Jakub Bielak

Investigating the nature of classroom willingness to communicate (WTC): A micro-perspective

Recent years have witnessed a shift in empirical investigations of language learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) from quantitative studies examining the ways in which WTC antecedents co-act and contribute to communication, treating the concept as a stable characteristic, to a mixed-methods approach that allows the examination of stable behavioral tendencies and dynamic changes brought about by contextual variables. The rationale behind this study comes from the assumption that more profound understanding of motives underlying learners’ readiness or reluctance to speak may help create classroom conditions that facilitate communication, thus contributing to linguistic attainment. More specifically, the study represents an attempt to tap factors that shape advanced learners’ WTC during conversation classes in four different groups of students. Each time, the data were collected by means of self-ratings (i.e. indications of the level of WTC on a scale from −10 to +10) and immediate reports (i.e. questionnaires including closed and open-ended items). A combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that the extent to which WTC fluctuated was impacted by a range of contextual and individual factors. It was enhanced in particular when students were given the opportunity to communicate with familiar receivers in small groups or pairs on topics related to personal experiences.

Applying Cognitive Grammar in the Foreign Language Classroom

Introduction to Cognitive Grammar.- Traditional and Cognitive Grammar descriptions of the English present tense, progressive aspect, and stative and dynamic verbs.- Pedagogical options in grammar teaching.- Applying Cognitive Grammar in the classroom.- Conclusions and Implications.

Another Look at Temporal Variation in Language Learning Motivation: Results of a Study

According to Dornyei (2005), research into second language learning motivation has entered what could be labeled as the process-oriented period, in which the emphasis has been shifted from the investigation of learners’ motives and the magnitude of their efforts to the study of how these change in the course of time. There are still few studies, however, that have attempted to look at motivational change, particularly such that would tap into fluctuations in learners’ interest, engagement and effort over the course of a language lesson or a sequence of successive lessons. The present chapter aims to extend our scant knowledge in these areas by reporting the findings of a study which sought to explore motivational evolution in 38 vocational senior high school learners of English, looking both at their reasons for learning, longer-term involvement and engagement in four lessons, and, as such, it can be viewed as a follow-up on the research project undertaken by Pawlak (2012). The data were collected by means of multiple tools, namely: (1) detailed lesson plans, (2) interviews with selected participants conducted twice over the period of the study, (3) motivation grids filled out at five-minute intervals during a specific class, and (4) teachers’ and learners’ evaluations of the lessons involved. The data were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analyses which revealed that motivation is indeed in a state of flux and identified some factors potentially responsible for such temporal variation.

Cognitive Linguistics and Foreign Language Pedagogy: An Overview of Recent Trends and Developments

This paper attempts to provide a state-of-the-art overview of research concerning the application of Cognitive Linguistics (CL) to foreign language pedagogy. The quantitative and qualitative growth of research on such applications has been so extensive as to give rise to the emergence of a subfield of Applied Cognitive Linguistics (ACL). This has been possible perhaps due to the existence of large areas of common ground between CL on the one hand and Applied Linguistics (AL) and Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) on the other, which are duly reviewed. Also surveyed are the numerous claims that CL is able to provide solutions to certain problems and dilemmas encountered in AL and FLT. This gives an idea of what CL might contribute to language teaching. Further contributions of this sort emerge from the review of the manifold recent theoretical proposals and empirical studies concerning the application in FLT of such central notions of CL as radial categories, prototype effects, metaphor, metonymy, embodiment, constructions and encyclopedic semantics. These applications have to do with teaching such essential L2 features as vocabulary, including phraseology and figurative language, grammar, phonology, reading, writing and speech acts. The advantages and problems of the applications are considered. Also, numerous samples of teaching practice inspired by CL are presented. Rather than being a totally new methodology, ACL seems to support and stimulate certain established aspects of FLT, lending them its own idiosyncratic turn. Previous ACL research needs to be complemented by further efforts according to an emerging research agenda.

New perspectives in language, discourse and translation studies

Phonetics and Phonology.-Grammar: Morphology and Syntax.- Historical Linguistics.- Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis and Sociolinguistics.- Translation.

Exploring Advanced Learners’ Beliefs About Pronunciation Instruction and Their Relationship with Attainment

It has long been recognized that learners’ beliefs about different aspects of foreign language learning and teaching are bound to impinge on the effectiveness of these processes, and pronunciation is by no means an exception. The present paper reports the results of a study which aimed to offer insights into such beliefs and determine the relationship between perceptions of different aspects of pronunciation instruction and attainment, both with reference to speaking skills in general and this target language subsystem. The data were collected from 110 second- and third-year students of English philology enrolled in a 3-year BA program. The participants’ beliefs were tapped by means of a specifically designed questionnaire containing Likert-scale items, intended to provide information about the overall importance of pronunciation instruction, the type of syllabus, the design of classes devoted to pronunciation, the introduction of pronunciation features, the ways of practicing these features, and the role of error correction in this area. Open-ended questions were also included to determine the reasons why the participants liked or disliked learning pronunciation as well as the instructional practices towards which they held positive and negative attitudes. The information about attainment came from the spoken component of the end-of-the-year practical English examination.

Introduction to Cognitive Grammar

The purpose of this chapter is the introduction of the framework of Cognitive Grammar, a theoretical development within the field of cognitive linguistics, whose pedagogical application is the focus of the present work. As a first step, Sect. 2.2 introduces, in a general fashion, the overall area of cognitive linguistics, as well as Cognitive Grammar, one of its major subcurrents, together with its definition of grammar/language. All the subsequent sections present the theoretical and descriptive apparatus of Cognitive Grammar, introducing along the way its most relevant notions, definitions, distinctions, terms, etc. First, in Sect. 2.3, the Cognitive Grammar view of language as essentially meaningful, or, in other words, the theory’s symbolic thesis, is introduced and discussed. The introduction to the theory is further effected by explaining in a detailed manner, in Sects. 2.4 and 2.5, the above-mentioned definition of grammar/language espoused by Cognitive Grammar. This theory is further introduced through a discussion, in Sect. 2.6, of its view of the role of cognitive abilities in natural language. Finally, Sect. 2.7 summarizes the diverse array of issues treated in the whole chapter, spells out how Cognitive Grammar conforms to the principles of cognitive linguistics and briefly compares this theory with other cognitive approaches to grammar, evaluating, in a preliminary fashion, its pedagogical potential.

The Effect of Strategy Instruction on English Majors’ Use of Affective Strategies and Anxiety Levels

The chapter reports a mixed-methods quasi-experimental study extending over one year which investigated the effects of strategy instruction (SI) aimed at anxiety reduction on affective strategy use, and language and test anxiety levels. Strategy use and anxiety levels were investigated not only in general terms (self-reported anxiety levels in a given type of situation, self-reported frequency of strategy use) but also in relation to two implementations of an actual oral English exam (self-reported anxiety and use of strategies before, during and after an oral English exam). The participants were English majors in a small Polish university (N = 23). The tools used were language learning strategy use surveys including Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (Oxford, 1990), Reactions to Tests (Sarason, 1984; a test anxiety survey), Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986), and anxometers (1-item 1–10 scales for measuring state anxiety). The results indicate that affective SI results in greater affective strategy use as well as the use of a larger range of strategies in general and in relation to the actual language exam when it is properly contextualized. An unequivocal reduction in anxiety levels as a result of SI was not detected possibly due to an insufficient amount of treatment and a small number of highly-anxious learners in the sample, with only some indications of an anxiety-reducing effect.

Polish Students’ Perceptions of English as an International Language

Attempts to redefine the concept of motivation in language learning with its major principle of integrativeness (e.g., Dornyei 2005, 2009; Yashima 2009) have brought into attention the fact that, in the case of the English language, identification of a specific target group with which to integrate has become problematic. Doubts concerning the explanatory power behind integrative motives has inspired researchers to look for a more reliable account of what drives people to engage in the lengthy and painstaking task of learning a foreign tongue, which resulted in the emergence of concepts such as the L2 Ideal Self (e.g., Dornyei 2009) or International Posture (Yashima 2009), understood as favourable disposition towards the international community and not any specific ethnic group. It appears that many learners of English as a foreign language have ceased to perceive the language as belonging to any particular national group, but rather view it as a universal code for international communication, very much linked to technology and popular culture. Considering the fact that nowadays approximately only one out of four people communicating in English is a native speaker of the language (NS) (Crystal 2003), it needs to be recognized that, in most cases, English is a means of communication for its non-native users (NNS). Undoubtedly, this cannot leave the system unaffected, neither does it leave NNSs’ views and attitudes unchanged. As observed by Singleton and Aronin (2007, p. 13), “English has (…) permeated the sense of identity of a large number of non-native speakers to the extent that it is now ‘owned’ by them.” Thus, it can be assumed that we are witnessing the emergence of a multiethnic community with which learners of English can identify. The study whose results are reported in the present chapter was undertaken with a view to exploring the opinions and perceptions held by students of English philology, the sample whose unique character needs to be recognized, concerning their awareness of English as a lingua franca (ELF). The data accumulated in the course of the present research imply that becoming native-like is still the objective that many learners strive after. However, the position of a native speaker as a paragon or a role model for language learners seems to have been taken over by a successful bilingual. Moreover, it transpires that philology students’ attention is rarely captivated by social and political issues concerning British or American society more than any other nationalities, which may necessitate changes in the way such issues are tackled in the language classroom.

Pedagogical Options in Grammar Teaching

The ultimate focus of the present volume are the effects of teaching selected elements of the English tense/aspect system described at length in the previous chapter. Being morphological and, to a certain degree, syntactic in nature, the targeted linguistic features thus belong unequivocally to the area of grammar. Therefore, the present chapter focuses on the theoretical positions concerning grammar teaching that have originated in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) and on instructional options which are at the disposal of foreign language teachers, including both methodological options and some choices in terms of pedagogical rules to be employed in instruction. At the outset, a brief clarification of the term grammar as employed here seems to be in order, given the plethora of possible perspectives from which it may be approached and a great number of conceptualizations of this notion related to these perspectives (cf. the relevant remarks and discussion by Pawlak 2006: Chap. 1; and Larsen-Freeman 2009). One of the many views of the grammatical component of language was in fact considered in detail in Chap. 2, which presented and discussed the CG conception of grammar as encompassing not only morphology and syntax, traditionally understood to constitute the core of grammar, but also the phonological level. What is more, it should be recalled that in CG grammar also comprises at least certain parts of the lexicon and the discourse/pragmatic component, because grammar is said to shade into them in a non-discrete fashion. Despite the adoption in CG of this almost all-encompassing view of grammar, in the present chapter, whose function is to consider the pedagogical options in grammar teaching and to review important theoretical issues surrounding this field, the notion of grammar is understood in a relatively narrow sense, which is close to its traditional view. Specifically, grammar is taken to refer to the formal elements of the morphological and syntactic language subsystems, together with their semantic interpretations and use. Sometimes the semantics and, especially, the use of grammatical elements might require reference to certain pragmatic factors, so pragmatics may also be included in some limited sense in this understanding of grammar. Such a restricted view of grammar is dictated by the focus of the quasi-experiment reported in Chap. 5, which investigated the teaching of primarily morphological, and, to a lesser extent, also syntactic units of English. It is also warranted by considerations of space, as the inclusion in our understanding of grammar of a wider range of linguistic units would certainly inflate the present chapter to an unfeasible size. Therefore, while for many purposes it is not unjustified to subsume a much broader array of entities under the heading of grammar, in the subsequent discussion of grammar teaching only instruction directed at morphological and syntactic features and their meanings/use is considered. Thus, since the term form is often taken in SLA and language teaching literature to be a synonym of grammar, the term form-focused instruction is used here as an equivalent of grammar teaching.