Multilingual learners’ engagement with languages: pragmatic-related episodes in collaborative writing

The Douglas Fir Group Framework as a Resource Map for Language Teacher Education

Purpose Brands are investing heavily in content marketing within digital communication channels, yet there is limited understanding of the effectiveness of this content on consumer engagement. This paper aims to examine how consumer engagement with branded content is created through consumer-initiated online brand communities (OBCs) and brand-initiated digital content marketing (DCM) communications. Self-brand connections are examined as an important antecedent to the cognitive, affective, behavioural and social dimensions of consumer engagement and the subsequent impact of engagement on loyalty is explored across these two channels. Design/methodology/approach A survey approach was used with two consumer samples for one focal retail brand, namely, a consumer-initiated OBC (Facebook) and email subscribers of the retail brand’s DCM communications. A multi-group analysis of structural invariance procedure was used to comparatively examine the formation of engagement for consumers within the OBC and DCM channels. Findings This study demonstrates the different ways in which engagement forms across different digital communication channels. Self-brand connection (SBC) was found to strongly drive behavioural, cognitive, affective and social engagement. The cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement was found to mediate the self-brand connection and consumer loyalty relationship. Overall, this relationship was most strongly and significantly mediated by affective and cognitive engagement within the OBC channel when compared to the DCM channel. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study should be interpreted with several limitations in mind. First, the research was conducted within the confines of one OBC, within one social networking site platform characterised by self-selected membership based on a passion and immersion with the brand. This means that consumers within the OBC were highly connected to one another and the retail brand and highly socialised in-group norms and mores. This type and intensity of connection may not be the case for all forms of OBCs. Second, this study was limited to one retail brand, from one brand category. Future research should examine OBCs across a range of utilitarian and hedonic brands to comprehensively contextualise the dimensions of engagement. Third, the data for this study was cross-sectional. The use of netnographic analysis and qualitative interviews across a range of OBCs would support the triangulation of the findings of this research, especially with regard to the narrative that consumers’ express when discussing how their SBC manifests through the dimensions of engagement. Fourth, this study explored a single antecedent of engagement, namely, self-brand connections. Future research may consider how SBC operates in conjunction with other complementary factors to enhance consumers’ affective, cognitive, social and behavioural engagement such as brand awareness, satisfaction and participation/interactivity. In addition, future research could examine an expanded array of engagement outcomes such as purchase intention, the share of wallet and reputation. Finally, future research should examine the operationalisation and validation of the dimensions of engagement using multiple competing scales to assess the suitability of these engagement scales across multiple brand categories and contexts. Practical implications Given the increasing investment in branding within social media and the fragmentation of brand communications across multiple communications platforms, the management of effective brand communications remains a significant challenge. This study found that the relationship between self-brand connections, affective, social, behavioural and cognitive engagement and loyalty was context-specific and moderated by a digital communication channel (OBC vs DCM email marketing), thus providing insights as to the effectiveness of OBCs and DCMs as two tools for enhancing consumer loyalty. Originality/value This study makes a novel contribution to the engagement literature by examining the antecedent role of self-brand connections in predicting consumers’ engagement; the moderating role of digital communication platforms (OBC vs DCM) on the formation of cognitive, affective, behavioural and social engagement; and the mediating effect of these dimensions on loyalty.

Following on from my state-of-the-art article onLanguage Awareness and language learning(Svalberg 2007), in this paper I will discuss specific research tasks which are centrally concerned with different aspects oflanguage awareness(LA): ‘explicit knowledge about language, and conscious perception and sensitivity in language learning, language teaching and language use’. The overall argument is that research is needed into how LA is constructed by language learners and teachers throughengagement with language(Svalberg 2007; 2009). I will sometimes refer specifically to awareness of grammar (form-meaning) but hope the paper will stimulate ideas for research into other LA aspects of language learning and teaching. The absence of other issues and areas (such as LA and multilingualism, intercultural LA, critical LA, LA and language policy) is a function of the personal nature of the paper and the limitations of space.

Effects of task type and language proficiency on dialogic performance and task engagement

ABSTRACTArtificial intelligence (AI) is transforming L2 education, yet its specific impacts on English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and language learners' engagement remain understudied. To address this deficiency, this study, grounded in Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris's (Review of Educational Research, 74, 109) three‐dimensional engagement model, explored the impacts of AI on the behavioural, cognitive and emotional engagement of EFL teachers and language learners through semi‐structured interviews with 24 EFL teachers and 38 college language learners, followed by a thematic analysis with MAXQDA to uncover the effectiveness of AI. The study found that behavioural engagement showcased the integration of AI tools, highlighting increased frequency of use and their practical applications in enhancing language acquisition tasks. Cognitive engagement was marked by the recognition of AI capacity to augment teaching strategies and learning processes, although it also surfaced concerns about the potential overreliance on technology. Emotional engagement reflected a complex interplay of attitudes, with most informants viewing AI positively but acknowledging concerns about job displacement, and its impacts on emotions of students and teachers as well as the relations between them. The study concluded that while AI held promise for L2 education, the integration must consider its limitations and ethical implications. The research provided valuable insights for educators, learners, technology developers and policymakers, encouraging innovative practices and informed decision‐making in L2 education.

Student Engagement and Language Learning: What, Why, and How?

The study investigated the potential impact of task goal orientation on cognitive, social and emotional aspects of task performance through the lens of learner engagement. Sixteen EFL learner dyads completed a convergent decision-making task and a divergent opinion-exchange task. Their audio-recorded interactions were transcribed and coded for evidence of engagement, including idea units and language-related-episodes (cognitive engagement), instances of explicit task enjoyment, reported emotions (emotional engagement), and responsiveness (social engagement). To determine the effects of task goal orientation on learner engagement, scores for engagement types were compared between two tasks. To understand learners’ perception about their engagement, posttask exit questionnaire responses were analyzed using content-analysis approach. Findings showed that learners showed greater cognitive and social engagement in the convergent than divergent tasks. No differences were observed in learners’ emotional engagement. Results are discussed in terms of the role of task goal orientation in promoting learners’ cognitive and social engagement.

This study employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the connections between EFL learners’ perceptions of L2 writing classroom goal structures, engagement with teacher written corrective feedback (WCF), and self-reported writing proficiency. Data were collected from 590 EFL college students in Taiwan using the Learners’ Perceived L2 Writing Classroom Goal Structures Scale and the Student Engagement with Teacher Written Corrective Feedback Scale. The results indicated a predominant preference for mastery goal structures over performance goal structures in the classroom. Among the types of engagement with teacher WCF, behavioral engagement emerged as the most prevalent, followed by affective, cognitive, and social engagement. Notably, affective engagement was found to predict behavioral, social, and cognitive engagement, with behavioral engagement serving as a mediator between affective and cognitive engagement. Furthermore, cognitive engagement was directly linked to writing proficiency, a key finding that highlights its importance in the learning process. Other forms of engagement were shown to facilitate this relationship. The study contributes to our understanding of the interplay between classroom goal structures, engagement with teacher WCF, and writing proficiency. It offers valuable insights for English teachers on how to shape classroom goal structures and foster a learning environment that promotes active engagement, particularly in the context of feedback utilization.

Collaborative writing (CW) involves two or more students writing a single text together. Previous studies mainly focused on students’ cognitive engagement in CW and investigated their attention to various language-related problems during task interaction. However, little CW research to date has considered that engagement in language-related discussions can manifest from three dimensions: cognitive, social, and affective. Focusing on the multidimensional characteristics of engagement, this study investigated how Russian learners’ social and affective reactions influence their focus on language use while they completed a CW task. Drawing on Svalberg’s framework of engagement with language to identify the three dimensions of engagement, I conducted a mixed-method approach towards analysing the audio-recorded collaborative dialogues by three student pairs ( n = 6), along with a qualitative analysis of their responses to a five-point Likert scale questionnaire. The analyses showed that when learners were interactive and viewed the activity as useful, they noticed many linguistic problems and elaborated on them. In contrast, when learners demonstrated social disengagement and perceived disadvantages from CW, they were likely to withdraw their attention from resolving the language issues they encountered. These findings indicate the complex and dynamic nature of task engagement. They can provide second language (L2) teachers with an in-depth understanding of how to fully engage students in instructional activities to better foster their L2 learning.

Proficiency in the English language is essential for academic success and career advancement, particularly in multilingual contexts such as the Philippines. This study examines the motivation and engagement levels of public junior high school students in Sulu in learning English, focusing on cognitive and social engagement. Utilizing a descriptive-correlational research design, data were collected from 200 students through survey questionnaires. The findings indicate that students generally exhibit moderate to high levels of motivation and engagement, with cognitive engagement being strongly associated with motivation. A significant relationship between cognitive and social engagement was also observed, emphasizing the role of peer interactions and collaborative learning in language acquisition. Statistical analyses revealed a strong positive correlation between motivation and engagement, demonstrating that highly motivated students are more actively involved in English learning. These results highlight the need for instructional strategies that enhance both motivation and engagement to improve language proficiency. The study underscores the importance of fostering supportive learning environments, implementing culturally responsive teaching methods, and developing targeted interventions that consider demographic factors influencing language learning outcomes.

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is essential in promoting students’ learning performance, especially in technology-rich environments where learning can be disorienting. Student engagement is closely associated with SRL, although the regulation of engagement in SRL is still underexplored. In this study, we aimed to compare the relative importance of cognitive and behavioral engagement in the three SRL phases (i.e., forethought, performance, self-reflection) to learning performance in the context of clinical reasoning. Specifically, students were tasked to solve two virtual patients in BioWorld, an intelligent tutoring system. We measured student behavioral engagement as their time spent on diagnostic behaviors. Students’ cognitive engagement was extracted from their think-aloud protocols as they verbalized their thinking and reasoning process during the tasks. We analyzed the relative importance of cognitive and behavioral engagement in the three SRL phases to diagnostic efficacy. Results suggested that the effects of engagement on student performance depend on task complexity. In the complex task, the six predictors (i.e., two types of engagement in the three SRL phases) explained 36.81% of the overall variances in learner performance. Cognitive engagement in SRL played a more significant role than behavioral engagement in predicting students’ performance in clinical reasoning.

Research question The competitive landscape facing branded running events demands insights into how to increase brand loyalty amongst participants. This study examines how participants need to engage with branded running events to stimulate brand loyalty; and how the social environment (i.e. the presence of other unacquainted participants), encourages participants to engage more with the event brand. Research methods Data, collected via personally administrated survey, from 246 participants of the closing event of ‘Cairo Runners' were analysed by means of Partial Least Squares Structural Equations Modelling. Results and findings Self-brand identification is enhanced by cognitive, behavioural and emotional engagement with the event brand. To encourage Word-of-Mouth requires emotionally and socially engaged participants. As a social stimulus, perceived similarity with other unacquainted participants acts as a major driver of social, behavioural and cognitive engagement. Positive perception of other participants’ physical appearance stimulates cognitive and emotional engagement but hinders social engagement. Suitable behaviour of other participants encourages social engagement. Implications Theoretically, this is the first study on participatory sport events including the full spectrum of participant engagement with an event brand; highlighting the unique role the different ways of engagement play in stimulating aspects of brand loyalty. The findings quantify the largely overlooked stimulus effect created by the sheer presence of unacquainted participants on participant engagement. We highlight the central role of perceived similarity amongst participants as a driver of participant engagement. Event organisers are encouraged to identify alternative criteria that resonate with participants to create a sense of similarity amongst participants.

Task complexity and communication modes are two task design and implementation factors that have been found to affect second language (L2) learners’ oral performance. While increasing task complexity and developing tasks according to the features of face-to-face and computer-mediated communication modes can optimise L2 production, few studies attend to how the two factors affect learner engagement in task performance–a crucial but under-explored concept contributing to academic achievement. To address this gap, this experimental study investigated the impact of task complexity (operationalised as ± pre-task planning time and ± intentional reasoning demand) and communication modes (synchronous video-based computer-mediated communication, SvCMC versus face-to-face real-time communication, FTF) on L2 learners’ engagement in interactive oral tasks. Sixty-four English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners formed their self-initiated dyads to perform three interactive oral tasks (from simple to + complex and ++complex conditions) on Zoom or in a physical classroom. They were also interviewed about their affective responses to the tasks. The oral discourse of task performance and interview data were analysed in terms of behavioural, cognitive, emotional, and social engagement. The findings revealed that task complexity affected the behavioural and cognitive engagement of FTF and SvCMC learners. SvCMC learners were behaviourally more engaged in task performance than their FTF peers, but mixed results were found in cognitive engagement. Mixed affective responses were reported by FTF and SvCMC learners for all task conditions. The findings suggest that increasing task complexity may partially engage L2 learners, and teachers need to consider the affordances of the two communication modes when designing tasks to engage learners in L2 production.

The recent two decades have witnessed a greater interest in L2 writing research to explore how individual learners engage with and participate in peer feedback. However, not much attention has been directed to peer feedback in the collaborative format, despite the fact that peer collaboration can enable learners to draw on their respective strengths and pool their knowledge. In this qualitative study, we adopted an educational psychological perspective to discover the intricate nature of learners working together to give anonymous feedback to their peers. In addition to learners’ cognitive engagement with the correction and revision process, we also investigated learners’ affective, behavioral, and social engagement in collaborative peer feedback. The findings show that, although learners can cognitively engage with the task by identifying a number of language-related problems and providing feedback, their affective, behavioral, and social engagement differed considerably. While some participants’ engagement was relatively extensive, especially in the affective and social aspect, others’ engagement was at a relatively limited level, characterized by negative emotions and low mutuality in peer interaction. The unpleasant task experience affected their attitudes toward collaborative peer feedback activities and their willingness to participate in subsequent tasks.

Interactive tasks that have successfully promoted attention to form and language learning in face-to-face (FTF) can be ineffective when performed online (Baralt 2013, 2014). This research is concerning, given the push for online language classes in higher education (Leow, Cerezo, & Baralt 2015). One reason that interactive language tasks do not translate to online settings may be the diminished affect and socialization present in online settings (Baralt 2014). Despite this hypothesis, researchers continue to explore learners’ attention to form from exclusively the cognitive perspective. Recently, Svalberg (2009; 2012) proposed a new model for exploring how learners achieve awareness of forms: a threefold construct including cognitive as well as social and affective engagement. The present chapter is the first to empirically operationalize Svalberg’s model for analyzing learners’ attention (or not) to forms during task-based peer interaction. Forty intermediate-level learners of Spanish performed either cognitively simple or complex interactive dyadic tasks in person or online. Learners’ interaction and post-task questionnaires were then coded for the three types of engagement. Results showed more cognitive engagement (e.g., attention to language forms, reflection), social engagement (e.g., supportive interaction) and affective engagement (e.g., positive feelings) in FTF, particularly during the more complex task. All three types of engagement were diminished or were entirely absent in the online interactions. We argue that the lack of social and affective engagement is what deterred cognitive engagement with language forms. The chapter concludes with a discussion on why researchers must consider social and affective engagement to understand how language awareness can be differentially experienced online.