Browsing by Subject "Estudio de casos prácticos"

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    'In New Zealand I feel more confidence': The role of context in the willingness to communicate (WTC) of migrant Iranian English language learners
    (2015-12-18) Cameron, Denise
    This article will discuss recent theories of Willingness to Communicate (WTC) and provide an overview of studies into this individual difference which have been conducted in both Iran and New Zealand (NZ). So far few qualitative studies have been carried out into WTC or have used permanent migrants as participants. The article reports on a longitudinal study of the WTC of a group of Iranian migrants to NZ. By means of questionnaires, observations, and individual semi-structured interviews conducted at six-month intervals, case studies of these learners in a NZ university English class were compiled. Their WTC was found to encompass such learner characteristics as confidence, motivation, and personality, and varied from country to country and semester to semester. Finally, this article discusses the contribution of this study to the WTC field of research, identifying the implications of these results for teachers of English in the ESL (English as a Second language/migrant) context and possible avenues for future research.
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    The nature of language learners' beliefs: A half-told story
    (2015-12-18) Zhong, Qunyan (Maggie)
    Substantial amount of research regarding L2 learners' beliefs has been conducted in recent years. However, not enough attention has been paid to investigating the nature of learners' beliefs; hence our understanding of the construct is contradictory in the sense that early research studies report stability in beliefs, while more recent studies provide evidence of change in learners' beliefs. This paper reports on a case study aiming at contributing to a deeper understanding of the nature of language learners' beliefs. Data were gathered longitudinally over an 18-week period using a number of tools. The findings reveal the complexity of learners' beliefs. The beliefs that the learners held were not always in harmony and some of them can be self contradictory. Furthermore, while some beliefs may evolve and change over time and across situation, others may remain relatively stable, suggesting the complex and dual nature of learners' beliefs. Drawing on these findings, the paper concludes that learner beliefs can best be perceived as an inter-related construct that has dual features and sometimes can be paradoxical.