The DOI matches its Crossref record; 26 of the 27 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Engagement with language: interrogating a construct
Open accessAbstract
In ‘Language awareness and language learning’ (Svalberg, 2007 Svalberg, A. M.-L. 2007. Language awareness and language learning. Language Teaching, 40(4): 287–308. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) I concluded that the otherwise diverse and multidisciplinary field of language awareness (LA) is given coherence by its focus on engagement with language. I argued that LA is seen as active and not merely as a state of conscious awareness or sensitivity. This paper goes one step further by developing and testing the construct. It discusses what engagement with language might consist of and contrasts with and how it can be identified. Cognitive, social, and affective aspects of engagement, including notions such as attention, autonomy, and agency, are posited. Having arrived at first at a working definition and then an expanded and refined definition, the construct is applied to some classroom and student interview data. Some tentative conclusions about English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students' engagement with language, what motivates, facilitates, and hinders it, are drawn. The main purpose of the paper is, however, to try and determine the usefulness or otherwise of the construct as such, how it relates to other constructs in the literature, and where it might be taken in future research.
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“Svalberg's suggested model of 'engagement with language' does not make reference to behavior, but it does incorporate the possibility of cognitive, social, and affective facets, noting that 'in addition to its cognitive aspects [engagement with language] crucially involves a range of social and affective phenomena' (Svalberg, 2009, p. 243). While she does not specify engagement as multidimensional”
From Exploring Engagement in Tasks in the Language Classroom (2016) · cites this paper as Svalberg, 2009
Citations
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Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Armstrong, K. and Svalberg, A. M.L. Implementing the Adult ESOL Core Curriculum; subversion and compliance. Paper presented at Interrogating Third Spaces Conference (ITS 2005). University of Leicester, UK.
- Swain, M. Languaging, agency and collaboration in second language learning. Plenary address at BAAL Language Learning and Teaching SIG Conference: Language Use, Language Processing and Language Learning. April, University of Southampton, UK.
- Willis J., 1992, Advances in spoken discourse, 162
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Exploring Engagement in Tasks in the Language Classroom
Philp, J., & Duchesne, S. (2016) · Annual Review of Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1017/s0267190515000094 · Cited by 752
Engagement in language learning: a systematic review of 20 years of research methods and definitions
Hiver, P., Al-Hoorie, A. H., Vitta, J. P., & Wu, J. (2024) · Language Teaching Research · doi:10.1177/13621688211001289 · Cited by 677
“Learners are cognitively engaged when they exhibit deliberate, selective, and sustained attention to achieve a given task or learning goals (Reeve, 2012; Svalberg, 2009).”
BackgroundInfluentialTask-Based Language Teaching: Theory and Practice
Ellis, R., Skehan, P., Li, S., Shintani, N., & Lambert, C. (2019) · doi:10.1017/9781108643689 · Cited by 407
Learner-generated content and engagement in second language task performance
Lambert, C., Philp, J., & Nakamura, S. (2016) · Language Teaching Research · doi:10.1177/1362168816683559 · Cited by 363
Task-based language teaching theory and practice
Ellis, R., Skehan, P., Li, S., Shintani, N., & Lambert, C. (2020) · Cited by 284
Metadata
- Authors
- Svalberg, A. M.-L.
- Affiliations
- University of Leicester (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Svalberg, Agneta Marie-Louise
- Venue
- Language Awareness
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2009-10-21
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 3-4
- Pages
- 242-258
- ISSN
- 0965-8416 (ISSN-L)
- 1747-7565
- OpenAlex
- W1966123699
- Cited by
- 405
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 63 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 31.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Language Awareness (publishedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Second Language Learning and Teaching
- Keywords
- construct definition, language learning, cognitive engagement, social engagement, emotional engagement, learner autonomy, learner agency, attention, ESL learners, motivation, second language acquisition
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