Chapter 8 Peer Interactions and Second Language Learning (original) (raw)
Related papers
Michał B. Paradowski, Andrzej Jarynowski, Magdalena Jelińska, Karolina Czopek (2021). Out-of-class peer interactions matter for second language acquisition during short-term overseas sojourns: The contributions of Social Network Analysis. Language Teaching, 54(1)., 2021
Social networks play an important role in the behaviour and attainment of individuals. This study investigates how interactions with peer L2 learners catalyse or inhibit second language acquisition, and constitutes one of the first applications of computational social network analysis (SNA) to investigating the phenomenon in unregulated conversational interaction. Unlike some previous notable studies (Dewey et al., 2012; 2013; Zappa‐Hollman & Duff, 2015; Gautier, 2019), we do not limit the scope of enquiry to individual (ego-)networks, which only investigate the links between the individual and her/his alters, but we set out to examine the full L2 learner network in its entirety, where knowledge of the links between (almost) all network members enables a reconstruction of the connected social graph of the complete learner group. In a sample of participants in two editions of a 4-week-long intensive summer course of the Polish language and culture (n=332), we find that peer learner networks can have both a positive and a negative impact on L2 acquisition. Among others: i) a positive predictor of L2 improvement is reciprocal out-of-class interactions in the language being acquired, ii) outgoing interactions in the L2 are a stronger predictor than incoming interactions, iii) there exists a clear negative relationship between performance and interactions with same-L1 speakers, iv) there is a clear negative relationship between L2 performance and weighted in-degree centrality in total communication, v) fluency in lingua-franca English tends to significantly impede progress in the (non-English) L2. While the link between social relations and language acquisition has been universally acknowledged by SLA scholars, social network analysis offers not only a novel methodology, but a whole new insight into the language learning process, demonstrating how network structure and the dynamics of interaction are stronger predictors of TL performance than many individual factors such as attitude or motivation. The findings may deliver practical recommendations for language teachers as to how, by first identifying students’ and groups’ communication profiles and social interaction patterns, and subsequently seeking ways to reinforce and promote advantageous educational behaviours while discouraging or inhibiting deleterious ones, they could aid learners in their quest to acquire the L2.
In: Mitchell, Rosamond & Henry Tyne (Eds.), Language, Mobility and Study Abroad in the Contemporary European Context. Oxon: Routledge., 2021
This chapter introduces the rationale behind a social network analytic (SNA) approach in the context of second language acquisition (SLA). The conceptual overview presents ways of operationalising social graphs and common metrics used in the calculations, supported by illustrative examples. We then argue for merging quantitative SNA with qualitative data. Subsequently, we showcase findings from the PEERLANG project (Paradowski et al., 2021) investigating the influence of peer out-of-class interactions on SLA in two different contexts: among international participants in intensive summer language courses (multilingual “immersion” scenario), and stationary foreign language majors (“no immersion”). We reveal patterns emerging from both contexts, demonstrating the role that mobility plays in network dynamics, and how both factors together moderate language attainment. We show that the impact of peer learner networks on L2 acquisition can be both positive and negative, depending on the context and the network layer involved. Computational and anthropological SNA offers a novel methodology for investigating the link between social relations and language acquisition (especially L2 production).
Studies in Second Language Acquisition
This study utilizes social network analysis to characterize a typology of study abroad sojourner experience, detailing the relationship of social experience types to second language (L2) proficiency growth and study abroad program design. In contrast with previous research, the study performs a quantitative analysis of structural and compositional network features to identify a typology of social networks. Participants were 30 L2 Spanish learners from five US-based semester-long university study abroad programs in Spain. Social network data were collected using a social network questionnaire, while L2 development was measured through an elicited imitation task. Results identify four prominent social network patterns, characterized by varying levels of Spanish language use, emotional proximity to contacts, frequency of interaction, contact status as program peer or host community member, and network cohesion. L2 proficiency development was significantly affected by these patterns, wh...
L2 Journal, 2023
Social network analysis (SNA) examines the relationships that an individual speaker creates and maintains with others in order to explain and predict language behavior. Over the past 20 years, SNA has been used by a growing number of researchers to better understand the language learner and the language learning process, especially in the context of study abroad (SA) in the target-language (TL) environment. Some of the earliest applications to L2 acquisition operationalized SNA through primarily qualitative data about learners' attitudes toward the target culture and their interactions with TL speakers (Isabelli-García, 2006; Lybeck, 2002), while later studies have focused on developing quantitative measures of network strength based on criteria such as network density, multiplexity, and dispersion (Baker
L2 Learners’ Informal Online Interactions in Social Network Communities
This paper reports on a study on the use of SNSs designed for L2 learning, such as Livemocha and Busuu, where learners autonomously seek opportunities for authentic interaction in spontaneous ways. The study consists in a longitudinal multiple case study approach to investigate learners' informal online interactions taking place in the SNSs. This paper will focus on the results related to the analysis of learners' interactions and to whether the construction of learning opportunities is fostered or impeded by the social dimension that is intrinsic in these communities. In other words, it explores how and if learners are able to cope with both the social and the learning trajectory during their online interactions. The objectives are to learn more about the dynamics and the behaviours enacted by learners with reference to the online interaction with peers, and to explore the role played by the social aspect and its relationship with the learning aspect. To attain these objectives, the paper analyses intercultural, open-ended, dyadic conversations occurring between learners and native speakers (NSs), and learners and non-native speakers (NNSs) in the semi-instructional context of these learning communities and in the absence of teachers and pedagogical tasks. Drawing on socio-cultural approaches, the paper also raises central issues that are related to the surrounding environment of online language learners, such as roles' definition, learners' identity, scaffolding and peer-assistance (macro-level). It then applies these issues to key-concepts in SLA, such as turn-taking, language selection, language alternation, repair strategies and noticing (micro-level). The data collection includes semi-structured interaction interviews and a wide and variegated corpus data consisting of textual private messages and emails, audio and video recordings and textual chats analysed respectively through virtual ethnography and Conversation Analysis (CA). The preliminary results provide insights on learners' ability or inability to manage both the social and the pedagogical trajectories simultaneously. These deliveries are expected to shed more light on their interaction patterns and to provide a better understanding of nowadays' lifelong L2 learning practices in the naturalistic and out-of-class contexts of online communities.
Relationships between social networks and language development during study abroad
Language, Culture and Curriculum, 2019
The current study examined second language (L2) learners' social networks during study abroad and how they changed over time. Participants were 29 British undergraduates majoring in French who were spending an academic year abroad in France. Social network data were collected three times during study abroad (beginning, middle, and end of a nine-month stay) using the Social Networks Questionnaire. Results showed that large proportions of learners' social networks included L1-using contacts, with little change over time. Analysis of social networks according to social context indicated that work/university and organized free time contexts appeared to favour L2 use, whereas virtual contexts (e.g. Facebook, Skype) appeared to favour L1 use. Correlations between aspects of learners' social networks and language development (lexical complexity scores in oral interviews) indicated complex and changing relationships over time, indicating that frequent amounts of L2 use during study abroad were associated with high lexical complexity scores.
Second Language Acquisition in a Multicultural Group and Social Network Effects
The 21st-century research strives to integrate different scientific domains, in order to better understand the world and the laws governing its existence. The project combines the idea of social networks with the process of second language acquisition (SLA) and investigates the influence of network structure and peer interaction dynamics on the learning outcomes in the setting of face-to-face interaction. The analyzed group was formed by 39 Erasmus exchange students at a German university. In the project, an attempt was made to meet three objectives: a) to grasp individual, social and interactional factors impacting the acquisition process, b) to follow the way in which language development is affected by the dynamics of peer interaction, and c) to trail the impact of social network topology on motivation and learning outcomes.