Agnieszka Otwinowska

They learn the CLIL way, but do they like it? : Affectivity and cognition in upper-primary CLIL classes

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is a teaching method in which learners develop linguistic competence and problem-solving abilities by learning content subjects in another language. However, learners’ cognitive gains may depend on their affectivity. Negative affect hampers complex cognitive processing essential for problem-solving, while experiences of failed intellectual effort may lead to impaired information processing called intellectual helplessness (IH) (Sędek and McIntosh 1998). Negative affectivity among children in CLIL programmes may be caused by ill-managed classes and linguistically inadequate materials (Otwinowska 2013). Here, we explore links between affectivity and cognition in upper-primary Polish children (N = 140) who learn mathematics and science in English. To that end, we use qualitative and quantitative measures to verify whether negative emotions inhibit cognitive processes. Children completed an anonymous attitude survey and the IH Scale (Sędek 1995) to investigate their affective state and symptoms of cognitive demobilization (inhibition in active problem-solving). We also obtained childrens term grades in mathematics, science and English to investigate possible relationships between childrens accomplishments in those subjects and their affective responses to the CLIL modules. The study reveals symptoms of IH and negative affectivity experienced by young CLIL learners. The significant predictors of IH in the CLIL classes are negative affectivity and grades in science and mathematics. Nonetheless, grades in English do not significantly predict IH in CLIL. We explain this paradox in terms of different types of language needed in general English and CLIL classes: basic interpersonal communication skills vs. cognitive academic language proficiency (Cummins 1979).

English teachers’ language awareness: away with the monolingual bias?

ABSTRACT The training of language teachers still follows traditional models of teachers’ competences and awareness, focusing solely on the target language. Such models are incompatible with multilingual pedagogy, whereby languages are not taught in isolation, and learners’ background languages are activated to enhance the process. When teaching bilinguals/multilinguals, the English-only policy is inadequate, and teachers’ competence in only one language may not suffice. Thus, an extended model of teachers’ plurilingual awareness is proposed, including metalinguistic, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic awareness, and the traditional model of teachers’ language awareness as a part of the cross-linguistic component. In the model, teachers’ plurilingual awareness partly stems from their multilingualism. The impact of multilingualism on teachers’ awareness was tested on Polish teachers of English (N = 222) differing in language knowledge beyond English (L3-Ln). Their attitudes towards principles of multilingual pedagogy were surveyed. Next, cluster analysis was used to differentiate between the teachers’ degrees of proficiency in other languages known, and factor analysis was run to identify the main factors in the survey, which correspond to the components in the teachers plurilingual awareness model. A subsequent MANOVA revealed that English teachers’ multilingualism indeed underlies their plurilingual awareness and readiness to comply with multilingual approaches to teaching.

How Does L1 and L2 Exposure Impact L1 Performance in Bilingual Children? Evidence from Polish-English Migrants to the United Kingdom

Most studies on bilingual language development focus on children’s second language (L2). Here, we investigated first language (L1) development of Polish-English early migrant bilinguals in four domains: vocabulary, grammar, phonological processing, and discourse. We first compared Polish language skills between bilinguals and their Polish non-migrant monolingual peers, and then investigated the influence of the cumulative exposure to L1 and L2 on bilinguals’ performance. We then examined whether high exposure to L1 could possibly minimize the gap between monolinguals and bilinguals. We analyzed data from 233 typically developing children (88 bilingual and 145 monolingual) aged 4;0 to 7;5 (years;months) on six language measures in Polish: receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, receptive grammar, productive grammar (sentence repetition), phonological processing (non-word repetition), and discourse abilities (narration). Information about language exposure was obtained via parental questionnaires. For each language task, we analyzed the data from the subsample of bilinguals who had completed all the tasks in question and from monolinguals matched one-on-one to the bilingual group on age, SES (measured by years of mother’s education), gender, non-verbal IQ, and short-term memory. The bilingual children scored lower than monolinguals in all language domains, except discourse. The group differences were more pronounced on the productive tasks (vocabulary, grammar, and phonological processing) and moderate on the receptive tasks (vocabulary and grammar). L1 exposure correlated positively with the vocabulary size and phonological processing. Grammar scores were not related to the levels of L1 exposure, but were predicted by general cognitive abilities. L2 exposure negatively influenced productive grammar in L1, suggesting possible L2 transfer effects on L1 grammatical performance. Children’s narrative skills benefitted from exposure to two languages: both L1 and L2 exposure influenced story structure scores in L1. Importantly, we did not find any evidence (in any of the tasks in which the gap was present) that the performance gap between monolinguals and bilinguals could be fully closed with high amounts of L1 input.

Introduction: social and affective factors in multilingualism research

Over the past few years multilingualism research has been increasingly focusing on how social and affective factors influence language learning patterns in children and adults. This special issue is devoted to some recent research in the field and its objective is to highlight current trends and interests among scholars working on multilingualism and language learning. In Second Language Acquisition research the primacy of cognitive factors (aptitude, intelligence, language learning strategies, prior language learning experience) over affective factors (motivation, attitudes, personality, emotions, beliefs, learning styles and anxiety) was acknowledged till the late 1990s. While the cognitive variables are still regarded as the strongest correlates of foreign language achievement (Ehrman & Oxford, 1995; Ellis, 2008), the last decade has witnessed the recognition of the importance of affective factors and their influence on success in language acquisition (e.g. Pavlenko, 2005, 2006). Nowadays, it is assumed that the affective component contributes to language learning equally much as the cognitive skills. The affective variable most extensively researched in SLA has been motivation to learn (Dörnyei, 2001; Dőrnyei, Csizer, & Nemeth, 2006; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009). In the natural settings it is often at play together with social factors. Although acquiring L1 is inevitable for typically developing children, childhood bilingualism can be influenced by the parents’ motivation to promote two languages, which may depend on the social prestige of the languages involved. In the case of immigrants acquiring an L2, or bilingual communities, the attitudes of the speakers may result in their active bilingualism or L1 attrition (Cummins, 1979, 2000). Thus, affect, which involves aspects of feeling, emotion, moods and attitudes that have impact on behaviour (Arnold & Brown, 1999) may hinder, or facilitate language learning. However, when it comes to more than two languages, the scene gets much more complex. Not only do we have the opposition of the classroom setting versus the natural setting (learners, multilingual families and societies) but also a whole array of affective and societal variables adding to the acquisition and the maintenance effort (Herdina & Jessner 2002) for the multiple languages involved (e.g. Dewaele, 2011; Pavlenko, 2008). In this volume, we are attempting to discuss topics relatively new to both: research on affectivity and multilingualism. Combined, they present a wide spectrum of themes and topics of relevance to multilingualism research which we expect will be developed in future studies. The articles included in this special issue refer to research conducted in different corners of the world, including Europe (Poland, Italy, Switzerland, England and Germany) and Asia (Malaysia), with one contribution truly global in that it makes use of an online questionnaire distributed across the globe. The studies examine social, cognitive and affective factors with International Journal of Multilingualism Vol. 9, No. 4, November 2012, 347 351

Vocabulary acquisition and young learners: Different tasks, similar involvement loads

Abstract Laufer and Hulstijn (2001) suggest that the motivational-cognitive construct of involvement may explain and predict different levels of effectiveness for vocabulary-learning tasks. Drawing on their original work and on later research on the involvement load hypothesis (ILH), this study set out to compare the effectiveness of carefully-designed tasks for incidental vocabulary acquisition in children. Thirty-eight EFL elementary-level 10-year-olds from a public school in Warsaw, Poland, participated in the experiment. Divided into three groups, the participants performed three different sequences of tasks, each sequence inducing similar levels of involvement load. In order to measure receptive lexical learning and retention of meaning and spelling, the children were tested with an orthography test, an L2-L1 translation test, and a multiple-choice test immediately after the treatment, and one week later. In support of the ILH, the MANOVA results showed no significant differences between the treatments (irrespective of them being input- or output-based) in any of the test measurements, either in the immediate or in the delayed posttest. We discuss the results in light of the ILH, and outline some limitations and possible implications for pedagogy.

Retelling a model story improves the narratives of Polish-English bilingual children

ABSTRACT Reading and telling stories to children improves their narrative skills, which is well-documented for monolinguals, but not for bilinguals. We investigated whether bilingual narratives improve when the child is provided with a model story. We studied the narratives of Polish-English bilingual children (n = 75, mean age 5;7 years; months) raised in the UK. We elicited narratives through picture stories in two modes: told spontaneously and retold after a model provided by an adult experimenter. The bilinguals told and retold stories in Polish and English. The study combined a within-subject design, comparing the bilinguals’ two languages, and a between-subject design, comparing the stories told and retold in Polish by the bilinguals and by Polish age-matched monolinguals (n = 75). We investigated whether retelling might improve bilingual and monolingual storytelling to the same extent. In the stories, we assessed both the macrostructure (e.g. story structure and answered comprehension questions) and microstructure (e.g. type-token ratio). We found a positive effect of retelling for the macrostructure in both monolinguals and bilinguals (regardless of the language). As for the microstructure, when retelling, children told longer stories, regardless of the language (Polish, English) and group (bilingual, monolingual). We argue that retelling stories improves the narrative skills of bilinguals.

The more similar the better? Factors in learning cognates, false cognates and non-cognate words

ABSTRACT In this study we explored factors that determine the knowledge of L2 words with orthographic neighbours in L1 (cognates and false cognates). We asked 150 Polish learners of English to translate 105 English non-cognate words, cognates, and false-cognates into Polish, and to assess the confidence of each translation. Confidence ratings allows us to employ a novel analytic procedure which disentangles knowing cognates and false cognates from strategic guessing. Mixed-effects logistic regression models revealed that cognates were known better, whereas false cognates were known worse, relative to non-cognate controls. The advantage of knowing cognates, but not false cognates, was modulated by the degree of similarity to their L1 equivalents. The knowledge of cognates and false cognates was not affected by the frequency of their formal equivalent in L1. Based on these findings we conclude how cross-linguistic formal similarity affects L2 word learnability, proposing a mechanism by which cognates and false cognates are acquired.