L2 Classroom Research Articles

Game-informed meaning making in U.S. math class

This article features data from a larger, ongoing eight-year study involving game-informed learning in public high school math classes in the Northeastern United States. More specifically, the focus on cooperative competition and assessment reveals how specific principles of gaming, namely discovery, reflexivity, contextual understanding, and sharing, can support the development of students’ literacies and numeracies. Furthermore, this article addresses how game-informed teaching and learning can be applied to L1 classroom.

Content-Based and Task-Based Language Teaching in L2 Classroom

This recent journal offered a brief review of significant research findings on second language acquisition related to two language approaches, namely, Content-Based Language Teaching (CBLT) and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). Based on different research provided in this journal, the following strengthen the role, effectiveness, and importance of CBLT and TBLT in a language classroom by improving language instructions and learning processes during the acquisition of a second language.

Exploring the potential of graphic novels for L2 pragmatic teaching and learning – focus on young learners

ABSTRACT To date very little research is available that focuses on L2 pragmatics and young learners [cf. Schauer, G.A. 2022a. Teaching pragmatics to young learners: a review study. Applied Pragmatics. DOI:10.1075/ap.00006.sch]. Recent studies have shown that textbooks for young learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) vary considerably regarding their pragmatic content and frequently do not provide varied and consistent input of key speech acts and formulaic expressions. Graphic novels could be a rich source of pragmatic input for L2 learners as they tend to contain a considerable amount of direct speech that could be used in a variety of different ways in the L2 classroom. In this paper, I will examine four graphic novels (2 suitable for beginner level and 2 suitable for intermediate level EFL learners) concerning their potential to provide young L2 learners with pragmatic input of their respective level. The study provides an overview of the number of speech act occurrences of eight speech acts (greetings, leave-takings, requests, responses to requests, expressions of gratitude, responses to expressions of gratitude, apologies, responses to apologies), as well as a more detailed analysis of individual speech act expressions and formulaic routines of six of the eight speech acts.

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

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

Improving intercultural pragmatic competencies in online L2 Spanish classrooms through task-supported learning

Learners of a second language often have limited access to the native culture of that language in an authentic way, resulting in them committing linguistic and intercultural mistakes. One of the main advantages of task-based learning is that it can expose students to real-world circumstances, which makes learning a language more meaningful and inclusive of appropriate language behaviour. Task-based learning has become an accepted method for learning a language in face-to-face classroom environments, but its applicability to online learning is largely unaddressed. The author proposed well-organised online role-plays based on a task-based approach involving native speakers, which helped students interact in an authentic way and demonstrate their understanding of culture. The author conducted the research to increase intercultural pragmatic competencies in online L2 classrooms regarding common pragmatic speech acts as to not only increase their pragmatic competency but to also motivate students. The students from the online experimental group who were exposed to task-supported role-plays performed better than the online control group of students; however, student motivation was only mildly impacted. Thus, pragmatics and interculturality can be effectively taught in online L2 classrooms through task-supported learning, though motivation may require longer interventions.

REDUCING EFL LEARNERS’ SPEAKING ANXIETY THROUGH SELECTIVE ERROR CORRECTION AND GROUP-WORK STRATEGIES

This quantitative study aimed to examine the level of speaking anxiety experienced by second-year high-school Acehnese EFL learners in their oral performance in L2 classroom and to investigate the attempt to lower their anxiety through the implementation of selective error correction and group work. The Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986) was used as a means to survey and evaluate the learners’ speaking anxiety, and their oral performance was assessed through speaking performance rubric before and after the learners’ exposure to selective error correction and group work. The findings showed that a high level of speaking anxiety was found in the majority of the learners, and that the use of selective error correction and group work for the treatment of speaking anxiety overall resulted in the learners’ improved performance in their oral task. The findings highlighted the needs to create a positive and supportive educational environment that stimulates learners to freely experiment with L2 and to establish close-knit learning communities that promote authentic interactions in L2 and provide opportunities to be more engaged in oral language use.

Reducing EFL Learners’ Speaking Anxiety through Selective Error Correction and Group Work

This quantitative study aimed to examine the level of speaking anxiety experienced by second-year high-school Acehnese EFL learners in their oral performance in L2 classroom and to investigate the attempt to lower their anxiety through the implementation of selective error correction and group work. The Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986) was used as a means to survey and evaluate the learners’ speaking anxiety, and their oral performance was assessed through speaking performance rubric as adopted from Ismailia (2021) before and after the learners’ exposure to selective error correction and group work. The findings showed that a high level of speaking anxiety was found in the majority of the learners, and that the use of selective error correction and group work for the treatment of speaking anxiety overall resulted in the learners’ improved performance in their oral task. The findings highlighted the needs to create a positive and supportive educational environment that stimulates learners to freely experiment with L2 and to establish close-knit learning communities that promote authentic interactions in L2 and provide opportunities to be more engaged in oral language use.

Second Language Teaching With STEM

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, also known as ACTFL 5 Cs, aims to guide pre-kindergarten through higher education second language (L2) educators in what L2 learners at every level should do to progress in each standard. The ACTFL’s 5Cs includes five goal areas: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. Empirical research has shown that of these standards, Connections, where the languages are connected to academic disciplines for strengthening the learning, is one of the least utilized standards in L2 classrooms. Incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) as the connection discipline can help post-secondary language learners in STEM and non-STEM fields develop the ability to effectively communicate technical and scientific STEM content within global STEM markets. This paper discusses the rationale for and the need to utilize the ACTFL’s Connections standards through STEM to grow and sustain L2 learners’ advanced language proficiency, as well as their employability and effectiveness in a highly competitive global work environment.

Resolving tensions caused by high-stakes assessment in an L2 classroom through mediation

The Finnish classroom assessment culture is considered that of assessment for learning. The situation in upper-secondary schools is different, however. While teachers in Finland appreciate assessment supporting learning, they feel unable to merge it with assessment of learning outcomes, and favour the latter due to the Matriculation Examination (ME; e.g. Leontjev, submitted), a high-stakes exam growingly used in university admission. Learners, likewise, expect teachers to prepare them for the ME (Lakkala & Ilomäki, 2013), the results of which play a significant role in their further studies. The tension between assessment for learning and exam preparation is, therefore, often resolved in the benefit of the latter. In the present study, we illustrate how this tension can be resolved for teachers and learners in the benefit of supporting learning both in praxis—a dialectical unity of theory and practice, drawing on a detailed analysis of two interactions with learners. We will discuss the implications for the development of teacher classroom practices and teachers’ professional development.

L1 Use among L2 Teachers: Vıews Vs Practıce

Although the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) had been shunned in second language teaching, the stigma of using the first language (L1) while teaching the second language (L2) has been continuously debated by L2 scholars and teachers. Regarding the use of L1 in the L2 classrooms, monolingual approach and bilingual approach both has contrastive stands on this issue. While the advocators of the monolingual approach strongly reject the use of L1 in L2 classrooms, there is no strong evidence to prove that it could affect L2 learning. The proponents of bilingual principal believed that the utilisation of L1 is inevitable when the teachers and learners share the same L1. This research study aims to examine the use of L1 (BM) by L2 (English) teachers during the teaching process. Keywords: L1, L2, Grammar Translation Method (GTM).

Teachers’ Perceptions regarding Code-Switching and Code-Mixing as Scaffoldings in Teaching L2 Speaking Skills at Graduation Level

The prime objective of this research was to investigate English language teachers’ perceptions regarding code-switching and code-mixing as scaffoldings in teaching L2 speaking skills of the BS students enrolled in different public and private universities and colleges of Multan and Bahawalpur Districts. This article was completed by employing the quantitative data analysis approach. 250 male and female English language teachers responded positively during the academic calendar of 2021. Questionnaire was the tool for data collection that was structured in which the respondents were requested to specify their level of endorsement or disagreement on four-point rating scale. The results and findings of the study data indicated that all the teachers were unanimously agreed and said “Yes” on all the statements of the questionnaire. The evaluated data disclosed that English language teachers disclosed that code-switching and code-mixing in L2 classrooms has favorable impacts on L2 teaching and learning. Results of this article also show that English language teachers’ code-switching and code-mixing help them to pass the information to the students easily. Additionally, most of the teachers also agreed and delivered a highly positive attitude regarding code-switching and code-mixing as they feel that their students feel relaxed and happy during teachers’ code-switching/ code-mixing in L2 atmosphere. The reason behind this concept is as teachers’ code-switching and code-mixing decreases the pressure of L2 language on B.S English students. In addition to this approach, English language teachers’ code-switching and code-mixing make L2 learners bilingual rather multilingual.

Effects of Collaborative Learning on Young ESL Learners’ L2 Anxiety and Speaking Performance

Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) is one of the issues of interest attracting researchers in recent decades. However, while collaborative learning introduced a prospective tool for FLA, it has not been much researched in the L2 classroom context, particularly in Vietnam. This paper focuses on using collaborative learning to reduce foreign language anxiety and enhance the L2 speaking performance of young learners at an English center in Ho Chi Minh City. A combination of tools, including Aydin et al.’s (2017) Children Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (CFLAS) for the pre-tests and post-tests, the teacher’s diary, and follow-up interviews, was used to measure the changes in learner’ FLA level and speaking performance. After five-week implementations, these learners’ FLA was slightly alleviated, and their speaking performance was improved using a collaborative learning approach. Moreover, learners were found to have positive attitudes and experience with learning in the new approach. These findings implied that collaborative learning could be a potential treatment to help L2 learners uncover their anxious selves and find more confidence in using the target language

Second Language Vocabulary Learning through Ecologically Valid Classroom Practice Can Be Indexed by Event‐Related Potentials (ERPs). A Conceptual Replication Study

AbstractPrevious research has suggested that Event‐Related Potentials (ERPs) can index form‐, meaning‐, and use‐related aspects of the second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge, through, respectively, a lexical decision task (LDT, targeting N400), a semantic relatedness task (SEMREL, targeting N400), and a grammatical judgment task (GJT, targeting P600/AN). Yet, those findings were established in the context of either laboratory‐based or longitudinal word learning studies. Therefore, this conceptual replication study investigates whether LDT, SEMREL, and GJT could reveal the aforementioned ERP components in the context of an ecologically valid short‐term intervention representative of L2 classroom practice. Twenty Dutch‐speaking participants performed reading and writing tasks in a computer‐assisted learning environment. Target words were 20 real L2 French verbs. ERPs were recorded immediately after the learning sessions. Results showed N400 for form‐ and meaning‐related knowledge and P600 for grammatical use. We conclude that ERPs can index L2 vocabulary knowledge gained through ecologically valid classroom activities.

Türkiyede İngilizce Öğretiminde Sınıf İçi Etkileşime Dair Sistematik İnceleme

While there are studies of international scope on L2 classroom interaction, there is no review as of today within the Turkish context. The envisioned change in the national educational policy until 2023 with a special focus on foreign language education involves contextual specification and localization of language teaching, and thus creates a special need to take a closer look at what is happening inside the classroom on a country basis. For this reason, the present study looks at English language classroom interaction research in the Turkish context to find out the recent trends and developments in the area in terms of methodological choices and contexts of investigation. To do so, document review is adapted as a data collection technique. Search terms were selected as ‘classroom interaction’, ‘classroom interaction in Turkey’, ‘L2 classroom interaction’, ‘L2 classroom interaction in Turkey’, and ‘classroom interactional competence’. Studies were found using three databases and an index. After carefully applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 16 studies were chosen for the review and analyzed in terms of methodologies, research contexts, and findings. Results showed that in terms of methodology, studies were inclined to employ Conversation Analysis and they were conducted predominantly in a university setting with adolescent participants along with various subject areas. In line with these findings, the present review tries to shed light on the past and present state of English language classroom interaction research in Turkey and attempts to propose future directions as well.

Understanding Learners' Metacognition of Online Teacher Feedback Amid COVID-19: A Case Study in a University Livestream Instruction Context.

While research on metacognition in second language (L2) learning has burgeoned in the past two decades, its relation to actual teaching behaviors, such as teacher feedback, remains to be fully described and explained in L2 classroom, especially in livestream English teaching settings. To fill this gap, this case study examined how learners utilize and regulate metacognition of online teacher feedback during COVID-19 in a Chinese inner land university. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. With qualitative and interpretive analysis, it is revealed that leaners positively receive online teacher feedback for its detrimentalness together with a growth mindset and high levels of resilience, but, on the whole, there is a metacognitive deficit: they misinterpret self-consciousness about online feedback which is underpinned by a conception of tasks that characterizes online L2 learning. This research expands our understanding of L2 learning processes pertaining to awareness and management of teacher feedback receiving and may also shed light on solutions to empower livestream teaching by building external scaffolding devices to compensate weaknesses of online L2 education during the pandemic and beyond.

The Need for a Bilingual Mode of Instructional Design for Higher Education

Immersion in English language at higher education level might not benefit students who did their schooling in their mother tongue, native tongue, or regional language. L2 classroom is the only way for the students who come from economically and socially backward communities to learn the language. When the instruction is fully in English, these students feel left out and disconnected. They are not motivated enough as the means to attain goals is not clear. Therefore, it is hypothesized that a bilingual mode of instruction that makes use of the students’ existing language repertoire might motive them and help them achieve better in L2 learning. This paper has analysed and suggested various motivational models explaining the relationship between students’ attitudes and achievement in second language skills. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to study students’ attitudes towards learning and their efficiency in achieving the target language.

Integrating ARCS motivational model and flipped teaching in L2 classrooms: a case of EFL expository writing

The Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) model provides a basis for integrating motivational dynamics and technological affordances into the design and implementation of instructions to maintain learner motivation and interest. Little attention has been paid to this potential in teaching the complex and often demotivating skill of second/foreign-language (L2) writing. This study examined synergistic effects of ARCS-flipped teaching on Iranian English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ expository-writing performance and motivation. Participants were 59 EFL learners in two intact classes who were assigned to two groups. In the experimental group, the ARCS model was integrated into the flipped writing course. Hybrid Edmodo plus face-to-face learning spaces were used to implement ARCS strategies alongside the instruction. In the control setting, the model was implemented in the face-to-face writing course. A data-triangulation approach, comprising writing tasks, the Course Interest Survey, and semi-structured interviews was adopted. ANCOVA results showed that the ARCS-flipped group outperformed the face-to-face group in their writing performance. Furthermore, the motivational-technological synergy led to more increased learner motivation. Learners’ retrospective perceptions revealed that the flipped features of flexibility, learner-centeredness, relaxed environment, interactivity seamlessness, and collaboration appealed to the learners’ varied time-space preferences, which, in turn, stimulated their motivation, learning engagement, and writing performance.

Reflections on Dialogism and Doing Community in the L2 Classroom

Reflections on Dialogism and Doing Community in the L2 Classroom

Creation and validation of a bilingual test to estimate aural and written vocabulary size

Language learners’ vocabulary size is a reliable predictor of their success in a second language as it clearly correlates with better performances in the target language. Being precise in those estimations is paramount to plan language teaching. However, the instruments employed by previous studies for those estimations might present validity and reliability issues that affect their research sensitivity and accuracy.
 This paper presents a step-by-step account of the creation of an aural and a written version of a bilingual vocabulary test. Test was delivered to 73 adult L1-Spanish students attending English classes. Their answers were analysed with Rasch model to determine the best performing items in the test so that the overall reliability of the instrument was enhanced.
 The final version of the test presents high levels of reliability: .89 for the listening vocabulary test and .82 for the written vocabulary test. Furthermore, descriptive statistics confirm that recognizing the words in their aural form is more challenging than in their written form: participants got 10.80% fewer correct answers in the listening vocabulary test. This finding confirms the claim that aural and written vocabulary are two separate dimensions, and impacts on how vocabulary should be taught in L2 classrooms.

The Influence of Form-Focused Instruction on the L2 Chinese Oral Production of Korean Native Speakers.

Form-focused instruction (FFI) can help second language (L2) learners notice the forms of language, which is conducive to the acquisition of linguistic forms. Two types of FFIs had been proposed, including focus-on-formS (FonFs) and focus-on-form (FonF). Previously, studies on FFI in L2 classroom teaching have focused mainly on the influence of two types of FFIs on the L2 acquisition of grammar and vocabulary. The influence of FonFs and FonF on L2 oral production, however, has been addressed less often. The advantages and disadvantages of different teaching methods in FonFs and FonF have not been well investigated. On the basis of Schmidt’s noticing hypothesis, VanPatten’s input processing hypothesis, and Long’s interactive hypothesis, we investigated the effects of teaching goals, teaching steps, and interactive activities in FonFs and FonF on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of 32 native Korean speakers’ L2 Chinese oral production. We found that FFI significantly improved the performance of L2 Chinese oral production, although different FFIs had different effects on complexity, accuracy, and fluency. FonF and FonFs could improve both complexity and accuracy, whereas FonF also significantly improved fluency, which was not observed in FonFs. Furthermore, we found that the level of L2 proficiency could modulate the interaction between instruction methods and learning outcomes. For low-proficiency learners, FonF was more helpful for the improvement of fluency. For high-proficiency learners, FonFs was more helpful for the improvement of accuracy. These results demonstrated that teachers should pay attention to the interaction between specific teaching conditions with different L2 proficiency and learning outcomes when implementing FFI. The findings of this study have important implications for the design of procedures and interactive activities of L2 spoken Chinese teaching.