Language Acquisition through various media forms Wisam Fillo

Language Acquisition through various media forms Wisam Fillo, Janan Ravi, Monica Kohler, Michael Nolan

Language Acquisition and Interactive Media Wisam Fillo

Simulated Learning Environments - Schwienhorst (Dublin professor) advocates for virtual reality learning through computer games. - Collaboration, interaction, and critical thinking for L 2 acquisition. - Stress-free role play allows for more active participation which leads to more active learning.

SIMS - The Journal of Language Learning and Technology has a new article describing how The Sims can be modified to teach a another language. - How effective is this simulated immersion in acquiring L 2? - Use of spatialized translation layers

- Tool tip data from the English dataset: hover the cursor over the word and receive a pop-up explanation which includes an English translation. - Modifying video games and incidental learning. - Hulstijn (1992), suggests that vocabulary retention can be improved if new words are glossed with multiple choices in which the learner must chooses best fit.

SIMS - Players must keep track of their Sim’s energy level. - Incorrectly guessing the meaning leads to the characters taking steps to notify the player about energy levels. -What effect does this have on language? → Recovery by way of more interactions.

Rosetta Stone - “Learning by immersion” style - Embellished flash card system? - Krashen’s input hypothesis

Rosetta Stone - Recognizable input as a learning strategy may be more enjoyable than the stressful situations you would encounter in immersive environments, but what’s more realistic? What’s more efficient? - Active learners

Rosetta Stone & Negative Effects - Repetition of set topics and themes with little to no creativity or ownership over learning! - What about tonal languages? - My experience with Arabic Rosetta Stone…

Language Acquisition and Television Janani Ravi

Foreign Language Acquisition through Subtitled Television: Adults and Children - The market for imported television programming. - Soundtracks versus subtitles - More acquisition if the soundtrack is in the native language and subtitles are in a foreign language; acquisition limited to vocabulary - Sensitive period did not affect this study From “Foreign Language Acquisition by Watching Subtitled Television Programs” by Gery d’Ydewalle

Children’s Television Programming - Different Schools of thought of television as a learning tool for young children. 1. sensory bombardment interferes with processing 2. as children age, they are less influenced by sensory images. 3. younger children focus on normal video without edits, older children focus on edited programming Taken from “Media and Young Children’s Learning”

- Under the age of 18 months do not understand the television programing (perhaps due to inattentivity to dialogue) - Young children under two years old acquire better vocabulary through real-life interactions over television programming (like “Baby Einsteins”) - Sensitivity to media 1. Children do not realize that the television world cannot affect them until they are about 3 -4 2. Children do not realize commercials are not part of show or do not understand the intention of advertising until about 7 -8

- Children’s attentiveness are based on the type of programming they view 1. violent/non-education cartoons and ADD 2. child speech versus adult speech - Blue’s Clues and Sesame Street versus Teletubbies 1. Blue’s Clues: outperformance in problem solving skills 2. Sesame Street: higher levels of readiness 3. Teletubbies: negatively linked with performance - Another study showed that Blue’s Clues + Dora the Explorer linked with increased vocabulary and expression.

Language Acquisition and Music Monica Kohler

Musical Introduction : ) Frontiers in Psychology “Music and Early Language Acquisition” Science Daily: “Music Underlies Language Acquisition” -Music is recognized as a universal feature of human cognition BUT it’s often thought of as ancillary

Two Arguments Surrounding this Topic! 1) Prevailing Theory: Music and language are cognitively separate; music is a by product of language 2) Argued Theory: Music underlies the ability to acquire language! → From a developmental perspective, music comes first and language arises from it! (Brandt)

How can this view be supported? ! -Infants listen to the sounds of language first, and to its meaning second -The newborn brain is capable of a lot of awesome stuff! -Ability to distinguish between phonemes, pitch, rhythm, and timbre!

Connection between Speech and Music → Recognizing the sounds of different consonants and recognizing the timbre of different instruments overlap! → Listening to music and speech “We conclude that music merits a central place in our understanding of human development. ” (Brandt)

What Could More Research Do? → Music therapy and reading/speech disorders -Dyslexia → Music as an aid to patients in need of rehabilitation after a stroke

Language Acquisition and the Internet Michael Nolan

Common Misconceptions → Children will acquire informal Internet forms over standard forms (Johnson) → English is becoming creolized due to the Internet (O’Brien) → Children will learn their first language from the Internet

What Traditionalists Fear. . .

What Traditionalists Fear. . .

Internet Effects on L 1 Acquisition → Native speakers don’t learn their first language on the Internet → Increase in borrowing of words and phrases from other languages → Additions to L 1, not alterations

Internet Effects on L 2 Acquisition → Direct contact between native and non-native speakers allows for easier L 2 acquisition (El. Bekraoui, Hokanson) → Non-native speakers forced to learn English as a second language → Preservation of endangered languages

Positive Effects on Acquisition → Link between texting/chatting and greater vocabulary (Wood) → Innovation - new forms and dimensions of communication (Crystal) → Easier to acquire L 2 → Preservation of endangered languages

Negative Effects on Acquisition → Anecdotal increase of informal language used in formal settings due to acquiring internet forms → “English Imperialism” -- domination of English over other languages

Discussion Questions: - What are YOUR opinions of media’s effects on L 1 or L 2 acquisition? Why? - Can you think of any other mediums that have affected your own language? - How do you recall the role of television in your childhood, and did you watch educational programming or more non-educational cartoons? (Think Mr. Rogers versus Pokemon) - What sorts of inferences can we make on future language acquisition based on what we know (and the increased frequency of media usage)?

Our sources http: //www. economist. com/johnson/2013/01/review http: //llt. msu. edu/vol 9 num 1/purushotma/default. htmlhttp: //www. humanities. uci. edu/german/ger 220/sch wienhorst 2002. pdf http: //www. sciencedaily. com/releases/2012/09/120918185629. htm http: //www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC 3439120/ http: //w 3. kansai-u. ac. jp/fl/publication/pdf_education/04/4 geryd'ydewalle. pdf http: //www. princeton. edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/18_01_03. pdf

Our sources http: //www. adtrak. co. uk/blog/the-english-language-online-how-the-internet-affects-our-linguisticapproach/ http: //www. economist. com/blogs/johnson/2012/12/internet-and-language-change http: //www. voanews. com/content/experts-divided-over-internet-changes-to-language 81898572/162216. html https: //wiki. umn. edu/pub/DHA 5399/Class 15 B/paper. Final 2. pdf https: //www. flickr. com/photos/hams-caserotti/ http: //www. telegraph. co. uk/healthnews/9520111/Text-speak-does-not-affect-childrens-use-ofgrammar-study. html