<p> Acquiring higher levels of proficiency in less commonly taught foreign languages such as Arabic, Chinese, and Korean is an extraordinarily high stressful process. Stress contributes to the cognitive demand imposed on both students and teachers. The cognitive demand is defined as the degree of concentration required for a person to solve problems or complete a task in a given time. The purpose of this qualitative single case study is to investigate the impact of teacher perceptions of cognitive theories for instruction and instructional design. The conceptual framework for this study is based on the ways to reduce cognitive load. Three types of cognitive load are recognized such as extraneous, intrinsic, and germane. It is noted that if both intrinsic and extraneous cognitive loads leave enough space in the working memory then learners may invest extra effort in the learning processes. Based on the problem and the purpose of the study, the research questions for this study were: (1) How do DLI instructors perceive and describe the ways that can be used to reduce cognitive load and its associated stress for the learners of less commonly taught foreign languages, and help them to manage their levels of cognitive load?; and (2) How do DLI instructors perceive and describe the best instructional design that can be used to reduce cognitive load and its associated stress for the learners of less commonly taught foreign languages? Fifteen Defense Language Institute teachers participated in this study. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with each participant. The data collected from the interviews were studied to identify common themes of the participants&rsquo; perceptions about the concept and impact of cognitive load. Data of the fifteen interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, coded and analyzed using NVivo12 qualitative software, which helps to organize the themes that emerged. The data and the results of this study show that the participants have general background knowledge of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). However, when it comes to practice, there are certain challenges and different practices to alleviate students' stress level. Hopefully, with further institutional training, the process of applying theory to practice will be facilitated and theories will be more relevant to classroom practice. The findings of this study can be used to determine the best instructional practice and curriculum design for less-commonly taught foreign language learners.</p><p>

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

The main objective of this case-study research is to document the learning and potential development of Spanish aspect by a female multilingual learner of Spanish, Judith, during her second year of study in an SLA classroom context at a university in Northeastern United States over a two semester (one year) period. This research also examines the specific classroom context in which this learner's development was documented. The second objective is therefore to document the extent to which this approach mediated potential grammatical development in Judith, particularly in her conceptual understandings of Spanish aspect. A Vygotskyan-inspired concept-based pedagogy (CBP) (Gal'Perin, 1989, 1992; Negueruela, 2003; Negueruela and Lantolf, 2006; Negueruela, 2008) and dynamic assessment (DA) procedures (Poehner and Lantolf, 2005;, Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Poehner, 2008), both based on Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky 1978, 1986) were implemented to teach Spanish to learners. The quality of the new meanings being developed by Judith was documented over time under this particular concept-based teaching context. Data was collected in order to capture the personal histories and orientations to different contexts and activities for this research participant. A combination of insights from Spradley (1980) and Emerson (1995) on ethnographic records was used in order to document the social learning situation taking place in the classroom. It included a combination of artifacts such as field notes, teaching artifacts, tape-recorded interviews, and oral and written discourse from Judith. To analyze how the research participant developed the concept of Spanish aspect (preterit versus imperfect), I used the SCOBA (Schema for Complete Orienting Basis of Action) that was developed by Negueruela (2003) for L2 learning of Spanish. I also used Poehner (2008) and Bloome et al. (2008)'s perspective on data analysis to examine the meaning-making of the L2 learner participant in interaction while she was using the artifacts and interacting with her peers and me, the instructor and investigator. This combination of ethnographic and CBI tools aims at providing a richer picture of this multilingual learner's development over time that would reflect the complexity and dynamic nature of language learning and development (as suggested by Van Lier, 2004).

Some have argued in favor of translation in the L2 classroom (Danchev, 1983; Levenston, 1985; Ballester Casado, 1991; Newson, 1998; Malloy, 2001; Bonyadi, 2003; Colina, 2006; Kulwindr, 2005; Petrocchi, 2006; House, 2008), while others have argued against it (Sweet, 1899/1964; Jespersen, 1901/1904; Lado, 1957, 1964; Gatenby, 1967; Sankey, 1991), mainly due to its association with the Grammar-Translation Method and the Contrastive Analysis Theory. However, there is limited empirical research evaluating this. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effect of translation tasks in L2 written production. I conducted an experiment with 104 college-students enrolled in a Spanish Advanced Grammar course. The independent variables were type of instruction (explicit vs. implicit) and translation (translation vs. without translation). Four sections of this course were randomly assigned to a group condition: IIG-T (implicit instruction group with translation), IIG-WT (implicit instruction group without translation), EIG-T (explicitinstruction group with translation), EIG-WT (explicit instruction group without translation). Students completed a pretest to assess their proficiency level in writing cover letters. Each condition was given a different step-by-step activity on how to write cover letters. Finally, they wrote a cover letter in Spanish serving as the posttest and composition of the course and they completed a qualitative questionnaire. Data was evaluated via three domains: vocabulary, grammar and discourse, where L2 performance was operationalized as the total number of errors using the same evaluation for both the pretest and posttest. A two-way ANOVA estimated the effect by comparing the aggregated change score (difference between pretest and posttest totals) across the translation and instruction conditions, and also comparing each domain individually. Results indicated that explicit instruction had a significant effect on aggregated change scores and also on discourse change scores. The use or lack of translation and implicit instruction did not have a significant effect on vocabulary and grammar. Therefore, we can still infer that translation was not detrimental for students' L2 acquisition. It will be crucial to implement other empirical studies that involve not only a longitudinal approach but also longer exposure to translation tasks.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The current study was conducted with foreign language students enrolled in the summer course at Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS), an intense foreign language program. The study measured and analyzed students' preferences toward mobile applications for learning a foreign language. Survey questionnaires were used to collect data on students' preferences of mobile delivery modes for learning a foreign language. The research design deployed was single-case design at two points-in-time, called repeated measures design in the t-test statistics, where effects-over-time of treatment (i.e., using a technological device) were tracked. The effects-over-time of using a mobile device for learning foreign language skills were significant and the magnitude of differences in students' attitudes between Weeks 2 and 8 was also significant. Students must have felt that their performance had changed at Week 8 and that using a smartphone could have been the difference. The structure and the research methodology of having null hypotheses that are tested statistically are both clear enough to provide a template for a replication of the study with a different sample. The statistical tests used by this study can be replicated with different research problems or a different audience.

This investigation consisted of two studies related to a timed-writing task. The first study was an investigation of the effect of three pre-tasks on the quality of timed-writing focusing on five variables: syntactic complexity, writing fluency, lexical diversity, content, and comprehensibility. The second study concerned the longitudinal effect of engaging in timed-writing on the development of syntactic complexity, writing fluency, and lexical diversity.The participants were 84 university students studying English at a university in Japan in which the timed-writing task was implemented as a part of class activity for over nine months. The study adopted a Latin squares design and participants in the experimental group completed 12-minute timed-writing tasks with three pre-task conditions: outlining, oral rehearsal, and reading. For the outlining condition, the participants completed 5 minutes of individual planning before completing the timed-writing task. For the oral rehearsal pre-task, they rehearsed the plan they completed during the planning session orally in pairs before completing the timed-writing task. For the reading pre-task, the participants read an article related to the timed-writing topic before the planning and timed-reading sessions. Of 18 timed-writing sessions, the participants had chance to engage in each of the three pre-tasks six times, and the texts written at Time 1, Time 3, Time 4, and Time 6 were used as data. The participants in the comparison group only took the pretest and posttests. The pretest was conducted and before the intervention session, Posttest 1 was conducted after three months, and Posttest 2 was conducted nine months after the intervention period. The first phase of Study 1 was focused on the analysis of the quantitative data. To compare the effect of three pre-tasks on five variables—syntactic complexity, writing fluency, lexical diversity, content, and comprehensibility—the texts were converted to quantitative data using text analysis software that made the data ready for statistical analysis. The texts were scored by raters for content and comprehensibility and used for analysis. The second phase of Study 1 was focused on the analysis of the qualitative data. Based on the findings from the quantitative data, stimulated recalls were conducted with three students. The purpose of these sessions was to examine what the participants did during the pre-task and planning sessions and how their thinking affected the quality of their final timed-writing products. The post-course questionnaire and additional text analyses were also conducted to supplement the findings of the quantitative data. Study 2 concerned the longitudinal effect of implementing the timed-writing tasks on the development of syntactic complexity, writing fluency, and lexical diversity. The pretest and two posttests the participants in the experimental group and comparison group completed were compared. The results revealed that none of the three pre-tasks impacted the syntactic complexity, writing fluency, lexical diversity, content, and comprehensibility measures of the immediate writing task to a statistically significant degree. One possible reason is the participants’ English proficiency level. As suggested in a previous study by Johnson et al. (2012), the participants’ English proficiency must reach a certain level in order to benefit from a pre-task that reduces the working memory burden. The participants in this study were CEFR A2 level, which is categorized as a basic language user, so their English proficiency was perhaps not developed enough to fully benefit from the pre-tasks. The results of the questionnaire indicated that nearly 50% of the participants found reading pre-task most helpful because it was effective in terms of idea generation and learning vocabulary and grammar. Their comments were supported by the descriptive statistics of content and lexical diversity scores, which outperformed outlining group. About 40% of the participants found oral rehearsal was most helpful because it was effective for idea generation and organizing the idea. However, the comments included both positive and negative ones. How much they can benefit from oral rehearsal pre-task is more influenced by individual differences compared with other two pre-tasks. Although some participants found outlining task useful, only 10% of the participants found it was most effective. Regarding the longitudinal effect of implementing the timed-writing activity, the current study showed that it had a significant effect on developing writing fluency. After continuing timed-writing activities for nine months, greater gains were observed for the experimental group than for the comparison group. For syntactic complexity and lexical diversity, there only significant difference between the pretest and two posttests for both groups was mean length of clause. However, because the growth was significant for the experimental group and the comparison group, it was not merely the effect of timed-writing. There was no time effect or group differences on any of three lexical diversity measures. The results of the study support the developmental order of CFL measures suggested in previous studies that propose that they develop in the order of writing fluency, syntactic complexity and lexical diversity. / Applied Linguistics