English as a foreign language
-
Marjolijn H. Verspoor
Abstract
This chapter investigates to what extent the process of second language acquisition is influenced by amount and type of input. After a brief description of the place of English in the lives of secondary school students in the Netherlands, the article reports on a semi-longitudinal study comparing students whose out-of-school contact with English is quite limited and a group of students who have regular access to English popular media. Both groups were tested in a high-input condition (bilingual education) and in a low-input condition (monolingual education). The findings show a complex relation between the role of out-of-school and in-school input and developing proficiency that can only be discovered through a semi-longitudinal approach.
Abstract
This chapter investigates to what extent the process of second language acquisition is influenced by amount and type of input. After a brief description of the place of English in the lives of secondary school students in the Netherlands, the article reports on a semi-longitudinal study comparing students whose out-of-school contact with English is quite limited and a group of students who have regular access to English popular media. Both groups were tested in a high-input condition (bilingual education) and in a low-input condition (monolingual education). The findings show a complex relation between the role of out-of-school and in-school input and developing proficiency that can only be discovered through a semi-longitudinal approach.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors ix
- Acknowledgement xi
- The dynamics of English in a multilingual Europe 1
- The increasing role of English in Basque education 15
- English language testing 31
- When comprehension is crucial 51
- English as a lingua franca and the Standard English misunderstanding 71
- The early acquisition of English as a second language 95
- “The more languages, the more English?” 113
- Conceptualizing ‘English’ for a multilingual Europe 133
- English as a foreign language 147
- Index 167
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors ix
- Acknowledgement xi
- The dynamics of English in a multilingual Europe 1
- The increasing role of English in Basque education 15
- English language testing 31
- When comprehension is crucial 51
- English as a lingua franca and the Standard English misunderstanding 71
- The early acquisition of English as a second language 95
- “The more languages, the more English?” 113
- Conceptualizing ‘English’ for a multilingual Europe 133
- English as a foreign language 147
- Index 167
