Oratie uitgesproken door Prof.dr. Nivja de Jong bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van hoogleraar met als leeropdracht Tweedetaalverwerving en -didactiek aan de Universiteit Leiden op vrijdag 8 maart... Show moreOratie uitgesproken door Prof.dr. Nivja de Jong bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van hoogleraar met als leeropdracht Tweedetaalverwerving en -didactiek aan de Universiteit Leiden op vrijdag 8 maart 2024 Show less
De mogelijke vernieuwingen bij de vreemde talen kunnen resulteren in meer aandacht voor inhoud op het gebied van taal en cultuur. Hoe kun je deze onderdelen geïntegreerd toetsen met taalvaardigheid... Show moreDe mogelijke vernieuwingen bij de vreemde talen kunnen resulteren in meer aandacht voor inhoud op het gebied van taal en cultuur. Hoe kun je deze onderdelen geïntegreerd toetsen met taalvaardigheid? Nivja de Jong, Janine Berns en Tessa Mearns maken in ‘Toetsing als vertrekpunt voor vernieuwing’ creatief gebruik van de bekende driehoek van Biggs (1996) met leerdoelen, toetsing en feedback en leeractiviteiten. Eigenlijk staan de leerdoelen bovenaan, maar als je begint bij de toetsing heb je een veel concreter uitgangspunt. En als het goed is zijn de toetsen valide operationaliseringen van de leerdoelen. De Jong, Berns en Mearns anticiperen op de nieuwe examenprogramma’s voor de moderne vreemde talen en schetsen de voordelen als de leesteksten niet meer over alle mogelijke vakvreemde onderwerpen gaan waar de docenten geen verstand van hebben en die er in feite niet toe doen, maar over taal en cultuur, het vakgebied van de vreemdetaaldocent. De inhoud wordt dan net zo belangrijk als de taal, zoals bij tweetalig onderwijs (CLIL). Daar moet het leerproces, dus ook de feedback en de beoordeling door de docent, zich richten op inhoud én op de taal. Van de CLIL-ervaringen kunnen de vernieuwde talenvakken leren. Show less
Fluency in terms of speed of speech and (lack of) hesitations such assilent and filled pauses (‘uhm’s) is part of oral proficiency. Languageassessment rubrics therefore include aspects of fluency.... Show moreFluency in terms of speed of speech and (lack of) hesitations such assilent and filled pauses (‘uhm’s) is part of oral proficiency. Languageassessment rubrics therefore include aspects of fluency. Measuringfluency, however, is highly time-consuming because of the manuallabour involved. The current paper aims to automatically measureaspects of L2 fluency, including filled pauses, in both Dutch andEnglish. A revised existing script and a new script for filled pausesare tested on accuracy. We also gauged whether the outcomes ofthe new script could be used for language assessment purposes byrelating the outcomes to human judgements. Without furtherinvestigations, the current script should not (yet) be used for thepurpose of assessing fluency automatically in (high-stakes) oralproficiency assessment. However, the performance of the scriptsfor measuring aspects of fluency globally and quickly are promising,especially given their stability in accuracy on new corpora. Show less
Fluency in terms of speed of speech and (lack of) hesitations such as silent and filled pauses (‘uhm’s) is part of oral proficiency. Language assessment rubrics therefore include aspects of fluency... Show moreFluency in terms of speed of speech and (lack of) hesitations such as silent and filled pauses (‘uhm’s) is part of oral proficiency. Language assessment rubrics therefore include aspects of fluency. Measuring fluency, however, is highly time-consuming because of the manual labour involved. The current paper aims to automatically measure aspects of L2 fluency, including filled pauses, in both Dutch and English. A revised existing script and a new script for filled pauses are tested on accuracy. We also gauged whether the outcomes of the new script could be used for language assessment purposes by relating the outcomes to human judgements. Without further investigations, the current script should not (yet) be used for the purpose of assessing fluency automatically in (high-stakes) oral proficiency assessment. However, the performance of the scripts for measuring aspects of fluency globally and quickly are promising, especially given their stability in accuracy on new corpora. Show less
Studies of motivation in bilingual education settings often address questions of differences between learners in bilingual programmes and those in mainstream education. Problematic in this respect... Show moreStudies of motivation in bilingual education settings often address questions of differences between learners in bilingual programmes and those in mainstream education. Problematic in this respect is our increasing awareness of the inherent differences between these two learner groups, as learners in bilingual programmes have often chosen or been selected for a bilingual route (Mearns et al., 2017). The study presented here therefore does not seek to compare learners in bilingual and non-bilingual programmes, but rather to explore the nature of language learning motivation within the context of bilingual secondary education (BSE) in the Netherlands. Using a purpose-designed tool reflecting the L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2009), this study investigated trends in motivation across genders, academic tracks and year-groups of nearly 2000 learners. Findings suggest that, although these learners all have bilingual education in common, differences between the motivations of these groups should not be overlooked. Show less
Previous research indicates that infant-directed speech (IDS) is usually slower than adult-directed speech (ADS) and mothers prefer placing a focused word in isolation or utterance-final position... Show morePrevious research indicates that infant-directed speech (IDS) is usually slower than adult-directed speech (ADS) and mothers prefer placing a focused word in isolation or utterance-final position in (English) IDS, which may benefit word learning. This study investigated the speaking rate and word position of IDS in two typologically-distinct languages: Dutch and Mandarin Chinese. We used a storybook-telling task to elicit semi-spontaneous ADS and IDS. The storybook contained target words that were familiar or unfamiliar to children. For each language, we asked: (1) whether IDS was slower than ADS; (2) whether mothers slowed down to highlight unfamiliar words; (3) whether the speaking rate of IDS changed between 18 and 24 months; and (4) whether mothers preferred placing unfamiliar words in isolation or utterance-final position in IDS. Results suggest that Dutch IDS, but not Mandarin Chinese IDS, was slower than ADS.Also, only Dutch mothers slowed down specifically when introducing unfamiliar words in IDS. In both languages, mothers placed target words in isolation (but not in utterance-final position) more frequently in IDS. These results suggest that the temporal modifications in IDS may vary across languages. Thus, language-specificity of IDS and its implications for language acquisition should be considered in future research. Show less
The ability to learn a foreign language, language aptitude, is known to differ between individuals. To better understand second-language learning, language aptitude tests, tapping into the... Show moreThe ability to learn a foreign language, language aptitude, is known to differ between individuals. To better understand second-language learning, language aptitude tests, tapping into the different components of second-language learning aptitude, are widely used. For valid conclusions on comparisons of learners with different language backgrounds, it is crucial that such tests be language neutral. Several studies have investigated the language neutrality of the freely available LLAMA tests (Granena, 2013; Rogers et al., 2016, 2017). So far, comparing a number of L1 backgrounds, including those using different writing systems such as Arabic and Mandarin, no significant differences between participants have been found. However, until now, neither participants with agglutinative language backgrounds nor with first-language backgrounds that use multiple writing systems have been included. Therefore, this study selected participants from three different first-language backgrounds: Dutch (non-agglutinative, phonogram/Latin alphabet), Hungarian (agglutinative, phonogram/Latin alphabet), and Japanese (agglutinative, phonogram/syllabic alphabet and logogram/Japanese kanji). The participants performed three subsets of the LLAMA test. Significant differences between the groups were found on two of these tests: The ability to implicitly recognize sounds (LLAMA_D subtest) and inductive grammar learning ability (LLAMA_F), but no differences were found on vocabulary learning ability (LLAMA_B). Additionally, for LLAMA_B, the number of languages learnt was a significant covariate, confirming earlier findings that some subtests seem to be linked to language learning experience. We discuss the implications of our findings on the validity of the LLAMA_D and LLAMA_F subtests. Show less
The ability to learn a foreign language, language aptitude, is known to differ between individuals. To better understand second-language learning, language aptitude tests, tapping into the... Show moreThe ability to learn a foreign language, language aptitude, is known to differ between individuals. To better understand second-language learning, language aptitude tests, tapping into the different components of second-language learning aptitude, are widely used. For valid conclusions on comparisons of learners with different language backgrounds, it is crucial that such tests be language neutral. Several studies have investigated the language neutrality of the freely available LLAMA tests (Granena, 2013; Rogers et al., 2016, 2017). So far, comparing a number of L1 backgrounds, including those using different writing systems such as Arabic and Mandarin, no significant differences between participants have been found. However, until now, neither participants with agglutinative language backgrounds nor with first-language backgrounds that use multiple writing systems have been included. Therefore, this study selected participants from three different first-language backgrounds: Dutch (non-agglutinative, phonogram/Latin alphabet), Hungarian (agglutinative, phonogram/Latin alphabet), and Japanese (agglutinative, phonogram/syllabic alphabet and logogram/Japanese kanji). The participants performed three subsets of the LLAMA test. Significant differences between the groups were found on two of these tests: The ability to implicitly recognize sounds (LLAMA_D subtest) and inductive grammar learning ability (LLAMA_F), but no differences were found on vocabulary learning ability (LLAMA_B). Additionally, for LLAMA_B, the number of languages learnt was a significant covariate, confirming earlier findings that some subtests seem to be linked to language learning experience. We discuss the implications of our findings on the validity of the LLAMA_D and LLAMA_F subtests. Show less
Clenton, J.; Jong, N.H. de; Clingwall, D.; Fraser, S. 2020
This chapter explores relationships between vocabulary knowledge and fluent speech. The reporting of multiple vocabulary task scores is an emerging trend in vocabulary research (Clenton et al.,... Show moreThis chapter explores relationships between vocabulary knowledge and fluent speech. The reporting of multiple vocabulary task scores is an emerging trend in vocabulary research (Clenton et al., 2019; Fitzpatrick & Clenton, 2017) and while fluency papers (De Jong et al., 2013; 2015) report significant relationships with vocabulary measures, these are limited to reporting single vocabulary task scores, and to proficient participants. The current chapter, therefore, reports on a multifaceted approach to exploring vocabulary measures and L2 fluency, with pre-intermediate proficiency learners. Participants completed two vocabulary measures: Lex30 (Meara & Fitzpatrick, 2000), and a vocabulary size task, in a multiple-choice format; and X_Lex (Meara & Milton, 2003), a receptive vocabulary yes/no task. We investigated fluency using measures and indices from earlier fluency papers (De Jong et al., 2013; 2015; De Jong & Mora, 2017). A comparison between the current chapter findings and those from these earlier studies suggests that relationships appear to differ according to proficiency level. We discuss these findings in terms of second language acquisition and consider future implications for future investigations into the relationship between vocabulary and L2 fluency at different proficiency levels. Show less
The entry starts with a definition of speaking ability in order to identify components of speaking that learners will need to acquire to become successful speakers. Six types of knowledge, ranging... Show moreThe entry starts with a definition of speaking ability in order to identify components of speaking that learners will need to acquire to become successful speakers. Six types of knowledge, ranging from lexical knowledge to knowledge about problem solving in speaking, are identified. Alongside these types of knowledge, a learner must master the accompanying skills to access the knowledge fast as speaking is a skill that must always be performed under time pressure. The entry then exemplifies how certain types of activities would foster speaking and what the role of the teacher in these activities would be. Finally, the methods of teaching speaking are situated in influential models of second language acquisition and it is shown how these theories reflect the two perspectives of “speaking to learn” and “learning to speak”. Show less
