Foreign Language Learning Contexts Research Articles

Training the pronunciation of L2 vowels under different conditions: the use of non-lexical materials and masking noise.

The current study extends traditional perceptual high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) in a foreign language learning context by implementing a comprehensive training paradigm that combines perception (discrimination and identification) and production (immediate repetition) training tasks and by exploring two potentially enhancing training conditions: the use of non-lexical training stimuli and the presence of masking noise during production training. We assessed training effects on L1-Spanish/Catalan bilingual EFL learners' production of a difficult English vowel contrast (/æ/-/ʌ/). The participants (N=62) were randomly assigned to either non-lexical (N=24) or lexical (N=24) training and were further subdivided into two groups, one trained in noise (N=12) and one in silence (N=12). An untrained control group (N=14) was also tested. Training gains, measured through spectral distance scores (Euclidean distances) with respect to native speakers' productions of /æ/ and /ʌ/, were assessed through delayed word and sentence repetition tasks. The results showed an advantage of non-lexical training over lexical training, detrimental effects of noise for participants trained with nonwords, but not for those trained with words, and less accurate production of vowels elicited in isolated words than in words embedded in sentences, where training gains were only observable for participants trained with nonwords.

Audio description and subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing

Abstract This paper presents the teaching innovation project AUDIOSUB, which aimed at assessing the didactic potential of audio description (AD) and subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) in foreign language education. Within an online setting, 25 undergraduates of English Studies in a Spanish university worked collaboratively for two months and a half, in groups of five, so as to provide accessibility to complete short films. To that end, they were provided with a number of ad hoc tutorials and guidelines on technical issues related to AD and SDH, the two media accessibility modes used for this proposal. A pre-experiment was designed for data collection: pre- and post- writing and oral production tests, as well as general translation pre- and post- tests, were administered, and quantitative data were exploited using SPSS; pre-and post- questionnaires and observation were also used to triangulate and complement the analysis. The results show evidence of improvement both in written production and in general translation skills thanks to the pedagogical application of media accessibility and point towards a more systematic exploitation of didactic SDH and AD in the foreign language learning context.

Students’ Predominant Learning Style in EFL Writing Class

Many studies had examined writing strategies in ESL context. However, very few studies examined writing strategies by university students within foreign language learning contexts in Indonesia. Considering that reason, the researcher conducts a survey in EFL context focusing on writing strategies mostly used by 126 students enrolled in essay writing class. This study was conducted by using quantitative method, survey design, and English Writing Strategies Inventory (EWSI) questionnaire as the instruments. The result of this study shows that the predominant learning style of the students are determining the purpose and reading some materials related to the topic before start to write, checking the logical flow through paragraph when writing, and reviewing the writing to look for and correct grammatical errors after writing. It also found that the tendency of students to use EWSI is categorized as high since the frequency of strategy use in each category is high.

Conceptualization and Measurement of Flow in a Chinese Blended English as a Foreign Language Learning Context.

This study takes a holistic view of flow and anti-flow experiences as interactive subsystems in blended English as a foreign language (EFL) learning and examines the dynamic complex construct in the field of instructed second language acquisition (ISLA). We first rephrased the 22-item Classroom Flow Questionnaire (CFQ) to better reflect the context of blended EFL learning. The modified CFQ was then administered to 661 first language Chinese EFL learners. A final 14-item Foreign Language Flow Scale (FLFS) was developed based on results from a series of reliability (e.g., item analysis, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability) and validity (e.g., construct validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion validity) tests. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis results have demonstrated that foreign language learning flow is a three-dimensional construct involving Enjoyment, Boredom, and Anxiety, thus conceptualizing and validating flow as a continuum with both positive and negative ends. Moreover, participants reported that they experienced the lowest degree of enjoyment, while with respect to the negative flow, they almost experienced similar degree of boredom and anxiety. The present study contributes to the development of the conceptual framework for flow in ISLA as well as constructive pedagogical implications for L2 researchers and educators. Suggestions for future research are also provided.

The Effects of the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) on Vocabulary Strategy Use by Moroccan Common Core Graders

Much of the research in the field of English language teaching indicates that not all Strategy-Based Instruction (SBI) studies have achieved successful results. Some SBI programmes have proved their efficiency in some skill areas but not in others, even within the same study (Oxford, 1989). This study explores the effect of vocabulary strategy instruction application with a sample of 40 EFL learners attending a common core class in a Moroccan high school. The student participants were divided into an experimental group, which received vocabulary strategy training, and a control group, which followed the regular English language course. Vocabulary strategy use in both groups was evaluated with the use of the adapted Vocabulary Learning Questionnaire of Gu and Johnson’s (1996, pp. 673-679) (VLQ Version 3), which was distributed before and immediately after the intervention. The results indicated that after the completion of the intervention programme, the experimental group showed significant improvement in self-reported vocabulary strategy use as a whole as well as in all strategy groups. The findings of the current study prove the "teachability" of learning strategies and insist that explicit and integrated strategy training should be implemented in the EFL classroom. From a theoretical point of view, the results of the study may lead to a good understanding of the nature of language acquisition in general, particularly in foreign language learning contexts. Furthermore, the results may be very useful for practitioners who are involved in the areas of syllabus design, curriculum planning, and material development.

ENGLISH READING AND WRITING AS AN INTERCONNECTED SKILL IN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 4.0 ERA: CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPLICATIONS TO ITS PEDAGOGY

Previous studies have demonstrated the significance of Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 in advancing the educational reform including in English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching and learning context. The reason is that English language remains the global lingua franca in which the top ten skills pronounced by World Economic Forum in 2016 can be achieved by good command of English. Hence, the attention devoted to the quality of students’ EFL literacy in this IR 4.0 era is more increasing than ever. Nevertheless, the issue is merely focused on the pedagogical interventions to elevate the students’ new literacies like the formulation and implementation of Education 4.0. This study aims to demystify the changing orientation of perceiving reading and writing as an interconnected skill or literacy in EFL context. The review process started from collecting relevant previous studies. Afterward, a careful reading was performed followed by synthesizing process. The findings encompass three main points: (1) the redefinition of English reading-writing connection in Industrial Revolution 4.0 era; (2) the learning resources to maximize the students’ English reading-writing competences; and (3) the implications of the changing orientations to the pedagogical practices. Recommendations for future research are also presented

Research Perspectives on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learning Motivation in Turkish Context: A Systematic Review of Studies between 2010 and 2021

Motivation has been demonstrated to be an important affective factor in language learning process and its importance has led to the emergence of diverse research perspectives in both foreign and second language learning contexts. In addition to the research studies investigating language learning motivation of learners, review studies presenting the picture of how and in what ways this phenomenon has been studied as a research focus make a significant contribution to the understanding of it. Based on this, this study aims to scrutinize how English as a foreign language (EFL) motivation has been studied as a research matter in Turkish context. Aims of the studies, the participant groups and contexts, research methodologies, motivational frameworks followed and major findings were examined to find out the general trends in EFL motivation research. For these purposes, 14 research studies and nine master’s thesis and doctoral dissertations in the last 10-year period were selected based on certain criteria, and they were systematically analyzed in the light of the research questions. The findings showed that motivational research in Turkish EFL context mainly concentrate on university context, and some of the findings related to motivational orientations of Turkish EFL learners are inconsistent and need more investigation.

Faculty and student perceptions of the use of web 2.0 tools to develop communication skills in English

As the use of Web 2.0 proves to be beneficial in foreign language learning contexts, this quantitative study focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools for the development of communication skills in English, specifically in higher education. In order to investigate the participants’ perceptions, 341 undergraduate students and 70 faculty members from Portuguese higher education institutions responded to an online survey. They were asked to associate a list of Web 2.0 tool types to the communication skills they believed that could be developed in English language learning.The general results from both groups show that video sharing tools (for listening and speaking) and presentation tools (for reading and writing) are the ones that the respondents consider to be mostly used in class. A deeper analysis allows us to identify other tools that are mostly used in face-to-face and distance learning contexts and we suggest this list can work as a guideline for faculty members in their practice.

AN INTERCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE OF ERROR CORRECTION AND STUDENT LEARNING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE CONTEXT

<p>Error correction is an essential component of language learning. It takes different forms that can affect language learning either positively or negatively. In the foreign language learning context, where the classroom is the only environment where the learners encounter the target language, error correction must be central to learning. It can easily be a demotivation factor to language learning. In this paper, the author examines error correction in High schools in Burkina Faso. The article explores how teachers deal with error corrections in the classroom and error treatment on student learning. The author conducted a qualitative study using classroom observations and interviews with teachers and students as data collection methods.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0882/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Human Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners' Argumentative Writing.

Traditionally, writing quality is measured by human ratings, either holistically or analytically. The present study aimed to investigate the locus of human ratings by analyzing the linguistic features that are predictive of writing quality. One hundred and 44 argumentative writing samples from Chinese learners of English as a foreign language were evaluated by human ratings and quantitative measurement of writing quality indexed by Coh-Metrix. Holistic and analytic human ratings had significant correlations with quantitative measures related to syntactic variety and transformation. Moreover, linear and logistic regressions revealed that syntactic simplicity, words before main verb, syntactic structure similarity in all sentences and across paragraphs, incidence of passive voice and temporal connectives were five valid indices that can consistently differentiate writing quality indexed by human ratings. The present findings have significant pedagogical implications for human ratings on writing quality in the foreign language learning context.

RETHINKING TEACHING AND LEARNING LANGUAGE IN THE NEW ERA: LESSONS FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN TANZANIA

This study examines the language teaching and learning experiences in Tanzania that were prompted in response to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic-related school closures. Crucial to the study was determining how students’ and teachers’ coped with language teaching and learning and determining technological resources and their usefulness in language teaching and learning.A total of 127 students (74 female, 53 male) and 33 teachers participated in the study. The study revealed that the reception of educational broadcasting was low among the participants while reliance on mobile learning increased, the participants faced challenges when they attempted to cope with the shift to technology-based formats for language teaching and learning, and students were not fully able to develop the autonomy of learning on their own partly due to the unpreparedness for the shift to technology-based learning.Overall, the results confirm that web resources, SNS, and applications are rapidly becoming a resource for native speaker input for students learning English in foreign language learning contexts.

Getting Cinema into the Saudi EFL Classroom: Catering to Changing Learner Needs

Objectives: The language proficiency of English as a foreign language (EFL, henceforth) learners at Qassim University is currently below the expected standards. Even with pedagogical innovations taking the place of conventional methods in the classrooms, and feature films being increasingly used as authentic language exposure, the inclusion of feature films for teaching English is not welcomed in Saudi Arabia though English films are quite popular with the EFL learners in other parts of the globe. Pilot studies, before the current research, demonstrated positive outcomes with using feature films in the EFL classrooms, the results of which prompted this study. The current study discusses the implications of using films in language teaching, using questionnaires for collecting data from students and teachers of English at Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. The study spanned twelve weeks, during which time, an intervention was administered to the experimental group. At the end of the 12 weeks, the participants in the experimental group reported an increased communicative proficiency and engagement in the lessons when the teacher used films. The analysis of the students’ responses proved that the use of film-based language teaching is an effective and authentic means of language training. With enhanced communicative competence, EFL learners felt naturally confident to speak in English in real-world language situations. The results of the study would be beneficial to the EFL students, EFL teachers, schools, curriculum developers, and governments especially in terms of improved EFL instructions and improved economy, not only in Arabian but any foreign language learning context.

Context-specific multilingual instruction: evolution of an instructional design

ABSTRACT Target language instruction in multilingual settings cannot ignore the linguistic diversity of both the learners and the society. Rather than ignoring the individual and societal multilingualism, leveraging them as resources in learning the target language can be beneficial. Developing such multilingual instruction is an organic, iterative process that has to be planned and executed through a close collaboration of local stakeholders. In this paper, I trace the evolution of a multilingual instructional sequence that was designed by a practitioner-researcher collaborative team in an Indian German-as-foreign-language institute. The team first studied multilingual projects in other foreign language learning contexts and, with the help of these, identified a set of core components that formed part of the multilingual instruction on-site. Then, an instructional sequence focused on teaching chosen target grammatical aspects was designed and implemented iteratively in an adult, beginner level course. Every iteration was assessed from three vantage points – teachers' perspectives, feedback from learners and learners' language performance. Teachers' perspectives were gathered during weekly meetings and journal entries. Learners' feedback was from weekly reflection journals. Learners' language performance of the target grammatical aspects was assessed through obligatory occasion analysis of form-focused and meaning-focused tasks. At the end of each iteration, feedback from these three sources was triangulated to inform the redesign of the instructional sequence. The process of how the sequence evolved over three iterations through this feedback loop is elaborated here. This process can serve as a blueprint for other researchers and practitioners who wish to develop context-specific multilingual instruction.

Impacts of social and emotional learning (SEL) on English learning achievements in Hong Kong secondary schools

With growing attention attached to young students’ social and emotional well-being besides their cognitive development, social and emotional learning (SEL) has been increasingly researched in general school education over the past decades with its positive effects on academic performance reported. However, SEL research has not emerged in English as a foreign language (EFL) learning contexts. To bridge the void, the current research aimed to profile Hong Kong secondary school students’ SEL competence level and examine the intricate relationships among the four SEL competence clusters (i.e. self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social management) and English learning achievements. The results indicated an overall medium level of SEL competence among 315 secondary school grade level 3 students and suggested a gap between the students’ high level of awareness skills and their medium level of management skills. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses confirmed two mediation paths, thus highlighting the seminal mediating role of self-management skills in enhancing the effects of self-awareness and social awareness skills on English learning achievements. Important implications are discussed.

Changes in and Effects of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety and Listening Anxiety on Chinese Undergraduate Students' English Proficiency in the COVID-19 Context.

The present longitudinal survey study explored changes in and effects of foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and listening anxiety (FLLA) on Chinese undergraduate students’ English proficiency over a semester in the COVID-19 context. A set of 182 matching questionnaires was collected from first-year undergraduate English as a foreign language learners at two time points of a 16-week semester. Analyses of the data revealed the following major findings: (1) the participants experienced high levels of FLCA and FLLA both at the beginning and end of the semester, neither of which changed significantly during the semester, (2) FLCA and FLLA were highly positively related to each other, (3) FLCA and FLLA significantly predicted students’ self-rated proficiency in listening and speaking English, and (4) confidence in using English, efforts and motivation to learn English and interaction with instructors and peers mediated FLCA and FLLA to exert effects on students’ self-perceived proficiency in listening and speaking English. These findings indicate that the learning environment is critical in influencing the levels of and changes in FLCA and listening anxiety and that these two types of foreign language anxiety are serious issues in the pandemic foreign language learning context.

Analysis of University STEM Students’ Mathematical, Linguistic, Rhetorical–Organizational Assignment Errors

Although Error Analysis (EA) has been broadly used in Foreign Language and Mother Tongue learning contexts, it has not been applied in the field of engineering and by STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) students in a systematic way. In this interdisciplinary pilot study, we applied the EA methodology to a wide corpus of exercises and essays written by third-year students of mechanical engineering, with the main purpose of achieving a precise diagnosis of the students’ strengths and weaknesses in writing skills. For the analysis to be as exhaustive as possible, the errors were typologized into three main categories (linguistic, mathematical, and rhetorical–organizational), each of which is, in turn, subdivided into 15 items. The results show that the predominant errors are rhetorical–organizational (39%) and linguistic (38%). The application of EA permits the precise identification of the areas of improvement and the subsequent implementation of an educational design that allows STEM students to improve their communicative strategies, especially those related to the writing skills and, more precisely, those having to do with the optimal use of syntax, punctuation, rhetorical structure of the text, and mathematical coherence.

The Effects of a CLIL Programme on Linguistic Progress at Two Different Points in Time

In an attempt to explore the effects of different kinds of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning contexts, content and language integrated learning (CLIL) have been at the centre of FL acquisition research over the past decade. Studies have focused on the features and gains this setting brings, whether content is learnt at the same level of success as when taught in the learners’ L1, and whether that L1 is negatively affected by CLIL. However, to our knowledge, very little attention has been brought to how the seniority of the programme affects learner progress in the target language. This study aims to fill such a gap in the understanding that the programme will have developed and improved in terms of quality of exposure and interaction, and that learners’ EFL performance will be higher. To do that, we measured the efficacy of a long-standing CLIL programme in Barcelona twelve years after it was launched and examined the reading, writing, and lexico-grammatical abilities of CLIL EFL learners aged 8, 11, and 14 compared with results obtained by learners measured at the onset of the programme in 2005. The results showed that the quality of the programme has increased over the last decade, guaranteeing a higher level of EFL student proficiency when raw scores are considered, but not in terms of linguistic gains, in which only improvement in older students’ grammar and reading skills can be observed.

To What Extent Can Non-Native Speaker Teachers Teach Speaking Successfully in Foreign Language Learning Context?

In this essay, non-native speaker teachers teaching speaking under the foreign language learning context would be analyzed. Instead of simply regarding native speaker teachers as the absolute priority in teaching speaking, non-native speaker teachers could also effectively impart speaking skills to students with their bilingual proficiency, second language learning experience and direct access to the cultural context of their students. After further studies, the unique competence of non-native speaker teachers would be revealed through this essay.

O texto literário na aula de PLE Algumas considerações e uma proposta para a didatização do conto Bibliotecas, de Valter Hugo Mãe

The use of literary texts results in extremely productive strategies for foreign language classes. Its resource creates an opportunity for reflective practice on the target language-culture and, consequently, enables the training of skills that are not only linguistic but also cognitive, aesthetic, cultural, social and human (Council of Europe 2001, 2018). Based on these assumptions, this study aims to promote literary texts in Portuguese as a foreign language (PFL) learning and teaching contexts and, for that purpose, follows the problematization of some theories and practices. At the end, there is a proposal for didacticization of “Bibliotecas”, a tale by Valter Hugo Mãe, as a suggestion for the introduction of literary texts in PFL classes.

PRAGMATICS: WHY USE AUDIOVISUAL INPUT IN SECOND AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING CONTEXTS?

The teaching and acquisition of pragmatics in second and foreign language learning contexts has been traditionally reduced to coursebooks’ decontextualized dialogue samples and static images with almost no effects on learners’ communicative competence. This paper outlines rationale on the teaching of pragmatics since it has become of essential importance as specified in different language proficiency paradigms i.e. the CEFR. Thus, attention is centered on the use of audiovisual materials as a rich input source used for that aim. With this in mind, a review of studies appraising for the validity of language used in audiovisual genres is provided. In addition, an overview of its applicability and effects as a part of the general education curricula and in second and foreign language instruction is presented. Results from the studies reviewed reported overall advantageous outcomes when using this type of input for different instructional aims and more specifically with pragmatics’ acquisition purposes.