Language ValuePub Date : 2016-04-30DOI: 10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2016.8.5
M. Litzler
{"title":"A Multimodal Analysis of Picture Books for Children: A Systemic Functional Approach","authors":"M. Litzler","doi":"10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2016.8.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2016.8.5","url":null,"abstract":"Reviewed by Mary Frances LitzlerUniversidad de Alcala, Spain \u0000 \u0000This book is a study of nine picture books for children ranging in age from 0 to 9 years old. The conceptual framework follows Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (2004) (henceforth, SFG) and Kress and van Leeuwen’s Visual Social Semiotics (2006) (henceforth, VSS). The main objective is to “identify the verbal and visual strategies used by writers and illustrators… to convey a representation of reality, to create interaction with child-readers and to form coherent wholes of communication” (257).","PeriodicalId":36244,"journal":{"name":"Language Value","volume":"8 1","pages":"77-81"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71369500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Language ValuePub Date : 2016-04-30DOI: 10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2016.8.4
Natalia Norte Fernández-Pacheco
{"title":"Multimodal digital tools and EFL audio-visual comprehension: students’ attitudes towards vodcasts","authors":"Natalia Norte Fernández-Pacheco","doi":"10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2016.8.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2016.8.4","url":null,"abstract":"L’aparicio de les tecnologies de la informacio i la comunicacio (TIC) ha contribuit al desenvolupament dels nostres materials docents en l’ensenyament d’idiomes que se centren en una perspectiva multimodal (Jewitt, 2009; Kress i Leeuwen, 2001). Les eines digitals multimodals, com ara els videocast , reuneixen diverses modalitats de comunicacio, que podrien millorar la comprensio audiovisual dels estudiants d’una llengua estrangera. El present article aborda un estudi sobre l’actitud de 40 estudiants espanyoles amb un nivell B2, d’entre 14 i 19 anys, cap a l’us de videocast en comparacio amb pistes d’audio en l’aprenentatge de l’angles com a llengua estrangera. Despres de la visualitzacio de dos videocast del British Council, es va recopilar informacio relacionada amb l’actitud dels estudiants mitjancant questionaris. Els resultats obtinguts van demostrar actituds positives cap als videocast pel que fa a la seva qualitat, duracio, entreteniment i comprensio.","PeriodicalId":36244,"journal":{"name":"Language Value","volume":"8 1","pages":"49-76"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71369460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Language ValuePub Date : 2015-11-21DOI: 10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.4
M. Juan-Garau
{"title":"Speaking an additional language: Can study abroad do the trick?","authors":"M. Juan-Garau","doi":"10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.4","url":null,"abstract":"The present article sets out to provide an overall picture of the acquisition of speaking abilities in a given second language acquisition (SLA) learning context, namely study abroad (SA), so as to ascertain whether SA can indeed ‘do the trick’, as it is popularly assumed, and, if so, under which conditions.Section 1 will characterise the SA context and look at how it can affect oral performance, bearing in mind the opportunities for target language contact and practice it offers learners. Section 2 will focus on the specific linguistic benefits in the oral domain that can accrue in this learning context. In this regard, we will present an overview of empirical research findings with special attention to the SALA (Study Abroad and Language Acquisition) and COLE (Context, Contact and Competence Level) research projects. Section 3 will concentrate on individual variables that may affect oral development abroad in combination with external variables such as SA programme conditions. Finally, Section 4 will provide a summary of the main ideas presented and draw some conclusions.","PeriodicalId":36244,"journal":{"name":"Language Value","volume":"7 1","pages":"46-61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71369392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Language ValuePub Date : 2015-11-21DOI: 10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.5
V. Beltrán-Palanques
{"title":"Revisiting pragmatic tests in the FL context: Towards interactive tests to examine speech act performance","authors":"V. Beltrán-Palanques","doi":"10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.5","url":null,"abstract":"L'objectiu d'aquest estudi es explorar l'efecte en les tasques de dos tipus diferents de metodes d'investigacio com son les tasques interactives per a completar discurs (IDCTs, per les seues sigles en angles) i les tasques de jocs de rols (RPT, per les seues sigles en angles). Els dos metodes d'investigacio emprats en aquest estudi utilitzen un enfocament interactiu que permet als participants interactuar lliurement tant en el mode oral com en el mode escrit. Aquest article compara les estrategies de disculpes suscitades mitjancant IDCTs i en RPTs quant a extensio de l'estrategia, quantitat d'estrategies i classificacio d'estrategies en les dos tecniques d'evocacio. Presentarem i comentarem els resultats d'aquesta comparacio, i en suggerirem implicacions pedagogiques.","PeriodicalId":36244,"journal":{"name":"Language Value","volume":"7 1","pages":"62-91"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71369400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Language ValuePub Date : 2015-11-21DOI: 10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.2
G. Ockey, Zhi Li
{"title":"New and not so new methods for assessing oral communication","authors":"G. Ockey, Zhi Li","doi":"10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.2","url":null,"abstract":"The assessment of oral communication has continued to evolve over the past few decades. The construct being assessed has broadened to include interactional competence, and technology has played a role in the types of tasks that are currently popular. In this paper, we discuss the factors that affect the process of oral communication assessment, current conceptualizations of the construct to be assessed, and five tasks that are used to assess this construct. These tasks include oral proficiency interviews, paired/group oral discussion tasks, simulated tasks, integrated oral communication tasks, and elicited imitation tasks. We evaluate these tasks based on current conceptualizations of the construct of oral communication, and conclude that they do not assess a broad construct of oral communication equally. Based on our evaluation, we advise test developers to consider the aspects of oral communication that they aim to include or exclude in their assessment when they select one of these task types.","PeriodicalId":36244,"journal":{"name":"Language Value","volume":"7 1","pages":"1-21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71369381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Language ValuePub Date : 2015-11-21DOI: 10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.3
Cristina Pérez-Guillot, Julia Consuelo Zabala Delgado
{"title":"Comparing candidates’ beliefs and exam performance in speaking tests","authors":"Cristina Pérez-Guillot, Julia Consuelo Zabala Delgado","doi":"10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.3","url":null,"abstract":"El desenvolupament d'un examen de llengua no es un proces lineal, sino mes be un cercle al qual, en utilitzar la prova, obtenim informacio que s'aplicara per a millorar cadascun dels passos del cercle. L'objectiu del nostre estudi era analitzar la percepcio dels estudiants sobre llur rendiment en la seccio oral d'un examen de domini oral i comparar-la amb llurs resultats reals a l'examen, per determinar si llur percepcio es basava en el seu nivell real de competencia o si es basava en altres factors, com l'ansietat i l'estres provocats per les caracteristiques concretes d'aquesta seccio de l'examen.","PeriodicalId":36244,"journal":{"name":"Language Value","volume":"7 1","pages":"22-45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71369387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Language ValuePub Date : 2015-01-01DOI: 10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.1
Mari Carmen Campoy Cubillo, N. Marzá
{"title":"From the Editors RESEARCH ON NEW METHODS FOR TESTING LANGUAGE SKILLS: A FOCUS ON SPEAKING PERFORMANCE","authors":"Mari Carmen Campoy Cubillo, N. Marzá","doi":"10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2015.7.1","url":null,"abstract":"From the Editors RESEARCH ON NEW METHODS FOR TESTING LANGUAGE SKILLS: A FOCUS ON SPEAKING PERFORMANCE The current issue has speaking performance as a conducting thread, specifically, the research undertaken on new methods to test it. Testing language skills and defining the constructs under which tests need to be constructed is a complex task. Particularly, assessing speaking performance is a rather intricate process with many agents and variables involved and many factors affecting the final outcome. Subjectivity, fairness, anxiety, cognitive and metacognitive aspects, particular features of speech, individual abilities, and social constraints among others make the mastery of speaking in a foreign language and its subsequent assessment a definitely arduous task. Critical reflection and research on the part of educational institutions, researchers, test developers or any person undertaking assessment is of paramount importance to guarantee the adequacy, reliability and success of the whole testing process and results.","PeriodicalId":36244,"journal":{"name":"Language Value","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71369375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Language ValuePub Date : 2014-06-05DOI: 10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2014.6.4
Antonio Jimenez-Munoz
{"title":"Measuring the impact of CLIL on language skills: a CEFR- based approach for Higher Education","authors":"Antonio Jimenez-Munoz","doi":"10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2014.6.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2014.6.4","url":null,"abstract":"Els defensors de l’AICLE (Aprenentatge integrat de continguts i llengues estrangeres) han exalcat les virtuts d’aquesta aproximacio per potenciar tant el contingut com la llengua. Malgrat tot, la implantacio generalitzada i variada de l’AMI (angles com a mitja d’instruccio) en les universitats de tot el mon ha portat a molts professors a questionar aquestes afirmacions. Aquest article presenta un model basat en el MCER (Marc europeu comu de referencia per a les llengues) per mesurar l’impacte de l’AMI en el nivell terciari, amb l’objectiu de proporcionar mes proves del progres fet en l’aprenentatge de llengues en moduls impartits en una llengua estrangera. Mitjancant l’us de questionaris basats en els descriptors del MCERL revisats i refinats per l’EAQUALS (Associacio europea per a la qualitat dels serveis linguistics), els estudiants responen una enquesta d’autoavaluacio inicial sobre el seu origen i les seues habilitats linguistiques, que es controla amb un questionari final centrat en com han percebut els seus avancos durant l’aprenentatge. Dissenyat des del comencament amb el MCERL com a telo de fons, aquest metode es pot computar facilment amb una avaluacio objectiva per tal d’obtindre informacio sobre el rendiment linguistic dels estudiants en AICLE.","PeriodicalId":36244,"journal":{"name":"Language Value","volume":"6 1","pages":"28-50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71369320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Language ValuePub Date : 2014-06-05DOI: 10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2014.6.2
Iñaki Pikabea Torrano, J. Mujika, Neus Figueras Casanovas
{"title":"Methodology for the process of validating qualifications in the Basque language and their adaptation to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)","authors":"Iñaki Pikabea Torrano, J. Mujika, Neus Figueras Casanovas","doi":"10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2014.6.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.6035/LANGUAGEV.2014.6.2","url":null,"abstract":"In the Basque Country there are currently more than 140,000 people with accredited qualifications that certify their knowledge of Euskara (Basque Language). These qualifications have been issued by a number of official bodies dependent on the Basque Government, but had not been validated against each other until recently. In order to validate these qualifications and adapt them to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, a group of experts were commissioned by the Basque Government to undertake a study conducive to this end. This paper outlines the methodology and conclusions of that study.","PeriodicalId":36244,"journal":{"name":"Language Value","volume":"6 1","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71369309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}