Chunks Of Language Research Articles

On the impact of online interactionist vs. interventionist dynamic assessment on Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance

This paper reports the results of a study aiming to investigate the effects of interactionist and interventionist dynamic assessment (DA) on learners’ writing performance. To do so, 63 upper-intermediate EFL learners were selected as the study participants. A writing pretest was administered to ensure the homogeneity of the participants and determine their level of proficiency prior to treatment. In the online interactionist DA group, the researchers implemented the treatment based on the ‘Dynamic Mediation Process’ proposed by Elliott (2002) and Xiaoxiao and Yan (2010). The framework comprised topic-choice, idea-generation, structuring and macro-revising stages. In doing so, the pre-task phase was conducted, followed by providing the mediation and performing post-task. In the interventionist DA group, Lantolf and Poehner’s (2011) framework was followed. Based on this framework, the learners’ erroneous language chunks were treated through the teacher’s underlining the error, putting a question mark, circling it, or posing a written question concerning the problematic part. Alternatively, the teacher would point out the incorrect part and offer two options for the learners to choose from. At the end, a writing posttest was given to all groups to evaluate their writing performance after treatment. As the study findings helped reveal, both interactionist and interventionist DA types improved learners’ writing performance. In addition, the comparison of the posttest scores indicated that the interactionist DA group participants even outperformed the interventionist ones on the writing posttest. The implications of the findings are discussed throughout the paper.

Learner knowledge of English phrasal verbs: Awareness, confidence, and learning experiences

AbstractThis study investigated the knowledge of English phrasal verbs (PVs) among Japanese university students. PVs have been described by learners as ambiguous and difficult, often resulting in their avoidance, and much of the literature has focused on how they can be taught effectively. However, it is relatively unknown as to what knowledge learners typically develop on their own without undergoing classroom interventions that focus specifically on PVs. To investigate this issue, a survey on PVs was distributed to eight different departments at universities across Japan resulting in 221 participants, with six students participating in follow‐up interviews. The data from the PV survey provided qualitative data for analysis, the interviews were transcribed, and axial coding was utilized to formulate a holistic examination of the participants’ knowledge of PVs. The results revealed that the participants had an awareness of PVs but had acquired most of them as chunks of language without much knowledge of their individual parts, which was found to lower their confidence and increase their perceived difficulty. Additionally, directional PVs, particularly with go and come, were the easiest for the participants due to L1–L2 similarities. However, their understanding of idiomatic and aspectual PVs appeared to be superficial and lacking.

Metaphor analysis meets lexical strings: finetuning the metaphor identification procedure for quantitative semantic analyses.

Recent years have witnessed the development of the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP/VU), a step-by-step protocol designed to identify metaphorically-used words in discourse. However, MIP(VU)'s merits notwithstanding, the procedure poses a problem to scholars intending to use its output as the basis for a semantic field analysis involving a quantitative component. Depending on the research question, metaphor analysts may be interested in chunks of language situated above the procedure's standardized level of analysis (i.e., the lexical unit or lexeme), including phrases and sentences. Yet, attempts to decenter the method's exclusive focus on metaphor-related words have been the target of critique, among others on the grounds of their lack of clear unit-formation guidelines and, hence, their inconsistent unit of analysis and measurement. Drawing on data derived from a Spanish-language US-based newspaper's coverage of the migration program known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), this article describes challenges that analysts can run into when attempting to use a dataset containing atomized metaphor-related words as the input for subsequent quantitative semantic analyses. Its main methodological contribution consists in a proposal and illustration of three possible methods to extend the existing MIP(VU)-protocol in such a way as to allow it to capture metaphorical strings, on top of lexemes, in a reliable and systematic manner. The first two methods are procedural, and entail formulating a-priori grouping-directives based on the research question(s). One departs from semasiological criteria (Method 1) and the other takes an onomasiological approach (Method 2). The third method works bottom-up, involving the ad hoc grouping of lexemes and adding a descriptive parameter meant to keep track of grouping-decisions made by the analyst, thereby safeguarding transparency at all times.

Teachers’ strategies to promote learners’ engagement: Teachers’ talk in perspective

This study investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ strategies to promote learners’ engagement via teachers’ talk analysis. Participants comprised 10 EFL teachers within the age range of 21 to 45 and the teaching experience of 1 to 16. To collect data, a video of a whole class time lasting 90 minutes for each teacher was obtained. To analyze the data, the discourse analysis in line with Walsh (2011) was employed. In so doing, the exchanges above the sentence level in which the learner initiated an interaction wherein a learning-engagement opportunity was embedded plus the teachers’ talk in addressing that opportunity via employing an engagement-promotion strategy were taken into consideration. The results indicated that teachers drew on various strategies to foster different dimensions of engagement. Teachers used strategies such as employing encouraging language chunks, asking learners to search the net, offering rewards, and using motivational strategies to promote learners’ behavioral engagement. As for promoting emotional engagement, teachers suggested trying positive thinking, goal setting, self-talk, and self-assessment. With regard to promoting cognitive engagement, teachers recommended being more collaborative, using self-assessment for learning strategies, seeking more information about learning strategies, and highlighting the importance of learner autonomy. With respect to agentic engagement promotion, teachers offered strategies such as thinking about language learning needs, talking about language learning needs with the teacher and others, and respecting learners’ voice. The results are discussed and implications for teacher educators and EFL teachers are provided.

ELT in the digitale age: We have come a long way

Educational Applications and Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered tools have been a source of creativity but also controversy in recent years, also in the EFL classroom. From questions of spell checkers to automated text-generating technologies, educators and researchers alike have debated the utility and limitations of AI-powered tools. This paper looks at the historical development of educational technology, mainly the role of AI in ELT and argues for a creative engineering approach to language learning that leverages the best of the analogue and digital world. Taking the example of the Midjourney bot, this article outlines how AI-powered tools can be used as an assistive catalyst for teaching, such as providing linear remedial drills, grading cloze exercises, analyzing texts, but also generating fully coherent, grammatically, and lexically sound texts. It also identifies key competencies, such as interdependency, required to effectively use AI-powered tools. These skills include being able to use language chunks produced by the AI to adapt and remix texts for new activities and contexts, a skill referred to as “creative engineering”. Drawing on examples from specific EFL teaching scenarios, this paper emphasizes the need for teachers to understand and use AI-powered tools in their teaching, pointing to their potential to elevate language learning in the 21st century ELT classroom.

An Action Research on the Chunk Teaching in a Middle School English Writing Class

<p>The present study aimed at investigating the effects of learning lexical chunks on the writing performance of EFL Chinese learners of Grade three students in Middle school, and at the same time taking into consideration the examining participants’ use of lexical chunks and their knowledge of them. After two rounds of action research, through questionnaire, test, interview and classroom observation data analysis, the author found that: 1. The average writing score of students increased by 1.67 points, with an obvious improvement effect. Second, students' writing confidence, chunk writing awareness and writing methods have also been greatly improved. 3. The number of language chunks written by students increased on the second test, but decreased on the third test. According to the author's interview on students' familiarity with writing topics, students think that familiar writing topics make them more able to express their ideas.</p>

Communicative language teaching: Structure-Based or Dynamic Usage-Based?

Although communicative language teaching (CLT) was thought to have revolutionized classroom practice, there are “weak” and “strong” versions (Howatt, 1984). Most foreign language classrooms in the world still favor weak versions with structure-based (SB) views on language (Lightbown & Spada, 2013), and practice in the Netherlands is not much different (West & Verspoor, 2016). However, a small group of teachers in the Netherlands started teaching French as a second language with a strong CLT program in line with Dynamic Usage-Based (DUB) principles. Rather than focusing on rule learning and explicit grammar teaching to avoid errors, the DUB program takes the dynamics of second-language development into consideration and focuses on the three key elements of usage-based theory: frequency, salience and contingency. These translate into a great deal of exposure, repetition, learning the meaning of every single word through gestures, and presenting whole chunks of language, all without explicit grammar teaching. This study aims to compare the effects of the SB and DUB instructional programs after three years. We traced the second-language development of 229 junior high school students (aged 12 to 15) learning French in the Netherlands over three years. The participants took three oral tests over the course of three years (568 interviews) and wrote seven narratives on the same topic (1511 narratives). As expected, the DUB approach, which is in line with a strong CLT version, was more effective in achieving proficiency in both speaking and writing and equally effective in achieving accuracy.

Collocation Networks of Selected Words in Academic Writing: A Corpus-Based Study

This study aims at shedding light on the linguistic significance of collocation networks in the academic writing context. Following Firth’s principle “You shall know a word by the company it keeps.” The study intends to examine three selected nodes (i.e. research, study, and paper) shared collocations in an academic context. This is achieved by using the corpus linguistic tool; GraphColl in #LancsBox software version 5 which was announced in June 2020 in analyzing selected nodes. The study focuses on academic writing of two corpora which were designed and collected especially to serve the purpose of the study. The corpora consist of a collection of abstracts extracted from two different academic journals that publish for writers from different countries around the world. This corpus-based study aims at examining the significance of chunks of language in texts. The concept of collocations is crucial in corpus linguistics to identify semantic relations. This can help in the teaching and learning processes. Furthermore, this study is conducted to answer the following research questions; first, whether the three words study, paper, and research are used interchangeably in the corpora or not? Second, what are the shared collocational associations surrounding the selected nodes? Finally, it is worth noting that the study of collocations highlights the linguistic features of texts through computational analytical tools that can save time and help to gain objective results systematically. The findings show that ‘research’ and ‘study’ are used rather interchangeably in the writing of the abstracts; however, ‘paper’ has fewer shared collocations in the same academic context.

Children’s language play as collaborative improvisations–rethinking paths to literacy

Inspired by research in language play and linguistic ethnography, this article examines children’s language play in early childhood education and care (ECEC) as a locally situated generic practice created through children’s semiotic repertoires. The article is based on video-recorded linguistic ethnographic fieldwork in a Danish day care centre. By analysing two play sequences with 3–4 year old children, we examine how the children align to each other in an improvised way while co-creating social worlds. The multimodal micro-ethnographic analysis reveals how an assemblage of chunks of language, musicality, movements, affect and materiality is constitutive of children’s language play, and how language play appears as an integral part of children’s local language practices. The children’s use of a broad range of semiotic repertoires in language play represents a unique practice that might enhance our theoretical and empirical understanding of child language. We argue that empirical insight into children’s language play has the potential for developing paths to language and literacy that challenge the often highly prioritised ‘precursors to literacy’ strategy as the central aim for language learning in ECEC.

The Application of Art in the Enhancement of Speaking Skills in Greek State Primary School Students of Pre-A1 Level

The findings show that visual arts-based instruction positively impacts learners' oracy abilities, vocabulary development, and formulaic assimilation. Art has always been a potent medium for teachers of all subjects contributing to learners’ social, emotional, intellectual and physical evolution. However, it often becomes subjugated and considered as unnecessary and extracurricular. The particular research aims at exploring the ways Art can be integrated into the first grade of Greek State Primary School curriculum for English language learning and exploited for the benefit of young learners. More specifically, this research aims to investigate whether art, and particularly visual arts, can emerge as an invaluable tool which will enhance instruction for the learning of English as a foreign language, thus triggering motivation which will lead to young learners’ enhancement of their speaking skills. In addition to this, this research explores the effects of visual arts-based instruction on vocabulary, and language chunks development, through young learners’ engagement in a number of multisensory tasks deriving from works of art presented to them. For this reason, action research was carried out among thirty-two first grade learners of a state primary school in Greece, who were divided into two groups, a control and an experimental group. The information obtained through both quantitative and qualitative tools of data collection will be exploited for this research as they can prove that the participants of the experimental group improved substantially concerning all the three variables compared to the participants of the control group. The results of this small-case research cannot be disregarded as they indicate that the use of visual arts can have a considerably positive effect on young learners’ receptive and productive oracy skills.

An Analysis of the Multiword Units Presented in IELTS Speaking Preparation Books Published by Iranian Authors

This study compared the use of lexical bundles in authentic spoken language data with those of two English learning textbooks developed for IELTS preparation courses in Iran. The aim was to see if the language chunks available in the said textbooks were representative of the real-life language for which learners need to prepare. To achieve this aim, firstly, a list of lexical bundles was compiled based on Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) and British Academic Spoken English (BASE). Further, the list was used as a reference tool to analyze the language data of two IELTS preparation books published and widely used in Iran. The results highlighted some considerable differences between MICASE and BASE with regard to the use of lexical bundles in terms of their frequency, structure, and function. Moreover, it was revealed that the books under investigation shared only a scarce number of similar lexical bundles with MICASE and BASE as a whole. Therefore, they failed to be representative of the authentic language that people use in real world. Finally, the implications of the study are discussed, and several practical suggestions are made in order to inform teachers, material developers, and syllabus designers of the importance of related corpus linguistic studies.

УЯВЛЕННЯ СТУДЕНТІВ ТЕХНІЧНОГО УНІВЕРСИТЕТУ ПРО ВИВЧЕННЯ ДРУГОЇ МОВИ

Demand for language proficiency of technical university students leads to recognition of enhanced efficiency in language instruction. Using effective methods can not work because the second language learners have other beliefs which contradict with each other. The article deals with technical university students’ beliefs about second language learning and implications for university language teachers. The results of the research provide information for better understanding of teachers and students’ responsibilities in a second language learning class. The data was gathered through the survey regarding students’ attitude towards second language learning and individual feedback via Zoom sessions. Students gave their opinion on eighteen statements using a five-point Likert scale from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. We used descriptive statistics to calculate the median (beliefs of most of the students) and Inter-Quartile Range of each item (how scattered their responses were). The findings showed that most technical university students agree with the statements about second language learning, most of which are “myths”. Reflection on the results of the survey, providing additional input concerning controversial statements about language learning and discussion in groups contributed to better understanding of students’ needs. The implications of the study suggest that being aware of students’ beliefs about second language learning allows teachers to adjust instruction to the needs of students, share with students knowledge about the language, which they need to make language acquisition more effective. Further investigations may be devoted to comparing technical university students and teachers’ beliefs about second language learning. Key words: second language learning, students’ beliefs, error correction, grammatical rules, academic content, instruction, language chunks.

The Effect of Definition, Fill-in-the-Blank, and Sentence Writing Exercises on the Acquisition, Retention, and Production of Lexical vs. Grammatical Collocations

It is widely acknowledged that collocations play a crucial role in second or foreign language learning by enabling learners to know more about language chunks and lexical strings. Although many studies have examined L2 learners’ collocational competence, comparatively less research has been carried out to probe into the effective instruction and exercises for enhancing the acquisition, retention, and production of lexical (e.g. make a mistake) vs. grammatical (on purpose) collocations. Therefore, the present study attempted to explore the effect of L2 definitions, fill-in-the-blanks, and sentence writing exercises on the acquisition, retention, and production of lexical vs. grammatical collocations. The data were collected from 66 EFL participants who were studying English at a private language institute. First, an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was given to homogenize the learners. Then, the participants were divided into three groups, each receiving one of the three different types of exercises including definitions, fill-in-the-blanks, and sentence writing exercises. Data analysis using multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) indicated that learners who received the sentence writing treatment significantly outperformed those learners who received definition and fill-in-the-blank exercises in the acquisition, retention, and production of lexical vs. grammatical collocations. Moreover, fill-in-the-blanks could help the participants learn, retain, and remember both types of collocations significantly better than the L2 definitions. These findings have some pedagogical implications for learning and teaching lexical and grammatical collocations.

Lexical phrases with anthroponymic components in medical terminology

This article analyzes anthroponymic component language chunks in medical terminology. The research focuses on a large group of medical fixed phrases containing anthroponyms in their component composition. The main attention is paid to structural, semantic and etymological analysis. The basic lexical sets of anthroponymic component language chunks have been distinguished. The main sources and models of lexical phrases used in the formation of medical terms have been defined. The collected material allows us to state that the words syndrome, symptom and disease, being the structural core of medical phraseological units, are often distinguished in the phraseological units analyzed. The dependent component in a noun phrase is represented by an anthroponym. As a rule, this is the name of the scientist who made important discoveries in the medical field. Much attention is paid to the proper name semantics as part of a phraseological unit. Based on the etymological analysis of the material under study, the classification of medical phraseological units with a proper name component has been developed. The analysis showed that the origin of phraseological units with a proper name is based on real personalities, scientists, ancient and biblical mythology, literary works associated with the names of characters. Phraseological combinations associated with national and cultural specifics are of outstanding interest for linguistic analysis. The study showed that a proper name is a special linguistic sign that involves ethnic culture. The article discusses lexical chunks formed by metaphorical transfer in detail. The metaphorical transfer of names in the terminological system is noticed regularly, which is due to the constant development of medical terms’ new names and meanings formation through the scientific rethinkingof common words.

New phraseology in modern communicative space (to the question of replenishment of the corpus of chunks of language by phraseologisms with a component “electronic”)

Phraseological corpus of Russian language of the late XX – early XXI centuries has been enriched with multiple phraseological units. The subject of this research became neophraseologisms with “electronic” as the key component, actively used in modern publicistic discourse (electronic book, electronic textbook, electronic journal, electronic wallet, electronic library, and others). In Russia, the system of gradual fixation of emergence of new suprawords linguistic units did not form, thus composers of even the modern phraseological dictionaries include neologisms carefully, “sparsely”, often without due “linkage” to time and circumstances of their emergence, not fully answering the needs of a modern user. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that there is a need to conduct linguistic qualification and dictionary description of the Russian phraseological neologisms, emerged in the conditions of “digital pivot” of culture and formation of global communicative space. Abundance of supraword neologisms, which sensitively react to all changes in the life of society, is connected to a number of causes. On the one hand, on the background of geopolitical “redivisions” came drastic changes in the sociopolitical and socioeconomic life of the Russian native speakers. On the other hand, modern humanity is undergoing civilizational changes, caused by the “digital pivot” as coined by the renowned Polish phraseologist Wojciech Chlebda, driving formation of a global information network.

Hospitable writing: Accommodating emergent users of English by means of intralingual translation

This study draws from calls for a translingual approach to writing studies and current research in English as a lingua franca, but shifts focus from multilingual speakers to proficient speakers of English. While many studies have illustrated how emergent speakers resort to various pragmatic strategies to negotiate language in intercultural encounters, there is a dearth of research on how proficient speakers accommodate emergent speakers, especially in writing. A group of 35 proficient speakers of English was asked to identify the idiomatic multi-word expressions (MWEs) contained in a film review, and then reformulate them building sentences analytically (open-choice principle), rather than retrieving chunks of language from memory (idiom principle). Results show that the participants were able to identify idiomatic MWEs, but they need training to distinguish language that is unfamiliar to them from idiomatic MWEs, and to improve the quality of their translations. Teachers of English composition should provide proficient speakers with more opportunities to negotiate language with emergent speakers.

“I have three years old”

There is evidence that adults store fixed expressions as both units and compositionally in their mental lexicon. According to Usage-Based theories, children initially acquire memorized chunks of language (fixed expressions) and gradually abstract productive patterns (compositional representation). This study addresses whether a French-English bilingual child has compositional representation of fixed expressions using diary data on her use of fixed expressions requiring the verb to be in English and avoir ‘to have’ in French between the ages of 3;4 and 4;3. According to Usage-Based theories, children should learn these fixed expressions as fixed expressions and therefore show little cross-linguistic influence. However, from the earliest age under study, this child occasionally used the non-target verb, suggesting that her representation of these fixed expressions was already also compositional.

YOUNG LEARNERS’ RESPONSES ON THE USE OF ANIMATION IN AN ENGLISH CLASS

In an attempt to arouse young learners’ interest and active participations in learning English in this digital era, a prototype of speaking material for primary school students has been developed. The material developed is a computer-based interactive module for primary school students. Designed in the form of animation featuring animal characters, the themes were presented in dialogues as well as brief introductory narrations whereas the speaking activities were designed based on language chunks accompanied with pronunciation practice. To find out young learners’ reactions on the use of the materials developed, some try outs were conducted in some English classes of young learners. From the try outs it was found out that the young learners’ responses varied. Some seemed interested but shy to participate, some participated with encouragements, and some others participated actively without encouragements. However, the overall perceptions of the young learners on the use of the digital materials showed their interest and enthusiasm. In terms of the quality of the materials, some aspects that needed improvements were the age of the voice actors, the operational buttons, and the variations of the interactive activities.

Constructional contamination in morphology and syntax

AbstractIn every-day language use, two or more structurally unrelated constructions may occasionally give rise to strings that look very similar on the surface. As a result of this superficial resemblance, a subset of instances of one of these constructions may deviate in the probabilistic preference for either of several possible formal variants. This effect is called ‘constructional contamination’, and was introduced inPijpops & Van de Velde (2016). Constructional contamination bears testimony to the hypothesis that language users do not always execute a full parse of the utterances they interpret, but instead often rely on ‘shallow parsing’ and the storage of large, unanalyzed chunks of language in memory, as proposed inFerreira, Bailey, & Ferraro (2002),Ferreira & Patson (2007), andDąbrowska (2014).Pijpops & Van de Velde (2016)investigated a single case study in depth, namely the Dutch partitive genitive. This case study is reviewed, and three new case studies are added, namely the competition between long and bare infinitives, word order variation in verbal clusters, and preterite formation. We find evidence of constructional contamination in all case studies, albeit in varying degrees. This indicates that constructional contamination is not a particularity of the Dutch partitive genitive but appears to be more wide-spread, affecting both morphology and syntax. Furthermore, we distinguish between two forms of constructional contamination, viz. first degree and second degree contamination, with first degree contamination producing greater effects than second degree contamination.

Effect of collocations on Iranian EFL learners’ writing: Attitude in focus

This study aimed at investigating the effect of collocations as language chunks on Iranian female intermediate English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ writing skill. Moreover, the researchers intended to find out the attitude of learners towards writing skill after collocations were taught. Study sample comprises 30 female Iranian EFL learners, aged between 18 and 26 years old, who were studying English in a language institute in Isfahan. The instruments used for data collection included three tests (Oxford Placement Test, writing pretest and posttest) and an attitude questionnaire developed by Peter Elbow and Pat Belanoff. The results of the statistical analyses revealed that there was a significant effect of using collocations on the writing skill of Iranian female intermediate EFL learners. Furthermore, it can be claimed that the learners’ attitude boosted in the course of this experiment, indicating that using collocations had a significantly positive impact on the attitudes of Iranian EFL learners towards writing skill. Keywords: Attitude, collocations, language chunks, writing skill