Little is known about young CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) learners’ attention to formal aspects of the target language when engaged in collaborative task-based interaction. Previous ...research on language-related episodes (LREs) with other populations indicates that certain variables (e.g. target language proficiency or pair formation method) may play a role in the production of LREs. This study investigates the amount, types and resolution of LREs produced by primary education CLIL learners in a collaborative picture-ordering + story-telling task depending on two variables – L2 English proficiency (grade 5 dyads vs. grade 6 dyads) and pairing method (proficiency-matched dyads vs. student self-selected dyads). Findings indicate that young CLIL learners’ interactive behaviour in L2 English, at least in terms of LRE production, does not differ as a consequence of target language proficiency, whereas pair formation method exerts some influence, self-selected pairs producing and resolving more meaning-based LREs. No differences were found for form-focused LREs.
The use of communication strategies (CSs) in oral and written second language (L2) production has been widely investigated (e.g. Muñoz, 2007). As for content and language integrated learning (CLIL) ...settings, learners seem to resort to the first language (L1) less often than in traditional foreign language instruction (e.g. Celaya & Ruiz de Zarobe, 2010). However, few studies have examined what L2 learners say about their use of CSs by means of questionnaires – e.g. Ehrman & Oxford (1990), with adult English as a foreign language (EFL) learners – and little is known about the reported use of CSs by young learners (Purdie & Oliver, 1999), and much less by young CLIL learners. This study examines learners’ self-reported opinions about the use of CSs (guessing, miming, morphological creativity, dictionary, predicting, paraphrasing, borrowing, calque, foreignizing, avoidance and appeal for assistance). An adapted survey (Kellerman, Bongaerts, & Poulisse, 1987; Oxford, 1989; O’Malley & Chamot, 1990; Yule & Tarone, 1990) was administered to CLIL learners of English in grades 5 and 6 of primary education. Quantitative differences in terms of the type of strategies used were explored. Analyses showed striking similarities between grades 5 and 6 as well as significant differences in the use of the different CSs, paraphrasing and appeal for assistance being the most frequent strategies, whereas morphological creativity and miming obtained the lowest frequency. Findings are discussed in the light of learners’ age and the nature of CLIL instruction.
This article explores the applications of research on native spoken language into second language learning in the concept of subordination. Second language (L2) learners' ability to integrate ...subordinate clauses is considered an indication of higher proficiency (e.g., Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005; Tarone & Swierzbin, 2009). However, the notion of subordination is challenged in the analysis of spoken syntax due to the potential problems in identifying clausal relationships. The study compares the production of if-clauses of first language (L1; N= 20) and L2 (N= 20) speakers of English in informal conversations and a map task. Results show that L2 speakers exhibited a strong preference for pre-posed if-clauses consisting of one if-clause; compared to L1 users, they used few multiclausal if-clause complexes and postscript and semiformulaic post-posed clauses in the conversations. As for the map task, L2 speakers did not use single if-clause directives, frequently used by L1 speakers. The findings seem to indicate that L2 speakers were constrained in their structural and hence functional repertoire. The article concludes that using subordination as a measure of complexity may not be straightforward, because clausal relations typical of spoken language need to be taken into account.
Research on form focused instruction has provided support for the use of collaborative tasks in which learners focus their attention on formal aspects of language and consciously reflect on their own ...language use (i.e. produce language-related episodes or LREs). A strand of research on LREs in different educational contexts examines the effect of learner-internal factors, such as target language proficiency, on the amount, type and resolution of LREs. However, little is known about whether learners in content-and-language-integrated-learning (CLIL) programmes pay attention to formal aspects of language and much less about the relationship between learner proficiency and LREs. Therefore, this study investigates how learner proficiency affected the amount, type (lexical or grammatical) and outcome (correct, incorrect or unresolved) of LREs involving the English 3rd person singular marker -s produced during a dictogloss task by 12 pairs of adolescent EFL learners from a CLIL classroom. The findings revealed that there was a positive correlation between the number of LREs involving the target form and the learners' proficiency. Positive correlations were also found between learner proficiency and correctly resolved grammatical LREs involving 3rd person singular forms.
A considerable body of research within the interaction framework (Long, 1996) has centred on the language-related episodes (LREs) which occur when learners topicalize a specific linguistic item while ...they are engaged in meaning-focused tasks. Several studies have shown that the production of LREs may be influenced by the proficiency level of the learners (Kim & McDonough, 2008; Leeser, 2004). Sociocultural theory (Lantolf & Appel, 1994) has also explored collaborative work and the effect that pairing learners with the same proficiency levels or different patterns of interaction (Storch, 2002) has on the production of LREs (e.g., Mozaffari, 2017; Storch & Aldosari 2013), but little research has compared the effect of the pair formation method (student-selected vs. proficiency-matched) on young learners’ production of LREs and pair dynamics. This study compares young CLIL learners (aged 10-12) in student-selected and proficiency-matched pairs in task-based interaction. Results indicate that learners produce more meaning-based than form-based LREs, regardless of their pair formation method. The percentage of meaning-based LREs which are resolved accurately is much higher in proficiency-matched dyads than in student-selected ones. As for the patterns of interaction (Storch, 2002), the dynamics of proficiency-matched dyads are of a more collaborative nature than those of self-selected pairs.
Gitelman's syndrome (GS) is caused by mutations in the SLC12A3. Most of the mutations are rare, making it difficult to establish a genotype-phenotype correlation. Although GS is a recessive disorder, ...some patients also have an affected parent, suggesting a dominant inheritance.
We sequenced the 26 coding exons of SLC12A3 in a family in which the proband and her father had a late onset GS. We obtained cDNA of the 2 patients and analyzed the effect of a mutation on pre-mRNA splicing.
The 2 patients were homozygous for a nucleotide change in the last nucleotide of exon 15: c.1925 G>A. The mother was a heterozygous carrier for this putative mutation. Amplification of cDNA with primers for exons 14-17 was negative, suggesting that this mutation affected the splicing and promoted mRNA degradation through nonsense-mediated decay.
We report a family with 2 patients with late onset GS and homozygous for a mutation in the last nucleotide of exon 15. Our study shows that homozygosity for this mutation resulted in a significant loss of normal SLC12A3 transcript.
Studies investigating compensatory strategies (CSs) by means of questionnaires in English‐as‐a‐Foreign‐Language (EFL) contexts with young learners are lacking, particularly in ...Content‐and‐Language‐Integrated‐Learning (CLIL) environments. Three different proficiency groups of young English learners in a CLIL programme were administered a survey to explore the existence of intergroup differences regarding the amount and types of CSs used. Learners exhibited a moderately high use of CSs overall, and no differences emerged regarding the total number of CSs as a function of target language (TL) proficiency. In terms of types of CSs used, they reported using some CSs (paraphrasing) which are typical of more advanced learners. However, more proficient learners were found to draw on some non L2‐based strategies (avoidance, foreignising, miming) to a lesser extent than less proficient learners.
Los estudios que han investigado las estrategias compensatorias (ECs) en aprendices jóvenes de Inglés como Lengua Extranjera (ILE) por medio de cuestionarios son escasos, especialmente en contextos de Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenido y Lengua Extranjera (AICLE). Tres grupos de aprendices jóvenes que diferían en el nivel de competencia en inglés y que participaban en un programa AICLE completaron un cuestionario destinado a explorar la existencia de diferencias intergrupales en relación a la cantidad y los tipos de ECs utilizadas. Los aprendices señalaron un uso moderadamente alto de ECs en general y no se encontraron diferencias en cuanto al número de total de ECs en función de la competencia en la lengua meta (LM). Por lo que respecta a los tipos de ECs utilizados, los participantes indicaron que usaban algunas ECs (parafraseo) que son típicas de aprendices más avanzados. Sin embrago, se descubrió que los aprendices de mayor competencia hacían un menor uso de algunas estrategias no basadas en la L2 (evitación, extranjerización, mímica) que los aprendices de menor competencia.
The present study set out to determine how learners’ written production would affect their noticing and production of a specific language form (the English 3rd person singular present tense marker -
...s
) upon receiving relevant input subsequently, in an attempt to contribute to the ongoing debate about how production affects noticing of linguistic forms. One hundred and eighteen (118) English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners (age range 15–6) in two educational contexts (Content and Language Integrated Learning and mainstream EFL) carried out a multi-stage dictogloss task. They followed the usual steps in this type of task (listen and jot down key words, text reconstruction). Then the experimental group (EG) listened to the text once again and compared it with their reconstructed version of the original passage. Their production of the target feature was compared to that of a control group (CG) who did not receive input after their own reconstruction. Results showed that the difference between the EG and the CG in the amount of instances of the target feature produced in the dictogloss task did not reach statistical significance. In other words, the act of producing and subsequent exposure to relevant input did not affect the noticing and production of the morpheme under study. In addition, no interaction between the pushed output condition and the educational context was found.
Second language research has shown that females usually outperform their male counterparts (Pavlenko & Piller, 2008). They also have more positive attitudes and greater motivation (Spolsky, 1989). ...Nevertheless, these tendencies have been found to be blurred in meaning-oriented approaches such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) (Fernández Fontecha & Canga Alonso, 2014). As regards strategic competence, very little research has been conducted on the effect of gender on the use of language learning strategies (Ehrman & Oxford, 1989) and much less on compensatory strategies (Kocoglu, 1997). Besides, there is a lack of research investigating the effect of gender on the use of compensatory strategies by CLIL learners. This study examines the existence of gender differences in the 5th and 6th grades of Primary Education as regards amount and type of strategies preferred in a self-reported questionnaire on compensatory strategy use (i.e. guessing, miming, morphological creativity, dictionary, predicting, paraphrasing, borrowing, calque, foreignising, avoidance and appeal for assistance). In terms of overall amount, no statistically significant differences emerged, which seem to be in line with those CLIL studies that credit a vanishing effect on gender-related differences. As for types, females tend to avoid answering if they are not sure whereas males prefer to guess and feel more at ease in ambiguity. Females also rely more on borrowing, which makes them feel secure that the content of their message is unambiguously conveyed. In contrast, males prefer to predict, are braver, and take more risks when communicating (see Oxford & Ehrman, 1988).
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