Language-related Variables Research Articles

Optimizing learning return on investment: Identifying learning strategies based on user behavior characteristic in language learning applications

Began with Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in the 1960s and extended to the widespread use of various Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) tools in education, language learning has embraced technology early on, achieved noticeable results, and found extensive practical use. However, due to the challenges in accessing user data from various language learning platforms, the measurement and assessment of language-related variables continue to rely on self-reporting and peer evaluations. This reliance hampers researchers to observe language learning from alternative perspectives, especially when it comes to analyzing raw behavioral data. To explore potential correlations between different learning modes, this study analyzed 2 million samples from Chinese students using an English language learning application. The study quantified the effectiveness of English vocabulary learning using the economic concept of return on investment (ROI) as an evaluation metric and identified four distinct learning strategies. It observed significant differences in learning ROI among learners who adopted different strategies. Based on this analysis, we recommend the following suggestions for improving language learning ROI: when memorizing new vocabulary, investing excessive amounts of time may be counterproductive; a more effective approach is to "eat less but more often," which means arranging review sessions at a reasonable pace and shortening the interval between each review.

The Study of AI-Mediated Communication and Socio-Cultural Language-Related Variables: Gmail Reply Suggestions

ABSTRACT The current research describes the use of e-mail reply suggestions from a socio-cultural perspective of some language-related variables. It also correlates how users perceive the use of e-mail reply suggestions to some variables: job, specialization, age, and gender. In this descriptive-inferential survey design, a self-developed questionnaire was distributed online to collect the data from a convenient sample of e-mail users. The analysis shows the study sample perceived medially the use of e-mail reply suggestions. There are statistically significant differences in the respondents’ means about using e-mail reply suggestions according to the variable of job for education, specialization for humanities, and gender for females. Also, ages of less than 30 and above 50 years are of significance in using e-mail reply suggestions. The study reveals a weak inverse correlation, however, statistical between using e-mail reply suggestions and the language of those suggestions. In addition, a statistically significant positive direct correlation is found between usability and culture and society of e-mail reply suggestions. In light of the findings, the study recommends the better implementation of artificial intelligence-mediated communication in e-mail reply suggestions in association with some sociolinguistic factors. Also, future related studies are suggested.

중학생의 수학 교과역량에 영향을 미치는 언어 관련 개인, 가정, 수업 변인의 영향력 탐색

Objectives In this study, the influence of various predictive factors was analyzed through artificial neural network model in order to explore the influence of language-related personal, family, and class variables on middle school students' mathematics competency. Structural relationships were analyzed by constructing a model with the selected major variables as predictors and mediator, and the mathematics competency as dependent variables. Methods For this purpose, the self-report questionnaire data of 2,235 middle school students in the 3rd year(2019) of the D-educational longitudinal study and the scores of the Korean language and mathematics competency tests were used for the analysis. An artificial neural network model was constructed that predicts mathematics competency based on language-related individual, family, and class variables that can predict mathematics subject competency and Korean competency. Structural equation model analysis was conducted by setting the structural relationship between language-related variables and mathematics competency as a research model. Results The purposes of this study were to specify variables related to convergence competency, and to analyze the structural relationships among them. The purposes of this study were to specify variables related to convergence competency, and to analyze the structural relationships among them. Conclusions As a result of checking the correlation coefficient between the training data and the predicted value in the process of building the artificial neural network model, the average of the error was 0.7, and the correlation coefficient was . 68, indicating adequate prediction performance. As a result of confirming the structural relationship between language-related variables and Korean competency and mathematics competency, individual, family, and class variables directly or indirectly had a significant positive effect on mathematics subject competency.

Relationships Between Language-Related Variations in Text Tasks, Reading Comprehension, and Students’ Motivation and Emotions: A Systematic Review

Background. There is consensus in research that students' motivation and emotions are important for learning and achievement processes in the educational context, as are language competencies that, related to the demands of academic language, enable participation in education. However, the interrelationships between these aspects have hardly been empirically investigated in depth.
 Purpose and Methods. This systematic review addresses this research need, and aims to synthesise the existing evidence on the interrelationship between motivational/emotional and language-related variables. First, the relationship between learners’ motivation and emotions, and their language competencies is considered. Second, findings on how motivation and emotion depend on language-related factors are compiled.
 Results. A systematic data search conducted for this purpose yields seven studies. Five studies relate to the first concern, and confirm the effects of motivational and emotional variables on reading comprehension. Emotions, in particular, emerge as strong predictors. Two studies relate to the second concern, and report significant effects of language-related variations in text tasks on students’ motivation; however, neither study considers emotions.
 Implications. The findings are used to derive implications for language design in the educational context and identify important research gaps.

Language-related perceptions: How do they predict student satisfaction with a partial English Medium Instruction in Higher Education?

This study investigated language-related predictors of satisfaction with a partial English Medium Instruction (EMI) programme in teacher education at a Spanish university. More specifically, it explored the impact on programme satisfaction of students' perceptions of language improvement, of opportunities to use English, of lecturers' English proficiency, and language improvement as a motivation for enrolling in the programme. Additionally, it examined how self-rated proficiency affects the association between these language-related variables and satisfaction. Results show that students were more satisfied than they were dissatisfied, that they acknowledged having made an improvement in their English skills, and that the lecturers' English proficiency was below their expectations. Most importantly, the language-related variables under study were found to be significant predictors of student satisfaction with EMI, and each of them explained a high percentage of the variance in programme satisfaction. It was also found that these variables impacted student satisfaction differently across different self-rated proficiency groups. The article discusses that, at a time when competition among universities is taking a global dimension and students’ general English proficiency is getting progressively higher, most attention needs to be paid to the language when designing and resourcing EMI initiatives in order to make them competitive and sustainable.

Characterization of English and Spanish language proficiency among middle school English learners with reading difficulties.

Among bilinguals, language-related variables such as first and second language proficiency and balance may be related to important cognitive and academic outcomes, but approaches to characterizing these variables are inconsistent, particularly among at-risk samples of children. The current study employed comprehensive language assessment of English and Spanish language skills and contrasted various approaches to the characterization of language among at-risk ELs in middle school (N = 161). Specifically, we contrasted variable-centered and person-centered approaches, and convergence between objective and self-report measures. Findings support a two-factor structure of English and Spanish language skills in this population, three profiles of students (balanced, moderately unbalanced-higher Spanish, and very unbalanced-higher English), convergence between variable-centered and person-centered approaches, and mixed support for subjective indices of usage. Results provide a foundation from which to examine the roles of L1 and L2 proficiency as well as balance in important cognitive and academic outcomes in this at-risk and understudied population.

Associations between morphological awareness and literacy skills in German primary school children: the roles of grade level, phonological processing and vocabulary

Studies investigating relations between morphological awareness and literacy in German, a language with a rather transparent but asymmetric orthography, are sparse. Little is known about the role of grade level for these relationships and of their relative strength compared to those between other language-related variables and literacy skills. This cross-sectional study was conducted with German-speaking second-, third- and fourth-graders (n of final sample ≥ 85 per grade). Morphological awareness tasks required the production of inflections, derivations and compounds. Additionally, phonological processing, vocabulary, reading fluency, reading comprehension and spelling were measured. Factor analyses revealed two facets of morphological awareness: morphological fluency and morphological awareness for pseudowords. These were correlated with both reading and spelling skills in all grades. More literacy variables were related to morphological fluency in Grade 4 than in Grades 2 and 3. In regression analyses, variance in literacy skills was predominantly explained by phonological awareness. Morphological awareness did not explain additional variance. The results reveal that different facets of morphological awareness are related to literacy skills in German primary school children. Despite the asymmetry of German orthography, no evidence was found for differences in the association of morphological awareness with spelling versus reading. Phonological processing shows stronger relations with literacy than morphological awareness does. This might indicate that in the transparent German orthography, alphabetic reading and spelling strategies are particularly relevant until the end of Grade 4. Yet, morphological fluency might start to unfold its relevance for reading and spelling near the end of fourth grade in German.

The Study of Ai-Mediated Communication and Socio-Cultural Language-Related Variables: Gmail Reply Suggestions

The Study of Ai-Mediated Communication and Socio-Cultural Language-Related Variables: Gmail Reply Suggestions

Effects of working memory on L2 linguistic knowledge and L2 listening comprehension

AbstractThis paper examined the relationship between working memory (WM) and L2 linguistic knowledge as well as L2 listening comprehension with 150 Japanese EFL learners. The study also investigated the extent to which these relationships vary across L2 proficiency levels. The results in the study were as follows: (a) WM capacity was more strongly associated with L2 listening comprehension, L2 perceptual processing, and L2 syntactic parsing processing in the lower-proficiency group than in the higher-proficiency group; (b) L1 WM capacity still accounted for the unique variance in L2 listening comprehension after adjusting for the L2 language-related variables in the lower-proficiency group. The results suggest that the relationship between WM capacity and L2 listening comprehension may be mediated by L2 proficiency and depend on the domain-general processing efficiency reflecting central executive attention when the listening comprehension task requires conscious attention for less proficient listeners. The findings provide suggestive evidence for variation in the role of WM in L2 listening comprehension across proficiency levels and the significant role of L1 WM capacity in L2 listening comprehension as the general cognitive factor independent of L2 linguistic knowledge for L2 learners with limited linguistic knowledge.

Linguistic processes do not beat visuo-motor constraints, but they modulate where the eyes move regardless of word boundaries: Evidence against top-down word-based eye-movement control during reading.

Where readers move their eyes, while proceeding forward along lines of text, has long been assumed to be determined in a top-down word-based manner. According to this classical view, readers of alphabetic languages would invariably program their saccades towards the center of peripheral target words, as selected based on the (expected) needs of ongoing (word-identification) processing, and the variability in within-word landing positions would exclusively result from systematic and random errors. Here we put this predominant hypothesis to a strong test by estimating the respective influences of language-related variables (word frequency and word predictability) and lower-level visuo-motor factors (word length and saccadic launch-site distance to the beginning of words) on both word-skipping likelihood and within-word landing positions. Our eye-movement data were collected while forty participants read 316 pairs of sentences, that differed only by one word, the prime; this was either semantically related or unrelated to a following test word of variable frequency and length. We found that low-level visuo-motor variables largely predominated in determining which word would be fixated next, and where in a word the eye would land. In comparison, language-related variables only had tiny influences. Yet, linguistic variables affected both the likelihood of word skipping and within-word initial landing positions, all depending on the words’ length and how far on average the eye landed from the word boundaries, but pending the word could benefit from peripheral preview. These findings provide a strong case against the predominant word-based account of eye-movement guidance during reading, by showing that saccades are primarily driven by low-level visuo-motor processes, regardless of word boundaries, while being overall subject to subtle, one-off, language-based modulations. Our results also suggest that overall distributions of saccades’ landing positions, instead of truncated within-word landing-site distributions, should be used for a better understanding of eye-movement guidance during reading.

Phrase-Reading Mediates Between Words and Syntax in Struggling Adolescent Readers

The components involved in adolescent reading are complex and not clearly understood in struggling readers. Phrase reading, a language skill associated with prosodic understanding of syntactic phrases, has received little attention. We studied 70 adolescent readers including delayed readers to answer the following questions: (a) Do phrase-reading ability, syntactic awareness, passage-reading rate, and reading comprehension have a positive, significant correlation; (b) Do language-related variables (i.e., phrasing ability, syntactic awareness) account for more of the variance in comprehension than passage-reading rate; (c) Does phrase-reading ability, as measured by phrase-level prosody, provide a mechanism for, or at least partially mediate, how passage-reading rate and syntactic awareness affect reading comprehension? Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression and mediation regression. All answers were affirmative suggesting that researchers studying adolescent struggling readers should investigate prosodic phrasing-reading ability as a tool for improving reading comprehension.

Language mapping for education policy realisation from below

In 2006 the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) initialised the Language Transformation Plan (LTP) as a strategy to implement the longstanding national Language in Education Policy (DOE 1997). If serious efforts were to be made to expand the transformation plan to all schools across the province, detailed language related information was needed, on various levels of the institution. There is an established use of geographic information systems (GIS) for planning and policy making in fields more traditionally viewed as geographical. Increased accessibility to computer hardware and on-going efforts to create user-friendly software have paved the way for GIS to enter into disciplines such as sociolinguistics in ways that extend beyond simply mapping the distributions of languages in space. This article explores how mapping language-related variables at school level, using GIS, can support language planning and policy implementation from below, by drawing on concepts such as ‘public participation GIS’ (NCGIA 1996) and ‘counter-mapping’ (Peluso 1995).

Contribution of Morphological Awareness to Second-Language Reading Comprehension

This study investigates the contribution of second-language (L2) morphological awareness to foreign language reading comprehension. Tenth graders (n = 188) at a South Korean high school were assessed on 6 reading- and language-related variables: phonological decoding, listening comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, passage-level reading comprehension, metacognitive reading awareness, and morphological awareness. A series of 10 sequential regression analyses were conducted to determine the unique reading variance accounted for by each of the 2 morphological awareness tests included in this study (i.e., the Test of Morphological Structure–Revised [TMS–R], the Verbal Suffix Knowledge Test–Revised [VSKT–R]). The result revealed that morphological awareness was a significant predictor of L2 reading comprehension when other variables were controlled. Of the 2 tests, the TMS–R—a measure that primarily tested derivational morphological knowledge—showed stronger predictability. This provides evidence that morphological awareness, especially derivational morphological knowledge, is an important variable to be considered in explaining L2 reading comprehension among older readers.

Learning Chinese abroad: the role of language attitudes and motivation in the adaptation of international students in China

The objectives of this study are to investigate the interrelationships of a number of affective variables related to studying Chinese as a second language (L2); to examine the relationships between affective variables in second language acquisition (SLA) and the indices of adaptation; and thirdly, to assess the changes over time in the attitudes and motivation of international students and their sociocultural and academic adaptation during their nine-month Chinese studies at a tertiary level. The results show that integrative motivation plays a very important positive role while language anxiety plays a very important negative role in both sociocultural adaptation and academic adaptation. Moreover, academic adaptation, long being ignored in the literature of crosscultural psychology and SLA, is found to be closely and positively related to sociocultural adaptation in this study. The conclusions are drawn accordingly in respect of longitudinal research design and the importance in relating language-related variables to the adaptation of L2 learners. Suggestions to host institutions and international students are also made in the paper.

Long-term relationships among early first language skills, second language aptitude, second language affect, and later second language proficiency

ABSTRACTFifty-four students were followed over 10 years beginning in first grade to determine best predictors of oral and written second language (L2) proficiency. Predictor variables included measures of first language (L1) skill administered in first through fifth grades, L1 academic aptitude, L2 aptitude (Modern Language Aptitude Test), and L2 affect (motivation, anxiety). All participants completed 2 years of L2 study in high school. Findings revealed strong correlations between early L1 skills and later L2 proficiency, but the Modern Language Aptitude Test was the best predictor of overall L2 proficiency and most L2 proficiency subtests. However, L1 word decoding was the best predictor of L2 word decoding skills. Early L1 skills, L2 motivation, or L2 anxiety added a small amount of variance to the prediction models. Findings suggested that language-related variables are the most robust predictors of L2 proficiency. Results are discussed in the context of long-term cross linguistic transfer of early L1 skills to later L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency.

Enhancing the intercultural competence of postgraduate logisticians

This paper reports a national survey of logisticians studying for Masters awards at three UK universities which service increasing global demands by aspiring logisticians seeking enhanced competence to manage international supply chains. Initial longitudinal surveys at one university, later extended to several universities nationally, canvassed the opinions of postgraduate logisticians both at enrolment and several months afterwards, regarding approaches which might enhance their intercultural competence skills. Four prime hypotheses tested the importance of socio-cultural and language-related variables between different years of the survey and nationality groups. After several months of study, some participants reported increased confidence in communicating with students from other nationalities and cultural backgrounds. To assist academics in enhancing the intercultural competence of postgraduate logisticians, thoughtfully managed group work and other opportunities to encourage beneficial social interaction are discussed.