Assignment 3— Critique of visual modalities in meaning making in FL education Critically engage with research and professional literature and determine implications of visuals and visual literacy for...

Critique of visual modalities in meaning making in FL education                1
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Critique of visual modalities in meaning making in FL education
Introduction
Foreign language learning refers to learning a foreign language. Learning a foreign language, in many ways, is difficult to learn, since there are new neural pathways that need to be created in order to learn the language. The learner might not be familiar with the language, and the methods of pronunciation in the language as well, which could contribute t the difficulty. In many ways, learning a new foreign language can be made easier by the use of learning methods. Many of the learning methods can be difficult to implement, especially if the learner is of a certain age. However, visual learning methods have been known to be especially successful is ensuring that the learning methods have been used in a way that is beneficial to the learner. It also makes the teaching of the language easier for the teacher a s well.
The following looks at some of the Literature surrounding the visual methods in foreign language learning. There are 6 research papers that have been analysed in the following paper. It also looks at critiquing visual learning or a teaching medium. The advantages and disadvantages of using the medium have been described and evaluated as well.
Literature Review and Critique
Foreign Languages are harder to learn, mostly because of the anxiety that the student has in learning the language. According to “Teaching foreign languages in an era of globalization: Introduction”, the reason behind this could be the circumstances that the student is learning the language in, classroom anxiety, as well as the similarity of the language to the mother tongue of the student (Kramsch, 2014). Languages such as French, which are similar to many ways to English, are easier to learn than languages such as Mandarin, which are completely different. While it aims to provide a rationalistic method for students to learn a foreign language, it is expected that it would be a difficult process, since the learning a foreign language requires that the teacher who is teaching the language be efficient as well. This is especially important, since in many cases, more than the visual aids or auditory help, it is the teacher who is the main influencing factor that decides how well the student is able to learn the language or not (Kramsch, 2014). There have been many papers that describe the difficulty, and the effect of classroom anxiety on learning the language, but there is very little research done on the influence of the teacher in learning the language. Further research should be in order to ascertain the influence of the teacher in the learning process. This research would enable it for teachers to teach the foreign language better, and easier for students to learn the language as well. Thus, it is extremely important for the research to be taken into consideration, as many times, the teachers are not efficient in teaching the language to the students, which is why there needs to be a lot of research done. The book also talks about the importance of having aids in the foreign language class.
In “Technologies for foreign language learning: a review of technology types and their effectiveness”, the authors look at the evidence that supports the use of technology in learning a foreign language. This is important, since the many companies that teach foreign languages professionally use technology in order to teach the language professionally. The study has been a review of over 350 studies that have been conducted over the years (Golonka, et al 2014). It has found that while there have been many studies that have been conducted over the years regarding the use of technology in the learning of a foreign language. The main area where technology can help in foreign language teaching, is by computer-assisted pronunciation training. It might be harder for many organizations to hire people who have the prefect pronunciation in the language. Many people who fluently speak languages such as Mandarin or Japanese are expensive to hire, or in small towns, might not even be available. Thus, in this area technology can be of help, since the computer assisted pronunciation would be helpful in teaching the proper pronunciation to the student when there is a lack of trained teachers. Artificial intelligence in the form of computers can also help in providing feeding to the students on their pronunciation, making it easier for them to improve. It would be easier for the students to have the visual and auditory aid that technology can provide, and since it cheaper to have a computer per student, the feedback that is provided, and the amount of learning that would be done would be better than if there had been instructors provided (Golonka, et al, 2014). In many areas, technology can be used to connect students from various countries, which also improves their understanding of the culture of the other country.
The article “Preschool Children’s Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning by Embodying Words Through Physical Activity and Gesturing”, looks at how gesturing and physical activity, some of which looks at visual activity, helps children learn foreign languages. The methods that have been used by children, have mixed results when applied on adults. This is because the brains of children are different from that of adults. However, it has been proven that it has been beneficial to adults as well. Research has proven that gestures have been effective in learning a foreign language (Toumpaniari, et al, 2014). Many teaching centres teach students using the basic gestures in order to ensure that the students have learnt common words in the foreign language. The research has proved the students have been successful in...