LINGUIST List 25.3060
Mon
Jul 28 2014
FYI: Christopher Brumfit
Ph.D./Ed.D. Thesis Award 2013
Editor for this issue:
Uliana Kazagasheva <ulianalinguistlist.org>
Date: 28-Jul-2014
From: Melissa Good
<mgood
cambridge.org>
Subject: Christopher Brumfit
Ph.D./Ed.D. Thesis Award 2013
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The Editor and Board of Language Teaching are
pleased to announce that the winner of the 2013
Christopher Brumfit thesis award is Dr. Ellen
Johnson Serafini. The thesis was selected by an
external panel of judges based on its
significance to the field of second language
acquisition, second or foreign language
learning and teaching, originality and
creativity and quality of presentation.
Dr. Serafini’s Ph.D. thesis was entitled
Cognitive and psychosocial factors in the
long-term development of implicit and explicit
second language knowledge in adult learners of
Spanish at increasing proficiency. This study
examined the trajectory of L2 development in
adult learners of Spanish at three levels of
proficiency during and after a semester of
instruction. A fundamental goal was to identify
both cognitive and psychosocial individual
differences that may explain the high
variability associated with L2 learning in
adults over time and to clarify whether such
factors play a unique role in learners at
varying skill levels. The study also sought to
advance a line of research aiming to improve
the validity and reliability of tests designed
to measure knowledge of (implicit) and about
(explicit) L2 grammar. Results promise to
provide teachers with research-based evidence
about how their students differ from one
another and how this knowledge can be used to
make more effective decisions in the L2
classroom.
The external referees praised the thesis as
‘original and indeed ground breaking research
since no other study to our knowledge has
investigated the contributions of cognitive and
psychosocial variables to implicit and explicit
L2 knowledge in the same study nor examined the
extent to which their contribution changes over
time. This research is also innovative by
incorporating methodological and statistical
elements for examining speed and efficiency of
implicit L2 development. By taking a
comprehensive and rigorous approach, this study
has great potential to contribute to SLA
theory. We know of very few studies that have
been so ambitious in attempting to address such
a wide range of linguistic and learner internal
variables while at the same time seeking to
inform classroom instruction’.
Dr. Serafini completed her thesis at Georgetown
University, USA, under the supervision of
Professor Cristina Sanz.
This year’s runner-up was Dr. Alastair Henry
with a thesis entitled L3 motivation, defended
at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and
supervised by Professor Christina Cliffordson
and Dr. Britt Marie Apelgren. The thesis
investigates the unexplored phenomenon of
motivation to learn an additional foreign
language (L3) with particular focus on the
impact of the L2. Drawing on quantitative and
qualitative data from school students in
Sweden, L3 motivational trajectories are mapped
across 6 school grades and compared with
similar trajectories for L2 English, with
declining trajectories for L3s emerging. L2
English was seen to have a negative impact on
motivation to learn L3 French, German and
Spanish. Light is shed on the cognitive
processes in situations where language
speaking/using self-concepts come into contact
and how L3 self-concepts are appraised in
relation to L2 counterparts.
The examiners remarked that this ‘very
important thesis builds on recent developments
in research on motivation in language learning,
applying these to L3 acquisition. It makes a
particularly valuable contribution to our
understanding of the relationship between L2
and L3 acquisition and opens up a number of
interesting avenues for further exploration,
not least with respect to gender differences
and the role of the ideal self. The research is
well conceived, methodologically rigorous,
analytically convincing and persuasively
argued. Its relevance extends far beyond
Sweden, and the proposals for further research
hold out excellent prospects for further
deepening our understanding in this important
area’.
Melissa Good
Commissioning Editor, Social Science
Journals
Cambridge University Press, University Printing
House
Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 325845
For details of all our journals visit:
http://journals.cambridge.org
Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics;
General Linguistics
Page Updated: 28-Jul-2014