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Using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology in learning environments is one of the latest challenges for educators and education policymakers. Conversational AI brings new possibilities for alternative and innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools, such as AI chatbots. This paper reports on field experiments with an AI chatbot and provides insights into its contribution to Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). More specifically, this paper presents an experimental use case of an educational AI chatbot called AsasaraBot, designed to teach high school students cultural content in a foreign language, i.e., English or French. The content is related to the Minoan Civilization, emphasizing the characteristic figurine of the Minoan Snake Goddess. The related chatbot-based educational program has been evaluated at public and private language schools in Greece. The findings from these experiments show that the use of AI chatbot technology for interactive ICT-based learning is suitable for learning foreign languages and cultural content at the same time. The AsasaraBot AI chatbot has been designed and implemented in the context of a postgraduate project using open-source and free software.

This article will report the results derived from implementing a hands-on approach for students in course LM-0347 in the Undergraduate Degree in French. This method has the primary aim of promoting the student as the active builder of their own learning. Secondly, it promotes the importance of incorporating the theory and the practical applications of this approach, through a unique simulation made for this course, which permits the student to acquire and apply the skills in this topic, without setting aside the linguistic side of the content. Thirdly, it will develop their independence and prepare them for a professional career in the tourism industry. En este artículo se describen los resultados derivados de la implementación de una estrategia didáctica, basada en la pedagogía de proyectos, en un grupo de estudiantes del curso LM-0347 Panorama del turismo en francés IV, de la carrera de Bachillerato en Francés de la Universidad de Costa Rica, con el propósito de destacar, en primer lugar, el papel del estudiantado como constructor activo y principal de su propio aprendizaje; en segundo lugar, la importancia de incorporar la teoría y la práctica, mediante una simulación propia para este curso que permita, a la persona estudiante en turismo, adquirir y potencializar capacidades y destrezas en este ámbito, sin dejar de lado la parte lingüística; en tercer lugar, desarrollar su autonomía y prepararle para su futuro profesional en turismo. En este artículo se describen los resultados derivados de la implementación de una estrategia didáctica, basada en la pedagogía de proyectos, en un grupo de estudiantes del curso LM-0347 Panorama del turismo en francés IV, de la carrera de Bachillerato en Francés de la Universidad de Costa Rica, con el propósito de destacar, en primer lugar, el papel del estudiantado como constructor activo y principal de su propio aprendizaje; en segundo lugar, la importancia de incorporar la teoría y la práctica, mediante una simulación propia para este curso que permita, a la persona estudiante en turismo, adquirir y potencializar capacidades y destrezas en este ámbito, sin dejar de lado la parte lingüística; en tercer lugar, desarrollar su autonomía y prepararle para su futuro profesional en turismo.

Research suggests that students put more effort into language learning when they feel that it is a voluntary and self-relevant activity or they enjoy the process of mastering that language (i.e., they have a more self-determined orientation). This orientation is fostered when learners feel autonomous, competent, and related to others in their learning environment. We followed 162 university students of French across one semester to examine these causal claims longitudinally. Latent growth curve modeling showed that feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness and self-determined motivation increased across the semester while engagement declined. Parallel processes growth curve modeling showed that declines in engagement across the semester were attenuated to the extent that self-determined motivation increased. Auto-regressive cross-lagged analysis showed that, contrary to expectation, more engagement as the semester started predicted greater self-determination mid-semester (instead of vice versa), but these relations became reciprocal from mid-semester on. These findings are consistent with a dynamic model of motivation that emphasizes the reciprocal interplay between motivational constructs over the duration of a language course. The implications of these findings for motivation theory and instructional practices are discussed.

This study investigated the relationships between students' self‐assessments and experts' assessments in a university French pronunciation course for nonnative speakers using a pre‐/posttest design. Results indicated that students were relatively accurate when making a global assessment (Time 1) and when judging some specific aspects of their French pronunciation (Time 2), although they tended to overestimate the extent to which their abilities were native‐like. Their self‐assessments were most accurate when evaluating linguistic components for which they had learned concrete rules (e.g., liaisons). In addition, data revealed that students became more native‐like in their pronunciation, particularly with regard to nasal and other new vowel sounds, and a content analysis of students' responses to a free‐response self‐analysis query at the end of the course indicated that their awareness of their pronunciation difficulties had increased. Taken together, the study found that self‐assessment may be a valuable pedagogical tool for helping second language learners to acquire more authentic pronunciation.

Este estudio investiga la precisión en la asignación y la concordancia de género en las producciones escritas de aprendientes francófonos de español en tres niveles de competencia. A partir de un corpus de aprendientes de tamaño medio, se codificaron todas las frases nominales en función de la asignación de género (reflejado en el determinante), así como de la concordancia entre el sustantivo y el adjetivo y entre el determinante y el adjetivo, y se examinó el impacto de diversos predictores lingüísticos y relacionados con los aprendientes mediante modelos bayesianos de efectos mixtos. Aunque la tasa general de errores fue relativamente baja —probablemente debido al tipo de tarea y al uso de vocabulario familiar—, los modelos revelaron efectos robustos del nivel de competencia y de factores gramaticales y léxicos subyacentes. La precisión en la asignación de género fue significativamente menor en los sustantivos con marcas de género no prototípicas o ambiguas, en los sustantivos femeninos y en los casos en los que el género gramatical en español no coincidía con el género en francés. Además, se observó una menor precisión en ciertos tipos de determinantes. La concordancia sustantivo-adjetivo se vio influenciada por los mismos factores, con excepción de las marcas de género ambiguas, que no tuvieron un efecto significativo. La concordancia determinante-adjetivo, por su parte, solo mostró menor precisión con sustantivos femeninos, lo que demuestra la pertinencia de distinguir entre concordancia sustantivo-adjetivo y concordancia determinante-adjetivo. Estos resultados contribuyen a una mejor comprensión del procesamiento del género en L2, demuestran la utilidad del análisis de corpus de tamaño medio en la adquisición de lenguas segundas, y sientan las bases para futuras investigaciones sobre combinaciones de lenguas más allá del español y el francés.

Este artículo tiene como objetivo mostrar el potencial de la traducción audiovisual didáctica (TAD), para la mejora de la pronunciación en francés lengua extranjera (FLE), mediante un procedimiento pedagógico basado en la escucha y lectura en voz alta de un texto, repetición, grabación en vídeo y evaluación de la grabación por medio de una herramienta de subtitulado intralingüístico automático que proporciona la transcripción escrita de la lectura en voz alta. Esta tarea persigue a su vez desarrollar el aprendizaje autónomo de las destrezas orales, que se encuentran a menudo relegadas en la enseñanza-aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras, mediante una actividad de TAD concebida para intentar facilitar al alumnado universitario hispanohablante de nivel A1 la autocorrección y mejora de su pronunciación.

Tomando como base los colectivos de trabajo humano-caballo que compiten a alto nivel en la disciplina del concurso completo de equitación, se trata de demostrar en qué medida los caballos adquieren una segunda naturaleza por medio del trabajo. Para ello, se llevó adelante una encuesta ante ocho jinetes de alto nivel. En un primer momento, se realizaron entrevistas semidirigidas, luego se siguió a tres jinetes en el marco de los Campeonatos de Francia de Concurso Completo y los Campeonatos Mundiales de Caballos Jóvenes de 7 años. Los resultados muestran toda la complejidad y riqueza de las relaciones laborales entre humanos y caballos. Surge allí un vínculo ambivalente, desigual, en el cual el humano se esmera por resaltar las cualidades físicas y mentales del atleta equino y este se convierte en un individuo extraordinario.

Within limited-input language classrooms, understanding the effect of distribution of practice (spacing between practice) on learning is critical, yet evidence is conflicting and of limited relevance for young learners. For second language (L2) grammar learning, some studies reveal advantages for spacing of 7 days or more, but others for shorter spacing. Further, little is known about the role of cognitive individual differences (e.g., language analytic ability; LAA) in mediating practice distribution effects for L2 grammatical knowledge development and retention. To address this gap, this classroom-based study investigated whether distribution of practice and LAA moderated the effectiveness of explicit, input-based grammar instruction for young first language (L1) English learners of French (aged 8 to 11). The study revealed minimal differences between longer (7-day) versus shorter (3.5-day) spacing of practice for learning a French verb inflection subsystem, at either posttest or delayed posttest. Minimal group-level gains and substantial within-group variation in performance at posttests were observed. Accuracy of practice during training and LAA were significantly associated with posttest performance under both practice schedules. These findings indicated that within an ecologically valid classroom context, differences in distribution of practice had limited impact on learner performance on our tests; rather, individual learner differences were more critical in moderating learning. This highlights the importance of considering individual learner differences in the development of resources and the potential of digital tools for dynamically adapting instruction to suit individuals. (Verlag).

Studies in second language acquisition (SLA) increasingly rely on measures of linguistic complexity to assess second language (L2) proficiency and development. While an important number of studies have risen to the call of studying a broader range of complexity related constructs (Bulté and Housen, 2012; Norris and Ortega, 2009), few have examined morphological complexity, instead focusing on syntax and lexis. The use of morphology measures is especially warranted in light of complexity trade-offs believed to occur both in language development – when growth in one linguistic domain (e.g. syntax) is temporarily prioritized over growth in another (e.g. morphology) – as well as crosslinguistically, in the form of balancing effects between different domains of the linguistic system. From both a cross-linguistic and developmental perspective, then, the current emphasis in SLA research on measures of syntactic complexity does not comprehensively gauge overall (grammatical) complexity in learner data. This study focuses on the development of morphological complexity using three previously proposed measures based on the notion of morphological diversity, with special attention to the verbal inflectional system (Horst and Collins, 2006; Malvern et al., 2004; Pallotti, 2015). Not only does the verbal system pose significant challenges to language learners, it is also the locus of important differences between inflectionally richer languages, like French, and inflectionally poorer languages, like English. The study investigates cross-linguistic differences in the development of morphological complexity and the effectiveness of the three morphological complexity measures as indicators of proficiency. The analyses were carried out on a multilingual corpus of 100 L2 French and 100 L2 English oral narratives, representing four different proficiency levels in both languages. Results indicate a more continuous increase of morphological complexity in L2 French than in L2 English and underline the importance of morphology as an essential component of a multidimensional view of linguistic complexity in SLA.

This longitudinal study of 17 American learners of French lies at the intersection of 2 complementary fields of inquiry in second language acquisition (SLA): language variation and change (LVC) and language acquisition during study abroad. Studies in LVC examine the nature and use of linguistic features that have more than 1 possible realization in native‐speaker speech (i.e., variable features). Conversely, investigations into language acquisition during study abroad have primarily focused on the acquisition of categorical features that have only 1 possible, grammatical realization in the target language, or on the acquisition of global oral proficiency and fluency. Moreover, while studies in LVC have long relied on social network theory to predict language performance, existing research on language acquisition during study abroad provides conflicting results and explanations for learner gains during study abroad. The current study bridges this research gap by providing empirical evidence for the critical role of social networks with target‐language speakers in the acquisition of stylistic variation by French learners during study abroad. Additionally, because this study includes both semester and year‐long learners, results demonstrate the significant impact of time on task, which, when combined with network strength, negates the role of individual learner characteristics previously shown to influence acquisition during study abroad.