L'Insegnamento della Lingua Portoghese nelle Università Italiane

Il presente lavoro si prefigge di descrivere e analizzare la realtà dell’insegnamento della lingua portoghese nelle università italiane, con particolare attenzione alla presentazione della varietà brasiliana, nel quadro dell’educazione linguistico-culturale in senso lato. Per poter cogliere l’insieme interrelato di fattori che compongono il processo di insegnamento/apprendimento in questa specifica situazione, la ricerca si sviluppa in tre ambiti: i) riflessione sulle varietà della lingua portoghese, basata sugli studi attuali in ambito linguistico e sociolinguistico relativi all’area lusofona, mettendo a fuoco il portoghese brasiliano; ii) ricognizione dell’attuale stato dell’insegnamento del portoghese all’interno degli atenei italiani, attuata tramite una ricerca quantitativa basata su un questionario online; iii) indagine qualitativa sulle pratiche didattiche, in presenza e online, basate rispettivamente sull’analisi dei materiali didattici in uso negli atenei e sull’analisi culturale e linguistica delle interazioni fra studenti in teletandem. L’analisi dei dati ha permesso di tracciare un quadro rappresentativo dell’insegnamento del portoghese nel contesto accademico nonché di delineare percorsi formativi integrativi alle lezioni tradizionali, che mettano in evidenza lo stretto legame fra lingua e cultura, e quindi per meglio contestualizzare l’apprendimento della lingua e della cultura brasiliana in Italia.

Per aprendre anglès, quan abans millor? L'aprenentatge de l'anglès com a llengua estrangera. When Learning English, is it a case of 'The earlier the better?' Learning English as a foreign Language

En contra del que molts pares i mestres pensen, i en contra del que s'ha trobat en contextos d'adquisició natural de segones llengües i d'immersió, començar al més aviat possible l'aprenentatge d'idiomes, sobretot pel que fa a les tasques cognitivament més exigents, com l'escriptura, no sembla l'opció més eficaç. Els resultats del Grup de Recerca en Adquisició de Llengües (GRAL) estudià aprenents d'anglès que començaren als vuit i onze anys i trobaren, sistemàticament, que a llarg termini, després de les mateixes hores d'instrucció, eren els més grans, que havien començat als onze anys, els que obtenien millors resultats en totes les proves orals i escrites d'anglès excepte en alguna de prova de reconeixement fonètic. La maduresa cognitiva dels alumnes més grans i els diferents mecanismes d¿aprenentatge implícit i explícit entre els nens més petits i els adults ajuden a explicar per què només començar abans l'aprenentatge d'idiomes no sembla suficient per obtenir millors resultats.

Language learning in the public eye: an analysis of newspapers and official documents in England

This article considers the issue of low levels of motivation for foreign language learning in England by exploring how language learning is conceptualised by different key voices in that country through the examination of written data: policy documents and reports on the UK's language needs, curriculum documents, and press articles. The extent to which this conceptualisation has changed over time is explored, through the consideration of documents from two time points, before and after a change in government in the UK. The study uses corpus analysis methods in this exploration. The picture that emerges is a complex one regarding how the 'problems' and 'solutions' surrounding language learning in that context are presented in public discourse. This, we conclude, has implications for the likely success of measures adopted to increase language learning uptake in that context.

The role of statistical learning in the acquisition of motion event construal in a second language

Learning to talk about motion in a second language is very difficult because it involves restructuring deeply entrenched patterns from the first language (Slobin 1996). In this paper we argue that statistical learning (Saffran et al. 1997) can explain why L2 learners are only partially successful in restructuring their second language grammars. We explore to what extent L2 learners make use of two mechanisms of statistical learning, entrenchment and pre-emption (Boyd and Goldberg 2011) to acquire target-like expressions of motion and retreat from overgeneralisation in this domain. Paying attention to the frequency of existing patterns in the input can help learners to adjust the frequency with which they use path and manner verbs in French but is insufficient to acquire the boundary crossing constraint (Slobin and Hoiting 1994) and learn what not to say. We also look at the role of language proficiency and exposure to French in explaining the findings.

Languaging in virtual learning sites : studies of online encounters in the language-focused classroom

This thesis focuses upon a series of empirical studies which examine communication and learning in online glocal communities within higher education in Sweden. A recurring theme in the theoretical framework deals with issues of languaging in virtual multimodal environments as well as the making of identity and negotiation of meaning in these settings; analyzing the activity, what people do, in contraposition to the study of how people talk about their activity. The studies arise from netnographic work during two online Italian for Beginners courses offered by a Swedish university. Microanalyses of the interactions occurring through multimodal video-conferencing software are amplified by the study of the courses’ organisation of space and time and have allowed for the identification of communicative strategies and interactional patterns in virtual learning sites when participants communicate in a language variety with which they have a limited experience. The findings from the four studies included in the thesis indicate that students who are part of institutional virtual higher educational settings make use of several resources in order to perform their identity positions inside the group as a way to enrich and nurture the process of communication and learning in this online glocal community. The sociocultural dialogical analyses also shed light on the ways in which participants gathering in discursive technological spaces benefit from the opportunity to go to class without commuting to the physical building of the institution providing the course. This identity position is, thus, both experienced by participants in interaction, and also afforded by the ‘spaceless’ nature of the online environment.

Machine Translation and the Disruption of Foreign Language Learning Activities

This study examines the question of how language teachers in a highly technologyfriendly university environment view machine translation and the implications that this has for the personal learning environments of students. It brings an activity-theory perspective to the question, examining the ways that the introduction of new tools can disrupt the relationship between different elements in an activity system. This perspective opens up for an investigation of the ways that new tools have the potential to fundamentally alter traditional learning activities. In questionnaires and group discussions, respondents showed general agreement that although use of machine translation by students could be considered cheating, students are bound to use it anyway, and suggested that teachers focus on the kinds of skills students would need when using machine translation and design assignments and exams to practice and assess these skills. The results of the empirical study are used to reflect upon questions of what the roles of teachers and students are in a context where many of the skills that a person needs to be able to interact in a foreign language increasingly can be outsourced to laptops and smartphones.

Machine translation and the disruption of foreign language learning activities

This study examines the question of how language teachers in a highly technology-friendly university environment view machine translation and the implications that this has for the personal learning environments of students. It brings an activity-theory perspective to the question, examining the ways that the introduction of new tools can disrupt the relationship between different elements in an activity system. This perspective opens up for an investigation of the ways that new tools have the potential to fundamentally alter traditional learning activities. In questionnaires and group discussions, respondents showed general agreement that although use of machine translation by students could be considered cheating, students are bound to use it anyway, and suggested that teachers focus on the kinds of skills students would need when using machine translation and design assignments and exams to practice and assess these skills. The results of the empirical study are used to reflect upon questions of what the roles of teachers and students are in a context where many of the skills that a person needs to be able to interact in a foreign language increasingly can be outsourced to laptops and smartphones.

The interlanguage development in the spanish learning as foreign language in Teletandem under the View of the Complexity Theory

This article presents, under the perspective of Complexity Theory, the characteristics of the learning process of Spanish as a foreign language in Teletandem. Data were collected from two pairs of Portuguese-Spanish interagents, who were engaged in a systematic and regular interaction, based on the tandem principles. It was found that the learning experience is developed with the peculiarities that arise from the context, agents, members and their nuances, which revealed the presence of a shallow space between the systems of native and foreign languages.

The design of a syllabus for translation students: learning outcomes in the subjects of spanish language

[EN]In the new design of educational programs in European Higher Education Area (EHEA), what defines a subject it is Learning Outcomes (LO). These LO, as explicit and precise declarations, turn into the center of teaching and learning process. Keeping this change is mind, our research examines the Educational Guides (EG) of Spanish Language (SL) through a list of verbs, according to the graduation of educacionational objectives of Bllom's Taxonomy (2014-2015)

Electronic systems major in the context of integrated language learning lab (ILLLab) proyect = Sistemas electrónicos en el contexto del proyecto Integrated Language Learning Lab (ILLLab)

Este proyecto colabora con la plataforma Integrated Language Learning Lab (ILLLab) aportando una serie de ejercicios de gramática inglesa para una nueva sección de la web basada íntegramente en la especialidad de Sistemas Electrónicos. Complementariamente se adentra en una nueva oportunidad basada en dispositivos móviles inteligentes creando una aplicación para el repaso de los conceptos estudiados en la titulación de Ingeniería Técnica de Telecomunicación en lengua inglesa.

Evaluation of the Implementation of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) Methodology in the Didactics of the English Language in Preschool Education Course Taught in the Preschool Education Teacher Undergraduate Program at the University of Alicante

Although it is known that the Spanish current Educative System promotes using the Communicate Approach to teach foreign languages in schools, other recently designed approaches are also used to help students improve their skills when communicating in a foreign language. One of these approaches is Content and Language Integrated Learning, also known as CLIL, which is used to teach content courses using the English language as the language of instruction. This approach improves the students’ skills in English as the same time as they learn content from other areas. The goal of this thesis is to present a research project carried out at the University of Alicante during the academic year 2011-2012. With this research we obtained results that provide quantitative and qualitative data which explains how the use of the CLIL methodology affects the English level of students in the “Didactics of the English Language in Preschool Education” course in Preschool Education Teacher Undergraduate Program as students acquire the contents of the course.