todoELE

Research on ‘heritage/community language education’ (HCLE) has a relatively recent trajectory, but it has generated a large number of scholarly publications, particularly in relation to Spanish in the United States (U.S.) where the growth of Spanish heritage language learners (HLL) has been exponential. However, to date, limited research attention has been given to the intersection between heritage language learning and the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). This may be attributed to the assumption that, on a daily basis, such learners are required to move and effectively operate between languages and cultures and, therefore, already possess adequate levels of ICC. With the development of ICC, now considered an integral component in language education, the time appears ripe to examine its implications within HCLE. This paper articulates the key similarities and differences in the trajectories of ICC research in relation to university level heritage learners of Spanish in three distinct geographical contexts: Australia, Europe, and the United States.

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La investigación sobre el “español como lengua de herencia o lengua comunitaria” (ELHC) tiene una trayectoria relativamente reciente, pero ha generado ya múltiples publicaciones, particularmente en el contexto estadounidense, donde el número de estudiantes de español como lengua de herencia (ELH) ha crecido exponencialmente. Sin embargo, hasta la fecha, la investigación centrada en la intersección entre el aprendizaje del ELH y el desarrollo de la competencia comunicativa intercultural (CCI) es limitada. Esto puede atribuirse a la convicción de que estos estudiantes deben atravesar diariamente el umbral entre idiomas y culturas y que, por lo tanto, ya poseen niveles adecuados de CCI. Con el desarrollo de la CCI, considerada actualmente un componente integral en la instrucción de idiomas, es oportuno examinar sus implicaciones dentro del ELHC. En este artículo se desarrollan las diferencias y semejanzas clave en las trayectorias de investigación de la CCI en relación con los estudiantes de ELH de nivel universitario en tres contextos geográficos distintos: Australia, Europa y los Estados Unidos.

Some challenges to intercultural communication prevent intercultural interactions altogether, while others can prevent effective and successful communication during an intercultural exchange. This article addresses a key challenge within intercultural interactions: cultural meaning-making. This is a process that requires both communicative and intercultural competence and encompasses the interdependent and ever-present relationships between language, culture, and worldviews. Considering the important role of language teachers in second language (L2) learners’ cultural meaning-making development in challenging interactions that may be faced by learners in the target language community, the current pilot study elicits teachers’ perceptions of linguistic and cultural resources required by their students to engage in challenging interactions and focuses on the pedagogical approaches employed by them to foster cultural meaning-making in challenging interactions. Three types of challenging situations were examined: difficult situations (uncomfortable or even hostile for the students); impolite situations (those that may be rude or impolite); and situations of imposition (those that involve imposition on the student or another person, e.g., requests, commands, favors). Results indicated teachers’ reliance on certain resources involved in cultural meaning-making and a general absence of a theoretical approach to intercultural communication.

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Existen desafíos inherentes a la comunicación intercultural que impiden totalmente las interacciones, mientras que otros representan un obstáculo para una comunicación efectiva. Este artículo aborda un desafío crucial de dichas interacciones: la construcción de significados culturalmente limitados, un proceso que requiere competencias comunicativas e interculturales, en el que se manifiestan las relaciones interdependientes entre lenguaje, cultura y visión del mundo. Considerando el papel de los profesores de lengua en cómo los estudiantes construyen significados culturalmente limitados al abordar interacciones complejas en la comunidad de la L2, el presente estudio piloto explora las percepciones docentes sobre los recursos lingüísticos y culturales necesarios para que los alumnos participen en interacciones desafiantes, así como enfoques pedagógicos para que estos sean capaces de construir significados. Se examinaron tres tipos de situaciones desafiantes: situaciones incómodas (difíciles de resolver e incluso hostiles para los alumnos); situaciones descorteses (aquellas que se pueden percibir como de poca educación); y situaciones de imposición (aquellas que implican imposición al estudiante o a otra persona, por ejemplo, peticiones, órdenes, favores). Los resultados sugieren que los docentes confían en recursos propios de la construcción de significados, pero también que no parten de un enfoque teórico para la comunicación intercultural.

Texto completo

Si tenemos en cuenta que la movilidad transnacional y los contactos interpersonales se han incrementado exponencialmente en las últimas décadas, no resulta extraño que de manera paralela haya crecido el interés por la investigación sobre interculturalidad en el ámbito de la enseñanza de lenguas. Una de las principales motivaciones que ha conducido a desarrollar este tipo de investigación tiene que ver con la necesidad cada vez más acuciante de adquirir competencia intercultural, tanto en entornos personales, como en los profesionales y educativos. A ello se añade la creciente exigencia en las sociedades digitalizadas de comunicarse de forma eficaz e interculturalmente adecuada, también en entornos virtuales.

This book demonstrates the positive impact of using film and audiovisual material in the language classroom. The chapters are evidence-based and address different levels and contexts of learning around the world. They demonstrate the benefits of using moving images and films to develop intercultural awareness and promote multilingualism, and suggest Audiovisual Translation (AVT) activities and projects to enhance language learning. The book will be a valuable continuing professional development resource for language teachers and those involved in curriculum development, as well as bringing the latest research, theory and pedagogical techniques to teacher training courses.

Contenidos
Carmen Herrero and Isabelle Vanderschelden: Introduction

Part I. Film Literacy and Languages

Chapter 1. Kieran Donaghy: Using Film to Teach Languages in a World of Screens

Part II. Multilingualism, Intercultural Awareness and Competence

Chapter 2. Brian Tomlinson: Developing Intercultural Awareness through Reflected Experience of Films and Other Visual Media

Chapter 3. Isabella Seeger: Addressing 'Super-Diversity' in the Language Classroom through Film and Peer-Generated YouTube Content

Chapter 4. Anne-Laure Dubrac : Playing the Part: Media Re-Enactments as Tools for Learning Second Languages

Part III. Audio-visual Translation and Subtitling

Chapter 5. Melissa Cokely and Carmen Muñoz: Vocabulary Acquisition through Captioned Videos and Visual Prompts

Chapter 6. Joan C. Mora and Eva Cerviño-Povedano: The Effects of Bimodal L2 Input on the Processing of Function Words by Spanish EFL Learners: an Eye-Tracking Study

Chapter 7. Anca Daniela Frumuselu: A Friend in Need Is a Film Indeed'. Teaching Colloquial Expressions through Television Series and Subtitling

Chapter 8. Rosa Alonso Pérez: Enhancing Student Motivation through Film Subtitling Projects

Chapter 9. Juan Pedro Rica Peromingo and Ángela Sáenz Herrero: Audiovisual Translation (AVT) Modes as a L2 Learning Pedagogical Tool: Traditional Modes and Linguistic Accessibility

Part IV. Teacher Training and Resources

Chapter 10. Jelena Bobkina and Elena Dominguez: Teaching the Teachers: Double Proposals/Film-based Teaching in Higher Education

Chapter 11. Mark Goodwin: An Analysis of The Success of the 'Cultural Topic' at A Level

Chapter 12. Stavroula Sokoli and Patrick Zabalbeascoa Terrán: Clipflair In Language Learning: Theory and Practice

Afterword. Carmen Herrero: Present and Future Directions for Video, Film and Audiovisual Media in Language Teaching

Key Issues in the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation: From Description to Pedagogy is a resource that encourages Spanish teachers and curriculum designers to increase their incorporation of pronunciation into the classroom. Combining theory and practical guidance, it will help language practitioners integrate the teaching of Spanish pronunciation with confidence and effectiveness. The international group of scholars across its 15 chapters is made up of individuals with well-established research records and training in best pedagogical practices.

Contenidos
Introduction
Rajiv Rao

Part I:  The Sound System of Spanish

1 Description of Spanish Vowels and Guidelines for Teaching Them
Eugenio Martínez Celdrán and Wendy Elvira-García

2 Pronunciation in the L2 Spanish Classroom: The Voiceless Stops /p, t, k/
Mary L. Zampini

3 Suggestions for Teaching Spanish Voiced Stops /b, d, g/ and Their Lenited Allophones  [β̞, ð̞, ɣ̞] 
Manuela González-Bueno

4 A Theoretical Framework in the Acquisition and Teaching of Fricatives to L2 Learners of Spanish
A. Raymond Elliott

5 Issues in the Teaching of Spanish Liquid Consonants
Benjamin Schmeiser

6 The Polymorphism of Spanish Nasal Stops
Carlos-Eduardo Piñeros

7 Incorporating Syllable Structure into the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation
Sonia Colina

8 Improving Non-Native Pronunciation: Teaching Prosody to Learners of Spanish as a Second/Foreign Language
Carme de-la-Mota

Part II: Pedagogical Challenges and Suggestions for the Classroom

9 Spanish Pronunciation and Teaching Dialectal Variation
Germán Zárate-Sández

10 Incorporating Technology into the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation
Gillian Lord

11 Navigating Orthographic Issues in the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation
Yasaman Rafat and Scott James Perry

12 The Role of Perception in Learning Spanish Pronunciation
C. Elizabeth Goodin-Mayeda

13 An Analytical Approach to Teaching Spanish Pronunciation to Native Speakers of German: First Language and Age of First Exposure as Crucial Factors
Conxita Lleó and Marta Ulloa

14 Teaching Pronunciation to Spanish Heritage Speakers
Amanda Boomershine and Rebecca Ronquest

15 Spanish Pronunciation and Teacher Training: Challenges and Suggestions
Manuel Delicado Cantero, William Steed, and Alfredo Herrero de Haro

Glossary

Each year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of undergraduate students enroll in introductory Spanish courses. For many students, passing these classes is a prerequisite for graduation. Consequently, it is imperative that the exams used in these courses are of the highest possible quality. For decades, the Rasch model (a special case of logistic regression) has been used to evaluate high-stakes language assessment, but has rarely been applied to exams used in classrooms. The current study employs the Rasch model to evaluate a midterm exam administered in the fourth week of an introductory Spanish class (n = 399 across 17 sections). This model identifies which questions best evaluate students at different proficiency levels and shows that the test reliably assigns scores near the pass-fail cutoff. The results of this study suggest that for this sample, items testing article-noun agreement were the most appropriate for the average student.

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Cada año en EE.UU. cientos de miles de estudiantes universitarios se matriculan en clases de español LE/L2 de nivel elemental. Para muchos estudiantes aprobar estas clases es un requisito para la graduación. Por lo tanto, resulta imprescindible que los exámenes sean de la mejor calidad posible. Durante décadas, se ha usado el modelo de Rasch para evaluar exámenes estandarizados. No obstante, dicho modelo apenas se ha empleado con exámenes de clase. Este estudio toma como base el modelo de Rasch para evaluar un examen de una clase de español elemental (n = 399 en 17 secciones). El modelo indica qué preguntas sirven para evaluar mejor a los estudiantes con diferentes niveles de competencia y demuestra que este tipo de examen puede identificar de manera fiable a los estudiantes con el riesgo de suspender. Los resultados del estudio sugieren que, a partir de la muestra analizada, las preguntas sobre la concordancia entre artículo y sustantivo son las más apropiadas para el estudiante medio.

It has been argued that a learner’s L1 articulatory tendency to produce an American English “retroflex” tongue shape as opposed to a “bunched” one can facilitate Spanish trill acquisition. This is because the American English retroflex is articulated by moving the tongue apex towards the alveolar ridge, while the “bunched” articulation is produced by moving the tongue apex down in the opposite direction to the trill. This study examines this articulatory hypothesis by analyzing the tongue shape of two anglophone learners of Spanish. Ultrasound visualization was employed to create individual lessons centered on: (a) each learner’s type of tongue-shape errors and (b) conducive tongue gestures for trill production. The results illustrate that the participant who presented articulatory tendencies similar to retroflex-like articulations did not show as much improvement as the participant who initially produced a bunched tongue shape. The present study concludes that trill production is affected more by the difficulties associated with motoric learning than with transference of primary language (L1) articulatory tendencies per se.

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Se ha argumentado que la tendencia articulatoria a producir una rótica “retrofleja” en inglés estadounidense en lugar de una “bunched” puede facilitar la adquisición de la /r/ del español. Esto es debido a que la rótica “retrofleja” en inglés estadounidense se articula moviendo la punta de la lengua hacia la región alveolar mientras que en la “bunched” el ápice de la lengua se mueve hacia abajo, el cual es un movimiento contrario al de la /r/ del español. Se examina esta hipótesis articulatoria por medio de un análisis de los movimientos de la lengua de dos aprendices de español anglohablantes. La visualización por ultrasonido se empleó para crear lecciones individualizadas centradas en: (a) los errores en la forma de la lengua de cada participante, así como (b) gestos de lengua propicios para la producción de la vibrante. Los resultados ilustran que el participante que presentó tendencias articulatorias similares a las de una lengua “bunched” mostró mejores resultados después de la instrucción que el participante que produjo una vibrante con la lengua retrofleja. El estudio concluye que la producción de vibrantes se ve afectada más por las dificultades relacionadas con el control motor que por la transferencia de las tendencias articulatorias de la L1 per se.