Marianne Nikolov
University of Pécs, English Applied Linguistics, Faculty Member
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A tanulmany egy Magyarorszag es Horvatorszag hatarain ativelő nagyobb vizsgalat re-szekent szuletett meg, amelyben mindket orszagban azonos merőeszkozokkel es mod-szerekkel vizsgaltunk kulonboző konstruktumokat. Az osszehasonlito elemzes... more
A tanulmany egy Magyarorszag es Horvatorszag hatarain ativelő nagyobb vizsgalat re-szekent szuletett meg, amelyben mindket orszagban azonos merőeszkozokkel es mod-szerekkel vizsgaltunk kulonboző konstruktumokat. Az osszehasonlito elemzes okat az adta, hogy a nemzetkozi tapasztalatok szerint a horvat fiatalok angol nyelvtudasa felul-mulja magyar tarsaiket. A vizsgalat soran tobbek kozott arra is valaszt kerestunk, hogy ezt a feltevest a merőeszkozokkel gyűjtott adatok valoban alatamasztjak-e. Horvatorszag es Magyarorszag szomszedos regioibol illetve telepuleseiről osszesen 717 14 eves tanulo vett reszt a kutatasban. Celunk az volt, hogy (1) megallapitsuk milyen angol nyelvtudas-sal rendelkeznek a horvat illetve a magyar tanulok nyolcadik osztaly vegen, es hogy (2) osszehasonlitsuk a diakok angol nyelvi teljesitmenyet nehany, az oktatasi folyamatra jel-lemző valtozo menten. Igy megvizsgaltuk, hogy a horvat es magyar nyolcadik osztalyos tanulok hogyan teljesitenek ugyanazon az angol nyelvi teszten, eredmenyeik milyen elte-rest mutatnak csoportonkent, az egyes csoportokon belul, a kepzes megkezdesenek idő-pontja alapjan, a heti oraszam szerint, illetve a csoportletszamokat osszevetve. A diakok angoltudasan kivul vizsgaltuk meg az anyanyelvi es az idegen nyelvi kepessegeik kozti osszefuggeseket is.
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Students’ writing proficiency is measured through holistic and analytical ratings in writing assessment; however, recent studies suggest that measurement of syntactic complexity in second language writing research has become an effective... more
Students’ writing proficiency is measured through holistic and analytical ratings in writing assessment; however, recent studies suggest that measurement of syntactic complexity in second language writing research has become an effective measure of writing proficiency. Within this paradigm, we investigated how automated measurement of syntactic complexity helped distinguish the writing proficiency of students from two Higher Education institutions. In addition, we also examined language-related errors in students’ writing to further indicate the differences in the error patterns of the two groups. Data was drawn from a corpus of 1,391 sentences, comprising 58 texts produced by first-year undergraduate students from Myanmar and Hungary. Automated tools were used to measure the syntactic complexity of students’ writing. We performed a corpus-based analysis, focusing on syntactic complexity, while language-related error patterns in writing were investigated through an epistemic network...
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This article offers insights into trends found in 74 empirical studies on teaching and learning a foreign language (FL) in pre-primary schools in 25 countries. The emerging picture is like that of primary-school programs: most are... more
This article offers insights into trends found in 74 empirical studies on teaching and learning a foreign language (FL) in pre-primary schools in 25 countries. The emerging picture is like that of primary-school programs: most are implemented in English, mostly owing to parents’ enthusiasm rather than evidence on long term FL benefits. Researchers focus on measurable outcomes in the FL rather than embedding studies in what early childhood education and language policies aim for: developing children not only in a FL, but also in their first language and emotional, cognitive, and social domains. A short literature review on how children learn languages and what necessary conditions include, is followed by the evidence empirical studies offer along themes found in them. Research has revealed encouraging results as well as weaknesses, whereas most authors frame their findings in positive terms. Overall, the younger the children the slower their rate of FL development. The field is domin...
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With a considerable emphasis on the role of feedback in L2 writing, the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) has been investigated extensively over the past 25 years. Conflicting findings have been reported regarding the... more
With a considerable emphasis on the role of feedback in L2 writing, the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) has been investigated extensively over the past 25 years. Conflicting findings have been reported regarding the efficacy of WCF in developing learners’ written accuracy. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of research on three key variables impacting the effects of WCF: feedback treatments; writing tasks with more/less cognitive and reasoning demands; and L2 written accuracy measures. Forty-two primary studies published between 2000 and 2020 were retrieved and coded following PRISMA guidelines. Results revealed variations in both feedback treatments and written accuracy measures with distinctive advantages and pitfalls. Further divergent issues concern the application of different genres of writing tasks that demand learners’ various cognitive and linguistic efforts. These variations make it difficult to compare results across empirical studies. The finding...
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In the past quarter century, Hungary has offered fertile ground for innovative developments in foreign language (FL) education. The appropriate, albeit disparaging, label applied to Hungary in the mid-1970s – ‘a land of foreign language... more
In the past quarter century, Hungary has offered fertile ground for innovative developments in foreign language (FL) education. The appropriate, albeit disparaging, label applied to Hungary in the mid-1970s – ‘a land of foreign language illiterates’ (Köllő 1978: 6) – no longer applies. In the wake of the dramatic changes of 1989, the number of FL speakers rose quite rapidly. As a beneficial side-effect, applied linguistic and language education research, areas which used to be relegated to the lowest rung of the academic ladder, began to be recognised as legitimate fields of scientific inquiry, offering young researchers the opportunity to embark on an academic career. As a result, Hungarian authors are now regular contributors to distinguished journals, and researchers from Hungary are welcome speakers at international conferences. However, Hungarian authors often choose to publish their research studies in local journals and volumes which are not easily accessible to the internati...
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In this chapter young learners’ motivation for language learning is presented as a construct distinct from motivation of more mature language learners. Based on their critical overview of research to date, the authors trace its dynamic... more
In this chapter young learners’ motivation for language learning is presented as a construct distinct from motivation of more mature language learners. Based on their critical overview of research to date, the authors trace its dynamic and complex nature reflected in interactions with contextual factors (valued others, immediate learning environment, out-of-school exposure to the target language) and with other individual learner differences (age, gender, self-concept and anxiety). Two novel ideas are stressed: the key role that tasks play in shaping children’s motivation and the reciprocal relationship between young learners’ and their teachers’ motivation. The highlight of the chapter is a comprehensive framework for researching young learners’ motivation, integrating the stages of motivational development and shifts in roles of valued others.
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Providing feedback on students’ writing is considered important by both writing teachers and students. However, contextual constraints including excess workloads and large classes pose major and recurrent challenges for teachers. To... more
Providing feedback on students’ writing is considered important by both writing teachers and students. However, contextual constraints including excess workloads and large classes pose major and recurrent challenges for teachers. To lighten the feedback burden, teachers can take advantage of a range of automated feedback tools. This paper investigated how automated feedback can be integrated into traditional teacher feedback by analyzing the focus of teacher and Grammarly feedback through a written feedback analysis of language- and content-related issues. This inquiry considered whether and how successfully students exploited feedback from different sources in their revisions and how the feedback provisions helped improve their writing performance. The study sample of texts was made up of 216 argumentative and narrative essays written by 27 low-intermediate level students at a Myanmar university over a 13-week semester. By analyzing data from the feedback analysis, we found that Gr...
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The aim of this chapter is to present a framework for assessing young learners of foreign languages for diagnostic purposes. The first section outlines the most important trends in language assessment and describes the educational context... more
The aim of this chapter is to present a framework for assessing young learners of foreign languages for diagnostic purposes. The first section outlines the most important trends in language assessment and describes the educational context where the project was implemented. Then, the chapter discusses how children between the ages of 6 and 12 develop in a foreign language and outlines the most important principles of assessing young language learners. The actual framework was designed for the four skills; it aimed to cover the first 6 years of primary education in Hungarian public schools. The document used the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR, 2001) as a point of departure and includes age-specific ‘can do statements’ and task types corresponding to them. Readers are encouraged to critically reflect on how the findings could be adopted in their own contexts.
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This introductory chapter aims to achieve multiple goals. The first part outlines the most important recent trends in early language learning, teaching and assessment and frames what the main issues are. The second part discusses the most... more
This introductory chapter aims to achieve multiple goals. The first part outlines the most important recent trends in early language learning, teaching and assessment and frames what the main issues are. The second part discusses the most frequent challenges policy makers, materials designers, test developers, researchers and teachers face. The third part introduces the chapters in the volume and explains how they are embedded in the trends. The last part suggests ideas for further research and points out some implications for educational and assessment practice.
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In recent years, similarly to other educational contexts in the European Union and other parts of the world, early foreign language programs have become widely spread in Hungary. This article looks into the relationship between Hungarian... more
In recent years, similarly to other educational contexts in the European Union and other parts of the world, early foreign language programs have become widely spread in Hungary. This article looks into the relationship between Hungarian learners’ reading skills in English as a foreign language (L2) and in their first language (L1) Hungarian. We analyze data from two quantitative cross-sectional studies to explore how they interact. In the first one, participants were representative samples of Hungarian students ( n > 4700 in Grade 6 and n > 3900 in Grade 8; age 12 and 14, respectively). Besides their proficiency in reading comprehension in L2, their reading skills were also tested in the mother tongue. The other study involved a representative sample of eighth graders ( n = 247) in one particular county of Hungary (Baranya). This enquiry tapped into learners’ proficiency in reading comprehension in English and in Hungarian, but besides reading, their listening comprehension a...
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Given the exponential growth in the popularity of early foreign language programs, coupled with an emphasis of evidence-based instruction, assessing young learners’ (YLs) foreign language abilities has moved to center stage. This article... more
Given the exponential growth in the popularity of early foreign language programs, coupled with an emphasis of evidence-based instruction, assessing young learners’ (YLs) foreign language abilities has moved to center stage. This article canvasses how the field of assessing young learners of foreign languages has evolved over the past two decades. The review offers insights into how and why the field has developed, how constructs have been defined and operationalized, what language proficiency frameworks have been used, why children were assessed, what aspects of their foreign language proficiency have been assessed, who was involved in the assessment, and how the results have been used. By surveying trends in foreign language (FL) and content-based language learning programs involving children between the ages of 3 and 14, the article highlights research into assessment of and for learning, and critically discusses areas such as large-scale assessments and proficiency examinations,...
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The aim of this chapter is to present a framework for assessing young learners of foreign languages for diagnostic purposes. The first section outlines the most important trends in language assessment and describes the educational context... more
The aim of this chapter is to present a framework for assessing young learners of foreign languages for diagnostic purposes. The first section outlines the most important trends in language assessment and describes the educational context where the project was implemented. Then, the chapter discusses how children between the ages of 6 and 12 develop in a foreign language and outlines the most important principles of assessing young language learners. The actual framework was designed for the four skills; it aimed to cover the first 6 years of primary education in Hungarian public schools. The document used the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR, 2001) as a point of departure and includes agespecific 'can do statements' and task types corresponding to them. Readers are encouraged to critically reflect on how the findings could be adopted in their own contexts.
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This introductory chapter aims to achieve multiple goals. The first part outlines the most important recent trends in early language learning, teaching and assessment and frames what the main issues are. The second part discusses the most... more
This introductory chapter aims to achieve multiple goals. The first part outlines the most important recent trends in early language learning, teaching and assessment and frames what the main issues are. The second part discusses the most frequent challenges policy makers, materials designers, test developers, researchers and teachers face. Part III introduces the chapters in the volume and explains how they are embedded in the trends. The last part suggests ideas for further research and points out some implications for educational and assessment practice.
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The present paper reports results of a longitudinal research project studying the contribution of cognitive skills and other factors to proficiency in a foreign language (L2) in the Hungarian educational context. The larger project aims... more
The present paper reports results of a longitudinal research project studying the contribution of cognitive skills and other factors to proficiency in a foreign language (L2) in the Hungarian educational context. The larger project aims to describe the levels of L2 proficiency of school-aged populations in order to explore the conditions and factors contributing to processes and outcomes in foreign language education in public schools. For this purpose, paper and pencil tests were administered in English and German as a foreign language to nationally representative student samples. The project also aims to find answers to some theoretical questions; therefore, a questionnaire and other assessment instruments complemented L2 tests to provide insights into how participants' cognitive, affective and first language (L1) variables, as well as their social and school variables interact with one another over time. Students' general thinking and learning abilities were assessed with an inductive reasoning test.In the present paper we focus on the relationship between students' proficiency in English or German and inductive reasoning skills to show how general cognitive abilities interact with levels of L2 proficiency. We use a multivariate context to explore complex relationships between L2 levels in English and German and inductive reasoning skills if influences of other variables are controlled. We present results of multiple regression analyses on L2 listening, reading, and writing tasks in the two target languages. In the present paper we use both cross-sectional and longitudinal data to examine the relationships between students' L2 proficiency in the first phase (2000) and two years later (2002). Thus, a longitudinal research design was implemented by repeating cross-sectional assessment at a two-year interval.