Language Teaching
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Language teaching Language teaching 03–1 Abrams, Zsuzsanna I. (U. of Texas at argues that individuals whose mastery of the written Austin, USA). Surfing to cross-cultural awareness : form is inadequate produce texts which have some Using Internet-mediated projects to explore cultural of the fundamental characteristics of spoken interaction. stereotypes. Foreign Language Annals (New York, Where spoken language is indexically linked to its USA), 35,2(2002), 141−60. context of situation, written language is largely de- contextualised, requiring different modes of coherence The Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the and implicature. Moreover, the limited range of social 21st Century stress that learning about culture is an interaction available to immigrants in particular means integral part of learning a foreign language (L2); that their French is fossilised. In these circumstances, such exploration is a necessary bridge to gaining only the ability to write and the possession of a metalan- valuable insights about one’s own culture as well as the guage can break the vicious circle and give access culture(s) of the target language. Long-term projects, to abstract concepts. Both the teaching methodology for example, extended interviews with native speakers, and the metalanguage have to be based on learners’ enable learners to develop an understanding of another representations of the communicative situation and of culture from an ‘emic’ point of view. For many U.S. their needs. students, however, neither native speaker informants in U.S. cities nor study abroad programmes are available or accessible. This study explores Internet-based culture 03–3 Allum, Paul (Rikkyo U., Tokyo, Japan; portfolios that bring insiders’ views of other cultures Email: [email protected]). CALL and the classroom: into the L2 classroom. In this study, learners enrolled The case for comparative research. ReCALL in third-semester German language courses conducted (Cambridge, UK),14,1(2002), 146−66. semester-long culture projects, in which they explored Educators are increasingly concerned to integrate their stereotypical views of the cultures of Germany, human and computer capabilities as efficiently as pos- Austria, and Switzerland. Learners investigated the sible. One main yardstick for evaluation of Computer extent to which these stereotypes might apply, using Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is, naturally, the media from these countries and from their own cultural human teacher. Thus there is demand for comparative contexts, library and Internet resources, and online data. Attempts to provide such data in a way that interviews with members of the cultures in Germany. allows useful generalisations to be made or accurate The results of this study indicate that the Internet-based analyses of the outcomes are still comparatively limited, culture project promoted learners’ acquisition of new however, and difficult to produce, and often come cultures from an emic perspective. under attack. The belief asserted here is that there is still a need for general studies in a variety of contexts. The article reports a longitudinal comparative study that 03–2 Adami, Herve´ (UniversiteN´ ancy 2, France). tries to take into account some of the major criticisms. L’oraliteetlam´ etalangue´ dans les rapports au The study compared two means of delivery of the same langage des scripteurs/lecteurs en insecurit´ e´ a` material, using the same fundamental methodology − l’ecrit.´ [Spoken language and metalanguage as i.e., teacher, textbook and classroom versus compu- influences on the attitudes of unskilled readers and terised Web exercises − with the long-term goal writers to written language.] Melanges´ CRAPEL of seeing how the two might best be integrated. (Nancy, France), 26 (2001), 7−37. Pre- and post-test data revealed great similarity This article begins from the premise that, despite in the two methods of delivery, while a questionnaire compulsory education for all, some 20 per cent of revealed important differences. It is claimed that the French school leavers remain functionally illiterate; and outcomes of the study provide support for the idea that suggests that this situation has been confused by a lack of these kinds of comparative studies are useful and still clear distinctions between various groups of learners, in needed. particular between those who have French as a mother tongue and those who do not, and those who have a 03–4 Ayres, Robert (UNITEC, Auckland, minimal knowledge of the French writing system and New Zealand; Email:[email protected]). Learner those who have no knowledge of any writing system. attitudes towards the use of CALL. Computer Such a level of school failure is both the cause and Assisted Language Learning (Lisse, The the result of a massive social schism, and maintains an Netherlands), 15,3(2002), 241−49. imbalance in access to knowledge and, consequently, to power. Comparing the French situation with examples This paper reports on a project which aimed to gather drawn from a number of periods and cultures, the author empirical data on how much learners valued the use Lang. Teach. 36, 15–69. DOI: 10.1017/S0261444802001891 Printed in the United Kingdom c 2003 Cambridge University Press 15 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.33.19, on 27 Sep 2021 at 08:24:31, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444802231894 Language teaching ■ of computer assisted language learning (CALL) in this Revue TESL du Canada (Burnaby, BC, Canada), 19, learning centre and their opinions of such instruction 2(2001), 52−66. in comparison to more traditional teaching media. One hundred and fifty seven non-native undergraduates Project-based instruction has gained some popularity enrolled on various courses in the School of English in general education and in second-language (L2) and Applied Linguistics were given initial questionnaires education. However, a review of the literature which had been prepared to reflect the current teaching shows discrepancies between teachers’ and students’ situation in the learning centre and the conditions in evaluations of this activity. For example, general which CALL is integrated into language programmes. education teachers and students find that project- No statistical differences were found between learners of based instruction creates opportunities for in-depth any particular gender, age or nationality when analysed learning of subject-matter content, which fosters according to perceived usefulness, ease of use and im- student independence and problem-solving skills. portance to course. Overall, learners appreciate and However, English as a Second Language (ESL) value their CALL work; it has high face validity with teachers’ and students’ evaluations show mixed results. learners and, while it is not seen as a worthwhile Although some anecdotal reports and one systematic replacement for classroom-based learning, it is regarded research study show ESL teachers endorsing project- as an important aspect of their studies. However, based instruction because it provides opportunities findings indicate CALL work needs to be integrated for comprehensible output and integrated language tightly with the rest of the course curriculum. The paper teaching, there is evidence that ESL students and concludes by highlighting some key factors to consider at least one ESL teacher are frustrated by this when integrating CALL into language courses. form of instruction. The students felt that project- based instruction prevented them from learning from the teacher and textbooks and from focusing on 03–5 Becker, Claudia A. (Loyola U., Chicago, language skills. The ESL teacher felt a loss of student USA). Turning ‘a rough journey’ into a smoother respect and noted a drop in student attendance. crossing of borders: Insights into the world of These discrepancies are discussed from philosophical, female international interns in the cultural, and linguistic perspectives. Recommendations German-speaking workplace. Journal of Language for research and pedagogy are proposed. For example, forInternational Business (Glendale, AZ, USA), 13, it is suggested that a framework be developed to aid 1/2 (2002), 22−42. ESL teachers in assisting their multicultural students to understand the benefits of project-based instruction in This article presents a study of the professional ex- L2 learning. periences and insights of international female interns in the German-speaking workplace environment between 1992 and 1998. Its thesis is that gender-related issues 03–7 Biber, Douglas and Reppen, Randi present key factors in any internship assignment in (Northern Arizona U., USA; Email: douglas.biber a German-speaking workplace environment, although international male and female interns might face the @nau.edu). What does frequency have to do with same business challenges as well as linguistic and grammar teaching?Studies in Second Language personal struggles in trying to meet their counterpart’s Acquisition (New York, USA), 24,2(2002), − needs, such as service, timeliness, credibility, trust- 199 208. worthiness, quality of work, etc. The research data Using frequency findings from corpus linguistics, this were obtained confidentially and anonymously through paper explores the relationship between the information aquestionnaire study (n = 50) in the form of short presented in English as a Second/Foreign Language experiential learning reports on various professional