Professional Resource Catalogue Part III

Professional Resource Catalogue

Amalia Stavrou

October 17th 2015

Author Note

This annotated bibliography was prepared for Post University: EDU 653, Second Language

Acquisition, taught by Professor Mills.

Abstract

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This Professional Resource Catalogue consists of twenty five resources which can be used to

better understand the second language acquisition process of high school teenagers. The first part

of bibliography, discusses the second language acquisition (SLA) at an older age which often

leads and promotes bilingualism or multilingualism. Also, some resources will highlight the

importance of cultural identity of the learner and maintaining the mother-language. Lastly, most

of the resources will analyze the theory of age and the Critical Language Hypothesis in regards

to the acquisition of second language past the critical age. The second part of the bibliography,

discuss differentiation methods, teaching strategies, activities and games that can be applied to

second language acquisition courses in order to encourage and enhance learner motivation. Also,

some resources, discuss the importance of teaching strategies, learning strategies and classroom

structures which are most beneficial for effective second language learning. The third part

consist of additional resources on the topics mentioned above. Overall, the success of second

language learning and acquisition of high school students is highlighted through these resources.

Part I – The Research and Background of Second Language Acquisition

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1. Akbari, Z. (2015). Current Challenges in Teaching/Learning English for EFL Learners: The

Case of Junior High School and High School. Procedia - Social And Behavioral

Sciences, 199(The Proceedings of the 1st GlobELT Conference on Teaching and

Learning English as an Additional Language), 394-401.

doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.524

Author Zahra Akbari, presents that idea that English has dominated the context of

foreign language learning and teaching throughout the world and especially in

Iran (Akbari, 2015). Akbari discusses various difficulties and short comings that

different countries are facing with English instruction. One of the major problems

that he highlights is that Iranian students take English for seven years (from junior

high; 11 years old through high school and even university levels) are not able to

communicate in English in real contexts and situations. This is partly to blame

because there is no environment and no active role for the use of English outside

of the classroom therefore students do not feel the need to learn English. Also,

Akbari, analyzes the pitfalls, weakness of teaching and learning English. Mainly,

Akbari’s article can be thought of as a list of things not to do when teaching

middle school and high school students English.

2. ANWARUDDIN, S. s. (2012). Learner Identity in Second Language Education. 3L: Southeast

Asian Journal Of English Language Studies, 18(2), 13-23.

This article investigates the theory of identity in second/foreign languages

learners. The research concludes the relationship between English language

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learning and a learner’s identify is labeled as ‘a user of English’. These learners

report to be grateful to have received the opportunity to learn English but also

believe that their homeland and mother tongue are crucial to the construction of

their identity and their English language learning process. This article highlight

the importance of understanding and respecting a learners’ identity. Often times,

the views of a learner will be carried into the language learning process which

will be exposed in their academic progress or lack thereof.

3. Cohen, J. j., & Wickens, C. c. (2015). Speaking English and the Loss of Heritage Language.

Tesl-Ej, 18(4), 1-18.

This article documents the importance of one’s heritage language throughout their

English learning process. The participants of this study stress that English is of

importance for survival, academic and social reasons in America. Even though

they are away from their homelands, the participants also yearn to maintain and

enhance their mother tongue and heritage language. With this being said, this

article highlights the importance of the heritage language which promotes

bilingualism in ESL learners.

4. Efromovich, Sid (2013). Ted-Ed: Five Techniques to Speak Any Language. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WLHr1_EVtQ

Speaker, Sid Efromovich, is a polyglot who speaks seven different languages (his

Greek is quite impressive). In the video, he discusses his experience and learning

techniques of learning five different language. He discusses the five techniques

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of: make mistakes, scrap the foreign alphabet, finding a stickler, shower

conversations and buddy formula. These techniques make the language learning

process easier. Efromovich, also discusses the importance of making mistakes in

order to helping the language learning process. By making mistakes a learner is

showing progress.

5. GÜRSOY, E., & AKIN, F. (2013). IS YOUNGER REALLY BETTER? ANXIETY ABOUT

LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN TURKISH CHILDREN. Social Behavior &

Personality: An International Journal, 41(5), 827-841. doi:10.2224/sbp.2013.41.5.827

Through this article, the authors highlight that age does not have an effect on the

route of second language acquisition (SLA) and that the differences between

younger and older learners is a result of factors which effect the learning process.

Although, the authors do agree that the starting point of language learning is

crucial to the rate of learning a language and creating a native-like pronunciation.

The length of exposure to the English language can also lead to fluency and

accurate pronunciation. For example, adolescents, teenagers and adults are

continuously exposed to the English language, therefore, there is a likelihood that

exposure will lead to fluency and accurate pronunciation. Overall, this article

highlights that second language acquisition is achievable in adolescents, teenagers

and adults.

6. Kibler, A. K. (2014). From High School to the Noviciado: An Adolescent Linguistic Minority

Student's Multilingual Journey in Writing. Modern Language Journal, 98(2), 629-651.

doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2014.12090.x

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This is article discusses the experience of ten teenagers that have moved to the

United States from countries all over the world and were required to learn a new

language. The experience of the teenagers show that even though English had

been studied in school, when arriving to the United States, these students

understood almost nothing. Klibisz also highlights that many high school

immigrant students learn a majority of their English from their surroundings,

environment, extracurricular activities and their English speaking friends. Overall,

despite the language barriers these students face they quickly become proficient in

English within a few months of their arrival. This study further proves that second

language acquisition is possible past the critical period and age of learning.

7. Lewis, Benny (2013). Ted-Ed: Hacking Language Learning. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x2_kWRB8-A

Benny Lewis shatters the myths of language learning. Through his presentation,

Lewis supports that there is no language learning gene but rather learning a

language is motivation and usage. He continues to break down the Critical Period

Hypothesis of language by stating that through research conducted in Israel,

adults are actually better language learners than children because of influences of

environment and motivation. He also analyzes the differences associated with

studying/learning a language and living a language, all elements important to

language acquisition.

8. Nacamulli, Mia (2015). Ted-Ed: The Benefits of a Bilingual Brain. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMmOLN5zBLY

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This video discusses the advantages of having a bilingual or multilingual brain.

Mia Nacamulli analyses three types of bilingual brains. She further deliberates

how being bilingual promotes brain health. Although theories, such as the Critical

Language Hypothesis support a critical period of language learning, Nacamulli

highlights that there is also research the supports positive effects of adult language

learning. Although a more scientific than linguistic approach, Nacamulli

demonstrate the importance of language learning to the brain.

9. Pinker, Steven (2012). Big Think: Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B_ONJIEcE

Steven Pinker, psychologist, cognitive scientist, and linguist at Harvard

University discusses the phenomenon of human language acquisition. Pinker

highlights the evolution of language and Chomsky’s theory of innate universal

grammar. Pinker also explores language as a fundamental of life and further

discusses how we know language in terms of human relationships and

communication. This video is of importance to educators, because it is important

that we also considered the science (both cognitive and anatomy based), logistics

and fundamentals of learning and how learning language is processed in the brain

of our students. This understanding and knowledge will be beneficial in the

language learning process for the educators and the learners.

10. Sadeghi, K., & Attar, M. T. (2013). The Relationship between Learning Strategy use and

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Starting Age of Learning EFL. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 70 (Akdeniz

Language Studies Conference, May, 2012, Turkey), 387-396.

doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.01.076

This article investigates the relationship between the use of learning strategies and

the starting age of second language learning. The case study concludes that there

is no statistical indication that there are differences in the use of language learning

strategies between older and younger learners. Therefore, shattering the Critical

Period of language learning theory. Although, the authors do note that older

learners consider learning English as a tool that they need to study, work and

survive in America whereas younger learners use English as a means of

communication. This article concludes that second language acquisition and

proficiency is possible in older learners.

Part II – The Analysis of Second Language Acquisition

11. Akbarzadeh, M., & Fatemipour, H. (2014). Examining the Match or Mismatch between

Teaching Style preferences and Upper-intermediate EFL Learners’ Learning Style

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Preferences. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 98(Proceedings of the

International Conference on Current Trends in ELT), 137-142.

doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.399

This study highlights the learning styles preferences, teaching style preferences

and how a match or mismatch between the students’ and teachers’ style

preferences can affect the second language acquisition. The results

of the study shows that the teacher of this case study had no major teaching

style preference and were aware that the theories of learning styles were not

being implement into their classrooms. Moreover, it is evident that the teachers of

this case study ignored the students’ learning preferences and had a fixed

style of teaching that was based on the requirement of the course, school, or

district and not on the students’ learning styles and/or preferences. Overall, this

article highlights the essential that language courses must mirror the students’

learning style and preferences rather than rules and regulations of the course,

the school or the district.

12. Antón-Méndez, I., Ellis, E. M., Coventry, W., Byrne, B., & van Daal, V. H. (2015). Markers

of success: A study of twins' instructed second language acquisition. Learning And

Individual Differences, 4244-52. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2015.08.012

This article highlights an interesting case study conducted with adolescent twins

in regards to instructed second language acquisition. The authors examine

the association of proficiency in instructed second language acquisition,

bilingualism, the starting age of instructed second language acquisition, and language

anxiety and attitude of the second language learners. Environmental factors

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were eliminated from the study and further more stressed that there is

clear relationship between attitude towards a language and the proficiency of the

second language. The article also suggests that there is higher language

anxiety related with higher proficiency levels. Furthermore, the article

concludes that bilingualism and the starting age of instructed second language

acquisition are unrelated to proficiency in the target language.

13. Brewster-Gutierrez, C. (2012). Teaching with Games: Games for Students to Help Build

Comprehension. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDSwvFL3mdQ

Expert, Cristina Gutierrez-Brewster, discusses various games that help students

build upon their existing reading comprehension. The games mentioned in

the video, help students to build comprehension and add an element of fun to

the class. The game that are discussed are as follows: Connection Chain, What

Book Am I, Visualization, Literary Element Jeopardy. These games foster

comprehension and highlight the significance of the materials that

students are presented in various classes.

14. Colorín Colorado. (2000). Context Counts in Second Language Learning. Retrieved from:

http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/context-counts-second-language-learning

This article breaks down the factors of learning a second language. The author

discusses the topic of second language acquisition through the eyes of, the

language, the language learner and the learning process itself. This

allows for a structured view of the learners experience and the process of

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second language acquisition. Often times, major details such as social and

cultural context have a tremendous impact on second language

development and may be overlooked during the learning process. Overall,

this article, highlights the status and importance of students’ ethnic and

cultural background which can help or hinder the acquisition of language in

a mainstream society. A difficulty often faced by older immigrant second

language learners.

15. EFLsensi. (2015). www.eflsensi.com: Using Mind Maps for ESL Writing. Retrieved from:

http://www.eflsensei.com/Using-Mind-Maps-For-ESL-Writing/

The link above discusses the use of the activity of mind map for ESL students.

The use of mind maps helps ESL students to brainstorm ideas based on an

assigned topic. In this way, student will be able to apply the

information of the mind map to a future writing assignment. This website, also

provides a list of steps that can be taken to apply the use of mind maps in a

course. With the consideration of second language acquisition, mind

mapping will help ESL students to also formulate whatever thoughts may

occur in their L1 to L2. A great activity for an ESL classroom or any other

subject area.

16. Fairfax Network. (2013) Best Practices: High School Reading Strategies. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y00Oe-cODw

This video demonstrates various reading strategies that can be applied to high

school students. In a high school classroom, students often have different

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reading levels which can often make material hardier than expect and

easier than expect for others. By implementing the reading strategies in the

video, the teachers demonstrate that reading strategies are life-long skills and

can be transferred and used in other subject areas to help students

understand the material and also build their vocabulary. Also the use of a

word wall allows students to visualize the vocabulary that they have gain

throughout the course of the year.

17. Khodadady, E., & Hesarzadeh, R. (2014). The Effect of Schema-vs-translation-based

Teaching on Learning English in High Schools. Theory & Practice In Language

Studies, 4(1), 143-154. doi:10.4304/tpls.4.1.143-154

The following article presents a case study that focuses on schema-based teaching

(SBT) and translation-based teaching (TBT). The areas of vocabulary, structure

and reading comprehension of forty-one female high school freshmen

students are analyzed in terms of schema based teaching and translation based

teaching. Although it seems as through each teaching strategy can be

beneficial in the long run, one method emphasizes more reading comprehension

than the other. TBT strategies encourages the learners to translate into their

mother language whereas through SBT learners are presents with materials

that they must learn in English. The results state that SBT strategies create

better performance in reading and comprehension however the TBT strategy

performed better on grammar and vocabulary tests. It appears as though both

strategies are success in second language acquisition and can function in

combination and be applied in moderation.

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18. Roseley Santos, E., & Phalangchok, W. (2015). Emergent vocabulary in second language

socialization among learners. Language & Dialogue, 5(2), 283-299.

doi:10.1075/ld.5.2.05esg

This article discusses the limited vocabulary knowledge that second language

learners have and the difficulties of identifying, recognizing and recalling

vocabulary when necessary. These three difficulties also transfer

into problematic talk which requirement correction, improvement and

practice. Moreover, this study presents a conversation analytic perspective

that fosters the relief from vocabulary related communication problems. The

study suggests that the combination of a low proficient learner and

a high proficiency learner that are paired together and communicate through

pair activities enhances the conversational element of the target

language. Furthermore, this study continues to analyze the importance and

positive outcomes of turn and talk and of think- pair-share strategies that are

used in second language acquisition instruction and suggest using communicative

strategies through socialization methods is crucial in second language

acquisition classrooms

19. Santisteban, L. r. (2014). The Effects of Differentiated Instruction on the Literacy Process

of Learners with Interrupted Schooling. GIST: Education & Learning Research

Journal, (9), 31-49.

The topic of differentiated instruction has appeared many times throughout this

course. Author, Santisteban analyzes the effects of differentiated

instructions of learners with interrupted schooling. Many of the

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participants in this study were confronted with interrupted schooling

because of different social factors and as consequences of their ages and

different social backgrounds. The authors continues to investigate the

differentiation methods (goal, activation of prior knowledge, new information,

application and generalization) that were implemented in the

participants’ classrooms in both English and Spanish (the mother tongue of the

participants). The research concludes that the methods of differentiated

instruction had minor impact on writing and vocabulary acquisition but

there was significant evidence and impact of the reading comprehension skills of the

participants. Thus highlighting that differentiated methods may be helpful to the

reading and comprehension skills of second language acquisition learners with

interrupted education.

20. Shvidko, E. (2014). TESOL. ESL Classroom Routines. Retrieve from

http://blog.tesol.org/esl-classroom-routines/

Through Unit 7, authors Riazzi & Lessard-Clouston & Cumming discuss the

importance of routine and structure in an ESL classroom (Riazzi &

Lessard- Clouston & Cumming, 2011). This blog supports the article of

Riazzi & Lessard- Clouston & Cumming by discussing the importance and the

methods of implementing routine and structure in a classroom. By

implementing classroom routines the teacher and the course are more

organized and structured. But also more learning and motivation is facilitated

in the students. Furthermore, the consideration of the learner’s background is

important to the classroom environment, because if a learner is a new

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immigrant their unfamiliarity can hinder their learning. But with a structured

and routine classroom environment, the learner will have a path to follow which

will help gain comfort and allow for an overall better learning process.

Part III – Additional Resources

1. Bradley, K.S., & Bradley, J.A. (2004). Scaffolding academic learning for second language

learners. The Internet TESL Journal. X(5). Retrieved from

http://iteslj.org/Articles/Bradley-Scaffolding/

Bradley & Bradley (2004) explain a number of pre-reading activities to get the

students to understand what they will be reading as well as during and post-reading

activities. This will allow the teacher to make sure the student comprehends while

reading and after reading. ELL students not only need to know how to read words but

they need to understand what the words mean and what the readings are about to grow in

their proficiency of the English language. This resource adds in the writing portion and

how the students can plan, write, share, revise, edit, and evaluate their writings (Bradley

& Bradley, 2004).

2. Guerrero, M. (2015). Motivation in Second Language Learning: A Historical Overview and Its

Relevance in a Public High School in Pasto, Colombia. Colombian Journal for English

Teachers, 22(1), 95-106.

This article documents and describes the use of motivation in second language

learning in a public high school in Colombia. The article briefly summarizes the

complexity of L2 motivation by paralleling motivational behavior with

developmental teaching theories from the last 40 years. Some of the mentioned

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theories include Social Psychological Period (1959-1990), the Cognitive-Situated

Period (1990s), the Process-Oriented Period, and a few recent L2 motivational

theories. The article concludes by stating that there is no one single definitive

theory for L2 motivation and personal learner’s traits are a complex variable to

consider when assessing second language acquisition.

3. Hixson, J. (2012). ELL Conference 2012: Building vocabulary for teaching ELLs. [Video file].

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha97RMSnuyM

In this video, Hixson (2012) explains why vocabulary is fundamental for ELLs.

Hixson (2012) emphasizes that particularly for ELL students, teachers

need to actively teach vocabulary as part of their daily instruction, which

will help ELL students increase their reading comprehension. This video offers

ELL teachers various strategies that can be implemented when teaching

vocabulary to ELL students.

4. Pinterest. (2015). Teaching speaking in a language classroom: Creating a conversation box for

your ESL or EFL Classroom. Retrieved from http://miss

linda.hubpages.com/hub/Teaching-Speaking-in-a-Language-Classroom-Creating-a-

Conversation-Box-for-your-ESL-or-EFL-Classroom

This is a clever way to start conversation in the classroom. This Pinterest article

lists multiple ways to use this conversation box in the classroom. This strategy

will be most effective because students who experience anxiety when having to

speaking in English or in front of a classroom. This activity could also be

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structured as a think-pair-share where students will use the help of their

classmates to perfect their language skills.

5. Perquin, M., Vaillant, M., Schuller, A., Pastore, J., Dartigues, J., Lair, M., & Diederich, N.

(2013). Lifelong Exposure to Multilingualism: New Evidence to Support Cognitive

Reserve Hypothesis. PLoS ONE, 8(4), 1-7.

This academic journal article documents a case study where life-long multilingual

participants were tested on how free they were from cognitive impairment

(CIND-free). The study concluded that multilingualism was not independent of

cognitive impairment, but rather, practicing multilingualism from early on and/or

learning it at a fast pace cognitive reserve in brain plasticity. In other words,

practicing multilingualism from an earlier age preserved brain functions against

the effects of aging on the brain. Becoming multilingual at an earlier age provides

evidence for supporting the Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis which documents how

aging of cognitive functions affects everything from learning languages to basic

motor functions.

References

Riazzi, A., Lessard-Clouston, M., & Cumming, A. (2011). Observing ESL Writing Instruction:

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A Case Study of Four Teachers. Journal of Intensive English Studies, 19-30.