Verbal working memory and foreign language learning in English primary schools:: Implications for teaching and learning
Verbal working memory and foreign language learning in English primary schools:: Implications for teaching and learning
This chapter presents a mixed-methods study which explores the influence of verbal working memory (VWM) on young learners’ progression in foreign language (FL) literacy and general proficiency. The investigation was conducted over 30 teaching weeks (September to June) in two English primary schools (n=45) with children aged between 9-11 years. Both quantitative and qualitative data in the form of FL test results and weekly written vocabulary work are presented and analysed in order to construct a nuanced portrayal of VWM as an individual difference in FL learning. The study finds that VWM has considerable influence on learning outcomes in both FL oracy and literacy and therefore suggests that young FL classrooms are complex, heterogeneous contexts. Potential implications for young learner FL pedagogy also considered.
65-84
Porter, Alison
978474c5-8b0b-4dc6-8463-3fd68162d0cd
6 July 2017
Porter, Alison
978474c5-8b0b-4dc6-8463-3fd68162d0cd
Porter, Alison
(2017)
Verbal working memory and foreign language learning in English primary schools:: Implications for teaching and learning.
In,
Enever, Janet and Lindgren, Eva
(eds.)
Early Language Learning: Complexity and Mixed Methods.
(Early Language Learning In School Contexts, 1)
Bristol, UK.
Multilingual Matters, .
(doi:10.21832/ENEVER8316).
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Book Section
Abstract
This chapter presents a mixed-methods study which explores the influence of verbal working memory (VWM) on young learners’ progression in foreign language (FL) literacy and general proficiency. The investigation was conducted over 30 teaching weeks (September to June) in two English primary schools (n=45) with children aged between 9-11 years. Both quantitative and qualitative data in the form of FL test results and weekly written vocabulary work are presented and analysed in order to construct a nuanced portrayal of VWM as an individual difference in FL learning. The study finds that VWM has considerable influence on learning outcomes in both FL oracy and literacy and therefore suggests that young FL classrooms are complex, heterogeneous contexts. Potential implications for young learner FL pedagogy also considered.
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Accepted/In Press date: 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 6 July 2017
Published date: 6 July 2017
Organisations:
Modern Languages and Linguistics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 410698
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/410698
PURE UUID: e10427ee-c548-4dbb-b387-1d6b98421d39
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Date deposited: 09 Jun 2017 09:22
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:08
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Editor:
Janet Enever
Editor:
Eva Lindgren
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