermediate level are first defined, focused on language learning, on the social context, on the conversational structure and on verbal and visual aspects of the robot moderation. Guided by these recommendations, an experiment is set up, in which 12 pairs of L2 learners of Swedish interact with a robot in short social conversations. These robot-learner interactions are evaluated through post-session interviews with the learners, teachers' ratings of the robot's behaviour and analyses of the video-recorded conversations, resulting in a set of guidelines for robot-led conversation practice: (1) societal and personal topics increase the practice's meaningfulness for learners; (2) strategies and methods for providing corrective feedback during conversation practice need to be explored further; (3) learners should be encouraged to support each other if the robot has difficulties adapting to their linguistic level; (4) the robot should establish a social relationship by contributing with its own story, remembering the participants' input, and making use of non-verbal communication signals; and (5) improvements are required regarding naturalness and intelligibility of text-to-speech synthesis, in particular its speed, if it is to be used for conversations with L2 learners.
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| 3. |
- Estling Vannestål, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Learning English grammar with a corpus : Experimenting with concordancing in a university grammar course
- 2007
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Ingår i: ReCall. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0958-3440 .- 1474-0109. ; 19:3, s. 329-350
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Corpora have been used for pedagogical purposes for more than two decades but empirical studies are relatively rare, particularly in the context of grammar teaching. The present study focuses on students' attitudes towards grammar and how these attitudes are affected by the introduction of concordancing. The principal aims of the project were to increase our students’ motivation by showing them that English grammar is more than a set of rules in a book and to enable them to assume more responsibility for their own learning. The idea was to introduce the use of language corpora into the curriculum for first-semester English at Växjö University in Sweden, as a complement to grammar textbooks and ordinary exercise materials. Between classes, the students worked with problem-solving assignments that involved formulating their own grammar rules based on the examples they found in the corpus. In the classroom, a system of peer teaching was applied, where the students took turns at explaining grammatical rules to each other. Besides presenting a new way of working with grammar, we also provided the students with a tool for checking questions of usage when writing English texts in the future, since the corpus we use is free of charge and available to all. The work with corpora and peer teaching was evaluated by means of questionnaires and interviews. This article describes and evaluates this initiative and presents insights gained in the process. One important conclusion is that using corpora with students requires a large amount of introduction and support. It takes time and practice to get students to become independent corpus users, knowing how to formulate relevant corpus queries and interpret the results. Working with corpora is a method that some students appreciate while others, especially weak students, find it difficult or boring. Several of the students did not find corpora very useful for learning about grammatical rules, but realized the potential of using corpora when writing texts in English.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Hincks, Rebecca, 1959-
(författare)
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Speech technologies for pronunciation feedback and evaluation
- 2003
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Ingår i: ReCALL. - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. - 0958-3440 .- 1474-0109. ; 15:1, s. 3-20
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Educators and researchers in the acquisition of L2 phonology have called for empirical assessment of the progress students make after using new methods for learning (Chun, 1998, Morley, 1991). The present study investigated whether unlimited access to a speech-recognition-based language-learning program would improve the general standard of pronunciation of a group of middle-aged immigrant professionals studying English in Sweden. Eleven students were given a copy of the program Talk to Me from Auralog as a supplement to a 200-hour course in Technical English, and were encouraged to practise on their home computers. Their development in spoken English was compared with a control group of fifteen students who did not use the program. The program is evaluated in this paper according to Chapelle’s (2001) six criteria for CALL assessment. Since objective human ratings of pronunciation are costly and can be unreliable, our students were pre- and post-tested with the automatic PhonePass SET-10 test from Ordinate Corp. Results indicate that practice with the program was beneficial to those students who began the course with a strong foreign accent but was of limited value for students who began the course with better pronunciation. The paper begins with an overview of the state of the art of using speech recognition in L2 applications.
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| 6. |
- Karlström, Petter, et al.
(författare)
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Tool Mediation in Focus on Form Activities : Case studies in a grammar-exploring environment
- 2007
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Ingår i: ReCALL. - 0958-3440 .- 1474-0109. ; 19:1, s. 39-56
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present two case studies of two different pedagogical tasks in a Computer Assisted Language Learning environment called Grim. The main design principle in Grim is to support ‘Focus on Form’ in second language pedagogy. Grim contains several language technology-based features for exploring linguistic forms (static, rule-based and statistical), intended to be used while writing. Our question is, in what ways does Grim support Focus on Form in actual classroom use. We have explored this question within sociocultural theory, emphasizing tool mediation and how tools shape the learner’s activity. The first case concerns a text-reconstruction exercise in which students worked in a pair within the Grim environment. The second case was conducted with another group of students, who engaged in collaborative revision of texts, written in advance by one of the students, in student pairs. In both studies, students were instructed and encouraged to use the different features of Grim. Data was collected by recording dialogue during the sessions with Grim. Our results show how learners put the features of Grim into use in their writing tasks. In some instances, the program was used creatively, in combination with external tools such as the users’ own dictionaries, knowledge of other languages, or teachers. In other instances, we note that Grim was used for error correction, rather than as a language resource. The learners’ activities are thus transformed by their use of the program, from the tasks of revision and text-reconstruction into error correction. The application shapes the activity, in conjunction with the pedagogical tasks. We argue for studying the activities of students with CALL tools, in order to find out in detail how tasks and technology concur in use and what view on language and pedagogy they mediate.
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| 7. |
- Sauro, Shannon, et al.
(författare)
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Critically Examining the Use of Blog-Based Fan Fiction in the Advanced Language Classroom
- 2019
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Ingår i: ReCALL. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0958-3440 .- 1474-0109. ; 31:1, s. 40-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper critically examines the integration of online fanfiction practices into an advanced university English language classroom. The fanfiction project, The Blogging Hobbit, was carried out as part of a course in the teacher education program at a Swedish university for students who were specializing in teaching English at the secondary school level. Participants were 122 students who completed the course in 2013 and 2014. In both classes, students were organized into groups of three to six to write collaborative blog-based role-play fanfiction of a missing moment from JRR Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Hobbit. The 31 resulting pieces of collaborative fanfiction, the online formats they were published in, the 122 reflective essays produced by the two classes, and interviews with a focal group of participants were used to explore how technology and learners’ experience with this technology may have mediated the resulting stories. In addition, the classroom fanfiction texts were compared with comparable online writing published in the fanfiction site Archive of Our Own (Ao3) to identify thematic and stylistic differences. The results showed that students’ lack of familiarity with publishing in blogs often posed a challenge that some groups were able to overcome or exploit to facilitate or enhance the readability of their completed stories. Compared to online fanfiction, the classroom fanfiction was less innovative with respect to focal characters yet more collective in its focus, with stories being told from multiple characters’ perspectives.
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| 8. |
- Sert, Olcay, PhD, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Orientations to Negotiated Language and Task Rules in Online L2 Interaction
- 2018
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Ingår i: ReCALL. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0958-3440 .- 1474-0109. ; 30:3, s. 355-374
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent research shows that negotiation of meaning in online task-oriented interactions can be a catalyst for L2 (second/foreign/additional language) development. However, how learners undertake such negotiation work and what kind of an impact it has on interactional development in an L2 are still largely unknown mainly due to a lack of focus on task engagement processes. A conversation analytic investigation into negotiation of meaning (NoM) in task-oriented interactions can bring evidence to such development, as conversation analysis (CA), given its analytic tools, allows us to see how participant orientations in interaction evolve over time. Based on an examination of screen-recorded multiparty online task-oriented interactions, this study aimed to describe how users (n=8) of an L2 (1) negotiate and co-construct language and task rules and (2) later show orientations to these rules both in the short term (50 minutes) and in the long term (8 weeks). The findings showed that in addition to negotiating existing rules, the learners co-constructed new rules around an action called policing, which occurred when the learners attended to the breach of language and task rules. Furthermore, even after the negotiation work was completed, they oriented to negotiated rules through policing their own utterances (i.e. self-policing). Overall, this interactional continuum (from other-repairs to self-repairs) brought longitudinal evidence to bear on the role of NoM in the development of L2 interactional competence. These findings bring new insights into NoM, technology-mediated task-based language teaching (TBLT), and CA for second language acquisition (SLA).
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| 9. |
- Sundqvist, Pia, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
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Language-related computer use : Focus on young L2 English learners in Sweden
- 2014
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Ingår i: ReCALL. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0958-3440 .- 1474-0109. ; 26:1, s. 3-20
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents findings from a study investigating young English language learners (YELLs) in Sweden in 4th grade (N=76, aged 10–11). Data were collected with the help of a questionnaire and a one-week language diary. The main purpose was to examine the learners’ L2 English language-related activities outside of school in general, and their use of computers and engagement in playing digital games in particular. A comparison is made between language-related activities in English, Swedish, and other languages. Another purpose was to see whether there is a relationship between playing digital games and (a) gender, (b) L1, (c) motivation for learning English, (d) self-assessed English ability, and (e) self-reported strategies for speaking English. In order to do so, the sample was divided into three digitalgame groups, (1) non-gamers, (2) moderate, and (3) frequent gamers (>4 hours/week), based on diary data (using self-reported times for playing digital games in English). Results showedthat YELLs are extensively involved in extramural English (EE) activities (M=7.2 hrs/w).There are statistically significant gender differences, boys (11.5 hrs/w) and girls (5.1 hrs/w; p < .01), the reason being boys’ greater time investment in digital gaming and watching films.The girls, on the other hand, spent significantly more time on pastime language-relatedactivities in Swedish (11.5 hrs/w) than the boys (8.0 hrs/w; p < .05), the reason being girls’greater time investment in facebooking. Investigation of the digital game groups revealed that group (1) was predominantly female, (2) a mix, and (3) predominantly male. YELLs with an L1 other than Swedish were overrepresented in group (3). Motivation and self-assessed English ability were high across all groups. Finally, regarding the self-reported strategies, code-switching to one’s L1 was more commonly reported by non- and moderate gamers than frequent gamers.
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| 10. |
- Sylvén, Liss Kerstin, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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Gaming as extramural English L2 learning and L2 proficiency among young learners
- 2012
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Ingår i: ReCALL. - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. - 0958-3440 .- 1474-0109. ; 24:3, s. 302-321
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Today, playing digital games is an important part of many young people’s everyday lives. Claims have been made that certain games, in particular massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) provide L2 English learners with a linguistically rich and cognitively challenging virtual environment that may be conducive to L2 learning, as learners get ample opportunities for L2 input and scaffolded interaction in the L2. In this paper, we present empirical evidence that L2 English proficiency correlates with the frequency of gaming and types of games played. We base our observation on a study among young L2 English learners (N = 86, aged 11–12, Sweden). Data were collected through a questionnaire, a language diary, and three proficiency tests. The questionnaire provided demographic background information but was also targeted at measuring extramural English habits, i.e., learners’ out-of-school contact with English (cf. Sundqvist 2009). The diary measured how much time the learners spent on seven predetermined extramural English activities during one week, while the tests measured their achieved L2 proficiency regarding reading and listening comprehension, and vocabulary. Previous research among learners aged 15–16 (Sundqvist 2009) showed positive correlations between playing digital games and L2 proficiency, in particular with regard to vocabulary, and also identified gender-related differences regarding vocabulary (boys outperformed girls) as well as the frequency of gaming and types of games played. These results were corroborated in the present study. A clear pattern emerged from our data: frequent gamers (≥ 5 hours/week) outperformed moderate gamers who, in turn, outperformed non-gamers. Background variables could not explain the between-group differences. Even though the boys might have been more proficient or apt than the girls a priori and, therefore, chose to engage more in L2 gaming, the findings suggest that playing digital games at an early age can be important for L2 acquisition.
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