Orna Harel Ferenz

Research Fields

• Second Language Writing: sociocognitive aspects, language use, processes, acquisition.
   
• L1 Attrition: second language acquisition, language attrition, bilingualism, immigrants.

Research Projects

• I am currently involved in two projects. The first, an international study being conducted in Israel, Holland and Germany, investigates L1 attrition among immigrants. The Israeli part of the study, Language, Multilingualism, and Integration: Lithuanian and Romanian Immigrants in Israel, is being carried out with my colleague, Dr. Adina Levine. A grant proposal has been submitted to the Israel Scientific Foundation. Below is a copy of the proposal abstract:
  In contrast to Israel’s open language policy (Spolsky & Shohamy, 1999) enabling new immigrants to feel comfortable in using their native language (L1) to the same extent as their new language (L2), many countries in Western Europe are increasingly facing conflicts and tensions between the indigenous populations and large groups of immigrants. One of the most highly visible tokens of individual immigration is a willingness to acquire proficiency in the language of the host society, and all across Western European countries, more and more strict rules and regulations are being implemented in order to enforce L2 acquisition (e.g., Stevenson, 2006).
  It has been well-established that the success of second language acquisition can be best predicted by the individual learner’s attitudes and motivations (Gardner, 1985), which are mainly influence by the learners attitude toward the L1 and L2 language communities and by his or her orientation (either integrative or instrumental) toward language study (Gardner & Lambert, 1972). While it is clear that proficiency in the dominant language is an important asset for anyone who is part of a certain society, the idea that the sacrifice of the first language is a necessary step within this integration process is unsupported by linguistic research.
  The overall aim of the project is to attempt to arrive at an integrated view of determinants of bilingual development among migrants. Established distinctions, such as integrative vs. instrumental motivation and additive vs. subtractive bilingualism will be evaluated from a multi competence perspective. Another goal of the investigation is to provide empirical evidence for the assumption that linguistic integration is more difficult for one migrant group than for others. The project is part of a large-scale international cooperation, with research groups from the Netherlands and Germany, which will compare speakers from 7 source and 4 target languages in different settings and thus will make it possible to establish how sociodemographic and socio-psychological factors interact with linguistic factors determined by typological characteristics of the source and target language. The part of the project presented hereunder will investigate two groups of immigrants to Israel: L1 speakers of Lithuanian and L1 speakers of Romanian. The groups are chosen for their demographic representation as well as the differences in the linguistic nature and structure of their L1s.
   
• My second project involves establishing criteria for an EFL graduate writing curriculum. A number of my colleagues from the EFL Unit, Dr. Hadara Perpignan, Dr. Iris Elisha-Primo, Dr. Keren Goldfrad and Simone Sandler, have joined me in developing this project and in submitting a grant proposal to the Spencer Foundation. Our long term goal is to develop a theoretical concept of foreign language academic writing curriculum with accompanying pedagogical practices and materials development that can be used by EFL departments in foreign universities. This concept, following Paltridge (2004), should take into account the role of theory in the classroom, the role of teachers and learners in developing curriculum and selecting tasks, the incorporation of needs-based programming into curriculum decision-making, and the impact of new technologies in second language (L2) writing instruction, learning and assessment. The specific aims of this study are 1) undertaking a needs analysis for the purpose of understanding graduate students’ EFL academic writing needs; 2) developing an EFL academic writing curriculum addressing the identified needs and incorporating recent developments in L2 writing research, and 3) constructing a framework for faculty development workshops that would involve teachers in curriculum development and pedagogy decision-making while training them in the use of new technologies for promoting L2 writing. The specific aims are designed to provide a comprehensive approach to EFL academic writing curriculum and pedagogy.