Learning Context Effects

This book deals with the effects of three different learning contexts mainly on adult, but also on adolescent, learners’ language acquisition. The three contexts brought together in the monograph include i) a conventional instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) environment, in which learners receive formal instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL); ii) a Study Abroad (SA) context, which learners experience during mobility programmes, when the target language is no longer a foreign but a second language learnt in a naturalistic context; iii) the immersion classroom, also known as an integrated content and language (ICL) setting, in which learners are taught content subjects through the medium of the target language—more often than not English, used as the Lingua Franca (ELF). The volume examines how these contexts change language learners’ linguistic performance, and also non-linguistic, that is, it throws light on how motivation, sense of identity, interculturality, international ethos, and affective factors develop. To our knowledge, no publication exists which places the three contexts on focus in this monograph along a continuum, as suggested in Pérez-Vidal (2011, 2014), with SA as ‘the most naturalistic’ context on one extreme, ISLA on the other, and ICL somewhere in between, while framing them all as international classrooms. Concerning target languages, the nine chapters included in the volume analyze English, and one chapter deals with Spanish, as the target language. As for target countries in SA programmes, data include England, Ireland, France, Germany, and Spain in Europe, but also Canada, China, and Australia. While the main bulk of the chapters deal with tertiary level language learners, a language learning population which has received less attention by research thus far, one chapter deals with adolescent learners. Carmen Pérez-Vidal, Sonia López, Jennifer Ament and Dakota Thomas-Wilhelm all served on the organizing committee for the EUROSLA workshop held at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, in May 2016. It is from this workshop that this monograph was inspired

This book deals with the effects of three different learning contexts mainly on adult, but also on adolescent, learners' language acquisition. The three contexts brought together in the monograph include i) a conventional instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) environment, in which learners receive formal instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL); ii) a Study Abroad (SA) context, which learners experience during mobility programmes, when the target language is no longer a foreign but a second language learnt in a naturalistic context; iii) the immersion classroom, also known as an integrated content and language (ICL) setting, in which learners are taught content subjects through the medium of the target language-more often than not English, used as the Lingua Franca (ELF). This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

Der Chemieunterricht sieht sich nicht erst seit PISA mit dem Anspruch konfrontiert, einerseits die Lernenden von der Relevanz des Faches zu uberzeugen und andererseits zu gewahrleisten, dass sie genug vernetztes Konzeptwissen erwerben, um eine naturwissenschaftliche Berufslaufbahn wahlen zu konnen. An diesem Spannungsfeld setzt die vorgestellte Studie an: anhand eines experimentellen Designs wird der Erwerb von Wissen in lebensweltlichen im Gegensatz zu fachlichen Kontexten evaluiert. Funf Experimentierphasen dienen als Grundlage, um die Effizienz der jeweiligen Kontexte in Verbindung mit wiederholenden Vernetzungsmassnahmen zu untersuchen. Die gewahlten Messinstrumente ermoglichen hierbei eine detaillierte Beschreibung der Effekte der Interventionsmassnahmen beim kooperativen Arbeiten im Chemieunterricht. Especially since the weak results of German students in large-scale assessments like PISA, chemistry education has been challenged: It is supposed to bridge the gap between making it relevant to the learner and ensuring that learners acquire enough content knowledge to cope with university demands. The presented study emanates from this ambiguity by evaluating the acquisition of content knowledge in different contexts. By means of an experimental design, student learning gains in tasks with a real life problem situation are compared to a laboratory setting. A one-week intervention serves as a basis to assess the effects of such contexts in a collaborative and inquiry-based learning environment. The selected test instruments offer the possibility to shed light on differentiated effects of contexts with relation to learner prerequisites.

This publication constitutes essential reading for academics, teachers and language policy makers wanting to understand, plan, and implement an educational language program involving learner mobility. The book provides data and analyses from a long-term program of research on study abroad (the SALA Project), which looked into the short and long-term effects of instructional and mobility contexts on language and cultural development from two perspectives: the participants’ language acquisition development over 2,5 years, and the practitioners’ perspective in relation to the design and implementation of a mobility program. The book is innovative in the longitudinal data it offers, the light it sheds on (i) an array of language skills, both productive and receptive, oral and written, tapping into phonology, lexis, grammar and discourse, (ii) the role of individual differences (including attitudes, motivation, beliefs, and intercultural awareness), and (iii) the insights on the effects of length of stay. In sum, this book represents a welcome addition to previous research on the outcomes of mobility policies to promote L2 learners’ linguistic development and the individual and educational conditions that appear to facilitate success in study abroad programs.

Scientists currently study memory from many different perspectives: neurobiological, ethological, animal conditioning, cognitive, behavioral neuroscience, social, and cultural. The aim of this book is to help initiate a new science of memory by bringing these perspectives together to create a unified understanding of the topic. The book began with a conference where leading practitioners from all these major approaches met to analyze and discuss 16 concepts that are crucial to our understanding of memory. Each of these 16 concepts is addressed in a section of the book, and in the 66 succinct chapters that fill these sections, a leading researcher addresses the section's concept by clearly stating his or her position on it, elucidating how it is used, and discussing how it should be used in future research. For some concepts, there is general agreement among practitioners from different fields and levels of analysis, but for others there is general disagreement and much controversy. A final chapter in each section, also written by a leading researcher, integrates the various viewpoints offered on the section's concept, then draws conclusions about the concept. This groundbreaking volume will be an indispensable reference for all the students and researchers who will build upon the foundation it provides for the new science of memory.

0 e The contributors to this book review our current knowledge of context effects in survey research, psychological testing, and social judgement. Drawing on recent developments in cognitive psychology, they offer theoretical accounts of the conditions that lead to the emergence of various context effects and report a number of new experimental studies. At stake now are clear, practical needs in the structuring of reliable tests, and a strong interest to develop a coherent theoretical framework to assess and scrutinize context effects, in addition to the desire to align some of the findings in survey research studies with the discoveries made in the information-processing field. This book attests to a fruitful dialogue between cognitive psychologists and survey researchers, as the cognitive processes initiated by question probes are really beginning to be understood and context effects classified and differentiated.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 8th International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Modeling and Using Context, CONTEXT 2013, held in Annecy, France, in October/November 2013. The 23 full papers and 9 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. In addition the book contains two keynote speeches and 9 poster papers. They cover cutting-edge results from the wide range of disciplines concerned with context, including: Cognitive Sciences (Linguistics, Psychology, Computer Science, Neuroscience), and computer science (artificial intelligence, logics, ubiquitous and pervasive computing, context-awareness systems), and the Social Sciences and Organizational Sciences, as well as the Humanities and all application areas, including Medicine and Law.

Given the boost in global immigration and migration, as well as the emphasis on creating inclusive classrooms, research is turning to the challenges that teachers face with the increasing need for bilingual and multilingual education. The benefits of bilingual education are widespread, allowing students to develop important cognitive skills such as critical thinking and problem solving as well as opening further career opportunities later in life. However, very few resources are available for the successful practice and implementation of this education into the curriculum, with an even greater lack of appropriate cultural representation in the classroom. Thus, it is essential for educators to remain knowledgeable on the emerging strategies and procedures available for making bilingual and multilingual education successful. The Research Anthology on Bilingual and Multilingual Education is a comprehensive reference source on bilingual and multilingual education that offers the latest insights on education strategy and considerations on the language learners themselves. This research anthology features a diverse collection of authors, offering valuable global perspectives on multilingual education. Covering topics such as gamification, learning processes, and teaching models, this anthology serves as an essential resource for professors, teachers, pre-service teachers, faculty of K-12 and higher education, government officials, policymakers, researchers, and academicians with an interest in key strategy and understanding of bilingual and multilingual education.