Page 9 - ELG1601 Dec Issue 442

December 2016 ELresearch Page 9

nowing what a P600 is Neuroscience meets linguistics
might not be at the top
Kof a teacher’s priori-
ties – except to make sure that
it is not yet another requirement
of their school’s nightmarish Claudia Civinini looks at a review trying to connect neurolinguistics and the classroom
bureaucracy. Certainly, the fact
that the P600 is a type of brain
response often associated with Other studies, however, show
syntax violations could make different responses, even in EAP – the medium
it very interesting to language native speakers – which sug- or the message?
teachers. It would be even more gests that there may be more
compelling if they could use this than one route to syntactic com- English for academic purposes (EAP) is the branch of
knowledge in class. But can neu- prehension. As the authors put ELT that concerns itself with the study of English in,
rolinguistics inform classroom it, immersion seems to be opti- and for, higher education. We wanted to have a taste of
teaching, and if so how? mal, but learners do benefit from the research that powers teaching practice in EAP, and
An article in the journal explicit instruction. we went right to the source: the courses that prepare
Second Language Research Can learners truly learn future EAP instructors. We talked to Professor Sue
tries to bridge the gap between from feedback? Another Wharton, course leader of the MA English language
linguists/acquisitionists and neu- study analysed the brain sig- teaching – EAP and ESP at the University of Warwick,
rolinguists, who have enjoyed natures of L2 learners who and Dr Heath Rose, course leader of the MSc Teaching
‘surprisingly little dialogue’. were not explicitly instructed English Language in University Settings (TELUS) at the
The article reviews the neurolin- but learned through feedback University of Oxford. Their responses focus on the ever-
guists’ take on issues in second to their correct and incor- increasing use of English as a medium of instruction
language acquisition, processing rect responses through the (EMI) in higher education, and the changes brought by
and teaching, and offers some experiment. They eventu- the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF).
possible implications for lan- ally achieved the P600 signal What is currently the most important area of
guage teaching. Here are some as learning increased. Their research in EAP? Both Professor Wharton and Dr
examples. response to feedback was also Rose referred to the impact of globalised use of
Does grammatical learning revealing: it was greater at the English on academia. Dr Rose focused on how this,
have an impact? Data obtained beginning and decreased over and the diversity of usage associated with the spread
from a longitudinal study using time, suggesting that feedback of English, challenges the conventions of academic
electroencephalography (EEG) seems to have a much greater language. Professor Wharton, instead, mentioned
methodology hints at the appear- impact at the early stages of the importance of determining the impact that the
ance of distinct changes in brain language learning. And yes, varieties of academic English from education settings
signatures that correlate with learners can learn from feed- worldwide have on standard and assessment.
increased grammar knowledge. back even when they are not We then asked our usual questions to academic
Beginner classroom learners explicitly instructed. researchers – if you were applying for a grant for research
of French displayed a generic Courtesy Jason Powers Although the authors urge in EAP, what project would you present and why? Follow-
response when faced with caution and point out that further ing from the previous question, Professor Wharton would
French subject–verb agreement research is needed to connect construct and investigate comparable corpora from Eng-
violations. A year of classroom neuroscience with the class- lish medium higher education settings around the world.
instruction later, they responded UNANALYSED CHUNKS How does a learner’s brain room – and that neurolinguistic Dr Rose would like to analyse how English is used for
with a more specific signal linked make sense of a foreign language’s grammar rules? findings cannot yet ultimately academic purposes beyond the mere language of study,
to syntactic repair operations – the arbitrate between different L2 examining academic writing, conferences, publishing,
already cited P600 – like native edge that is otherwise obscured depend on the type of instruction theories – the idea of the creation meetings, communications and writing grant applications.
speakers do. Language-similarity in real-time performance’. received: implicit, comparable of neurolinguistically informed The aim would be to discover whether academic norms
effects were also observed, with Remember this, teachers, next to immersion, or explicit, com- pedagogies for second language of language use are changing as a result of English being
native-like responses emerging time existential doubt creeps up parable to classroom instruction. learning seems certainly worth used as the academic lingua franca.
earlier in the learning process on you – sometimes it takes an Learners’ performances did not pursuing. n What is the single most pressing issue that still
for syntax constructions that EEG to show that students have vary significantly, but their neu- needs to be investigated in EAP? For Professor Whar-
are comparable between the L1 actually learned something. ral responses did: implicit input See study: Roberts, L., Gonza- ton, it is the links between EAP ‘language provision’
and the L2. So yes, grammatical Does implicit instruction created more native-like brain pat- lez Alonso, J., Pliatsikas, C., & and the language learning that happens on content
learning has an impact, even over work better than explicit terns, at least in high-proficiency Rothman, J. (2016). Evidence courses, and how to best connect the two, embedding
short periods of time. instruction? Another similar learners. The article suggests that from neurolinguistic methodolo- ‘language, content, discourse and culture learning
The authors of the review longitudinal study found that the perhaps this is due to the fact that gies: Can it actually inform in academic settings’. Dr Rose says that the most
also point out in the conclusion extent to which L2 learners (of ‘at initial stages the input is being linguistic/language acquisition pressing issue is ‘the challenge of Englishisation of
that metalinguistic awareness an artificial language) can dis- stored as unanalysed chunks from theories and translate to higher education’, which has created a variety of new
induces changes in the brain play native-speaker-like responses which generalised rules are later evidence-based applications? contexts for EAP. He gives as an example the different
that sometimes reveal ‘knowl- to grammatical violations can extracted’. Second Language Research needs of Chinese students learning EAP to study busi-
ness in China compared to German students preparing
Sharpening specialist skills to pursue degrees in Sweden. It is important, argues Dr
Rose, that teaching EAP adapts to student needs and
contexts, and doesn’t ‘merely transplant EAP practices
of anglophone settings in EMI ones’.
Claudia Civinini on how a masters can take teachers to the next level

ome teachers have a sec- broad interests they cater for: works, together with an under- responsibility – and to inspire
ond life that students don’t ICT. With the educational standing of the relationships the next generation. Masters
Sknow anything about. In a potential of digital technologies between language, culture and with a focus on trainer devel-
school where I taught, for exam- in the spotlight, ICT is certainly society. Other possible job opment give students skills and
ple, the English teacher was also a specialisation that could help aspirations include journalism, knowledge to design, conduct
a crime novelist, and the Year any teacher’s career. On ICT- advertising, policy making and and evaluate impactful teacher
11 coordinator a local theatre specialised masters, novice and doctoral research. education programmes. Creative
star. Where they found time to experienced teachers can inves- Literature. Closet novelists teachers on materials develop-
do that is anybody’s guess, but tigate, evaluate and experiment who wish to match their liter- ment courses will acquire not
I think students benefitted from with a range of technologies and ary ambitions with their teaching only background knowledge
their interests as well – after all, acquire a deeper appreciation of vocation can choose courses that and practical skills to select,
teachers bring a lot more to the their potential for second lan- combine ELT and creative writ- devise and evaluate teaching
classroom than just a subject, and guage pedagogy and education ing or translation. The masters material, but also an expertise in
even subject-related expertise can in general. Employment avenues will enhance students’ language course design. Teachers on these
come from a variety of sources. other than classroom teaching skills, giving them a specialised courses can aspire to become
Specialist ELT-related masters are media production, publish- knowledge of forms and functions materials writers, teacher train-
can contribute to the richness ing, consultancy, training and of the language. Creative writing ers or directors of studies. Or the
of experience that teachers can doctoral research. will inspire teachers who wish to next ELT guru.
bring to the classroom – either Linguistics. Other than theo- use drama, literature and poetry in Full details of these specialist
by allowing them to pursue an retical and applied linguistics, their classroom. In my experience, masters courses will be available
interest parallel to teaching or to students fascinated by language translation studies could also gift in our comprehensive listing
acquire insider knowledge nec- itself and its links to society teachers with a culturally sensitive next month. n
essary for career progression. and culture can pursue special- approach to semantics and prag-
We talked to some providers ised masters that look at global matics. Alternative occupations Many thanks to: Goldsmiths,
that offer specialist ELT masters Englishes and sociocultural lin- span from journalism and publish- University of London; Norwich
courses and asked them how the guistics. Although not primarily ing to translation – and creative Institute for Language
specific specialism empowers stu- aimed at teachers, they can give writing, of course. Education (Nile); University of
dents with broader teaching skills, Teflers some valuable skills: Insider knowledge. For qual- Brighton; University of
plus what job their students could for example, the implications ified and experienced teachers, Manchester; University of
aspire to should they get tired of globalised use of English on masters focusing on trainer or Stirling; University of South-
of report writing and detention language policy, teaching, learn- materials development offers a ampton; University of
duties. We then divided courses ing and testing, or a theoretical ‘springboard’ to the next level, Warwick; University of
into four groups according to the knowledge of how language qualifying them for positions of Westminster.

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