Researching language engagement; current trends and future directions
By A. Svalberg. 2018
112 citations recorded by the source corpus.
ABSTRACT The paper discusses how learner engagement in language learning settings has been conceived of and investigated in the past decade. Whilst a cognitive focus used to predominate in research on language learners’ engagement, the importance of affective (and social) factors is increasingly recognised. The paper interrogates ‘engagement’ in the literature in order to better understand its role in Language Awareness and language learning. It situates Engagement With Language in relation to other similar notions, including contextual engagement, task engagement and engagement with corrective feedback. An insufficiently understood, yet highly influential factor in engagement research is found to be perceived meaningfulness. What constitutes meaningfulness will partly depend on the age (developmental stage) of the learner. Research findings reviewed indicate that such disparate factors as purposefulness, utility, and enjoyment can confer meaningfulness on tasks or activities, and that meaningfulness can be linguistic, social, or individual in nature. Suggestions are made for further research on conscious learner engagement in instructed language learning settings.
Subfields: Language and Linguistics, Literature and Literary Theory
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/caa2f4d94e430664f15b1aa3bb8b1203fe1a1987
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Language and Linguistics
- Chengchen Li
- Ali H. Al-Hoorie
- Jean–Marc Dewaele
- Phil Hiver
- Joseph P. Vitta
- C. Thorsen
- Alastair Henry
- J. Wu
In Literature and Literary Theory
- Chengchen Li
- Ali H. Al-Hoorie
- Phil Hiver
- Joseph P. Vitta
- Jean–Marc Dewaele
- J. Wu
- C. Thorsen
- Alastair Henry
Citations in the corpus
- Acting, thinking, feeling, making, collaborating: The engagement process in foreign language learning (2019, unknown): “With regard to the jingle side, Svalberg (2009; 2017) discusses the idea of “engagement with language,” which uses the idea of a cycle of language use leading to language awareness.”
- Disaffection and agentic engagement: ‘Redesigning’ activities to enable authentic self-expression (2018, background): “In recent years research has begun to pay closer attention to learners’ situated responses at the activity level, and the concept of ‘language learner engagement’ is attracting increasing interest (Mercer & Dörnyei, in 2020; Philp and Duchesne, 2016; Svalberg, 2009, 2018).”
- Engagement in language learning: A systematic review of 20 years of research methods and definitions (2021, background): “In addition to such negotiation of meaning, others see language-related episodes (LREs) as fitting indicators of cognitive engagement (e.g. Baralt et al., 2016; Lambert et al., 2017; Svalberg, 2017).”
- Teacher enthusiasm and students’ social-behavioral learning engagement: The mediating role of student enjoyment and boredom in Chinese EFL classes (2021, background): “Adopting an ecological perspective allowed us to show that student engagement is a joint product or culmination of perceptions of environmental factors (e.g. teacher characteristics) and personal factors (e.g. emotions) (Mercer, 2019; Oga-Baldwin, 2019; Philp & Duchesne, 2016; Svalberg, 2018).”