Adult Learners Of English Research Articles

Implicit Statistical Learning in L2 Sentence Processing: Individual Cognitive Differences.

This study investigates whether statistical learning ability, conceptualized as a cognitive ability to learn regularities implicitly, is a good predictor for L2 learners' online language processing performance. Native-English-speaking adults, as a control group, and native-Korean-speaking adult L2 learners of English participated. They completed: (a) an artificial grammar learning task containing nonadjacent dependencies in sequences of non-words, to test statistical learning ability; and (b) a self-paced English reading task containing relative clauses (RC) in which the "filler" and the "gap" formed a long-distance dependency, to test language processing. Both tasks' stimuli were presented element-by-element to mimic the incremental nature of online language processing. The results for the L1 group show that higher accuracy scores on the artificial grammar learning task did not predict higher sentence comprehension scores. The results for the L2 group, however, show a marginally significant correlation between accuracy scores on the artificial grammar learning task and sentence comprehension scores. For both groups, the reading time difference between grammatical and ungrammatical items in the artificial grammar learning task did predict the speed of reading times for items with RCs with a long-distance dependency in the sentence processing task: Larger differences in RTs in the artificial grammar task correlated with slower reading at the critical region of English RCs. These findings suggest a similar mechanism for online first and second language processing of core syntactic phenomena and for statistical learning ability that involves implicitly tracking distributional relations across elements.

Assessing Tertiary Turkish EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Competence Regarding Speech Acts and Conversational Implicatures

Pragmatic competence is an indispensable component of communicative competence, which plays an essential role in human communication. When an individual is communicatively competent, he/she can carry out an effective conversation in social situations. Therefore, pragmatic competence establishes a compelling factor in English language learning as it permits second/foreign language learners to carry out successful conversations in real-life interactions outside the classroom atmosphere. The improvement of foreign language learners’ pragmatic competence will strengthen their communicative competence. The purpose of this paper is to assess foreign language learners’ comprehension of conversational implicatures by using a multiple-choice discourse test (MCDT) and their performance in a discourse completion test (DCT). Through the use of a quantitative analysis, 54 adult learners of English at C1 and B2 levels of proficiency defined by the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) in a university in Cyprus were tested on their use of implicatures and speech acts. EFL learners were more successful in the MCDT regarding the comprehension of formulaic and idiosyncratic features but received lower results in the DCT. As well as testing the proficiency level, this study was also designed to investigate the difference between the gender performances of the DCT and MCDT. The results revealed that there is no statistical significance between the male and female respondents in terms of pragmatic competence. Based on these results, the role of teaching pragmatics in EFL classrooms portrays a major aspect for a sustainable learning environment. Thus, the paper also illustrates suggestions for future research.

Influence of high-level mathematical thinking on L2 phonological processing of Chinese EFL learners: Evidence from an fNIRS study

The contribution of language to the development of mathematical skills has been studied for several decades. However, how mathematical thinking influences language learning, especially second language (L2) learning, remains unknown. To approach this question, this study employed a control/experimental design to reveal the impacts of high-level mathematical thinking used in geometrical problems on the phonological processing of adult Chinese learners of English as a foreign language using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device. The results showed that high-level mathematical thinking in processing geometrical problems would not produce instant behavioural impacts on learners’ L2 learning, although it inhibited learners’ brain function activation and network functional connectivity (FC) for language processing. Nevertheless, it is presumed that high-level mathematical thinking may generate ‘cognitive residue’ in phonological processing of L2 as only learners with good phonics ability could reluctantly activate the brain regions necessary for English phonological decoding.

Emotion, motivation and willingness to communicate in the language learning experience: A comparative case study of two adult ESOL learners

The present multiple case study is situated within the growing wave of research on the role of emotions in second language learning. It focuses more specifically on the relationship between emotion, motivation, willingness to communicate and the second language context. The participants were two adult learners of English as a second or other language (ESOL) in the United Kingdom: Aurora and Emilie (pseudonyms). Semi-structured interviews with the learners and their tutors, conducted face to face, were complemented with lesson observations over an academic term to achieve an in-depth understanding of the relationship between emotion, motivation, willingness to communicate and the learning context. Enjoyment and anxiety were the most salient emotions that emerged; however, the sources of these emotions were slightly different for the learners and were linked to the type of classroom activity and interlocutors. Both participants were highly motivated language learners because of their enjoyable learning experiences rather than by a vision of future English-using selves. While enjoyment appeared to strongly shape willingness to communicate in the classroom for both learners, anxiety hindered out-of-class communication in one of the students. The results suggest that the relationship between language learning emotions, motivation and willingness to communicate is linked to the learning context but that the interaction between different variables is unique to each learner. Implications for research and pedagogy are presented.

Second Language Reading and Vocabulary Acquisition by Adult Learners of English

Even though vocabulary knowledge is crucial in receiving and producing meaning in a language, improving vocabulary knowledge can be challenging for both teachers and students. Exposure to the target language through meaning-focused reading can be considered one of the predictors that can address this challenge. As language learners are exposed to written language while reading, reading may help them enrich their vocabulary knowledge. Accordingly, this study investigated whether meaning-focused reading can contribute to the development of vocabulary knowledge (Breadth and Depth) among adult learners of English as a second language (ESL). Among the students of a Sri Lankan state university, a group of undergraduate students participated in the study. Measures of reading and vocabulary knowledge were administered to 189 participants as part of the research implementation. Additionally, a questionnaire was utilized to gather data on the participants' backgrounds, including their prior exposure to the target language. In a multiple regression analysis, reading significantly contributed to both breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge. However, it appears that reading contributes more to the breadth than to the depth of vocabulary knowledge. Thus, although meaning-focused reading can contribute to vocabulary knowledge, the contribution might vary depending on the type of vocabulary knowledge. Overall, the findings indicate that exposure to the target language through meaning-focused reading plays a significant role in enhancing vocabulary knowledge among adult ESL learners.

A pilot study into metaphor interpretation and cross-linguistic influence of food terminology in Japanese adult learners of English

A pilot study into metaphor interpretation and cross-linguistic influence of food terminology in Japanese adult learners of English

Number Attraction in EFL Learners’ Subject-Verb Agreement and the Effect of Distance

The present study aims to investigate Korean EFL learners’ sensitivity to subject-verb agreement violation and to examine effects of local number attraction, plural markedness, and distance on their agreement computation. Sixty-six Korean adult learners of English at mid- and high proficiencies participated in an experiment which combined self-paced reading and timed acceptability judgement. They were asked to read sentences region by region and rate their acceptability. All sentences contained a local noun that disagreed with the subject noun in number. They varied in terms of (i) grammaticality (i.e., agreement-violating vs. non-violating) and (ii) noun number (i.e., singular subject N/plural local N vs. plural subject N/singular local N). Half of the items had a short-distance condition and half had a long-distance condition. Analyses of participants’ responses showed that learners were generally sensitive to agreement violation when judging acceptability. In addition, proficient learners exhibited biased sensitivity to noun plurality, resulting in mismatch asymmetry in both acceptability judgment and self-paced reading, showing native-like response patterns. Distance between the subject and the verb resulted in reduced sensitivity to agreement violation. These findings suggest that learners can gradually become more sensitive to agreement violation and process subject-verb agreement in a nativelike pattern even when relevant morpho-syntactic features are not instantiated in their L1.

A Study of Use of Reading Strategies by Adult Learners of English in Pakistan

Strategic reading has been recognized as an important and critical skill that ensures better reading comprehension abilities. It is evident from Second Language (L2) reading research that less skilled readers are unaware of the use and importance of reading strategies. English is the official language of Pakistan and is used in almost every field of life. Despite this wide use of English, English language teaching and learning in Pakistan is unsatisfactory. This study explored the use of reading strategies by undergraduate and graduate-level learners of English in Pakistan. A Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) was used to collect data. Fifty undergraduate-level and fifty graduate-level learners participated in the study. Results of the current study showed that almost all the learners frequently used almost all the reading strategies. No statistically significant difference in the use of reading strategies was found between undergraduate and graduate-level learners. Support reading strategies were preferred more by undergraduate-level learners, and graduate-level learners preferred global reading strategies. No statistically significant difference was found between the male and female learners of English in terms of the use of reading strategies.

Processing Referentially Ambiguous Pronouns by Adult Learners of English as a Foreign Language

Introduction: Processing ambiguous pronouns by L1 speakers of English has been the subject of a great bulk of research. Only a few studies, however, have investigated the ambiguity resolution of pronouns by people for whom English is a second or foreign language. In this study, the researchers employed a picture selection task to explore how adult Iranian EFL learners treated ambiguous pronouns.
 Methodology: The materials were 20 experimental items in four different conditions (i.e., manipulation of neither noun phrases [NP1] nor NP2, NP1 manipulation, both NPs manipulation and NP2 manipulation) plus 30 filler items. The principal purpose of this study was to investigate whether the manipulation of NPs by attaching extra content/semantic information to them had any impact on their accessibility and how the participants associated ambiguous pronouns with NPs when attempting to choose an antecedent.
 Results: The results confirmed the idea that increasing the length of an NP is an important mechanism employed by EFL learners in the process of ambiguity resolution of pronouns. The results also indicated that the NP length mechanism was a better predictor of accessibility in comparison with other mechanisms, such as the primacy effect, the subject rule, and the grammatical role.
 Conclusion: The findings demonstrated that when an NP carries extra-linguistic information compared to other NPs, it might have a better chance of being selected as the referent of an ambiguous pronoun.

Decision Making in English as an Additional Language: Surprises and Advantages

Do adult learners of English make different and sometimes better decisions in English than their monolingual peers and teachers? It is likely, possible, and probable. Using evidence from classroom decision making studies, with over 500 participants, we demonstrate that often adult English learners (henceforth adult Active Bilingual Learners/Users of English [ABLE]) make more accurate decisions in English than first language English speakers, when given time and the ability to utilize their whole linguistic repertoire (i.e., translanguaging). We specifically look at differences in decisions that involve 1) common adverbs of frequency (rare, possible, likely, frequently, etc.) and 2) system 1 (implicit) vs. system 2 (analytical) thinking in cognitive reflection tests, such as math story problems. Understanding these surprising differences and advantages in decision making in English as an Additional Language (EAL) has important practical implications for test preparation and daily instruction for adult ABLE students, and potentially as well for ABLE youth in K-12 schools.

Advantages of Using Learning Management System (LMS (in Teaching Writing Skill in Adult English Classes in Saudi Arabia

It is undeniable that technology has changed our ways of living. These changes are dramatically increasing in different parts of our life day by day. The pace of using technological advances in an academic setting is faster than others. For instance, In Saudi Arabia internet usage has attracted much attention in education. This matter is more noticeable for adult learners of the English language in the country. Among the four skills of writing, reading, listening and speaking. writing is considered as the most challenging skill for the Saudi English learners. Literature has numerous studies discussing different online programs and applications for different skills, including learning how to write in English in Saudi Arabia. However, the problem is that none of them focuses on Learning Management System, LMS, to improve adults’ writing skill in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate potential advantages of LMS on writing skills of adult English learners in Saudi Arabia. It can be predicted that in upcoming years, we, as teachers or educators, will be more skillful in writing since LMS is on the fast track to improve these skills.

Unexpected affordances of virtual exchange as teacher education: learning about, with, and from students in a conflict country

Virtual exchange projects with participants in countries in conflict can challenge future teachers to examine previous assumptions and prepare them to better meet the needs of others whose daily lives may be punctuated by violence. Through virtual exchange, participants are pushed out of their comfort zones through interactions with others whose geographic, sociocultural, and sociolinguistic backgrounds are different from their own. Through such projects, future teachers can gain both techno-semio-pedagogic knowledge and intercultural knowledge needed to take an asset-based approach toward cultural and linguistic difference. This article explores the perspectives of graduate students in TESOL who were paired with adult learners of English in Afghanistan for ten 90-minute synchronous online tutoring sessions. Data, in the form of written reflections submitted by the graduate students as a part of their coursework, offer evidence of shifts in participants’ descriptions of cultural difference, knowledge about Afghanistan, content knowledge, and teaching online. These data suggest that through virtual exchange with participants in conflict countries future teachers can gain invaluable professional experience needed to support students who live in places where they do not feel safe, students who have been forced to leave their homes, and students have witnessed or experienced violence themselves.

“Strategies are more important than words:” A case study of adult English Learners’ disciplinary reading

This case study explored adult Chinese-Mandarin-speaking English learners’ reading for academic purposes. Drawing on transactional socio-psycholinguistic perspectives, the researchers analyzed English learners’ reading processes through retrospective eye movement miscue analysis. Six international graduate students studying social science and engineering read selected academic texts in their disciplines, retold the texts, watched their eye movement videos, and discussed their miscues and eye movements. In addition, the researchers interviewed participants about their reading perspectives and strategy uses in their respective disciplinary areas. The findings showed that all participants read for meaning and learning new knowledge. Participants’ previous instruction and current disciplines both impacted their academic reading. They used general reading strategies and specific disciplinary strategies to read in their areas. The findings suggest that participants used all cueing systems and perceived academic reading as learning the content more than the language. Social science participants valued strategies and constantly reflected to improve their learning content knowledge. In contrast, engineering participants better identified their miscues and tended to correct for accuracy. Overall, the retrospective conversations helped them develop metacognition, understand their reading processes, and discover their strategies. This study offers educational implications for supporting post-secondary English learners’ reading for academic purposes.

The Importance of Morphological Awareness in L2 Prosody and Reading Comprehension

This study investigated how morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive awareness affect Korean adult learners’ second language (L2) prosody and reading comprehension. In the present study, 56 Korean adult learners of English were asked to take morphological awareness tests (i.e., morphological structure and verbal suffix knowledge) and prosody tests (i.e., stress contour discrimination and stress contour matching) and to complete a survey that showed the participants’ English proficiency based on TOEIC scores, learning experience, age of acquisition, the vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive awareness. Multiple regression analyses were conducted, and the results showed that scores of morphological awareness were more associated with L2 prosody, and scores of vocabulary knowledge, stress contour discrimination, and stress contour matching were more correlated with L2 reading comprehension. Future research is needed to investigate how L2 learners’ morphological awareness contributes to L2 prosody and reading comprehension based on pedagogical implications.

EXPLORING MORAL VALUES IN ENGLISH COURSEBOOKS FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN CHINA

This article examines the representation of moral values in textbooks designed for adult learners of English as a foreign language in China. Guiding the analysis is a view of critical pedagogy. Content analysis is employed to analyze the following questions: What moral values are embedded in the textbooks for university EFL students? Do the coursebooks contribute to developing cultural awareness both of the target culture and of the learner’s? Is the treatment of moral values in those textbooks adequate to develop students’ critical thinking? The study concludes that coursebooks are imbued with moral and cultural values, which may be explored by teachers who could create opportunities to cultivate students’ critical thinking.

Conceptual framework for teaching civic education in the adult English as a second language classroom

AbstractCivic education provides adult English learners with the tools to be able to actively engage in their communities. This knowledge allows them to gain agency, develop a sense of belongingness, and facilitate lifelong learning. However, teaching civic education can be challenging for instructors for many reasons, such as prioritizing on developing the learners’ linguistic skills over their civic and citizenship knowledge. Thus, this article proposes a conceptual framework to incorporate civic education to the adult ESL classroom. Furthermore, it provides examples of relevant strategies and specific activities that illustrate the framework in action.

Extensive listening practice using asynchronous messaging to develop adult English learners’ oral skills

AbstractEighteen internationally trained professionals were paired‐up with nine English language instructors for this project. Even though the focus was on extensive listening practice, the learners created spoken messages to send a response to their instructors every week. The schedule and deadlines established helped participants to be organized and make time to practice their English oral skills. The project offered individualized practice, which was something the learners craved. Participation in the project was beneficial to beginner and advanced language learners as well as the instructors who had a chance to become creative and experience a new modality for teaching English.

A Study on the Use of Types of Present Perfect by Korean Adult Learners of English

This study aims to analyze the usage of the four sub-types of the English present perfect. Korean English learners tend to use the simple past when expected to use the present perfect. This study investigates which sub-types of the English present perfect Korean English learners find particularly difficult to use. The results show that Korean English learners are not very good at using all of the sub-types of the present perfect. In particular, they have difficulty using the present perfect functioned as Perfect of Result. Also, they tend to use the present perfect correctly at a relatively high rate when temporal adverbials appear in the sentence. However, they seem to have trouble using the present perfect, and they tend to use the simple past instead when there are no temporal adverbials. The findings have two implications. One is that Korean English learners show different levels of understanding depending on the sub-types of the English present perfect. The other is that Korean English learners tend to acquire the English present perfect more easily when temporal adverbials are present. This study is conducted only for Korean English learners. I hope for further research which compares Korean English learners and English native speakers. (Changshin University)

Language Learning Motivation and Its Role in Learner Complaint Production

While motivation plays an important role in language learning, few attempts have been made to explore its significance in second language (L2) pragmatics learning. The current study investigated whether and how language learning motivation affects L2 pragmatics production. A total of 60 adult Chinese learners of English participated in this study. Data were elicited from a motivation questionnaire and a discourse completion task (DCT). The results revealed that L2 learners with high motivation performed better in making complaints in the target language than learners with low motivation. Moreover, learners’ levels of pragmatic production correlated positively with their overall L2 motivation, as well as with four motivational subscales, namely, attitudes towards learning English, ideal L2 self, intended learning efforts, and attitudes towards the L2 community. Regression analysis showed that learners’ attitude towards learning English best predicted their production of the speech act of complaints. The findings of this study support the role motivational dispositions play in learners’ L2 pragmatic production. The study provides insight into the interaction of L2 motivation and pragmatics learning.

A Classroom Application of Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI)

This study reports on an investigation of the potential of Concept Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) for enhancing EFL learners’ understanding of the concept of tense/aspect in English and their use of associated forms; past simple, past continuous, and present perfect. C-BLI was compared to a grammar presentation approach based on the Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) model. Participants included 45 adult learners of L2 English from an Algerian University. Drawing on a pre-, post-, delayed post-test research design the study revealed the effectiveness of C-BLI over PPP for improving the participants’ understanding of the concept of tense/aspect as well as their use of the three target forms.