PDF superior The contribution of the music in learning English

The environments in which first and second language acquisition take place are very different. In our classrooms we will find pupils who have already developed one language. This knowledge may be an advantage because we can start the learning in a higher step. However, it can be a handicap because learners make incorrect guesses thinking that the second language works like the first one. Younger learners have opportunities to practice their second language using songs and games in the classroom. They are exposed to the second language many hours every day. Taking into account these aspects, there have been implemented different methodologies which have been improving over time, in the next paragraphs some of them are going to be explained.

Abstract: The objective of the present article is to propose a way to activate and encourage students’ desire to invest effort in the English learning activity by establishing a positive learning environment. The lack of motivation of teenage students has several causes that can be attributed both to internal factors as external ones. Accordingly, in order to find out pertinent methodologies for improving students’ participation during English classes and construct a suitable classroom management strategy, the researcher analyzed different documents such as the official ones pertaining to the involved school, as well as works from several authors that have studied the topic (Dörnyei, 1998; Epperson & Rossman, 2013; Harmer, 2007; Scrivener, 2005; Ur, 2012). A survey was undertaken to an 11 th grade of a private school located in Santiago,

One important point to comment is that effective teachers in large classes search opportunities to have interaction with individual students. This interaction offers positive outcomes; for example, simple words of encouragement or upbeat small talk can set a positive tone for students entering a classroom. Regarding students, some of them in large classes prefer to be in the anonymity and be ignored; they take a more passive role and they are less likely to participate in class, hoping that their lack of involvement will go unnoticed. In fact, some students in large classes, where they feel relatively unnoticed, may behave in ways that they would not do in smaller classes.

As we do not yet have extensive empirical data demonstrating the benefits of CLIL in South Tyrol at our disposition and on the basis of our research, we think it would be fruitful to consider language learning a social process (cfr. Firth/Wagner 2007) and to promote intergroup contact. The L2 teachers could introduce the pupils to the culture of the L2 group, encouraging the reading of local authors and helping them to get familiar with the local press. Schools should further promote exchanges between the German and the Italian-speaking schools through, for example, the already existing possibility of attending the fourth year of the secondary school in the L2 school. Politics should grant teachers the opportunity to attend teacher training courses and should economically sustain public and private initiatives that bring German and Italian-speaking young people together, such as sport and music courses, parties, summer camps and others. Besides that, politics should also promote the regular monitoring of language competences and of extra-linguistic aspects in order to check if the route taken is the right one and, if not, to take corrective action.

The influence of English as an international language has increased in many areas, from scientific, technological, economic and political fields to cinema, music and advertising. The use of English as a global language has exerted an enormous pressure over languages, especially on the lexical level. Since the second half of the 20 th century, many works have already dealt with Anglicisms in Spanish (most cases of recent borrowings) in various fields, including fashion (Balteiro and Campos, 2012) and television cosmetics commercials (Rodríguez Medina, 2016a), but the study of descriptions provided by the brands for their cosmetic products has received less attention in Spanish. This paper provides an analysis of facial cosmetics descriptions selected from a corpus collected in 2016 from four Spanish cosmetic brands. Language creativity exploiting both the use of English borrowings and the influence of the English language in some orthographical patterns related to word-formation processes in Spanish in this genre will be discussed. The proportion of the influence of the English language on this kind of texts may be an important factor in determining its socio-psychological effect on the target public; besides, the quantitative results will be compared with those obtained in our previous studies in the fields of tourism and computing. A qualitative analysis of a selection of examples from our corpus will be offered. The present study intends to illustrate the influence of the English language on the information consumers can read about cosmetic products.

The Critical Period Hypothesis states that “adults lose or diminish the ability for acquiring second languages to a certain extent” (Fernández González, 1998:137). Selingson suggests that the limit to acquire patterns and sounds is placed in eleven years of age (2011). Consequently, it could be argued that age plays an important role in learning the pronunciation of a foreign language. Fernández González, however, states that “children learning a foreign language in an academic setting but not in the country where the language is spoken present the same traces of foreign accent as adults, no matter if they are exposed to native input as tapes, videos or even a native teacher” (Fernández González, 1998:137). As a result, Kenworthy argues that “we do not yet have evidence for a simple and straightforward link between age and the ability to pronounce a new language.” (Kenworthy, 1990:6). Despite their age, “some adult speakers attain perfect mastery and are taken for native speakers of the language” (Fernández González, 1998:138).

Taking as a point of departure the compoundding parameter and its process of acquisition (Snyder 1995), the present study examines both differences and similarities in the use of English N-N compounds produced by a group of English native speakers and a second group of monolingual Spanish speakers learning English as their L2. The study also analyses whether the differences among the two groups of speakers, if any, could be attributed to crosslinguistic transfer from their L1 in the case of Spanish native speakers. This possible transfer will appear in the form of compound reversals (as shown in Nicoladis 2002) and it will be further related to other constructions with a similar word order, such as the Saxon genitive and the placement of adjective and noun within the noun phrase, since word order is the most likely and clear evidence of L1 transfer when dealing with Spanish learners of English (Nicoladis 1999).

Khaki (2010) focused his study on finding out the very common expectations of students in the classroom where they are learning English at a variety of different paces and besides, the class is large in number of students. The study is mainly focused on six different areas: classroom management, establishing collaboration, range of tasks, giving feedback, classroom English and home assignment. 60 students of tenth grade from government-aided school were selected to get required information. They were sampled using purposive non-random sampling procedure. To collect data, one questionnaire containing nineteen closed-ended questions was developed. This study revealed many findings at a time regarding the expectations of students in large multilevel classes, for example more than 90% of students like to be called by their first names. This study also proves that an English teacher should move all around the class. Sharing experiences like activity is highly preferred by a considerable number of students (40%). It shows that the sharing of experiences of teachers and students highly motivates the students. Besides, this study revealed that more than 90% of students reported that they expected additional activities over which the ones of the textbook. This study also focused that limited use of mother tongue in English classroom it is bearable and accepted, but the teacher should introduce some new words every day in simpler and shorter expression. In case of feedback, feedback at a personal level in the classroom is more preferable. The study reveals that most of the students like challenging activities, neither too easy, nor too difficult. Thus, it is essential to provide different tasks to different students, so that they can adapt them at their own pace.

As the large-class subject matter is very wide, some further studies have been examined with the idea of establishing some sort of comparison. The first study is related to one investigation done at the An-Najah National University in Nablus, Palestine. The purpose of the research was to discover the effects of large class on EFL students and the instructional, social, and psychological implications large classes have on their attitudes. There were also questions aimed to consider other variables such as gender, level of study, college and placement exam marks. The population of this study consisted of 1.200 students and the random sample was composed of 230 male and female students. The results of the different domains show that the students’ responses

In previous studies, Finn, Pannozzo, & Achilles (as cited in Bray & Kehle, 2011) indicate that less than 20 students per class is considered small, and more than 20 is considered a large one. Both authors explained that the fact of having large or small groups in the classroom does not necessarily result in higher achievement or failure rates because there are different factors that are very important in students when learning another language. As a result, what really matters is how well teachers are prepared.

This research “The influence of large classes in the English language teaching- learning process in Ecuadorian high schools” is aimed to determine whether or not large classes affect the English language teaching-learning process in Ecuadorian high schools. Three research questions were proposed to carry out the investigation; and, a questionnaire was structured and applied to two hundred nine students from three public educational institutions and one private high school in the city of Quito who were selected at random. They were attending to eight year of basic to third year of secondary and their ages oscillated between 12 and 18 years old.

Therefore, higher education institutions should lead in drawing on the advantages and potential of the ICTs, ensuring quality and maintaining high standards for education practices and outcomes in a spirit of openness, equity and international co-operation. In Cuba, universities actively interact with ITCs at a social and institutional level, which is expressed in a new vision regarding its use, availability and access in order to fulfill their mission. The Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas is also engaged in these goals. Professors and students use Moodle platform to facilitate the access to various sources of information for different courses.

17 Snivicki, Rice, Chism, and Bickford (2002) claim that if the number of students is about 16, the position face to face is more advisable; on the other hand, there is another way to arrange the chairs: they can be placed around the tables which is called “café style”. The advantage of this type of organization gives a successful result because learners are in a comfortable position, since “café style” offers students the possibility to work in pairs or in groups. Also, the authors explain that during the ‘open pair work’ two students discuss some topics under the supervision of their tutor, while the other students can hear the discussion, they do not move from their chairs, which give them the possibility of establishing communication; moreover, the teachers could arrange the seats in a circle and learners can move easily.

The space is also a big concern when working with large classes; the more students are in the class, the less space they will have to work in. Most of the participants of the study have shown agreement with how they are grouped to do something and how tasks are performed in the available space in terms of easiness. 84.94% in the first case just mentioned, and more than 80% in the second case confirm that fact, which also means that the teachers are exerting a good management over the class. It is clearly visible that the group, partner and individual activities are the ones that fit situation of the classes surveyed here. Roger (1983) mentions some ways to optimize the classroom space by arranging the students’ desk in different forms, all meant to ease the class communication.

After that , the field research started . Two public high schools of the city of Cariamanga were selected. The survey aimed to determine whether or not large classes affect the English teaching-learning process. The students were asked an open – ended question about the effect of large classes on them which were classified into three major areas: instructional, psychological and social. The gathered data was registered in tables, to do this, the quantitative method was taken into account. The research techniques used in this study were: Questionnaire , Note-taking. Instruments like questionnaire and tables were also applied. To analyze the results of this

Gower, Phillips, and Walters (2005) state that short instructions are entirely appropriate to this situation where the students accept their authority. Also, they usually realize that a firm directive manner is necessary in order to make a good language practice and to avoid confusion and uncertainty. Sometimes students need a little time before they get going while others get on with the task immediately. By providing ongoing feedback you can help your students evaluate their achievement and progress. Feedback can take a number of forms: giving praise and

In respect to digital libraries, it is evidenced that they are also widely used by the UNESCO and other organizations to bring knowledge to every possible place in the planet, since they allow users to access to an extensive variety of reliable sources and materials without losing track of their main purpose as occurs with Internet. In the information superhighway, users sometimes get lost in such a big amount of available information. In the case of language learning, Wu, Shaoqun and Witten, Ian H. (2006) state that “the Internet offers innumerable language resources, learners and teachers alike face the challenge of discovering usable material. Search engines return an overwhelming amount of dross in response to any query, and locating suitable sources demands skill and judgment. When learners study on their own, it is hard for them to locate material that matches their language ability.”

JClic is a multimedia resource that consists of a set of computer applications that are used to perform different educational activities: puzzles, exercises, texts, etc. The activities are established within projects, so that the activities are part of a set. The predecessor of JClic is called Clic, which is a free multimedia application. It has been used by teachers from various countries as a tool for creating learning activities for their students since 1992. JClic and Clic were created by the Spanish pioneer Francesc Busquets i Burguera who was born in Barcelona in 1959. JClic was developed on the Java platform; it is an open source project and it works on different operating systems. In brief, JClic is a set of free software applications designed to create various types of educational activities. Thus, the Click area is a service of the Department of Education of the Generalitat of Catalonia aiming to support and promote the use of these resources. Furthermore, it provides an open space for cooperation to promote the participation of all teachers who want to share this type of teaching material created by the programme.

The use of new technologies contributes to the teaching and learning of foreign languages. First, it allows access to numerous material, visual, graphic and sound resources in a precise and fast way; Second, it allows to establish contact with other centers for real communicative exchanges, by e-mails or even by video-conferences; and, thirdly, it allows, through the use of platforms, to vary the type of activities that are presented to the students. The use of role-plays or simulations of real situations in the classroom will allow the development of oral communication contributing to the motivation and loss of shyness. Self- assessment should be part of learning because, with it, the student is aware of his own mistakes and his learning. To achieve this goal, new technologies will be of great help, since they allow the creation and use of activities that can be self-corrected and show students their successes and mistakes, while facilitating the autonomy and development of curriculum competencies. Finally, the evaluation should not be limited to periodic tests, but should include the daily evaluation of oral and written activities.

The population is relatively small; for this reason, was not necessary to take a sample therefore this study was made up of 2 Teachers, 33 Students of Noveno Grade and 19 Students of Décimo Grade, given as result 54 beneficiaries in Unidad Educativa “Liceo Policial Chimborazo” during school year 2015-2016. This group was choosed because we evidenced during the pre-professional practices the existence of a low level of English learning. Students of Noveno and Decimo grade have problems at the moment to acquiere a new knowledge because teacher and students do not know the learning styles to develop their skills and abilities into the English subject. Their principal necessities are to know their learning styles and facilitate the use of adequate methods and techniques according to domain of each student for obtain a meaningful learning during the teaching-learning process.