<p> In the field of foreign language learning, there is much literature regarding the necessity of concurrent language and cultural competence acquisition, particularly in the 21^st century global community. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not require advanced foreign language study of its scholars. There is considerable resistance of individuals to foreign language acquisition and cultural adaptation, under the assumption that &ldquo;everyone else&rdquo; will speak English and will conduct business the same way we Americans do. While it is true that English is the most commonly used language used in international business, it is an indicator of an educated society that the citizens speak the languages and appreciate the cultures of their counterparts from other countries. Study Abroad programs have been increasing in popularity, particularly those eight weeks long or less. There is significant literature on the benefits derived from semester and year-long study abroad programs, but is scarce regarding the long-term benefits of short-term study abroad. This present qualitative study analyzed the reflections of a number of adults who have participated in at least one short term study abroad, to discover what their perceptions are regarding the long term benefits, in terms of language acquisition and increased cross cultural competence, of short term study abroad. The 13 participants had taken at least one short-term study abroad program, some of them as long as 20 or 30 years ago. Their reflections were strongly worded in favor of the life-changing benefits they still enjoy as a result of those programs, some as short as 10 days. They all reported a surge in personal growth and cross-cultural competence. Those who had a language component reported strong growth in fluency and culturally accurate usage, which has been carried forward in their personal and/or professional life. Some even reported a career change as a result of the study abroad. Further research could take the form of a mixed-methods longitudinal study of individuals, comprised of pre- and post-trip surveys and interviews, with further surveys and interviews after a period of several years.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to address Korean adult L2 learners&rsquo; developmental English vowel acquisition process. The present study demonstrated how adult L2 learners turn their initial L2 proficiency into more advanced state, and how new L2 sound system relates with existing L1 sound system. The present study hypothesized that L2 learners&rsquo; phonetic category is subject to change followed by three stages of L2 vowel acquisition process: Stage 1 (Initial L2 proficiency), Stage 2 (Intermediate L2 proficiency), and Stage 3 (Advanced L2 proficiency). Secondly, this study hypothesized that L2 learners&rsquo; identity /attitudes/motivation may have an influence on their L2 perception and production.</p><p> To investigate Korean L2 learners&rsquo; English vowel learning process, this study carried out longitudinal experiments with 8 Korean adult L2 learners for 6 months. The experiments were conducted on a monthly basis and the procedure was controlled in a laboratory setting to examine any possible changes of L2 ability during L2 learning process. English tense/lax vowel contrasts (/i/-/I/ and /u/-/(n/a)/) and Korean rounded/unrounded vowels (/(n/a)(i)/ and /(n/a)(u)/) were used for the experiments. 360 tokens of English vowels (60 words &times; 2 vowel pairs &times; 3 speakers) were used for each perception test and a total of 2,160 stimuli (360 tokens &times; 6 times) were generated for perception experiments. Korean participants produced 360 tokens of English vowels (60 words &times; 2 tense/lax vowel pairs &times; 3 sets) and 160 tokens of Korean vowels (40 words &times; 2 rounded/unrounded vowels &times; 2 sets) in each production test. A total of 2,160 English tokens (360 tokens &times; 6 times) and 960 Korean tokens (160 words &times; 6 times) were generated for production experiments. Two different phonetic environments were provided; a case of cross-language similarity environment and an emergence of a new sound category.</p><p> The results demonstrated that Korean L2 learners&rsquo; English vowel productions have changed to a more native-like English vowel production through their L2 learning process. Thus, in the final experiment, Korean L2 learners&rsquo; English vowel production showed almost an exact similarity to native speakers&rsquo; vowel production. The present study investigated the relationship between adult L2 learners&rsquo; identity/motivation/attitudes and their L2 vowel perception and production. The result indicated that higher identity/attitudes/motivation may result in advanced L2 vowel perception and production. L2 learners&rsquo; L2 proficiency developed gradually. Hence the L2 learners&rsquo; L2 learning is able to be considered to be following the sequential development pattern accompanied by the process of L2 learning.</p>

<p> The persistent achievement (opportunity) gap between White and Latino students continues to plague our education system. As schools and policy makers attempt to narrow this gap, many districts are investigating dual language programs since the results of instructional practices that embrace a child&rsquo;s native language prove more effective than English-only practices. However, research in the field suggests challenges and inconsistencies with implementation, and few studies investigate the initial stages and the complexity of dual language program implementation. Researchers such as Honig (2006) have described the need for more qualitative research studies investigating how interactions among people, policies, and places impact implementation. Additionally, many studies focus on the implementation process from the lens of the administrator. This study adds the voices of parents and teachers in order to provide a more comprehensive view of the dual language implementation process from the perspective of key stakeholders directly impacted. </p><p> This qualitative case study investigated how various administrators, teachers, and parents interacted with each other, their environment, and the dual language policy during the first year of implementation at a suburban elementary school. Through surveys, interviews, and observations, this study analyzes how these interactions impacted program implementation. </p><p> Findings in this study suggest implementation is uniquely based on each individual community and the interactions between that place and the policy. Moreover, the success of a policy depends on the people and their interactions with the policy in order to create systems to sustain and maintain the program. This study highlights key factors supporting and hindering dual language program implementation during the first year and uncovers significant shifts in the status of language and culture as a result of program implementation efforts. </p><p> This study provides a helpful consideration of factors for those interested in implementing dual language programs in a deliberate and sustainable manner. </p>

<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>

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

<p> This study seeks to examine and compare motivational orientations of French learners across different dimensions: cultural background (USA vs. Russia), educational modality and age (college students vs. private courses learners), gender, and time of studying foreign language. 613 American and Russian learners of French completed the questionnaire addressing 10 motivational factors to study French language. Despite differences in nationality, age, educational background and learning experience, all groups of participants produced nearly identical motivational rankings. The rankings are topped by the Travelling orientation, which seems to be universally appealing, followed by the orientations within the Idealistic motivational cluster (Aesthetic Factors, Culture, Knowledge, and Ideal Self). The Pragmatic motivational cluster (Instrumental orientation, which is sometimes coupled to Emigration and Friendship dimensions) is by far less important. This disposition is also confirmed by the qualitative data. With regard to specific orientations it has been found that US learners score consistently higher in Sociability motivation, whereas Russians score higher in the Peers&rsquo; Encouragement and Aesthetic categories. In regard to gender differences, this study shows that male students appear to be more personable, e.g. among American learners males consistently outscore females in the Friendship category. Referring to age differences, it was found that the overall level of motivation tends to decline with age.</p>

<p> The 21st century perception of students and stakeholders (parents, teachers, administrators, and support staff, etc.) within the realm of world language study in a Midwestern, suburban school district varied sometime subtly and sometimes greatly. No particular study had been done to indicate what inspired students to enroll in world language, other than conjecture from students and stakeholders. To discover the true perception of students and stakeholders within this particular school district, a case study was conducted. A survey was crafted utilizing a tool that focused on language perception with relation to motivation, learning process, relevance, progress, and relationships. Each population researched, both student stakeholder and other stakeholders, took this survey to discover their perception of world language study. From those who took the survey, individuals volunteered to participate in interviews from which the questions were constructed from the same categories that organized the survey: motivation, learning process, relevance, progress, and relationships. The surveys and interviews both narrowed the understanding of how the student stakeholder and other stakeholders perceive world language study, by comparing student responses to those of the stakeholders and seeing their positive and negative correlations. The two different populations agreed that learning a language was difficult and understood the effort it took to achieve proficiency, but valued the then-current system&rsquo;s grading or credit versus actual skill achieved. Ultimately, one&rsquo;s self-perceived ability to achieve within language determined the value attached to the process and the role language would play in their lives.</p>

<p> The current recommendation by The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is that communication in the target language should comprise at least 90% of instructional time in the second language classroom (ACTFL, 2012). This constructivist mixedmethod study contributes to the literature on the oral skills of practicing high school teachers and the oral skills training they receive in teacher preparation programs. Data for the study were collected in two phases, from nine face-to-face interviews, and from electronic survey respondents. Surveys were sent out to two hundred four teachers and responses were received from sixty-eight. </p><p> Identified themes that emerged from interview participants&rsquo; experiences were: 1) use of target language vs. English in class, 2) challenges target language teaching presented for teachers, and 3) teachers&rsquo; responses to these challenges. A twenty-one question electronic survey was created based upon these themes and sent out state-wide to high school Spanish teachers. </p><p> In a significant finding, while participants indicated an overall feeling of being sufficiently proficient in their own oral skills and supporting use of the target language as much as possible in classroom activities, slightly more than one-half of teachers surveyed reported they were not adequately prepared to teach in a Standards-based curriculum which emphasizes the use of target language. Findings also indicated that consideration should be given to providing additional professional development opportunities regarding knowledge of and implementation of the Standards, as well as creation of further opportunities for target language maintenance for currently practicing teachers and additional opportunities for pre-service teachers in their university programs to improve their oral proficiency. In addition, this study revealed that, in this state, the taking and passing of the Oral Proficiency Interview or not needing to do so did not significantly impact the amount of target language used in class by teachers or student. Regarding length of teaching career and use of Spanish in class, this study showed a higher use of the target language by both teachers newer to the profession and those more senior teachers with less Spanish use in class reported by teachers who had been teaching between six and ten years. </p><p> Suggestions for future research were offered such as expanding studies to include middle school and elementary school levels, conducting similar studies with teachers of other languages than Spanish, and investigating other state&rsquo;s teachers&rsquo; perspectives. Further data could provide more in-depth insights if the amounts of target language spoken for the various purposes were broken out into percentages by each level of language taught by instructors.</p><p>

<p> Although it is assumed that students who study abroad will return with improved oral proficiency, a review of research findings revealed that oral gains are not guaranteed for all. The literature review addressed the need to investigate the quality of study abroad (SA) programs as it relates to fostering students&rsquo; oral proficiency. This study investigated the ways in which an SA program in Ecuador fostered undergraduate students&rsquo; oral proficiency through interviews and documentary research. Data analysis of interviews with the program&rsquo;s staff and documents revealed that the program facilitated oral proficiency through Spanish classes, the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI)-preparation class, native speaker interaction, intentionality, and outings. A survey capturing students&rsquo; perceptions of the program indicated that students found the OPI-preparation class to be the most helpful and outings to be the least helpful in their oral proficiency development. Overall, students reported that they found the program to be quite effective in helping them improve orally and that they were satisfied with their progress. Finally, a comparison of pre- and post-OPIc results revealed that all students had gained one proficiency level at the conclusion of the program. The present study provides implications for SA programs and higher education institutions for assisting students with their oral proficiency development while abroad. It also gives recommendations for future research of proficiency-based SA programs.</p>

<p> Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) is an innovative educational approach that is becoming increasingly popular among researchers and practitioners in technologically advanced countries in the West, but is largely unknown or ignored in the instruction of Foreign Languages (FL) in Japanese higher education. This is problematic because more interest in research and implementation among faculty in Japan would likely contribute to the development of DGBL and improve the quality of FL education. The purpose of the present study was to better understand the lack of interest in DGBL in Japan by employing Everett Rogers' Innovation Diffusion Theory to explore the perceptions of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability of DGBL among FL faculty in Japanese higher education. A concurrent mixed-methods approach was employed to collect data through an online self-completion questionnaire and asynchronous email interviews. The results indicate that while most faculty members believe that DGBL would have a beneficial impact on learner motivation, they are unconvinced that it offers real learning outcomes. Further, participants were divided as to whether the approach would be compatible with course learning objectives, and many regarded it as suitable primarily as supplemental learning material. Faculty members with a research interest in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) expressed a willingness to try the approach, but at the same time pointed out that there were few opportunities to do so.</p>