Post-knowledge Economy and Lifelong Language Learning: New Agendas and Issues

Despite being a late twentieth century concept, LLL is continuing to attract the attention of scholars, policymakers and practitioners. LLL principles, strategies and practices, while remaining inviolable in their foundations, require research to continually revisit them in relation to current trends, for example, the post-globalising world;the post-knowledge society;the digital economy and digitalisation of all spheres of human life, including education;the coronavirus pandemic and the possibility of increased ‘hybrid' forms of learning. In response to these developments, the chapter poses and addresses a number of problems related to the future positioning of LLL as a contributor to new forms of human capital development required to respond to the above challenges. The chapter pays special attention to LLL as an educational open continuum concerned with socio-, inter-, and poly-cultural personality development at the level of informal language education and how it prepares students to respond to potential changes in their future professional careers, while also raising issues about the commercial role of language proficiency and the commodification of language as a factor of success in the professional and social spheres of human life. Finally, the chapter discusses the permanent development parameters of student communicative individuality and identifies the characteristics of the life spheres in which people can realize their personal potential through continuous language improving. By blending conceptual and practical issues, the chapter offers a new strategic and practical perspective on LLL implementation. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Using culturally responsive teaching and funds of knowledge to engage culturally and linguistically diverse students in authentic learning

This study employed the theoretical frameworks of Culturally Responsive Teaching and Funds of Knowledge as lens for understanding how English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in the Texas border region use culturally responsive teaching and funds of knowledge to engage culturally diverse students in authentic learning. The results of this study include the following themes: Curriculum, instruction and assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse students;lessons learned from virtual/online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic;culturally responsive teaching practices;funds of knowledge;and authentic learning. The results indicated that while English as a Second Language (ESL) in the border region may not have been familiar with the phrases, culturally responsive teaching or funds of knowledge;through their teaching experiences, they demonstrated genuine cultural competence and caring toward their culturally and linguistic diverse students. This study raises implications for research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The Association between Perceived Teacher Support, Students' ICT Self-Efficacy, and Online English Academic Engagement in the Blended Learning Context

The present study intended to examine the relationship between perceived teacher support, students' ICT self-efficacy, and online English academic engagement in the blended learning setting, especially in mobile-assisted foreign language instruction contexts. A sample of 960 Chinese undergraduate and postgraduate students was recruited to participate in the online questionnaire. SPSS version 24.0 was used for descriptive, correlation, independent samples t-test, and mediation analysis of the three variables. The results showed that: (1) there is a significant correlation between perceived teacher support, students' ICT self-efficacy, and online English academic engagement;(2) students' ICT self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between perceived teacher support and student online English academic engagement;(3) students' ICT self-efficacies differed by sex and level of education, but not by major;(4) students' sense of self-competence in ICT self-efficacy has a significant positive influence on engagement with online English learning. The findings reveal that students' ICT self-efficacy positively impacts students' online English learning, and perceived teacher support also affects students' learning engagement. School administrators should encourage teachers to focus on students' online self-efficacy, especially the sense of environmental control. Implications and further directions for future research are presented at the end.

Game Applications on Modern Devices as Means of Activating Educational Activities

The rapid development of modern information and communication technologies affects all spheres of human life, including the educational sphere. Moreover, today the objective circumstance of the hard introduction of distance education and online learning technologies into the educational process is the global spread of the "new disaster” of the 21st century – COVID-19. Under completely new conditions, it is necessary to restructure the educational process and, in particular, its methodological component in a short time. But until recently, one could hear about the use of digital technologies, online learning, including distance learning, as an innovative form of the educational process, and now the use of digital distance learning technologies in education does not surprise anyone and does not raise doubts. Internet resources, computer and mobile technologies are widely used by teachers in the educational process, and therefore there is a need to study the possibilities of using modern information and communication technologies in teaching, in particular, in the field of teaching foreign languages. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

An investigation into oral digital storytelling in primary English in Switzerland

This thesis investigates oral digital storytelling (DST) in the young learner foreign language (L2) classroom and was motivated by my practice as a Swiss primary teacher and English language methodology lecturer at the teacher training college in Zug. To date, there has been little research on the potential role of oral task-based DST in the L2 classroom at primary level. This year-long study explores opportunities and challenges of collaborative oral task-based DST in English L2 classes in a Year 4 primary classroom (ten-year-olds). It examines how L2 learning can be promoted, and what prior knowledge is needed to engage in the tasks. It further explores the effect of collaborative DST on speaking proficiency, and the use of language(s) - and notably translanguaging. The main data consist of video- and audio-recordings of four pupils working in dyads on collaborative oral tasks, and semi-structured interviews with the children and their Year 4 teacher. My original research and data-collection plans were significantly affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, making adaptations necessary. These included: analysis of an English lesson observed before lockdown;an individual DST task for the children to complete as part of home-schooling;a pupil questionnaire about their different experiences of DST in pairs at school and at home alone;and an interview with the children's Year 5 teacher to gain some qualitative insights into her perception of the impact of DST on the children's English. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and the underlying approach to the research was ecological constructivism. The findings suggest that DST can provide a bridge between the mandated textbook to connect it with the children's lives and play a motivating role in supporting the development of L2 oracy, particularly where supported by: the explicit teaching of effective collaborative work;the provision of task-based language support resources;and the presence of an audience. A further significant finding was the positive role of using L1 and translanguaging in the L2 classroom. Translanguaging, little-known in Switzerland, is unsupported by Curriculum 21, the recently implemented curriculum to harmonise education across the various cantons in Switzerland. My findings also give insights into how structured oral task-based DST can enhance pupils' oracy in an L2, pupils' and teachers' Information and Communication Technology skills, and pedagogy more generally - an important set of findings given the necessity for more theoretical insights in technology-supported task-based DST. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Foreign Language Instructors' Professional Development in Times of Crisis: Challenges and Solutions

The unprecedented situation of covid-19 compelled many universities and colleges worldwide to reconsider both the management and delivery of classes, forcing faculty to use innovative online and mobile means. The transition also caused faculty to reevaluate their professional development (pd). This qualitative exploratory study focused on the pd experienced by a group of foreign language university instructors in Colombia during this crisis. Specifically it identified the challenges encountered and how these were tackled. Data were collected through an open-ended survey and analyzed using content analysis. Results show ten main challenges, which were then categorized into three themes: (a) adaptation to emergency remote teaching, (b) promotion of student engagement, and (c) handling of emotions. Conclusions reveal that professors embraced the crisis with a positive attitude, engaging in different pd opportunities, displaying agency, responsibility, and flexibility. Therefore, the challenges and their reaction to them fostered their pd and learning. These findings suggest that institutions should allow instructors to give input into the types of pd programs that they need for specific situations © Copyright, Universidad de Antioquia, 2022. This is an open-access article, available under the terms of the Creative Commons license by-nc-sa 4.0 International

Perceived teacher-principal value consonance and teacher commitment: An exploratory study of K-12 and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers' values, perceptions of their principals' values, COVID-19, and their impact on teachers' professional commitment

Student achievement and teacher morale have been closely linked to teacher retention and of concern for administrators seeking to promote teacher commitment. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to further concerns about teacher commitment for these administrators. To better understand the underlying reasons behind teacher commitment, the current research explored the correlation between value consonance of an individual, their perception of their principal or supervisor's values, and commitment to their occupation and organization. This study further sought to illuminate relationships between value consonance and teacher commitment, how relationships between teachers' value consonance and commitment differ by intention to stay in the occupation and at their current school or organization, to what extent value consonance differs as a function of intent to stay in the teaching profession and the current school or organization, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on values, their perceived supervisors' values, and commitment to the occupation and current school or organization.This exploratory, quantitative study compared responses from self-reported leavers and stayers, and found that among teachers intending to leave, teachers valuing Autonomy and Job Security more than their supervisor expressed more Continuance Commitment to the Occupation. Moreover, those valuing Colleague Relationships more than their supervisors had stronger Affective Commitment to the Organization. For teachers who intended to stay, however, few or no relationships were found between value consonance and commitment. These results were echoed in teachers' open-ended responses to questions about the impact of the pandemic on their values and commitment where comments showed that both leavers and stayers largely reported similar impacts during COVID. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

English language learner teacher support changes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, ELL teachers focused their culturally responsive instruction and supports through creating meaning, promoting academic and social success, and empowering students and families. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic affected almost all countries and more than 50 million people around the world. The purpose of this study was to investigate how ELL teachers' support for students in a southeastern school district, IISD, changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and ELL teachers' perceptions of how this change may have impacted ELLs during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative, basic interpretive design using a questionnaire provided me with opportunities to examine how ELL teachers' support for ELLs. I sent the questionnaire to 41 ELL teachers who were representatives of 30 elementary, middle, and high schools. The responses from the eight participants highlighted the ELL supports' impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. I discovered several consistent themes of the ELL teachers' supports that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic in the areas of student, family, and staff support, as well as community and stakeholder engagement. Additionally, I discovered the ELL teachers' perceptions were divided between two groups of those who felt that nothing changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and those who felt the opposite, being more involved with supports increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. . (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Effects on University Students' Behavioral Traits: How Community of Inquiry Can Support Instructional Design During Times of Changing Cognitive Habits

Recent investigations show how the pandemic has affected learners' behavioral traits. The results of three semi-structured surveys carried out in a major Italian university: 2020, 1st sem. (n=102);2022, 1st sem. (n=235);and 2022, 2nd sem. (n=61) under COVID-19 containment measures, manifest deviations in students' perceptions about social patterns, learning routines, and expectations. During the two-year emergency remote learning, students revealed a progressive downsize of social expectancy and increasing self-management behaviors in relation to a higher degree of independence. The Community of Inquiry principles were adopted to observe student motivation and self-direction in a Moodle-based learning environment. Conversely, the focus on English as a Foreign Language as the main subject represents an uncharted perspective in the research contexts around the Community of Inquiry. Future expansions may enlarge the sample to further education bodies and broaden the range of e-learning tools.

DISTANCE EDUCATION – NEW PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

During the COVID-19 epidemic, the experience of distance learning placed the teaching and learning process in a different, previously untested educational context, in which students autonomously follow the learning process under the guidance of their teachers. Prior to this experience, organizational and structural considerations governed how technology was used, with teachers integrating web-based learning to supplement traditional classroom instruction. During the emergency remote teaching it was not a question of upgrading previously established web-based learning practices, but of introducing new methodologies and approaches. This paper focuses on distance foreign language teaching in secondary schools and the unique aspects of developing communicative competences at a distance. We discuss the difficulties that teachers have encountered when returning to the classroom and highlight the benefits that allow teachers to develop new dimensions of web-based learning practices. The purpose of the survey was to look at how students perceived distance learning in terms of developing their communicative competences and their linguistic basis (grammar and vocabulary). We were also interested in how other factors influenced their experience, how distance education encouraged their autonomy, and what kind of changes they perceived in themselves and their teachers during the learning process. The findings indicate that while distance foreign language teaching provided students with a variety of opportunities to develop their communication competences and encourage their autonomy, they also faced significant difficulties in their use of technology and in self-regulation of their learning, which in light of innovative teaching and learning approaches poses additional challenges for the future. © 2022, University of Ljubljana Press. All rights reserved.

Potential pitfalls of online foreign language teaching from the perspective of the university teachers.

In the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all universities had to conduct the courses online, including foreign language learning (FLL) classes. Pre-COVID-19 research into the possibilities of digital FLL seemed very optimistic and promising; however, when real life brought the challenges of online classes, the situation was different. This research focuses on the experience of university foreign language teachers from the Czech Republic and Iraq with their online foreign language classes during the past two years. It attempts to analyse their experience and brings together all major issues and concerns they were able to realise. The methodology is qualitative and the number of participants was 42 university teachers from two countries where guided semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data. The results clearly show that despite the overoptimistic earlier research - the respondents in both countries were very dissatisfied with the way the classes were conducted for various reasons, such as the lack of adequate training, insufficient methodologies for FLL, the lack of motivation in students, dramatically increased screen time of both students and teachers, etc. The most important suggestions call for an adequate methodology for online foreign language learning and necessary professional training so that the instructors are able to keep pace with unprecedentedly fast development in information technology used in various forms of digital learning.

English language learner teacher support changes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, ELL teachers focused their culturally responsive instruction and supports through creating meaning, promoting academic and social success, and empowering students and families. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic affected almost all countries and more than 50 million people around the world. The purpose of this study was to investigate how ELL teachers' support for students in a southeastern school district, IISD, changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and ELL teachers' perceptions of how this change may have impacted ELLs during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative, basic interpretive design using a questionnaire provided me with opportunities to examine how ELL teachers' support for ELLs. I sent the questionnaire to 41 ELL teachers who were representatives of 30 elementary, middle, and high schools. The responses from the eight participants highlighted the ELL supports' impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. I discovered several consistent themes of the ELL teachers' supports that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic in the areas of student, family, and staff support, as well as community and stakeholder engagement. Additionally, I discovered the ELL teachers' perceptions were divided between two groups of those who felt that nothing changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and those who felt the opposite, being more involved with supports increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. . (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

A Flipped-Based WebQuest Model as an Alternative Proposal for Students of English as a Foreign Language in the COVID-19 Era

To find alternative strategies to create meaningful learning for their students during COVID-19, teachers resorted to using digital tools. This paper aims at investigating the impact of the Flipped-Based WebQuest (FWQ) model on the improvement of English L2 writing competence among sixty-nine secondary education English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Egypt. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design with quantitative tools. Two groups of students were selected: a control group studying in the traditional way (face-to-face) and an experimental group learning English through FWQ. A pretest was used to assess students' L2 writing competence in both groups. After the intervention, a posttest was conducted to explore students' L2 writing skills gains in both groups. Additionally, a pre/post-anxiety questionnaire was used to check the effect of FWQ on decreasing L2 writing anxiety. The findings revealed that the FWQ model is effective in teaching English L2 writing skills and decreasing students' English L2 anxiety.

School exchanges between Germany and France: some new challenges and new opportunities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

The present paper examines the impact of the COVID 19-pandemic on school exchanges between Germany and France. Furthermore, it investigates teachers' and students' experiences with distance learning during this period. We highlight that the pandemic has generated many excep-tional challenges, especially for vulnerable students. However, the pandemic-induced constraints have also stimulated the development of new didactic approaches, tools and methods. Therefore, we can speak about the new opportunities in the domain of education, and most precisely, for school exchanges. © The Author(s), Adam Mickiewicz University Press, 2022.

The effect of bilingual proficiency in Indian English on bilabial plosive

Background: Bilingual speech production studies have highlighted that level of proficiency influences the acoustic-phonetic representation of phonemes in both languages (MacKay, Flege, Piske, & Schirru 2001;Zarate-Sandez, 2015). The results for bilingual speech production reveals that proficient/early bilinguals produce distinct acoustic properties for the same phoneme in each language, whereas less proficient/late bilinguals produce acoustic properties for a phoneme that is closer to the native language (Flege et al., 2003;Fowler et al., 2008). Acoustic-phonetic studies for Hindi (L1) and Indian English (L2) for bilingual speakers have been understudied, and the level of proficiency has not been considered in Hindi and Indian English bilingual speakers. The present study aimed to measure the acoustic differences produced by bilingual speakers of varying proficiencies for Indian English on bilabial plosive and determine how the bilabial plosives are different from American English bilabial plosives.Methods: The sample size for this study was twenty-four. However, only twenty participants (eleven females) between the ages of eighteen and fifty, with normal speech and hearing, were recruited. The lack of recruitment of four more participant was due to the inability to find bilingual speakers who spoke Hindi as their first language and Indian English as their second language and COVID-19 restrictions imposed on recruitment (n=4). The participants were divided into three groups based on language and proficiency: a monolingual American English group, a proficient bilingual Hindi-Indian English group, and a less-proficient bilingual Hindi-Indian English group. The bilinguals were divided into a proficient and less proficient group based on the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (Marian, Blumenfeld, & Kaushanskaya, 2007). Following the screening, participants took part in a Nonword Repetition Task. Data were analyzed using Praat and Voice Sauce software. A linear mixed-effects model using R statistics was used for the statistical analysis.Results: Data from 20 participants (seven proficient bilingual speakers, five less-proficient bilingual speakers, and eight monolingual speakers) were included in the data analysis. Approximately four thousand repetitions were evaluated across the remaining participants. There were no significant main effects across the four dependent variables, but there was an interaction effect between group and phoneme on two dependent variables. The closure duration for proficient bilingual speakers compared to less-proficient bilingual speakers were significantly different between the voiceless unaspirated bilabial plosive (VLE) and voiceless aspirated bilabial plosive (VLH), as well as voiced unaspirated bilabial plosive (VE) and voiced aspirated bilabial plosive (VH). For spectral tilt, there was a significant difference between the VLE and VLH for proficient bilingual speakers compared to less proficient bilingual speakers.Discussion: The results of this study suggest that proficient bilingual speakers have faster rate of speech in both their first and second language. Therefore, it is difficult to provide information on whether this group has separate acoustic-phonetic characteristics for each phoneme for each language. In contrast, the less-proficient bilingual speakers seem to have a unidirectional relationship (i.e., first language influences the second language). Furthermore, the results of the acoustic characteristics for the control group i.e., monolingual American English speakers suggest that they may have acoustic-phonetic characteristics that represent a single acoustic-phonetic representation of bilabial plosive with their voicing contrast. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Restriction to face-to-face teaching of Foreign Languages in a pandemic context

In this article, we analyse the situation of teaching French as a foreign language (FFL) at Alliance Française, after both teachers and students in Spain were confined as a result of the pandemic of COVID-19. The French Alliance in Vigo had to adapt its professional practice to the reality of confinement changing to 100% online teaching. This article presents the tools used by the pedagogical team of the Alliance Française in Vigo and the way in which they adapted its pedagogy in order to face a new reality in a pandemic context. Both might be impossible to ignore from now on, with regard to the teaching of Foreign Languages and other disciplinary fields. © 2022 GERFLINT. All rights reserved.

Professionalization in second language teacher education

This dissertation explores the professionalization of students enrolled in second language teacher education (SLTE) and their perceptions of the characteristics and obligations of a professional second language teacher (SLT). The sociocognitive approach forms the theoretical foundation, which sees humans as life-long learners and teachers, who adapt by progressively aligning with others and their ecosocial environment. Professionalization is seen as the socialization process of progressive alignment that involves the development of skills, knowledge, identities, norms, and values within a professional community of practice. An SLTE course was observed in an etic ethnographic tradition, all course materials were collected, and semi-structured interviews that focused on SLT professionalism were conducted with 13 participants. Data were analyzed using the lenses of language socialization and membership categorization analysis (MCA) to make visible target phenomena related to professionalization. Language socialization revealed instances of professionalization that took place during the SLTE course or that resulted from processes during the semi-structured interviews, which were illuminated by positive or negative affiliation. MCA revealed participant perceptions about the obligations and characteristics of a professional SLT, from which six themes emerged, which include interacting with students, methods and materials, teacher attributes, student attributes, and the concepts of schools and schooling, which broadly represent the synchronic and diachronic sociocultural contexts for SLTE respectively. The use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) received further attention. 100% of participants expressed some willingness to use these tools, but 23% had an initial reactionary response that rejected CALL in favor of more traditional methods. Additionally, 54% of responses included unsolicited mentions of the Covid-19 pandemic in a misinterpretation of CALL. Interventions for those with a misinterpretation are suggested to orient CALL appropriately in the context of the pandemic and for 21st century language learning and teaching. Course materials were quantitatively analyzed using semantic similarity indices in an exploratory process with negligible results. Possible modifications are discussed that might result in a useful proxy statistic for professionalization. Further implications are discussed in relation to SLTE curriculum and professionalization along with perspectives about building rapport when using semi-structured interviews as a research method. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Social Networks as a Tool for Improving the Plurilingual and Pluricultural Competences in Online Interactions of Esp Students

The paper presents the results of an online questionnaire survey carried out in the period of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents (N = 221), university students of Economics (Bc. degree), often communicate in different languages on social networks. Our focus was on detecting achieved skills of students developing their plurilingual and pluricultural competences, the aim to identify elements of intercultural communication during language interaction, and the level of plurilingual and pluricultural competence among students of at least two foreign languages (ESP and another language for specific purposes). Online communication helped enhance vocabulary (idioms, phrases), fluency of speech in a foreign language and gain knowledge of respondents' foreign language communication partners' cultures and countries.

Foreign Language Communication in Virtual Exchanges: Reflections and Implications for Applied Linguistics

Virtual exchange (VE) has grown out of telecollaboration, which originated in the language-teaching field, and has now expanded to all areas of knowledge as a collaborative methodology to enhance learning and fostering soft skills and intercultural competences. VE has recently received growing interest from higher education institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the reduction in physical mobility. This article reports a study on the strategies used by non-language specialist professors for facilitating communication in a foreign language in VE within the Brazilian Virtual Exchange (BRaVE). Data collection and analysis involved qualitative research methodology through analyzing participants’ reflections. Implications for the field of applied linguistics point to the need for a theoretical framework for VE as an interdisciplinary field. This would serve the purpose to train professors to design and implement activities that involve foreign language communication.

Editorial

Given the central role of teachers, it is not surprising that a substantial part of this issue is devoted to language teacher education and training. While researchers have mainly explored blended learning in English as a foreign language (EFL) university settings, this synthesis provides an interesting snapshot of the technologies, effectiveness and challenges in the context of language learning at a crucial moment for the adoption of pedagogies based on multimodality and artificial intelligence (AI). For the authors, educational robots have a role to play in language learning as they may strengthen social aspects such as turn-taking, non-verbal communication and mutual peer learner support in multi-learner settings.