Psycho-Philosophical Dimensions of Language Education: Mixed-Methods Exploration of Russian to Ewe Linguistic Skills Transfer

Authors

  • Samson Dodzi Fenuku University of Media, Arts and communication, Ghana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v12i3.11398

Keywords:

Psycho-philosophical aspects, Teaching methods, Teaching styles, Russian, Ewe Linguistic skills,

Abstract

Formal education relies heavily on effective teaching methods and styles, which are particularly crucial in language education. The transfer of linguistic skills between Russian, a Slavonic language, and Ewe, a Niger-Congo language, presents a complex challenge due to their structural and cultural differences. This study delves into the complexities of transferring skills from Russian, a language from the Slavic branch of the Indo-European family, to Ewe, a language of the Niger-Congo family, focusing on the interplay between teaching methodologies, psychological factors, and philosophical perspectives. The primary objectives were to evaluate the effectiveness of various teaching methods, analyze the psychological influences on language education, and understand how philosophical viewpoints shape language teaching practices. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research combined quantitative survey data from 60 participants with qualitative insights from interviews with 15 educators. The findings highlighted a preference for interactive and technology-assisted methods, with a strong emphasis on communicative techniques. The psychological assessment indicated high levels of motivation and adaptability among learners, favouring interactive and collaborative learning environments. Thematic analysis of philosophical perspectives revealed a diverse spectrum of ideologies that inform teaching practices. The study concludes that a pedagogical approach embracing interactivity, technological integration, and philosophical diversity is essential for effective language education. It calls for professional development that equips educators to employ a range of teaching methods and to effectively use technology. The research underscores the need for a learner-centred, adaptable educational paradigm that caters for diverse learner needs and preferences, advocating a more inclusive approach to language teaching.

Author Biography

Samson Dodzi Fenuku, University of Media, Arts and communication

Samson Dodzi Fenuku, PhD, is a Russian-trained seasoned academic and administrator spanning decades of teaching, interpreting and translating English, French and Russian languages. He is also an accredited member of the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature (IATRLL). He was the head of the Russian Department at the erstwhile Ghana Institute of Languages. He became an assistant director, director and now he is currently the ag. rector of the Institute of Languages, University of Media, Arts and Communication. From 2013 to 2017, he studied and graduated from the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, 6 Volgina Str., Moscow, Russia with an M.Phil. and Ph.D. He also graduated from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in 2022 with a Master of Public Administration. He is also a product of the University of Ghana, where he graduated with honours in French and Russian language. Samson has published several articles in highly reputable peer-reviewed journals. He also attended several international conferences and workshops. He also loves technology and has decided to conduct research activities in the field. His research areas include language and communication skills as well as information systems.

References

Aboh, E. O. (2010). The morphosyntax of the noun phrase. Topics in Kwa syntax, 11-37.

Abu-Rabia, S., & Wattad, H. (2022). Transfer of Language Skills (TLS): A Critical Literature Review. Creative Education, 13(1), 98-111.

Abu-Rabia, S., Shakkour, W., & Siegel, L. (2013). Cognitive retroactive transfer (CRT) of language skills among bilingual Arabic-English readers. Bilingual Research Journal, 36(1), 61-81.

Alhamami, M. (2021). Enhancing language learning outcomes through motivational strategies. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-11.

Al-khresheh, M. (2016). A review study of contrastive analysis theory. Journal of Advances in Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(6), 330-338.

Alhamami, M. (2022). Language Learners’ Attitudes Toward Online and Face-To-Face Language Environments. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 926310.

Rose, H., McKinley, J., & Galloway, N. (2021). Global Englishes and language teaching: A review of pedagogical research. Language Teaching, 54(2), 157-189.

Alosaimi, M. (2016). The role of knowledge management approaches for enhancing and supporting education (Doctoral dissertation, Paris 1).

Altarriba, J., & Basnight-Brown, D. (2022). The Psychology of Communication: The Interplay Between Language and Culture Through Time. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 53(7-8), 860-874.

Ameka, F. K. (1991). Ewe: Its grammatical constructions and illocutionary devices (Doctoral dissertation, Australian National University Canberra).

Ameka, F. K. (2003). Multiverb constructions in a West African areal typological perspective. Bermann, Dorothee e Hellan Lars. The Proceedings of the Trondheim Summer School (TROSS), 1-23.

Auerbach, A. H. (2012). Teaching diversity: Using a multifaceted approach to engage students. PS: Political Science & Politics, 45(3), 516-520.

Ball, M. J. (2012). Vowels and consonants of the world’s languages. Multilingual aspects of speech sound disorders in children, 32-41.

Baniwal, V. (2013). Existential philosophy of education: A Buberian response. Educational Confab, 2(11), 18-26.

Benmamoun, E., Montrul, S., & Polinsky, M. (2013). Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistics. Theoretical linguistics, 39(3-4), 129-181.

Besson, M., Chobert, J., & Marie, C. (2011). Transfer of training between music and speech: common processing, attention, and memory. Frontiers in psychology, 2, 94.

Campbell-Dunn, G. J. K., & Press, P. F. (2004). Comparative Linguistics: Indo-European and Niger-Congo. Penny Farthing Press.

Chang, X., Huang, X. Y., Zou, X. Z., Wang, P., & Wang, P. (2023). The effects of cross-linguistic similarity on phrase-level language switching: evidence from high-proficient Chinese–English bilinguals. Cognitive Processing, 1-10.

Chen, B., & Bryer, T. (2012). Investigating instructional strategies for using social media in formal and informal learning. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13(1), 87-104.

Comrie, B. (2002). Typology and language acquisition: the case of relative clauses. Typology and second language acquisition, 19-37.

Comrie, B. (2014). Typology and reconstruction. In Historical Linguistics (pp. 74-97). Routledge.

Comrie, B. (2017). Languages of the world. The handbook of linguistics, 21-38.

Comrie, B. (2018). Slavonic languages. In The World's Major Languages (pp. 277-281). Routledge.

Corbett, G., & Comrie, B. (2003). The Slavonic Languages. Routledge.

Crystal, D., & Alan, C. L. (Eds.). (2023). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. John Wiley & Sons.

Cuc, M. C. (2014). The influence of media on formal and informal education. Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 143, 68-72.

Dabbagh, A., & Noshadi, M. (2016). Philosophy-based language teaching approach on the horizon: A revolutionary pathway to put applied ELT into practice. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 7(5), 1022.

Daftarifard, P., & Shirkhani, S. (2011). Transfer across Second Language Acquisition Theories. Journal on English Language Teaching, 1(3), 1-6.

DeKeyser, R. (2020). Skill acquisition theory. In Theories in second language acquisition (pp. 83-104). Routledge.

Dimkov, P. R. (2014) On Conceptual Schemes from Linguo-psycho-philosophical Point of View.

Dörnyei, Z. (2014). Motivation in second language learning. Teaching English as a second or foreign language, 4, 518-531.

Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2024). Teaching and researching motivation: A new research agenda. Language Teaching Research, 18(3), 345-359.

Dörnyei, Z. (2014). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Routledge.

Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Motivation and the language learner. Language Teaching, 53(2), 191-211.

Dörnyei, Z. (2022). The interface of psychology and second language acquisition. A life in cognition: Studies in cognitive science in honor of Csaba Pleh, 17-28.

Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2021). Teaching and researching motivation.

Dost, I. N., & Bohloulzadeh, G. (2017). A review of contrastive analysis hypothesis with a phonological and syntactical view: a cross-linguistic study. The Buckingham Journal of language and linguistics, 10, 32-41.

Dung, B. X., & Pham, K. T. (2022). Education Philosophy of Pragmatism and its Impact in the Global Context Present. Contemporary Pragmatism, 19(3), 310-329.

Ekpenyong, B., & Ikegbu, E. A. (2018). The Language of Philosophy and the Philosophy of Language: A Symbiotic Paradigm.‖. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal (BIRCI-Journal), 1(3), 296-305.

Ellis, R., & Shintani, N. (2013). Exploring language pedagogy through second language acquisition research. Routledge.

Fahim, M., & Pishghadam, R. (2011). Postmodernism and English language teaching. Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies, 1(2), 27-54.

Filhon, A. (2017). Language acquisition and cultural integration. Migrant Integration Between Homeland and Host Society Volume 1: Where does the country of origin fit?, 63-86.

Fisher, R. (2013). Teaching thinking: Philosophical enquiry in the classroom. A&C Black.

Gardner, R. C. (2010). Motivation and second language acquisition: The socio-educational model (Vol. 10). Peter Lang.

Gardner, R. C. (2014). Attitudes and motivation in second language learning. In Bilingualism, multiculturalism, and second language learning (pp. 43-63). Psychology Press.

Hipfner-Boucher, K., & Chen, X. (2015). Cross-language transfer of metalinguistic and cognitive skills in second language learning. In Reading in a second language (pp. 99-132). Routledge.

Huang, Y. (2014). Pragmatics. Oxford University Press, USA.

Iosad, P. (2012). Vowel reduction in Russian: No phonetics in phonology1. Journal of linguistics, 48(3), 521-571.

Jafarian, K., Soori, A., & Kafipour, R. (2012). The effect of computer assisted language learning (CALL) on EFL high school students’ writing achievement. European Journal of Social Sciences, 27(2), 138-148.

Jarvis, H., & Achilleos, M. (2013). From Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) to Mobile Assisted Language Use (MALU). Tesl-ej, 16(4), n4.

Johnson, E. (2017). The effect of symmetrical and asymmetrical peer-assisted learning structures on music achievement and learner engagement in seventh-grade band. Journal of Research in Music Education, 65(2), 163-178.

Johnson, E., & González-Lloret, M. (2021). Integrating technology in language education: A review of the past decade. Educational Technology Research and Development, 69(4), 867-883.

Jones, C., & Levine, J. S. (2010). Conditions on the Formation of Middles in Russian. Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 291-335.

Jones, M. J. (2013). Phonetic Universals and Phonetic Variation. The Bloomsbury Companion to Phonetics, 140-154.

Ju, F. A. (2013). Communicative language teaching (CLT): A critical and comparative perspective. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(9), 1579.

King, J. (2016). Classroom silence and the dynamic interplay between context and the language learner: A stimulated recall study. In The dynamic interplay between context and the language learner (pp. 127-150). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Kramsch, C. (2011). The symbolic dimensions of the intercultural. Language teaching, 44(3), 354-367.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003). A postmethod perspective on English language teaching. World Englishes, 22(4), 539-550.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2023). Philosophical perspectives on language teaching: A critical analysis. TESOL Quarterly, 47(3), 527-549.

Martínez Iniesta, A. J., Rossi, E., Bajo Molina, M. T., & Paolieri, D. (2021). The Influence of Cross-Linguistic Similarity and Language Background on Writing to Dictation.

Matushansky, O. (2010). Some cases of Russian. Proceedings of FDSL, 7, 17-65.

Meskill, C. (2000). MARK WARSCHAUER. Handbook of Undergraduate Second Language Education, 334.

Mutlu, A., & Eroz-Tuga, B. (2013). The role of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in promoting learner autonomy. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 51, 107-122.

Nash, J., & Harding, J. (2019). An Introduction to Modernist Non-Translation. Oxford University Press.

Odlin, T. (2022). Explorations of language transfer (Vol. 144). Channel View Publications.

Osam, E. K. (2003). An introduction to the verbal and multi-verbal system of Akan. In Proceedings of the workshop on multi-verb constructions Trondheim summer school (Vol. 1, p. 29).

Ushioda, E. (2022). Individual differences in language learning: A comprehensive overview. Language Teaching, 55(1), 1-15.

Padgett, J. (2003). The emergence of contrastive palatalization in Russian. Optimality Theory and language change, 307-335.

Payne, M. (2011). Exploring Stephen Krashen's ‘i+ 1’acquisition model in the classroom. Linguistics and Education, 22(4), 419-429.

Prćić, T. (2010). Descriptivism or prescriptivism in teaching language and linguistics at university level?. Annual Review of the Faculty of Philosophy/Godisnjak Filozofskog Fakulteta, 35(2).

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). I Major language trends in twentieth-century language teaching. Approaches and methods in language teaching.

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2014). Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge university press.

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2022). Approaches and methods in language teaching (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Sandberg, J., & Juth, N. (2011). Ethics and Intuitions: a reply to Singer. The Journal of Ethics, 15, 209-226.

Shakkour, W. (2014). Cognitive skill transfer in English reading acquisition: Alphabetic and logographic languages compared. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 4(04), 544.

Smith, B., & González-Lloret, M. (2021). Technology-mediated task-based language teaching: A research agenda. Language Teaching, 54(4), 518-534.

Smith, A. (2020). Structural intricacies in language transfer: A comparative study. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 30(1), 45-62.

Stockwell, G. (Ed.). (2012). Computer-assisted language learning: Diversity in research and practice. Cambridge University Press.

Stockwell, G. (2022). Computer-assisted language learning: Innovations and challenges. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 170-187.

Suñer, F. (2018). The interplay of cross-linguistic differences and context in L2 idiom comprehension. Research in Language (RiL), 16(4), 495-513.

Sweller, J. (2011). Cognitive load theory. In Psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 55, pp. 37-76). Academic Press.

Taine-Cheikh, C. (2008). Zenaga-French Dictionary (pp. XCIX+-649). Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.

Taine-Cheikh, C. (2023). Zenaga (linguistic). Berber Encyclopedia.

Tajareh, M. J. (2015). An overview of contrastive analysis hypothesis. Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi Fen Bilimleri Dergisi, 36(3), 1106-1113.

Türkkahraman, M. (2012). The role of education in the societal development. Journal of educational and instructional studies in the world, 2(4), 38-41.

Uiboleht, K., Karm, M., & Postareff, L. (2018). The interplay between teachers’ approaches to teaching, students’ approaches to learning and learning outcomes: a qualitative multi-case study. Learning Environments Research, 21, 321-347.

Ushioda, E. (2009). A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, self and identity. Motivation, language identity and the L2 self, 215228, 215-228.

Willis, J., & Willis, D. (2013). Doing task-based teaching-Oxford handbooks for language teachers. Oxford University Press.

Willis, J., & Willis, D. (2020). Teaching English through tasks: A practical guide. Oxford University Press.

Петрук, І. Р. (2022). The Role of Affective Filter in Second Language Acquisition.

Downloads

Published

2024-07-19

How to Cite

Fenuku, S. D. (2024). Psycho-Philosophical Dimensions of Language Education: Mixed-Methods Exploration of Russian to Ewe Linguistic Skills Transfer. Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, 12(3), 1078–1099. https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v12i3.11398

Issue

Section

Articles

Citation Check