Online Language Research Articles

Language training courses as a form of interaction between the university and business

Today, universities are quite actively establishing various forms of interaction with business, including in the field of establishing language training courses within the framework of education transfer. Here the author presents a unique experience of business interaction in the person of the Moscow Law firm and the Center for Innovative Educational and Language Strategies of the Department of English and Professional Communication of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. This research aims to study the experience of designing and implementing online language training courses «English for lawyers» for lawyers practicing international law. As it is an on-going project, the author presents the first results of the study (May – June 2023). The development of educational tracks of the course determined the reference to the ideas of personality oriented and CLIL approaches. When verifying the content of education, the author relied on the initial language proficiency level of the students and on the author’s experience in teaching Legal English, in addition, on author’s developments, materials from authentic textbooks, legal websites and newspapers, court archives available on court websites, etc. The task set by the client – the development of communication skills in the field of Legal English – largely determined the choice of teaching methods. Here the author provides parts of classes based on: case method, business and role-playing games, elements of an inverted class, etc. The obtained primary results not only testify to the effectiveness of the work done in the course of interaction between the university and business, but also allow us to foresee promising directions in the given direction, for instance: the opening of new and promising areas of training of bachelor and master students that meet the latest trends in labour market development, etc.

A Comparative Analysis of English Test Scores in the Vietnamese National High School Graduation Examination During the Period 2020-2023

English is the most used language online, with nearly one billion users typing and chatting in the language. English is now widely spoken throughout the world and is necessary for people to be able to communicate and fit into the real world. In Vietnamese high schools, learning English has become an important task for students. The aim of this paper is to cary out a comparative analysis of English test scores (ETSs) in the Vietnamese National High School Graduation Examination during the period 2020-2023. In this study, datasets of English test scores during the period 2020-2023 were first collected. To find patterns of ETSs, the frequency of ETSs was firstly calculated. Histograms were then used to plot the frequency against ETSs to study the distribution of ETSs in each year. Finally, a comparative analysis of ETSs during the period was carried out. It was found that the distribution of ETSs during the period 2020-2023 was skewed to the right, which shows that the number of high ETSs tends to be more prominent. In addition, the high ETSs in 2021 were found to be much higher than those obtained from the yeas of 2020, 2022 and 2023. Findings in this study suggest that ETSs during the period 2020-2023 met the requirements for graduate recognition. It can be concluded that the role of English language in career advancement is undeniable in this era of globalization. Keywords: Comparative analysis, English Test Scores, Vietnamese National High School Graduation Examination, Period 2020-2023.

Įkūnijimas ir bendrystės jausmas kalbų mokymosi nuotoliniu būdu kontekstuose

This paper studies how embodiment is realised in distance and online language learning. Eleven students from the University of Helsinki Language Centre participated in the study. The interviews conducted were thematic, and the research question was as follow: How is embodiment evident in students’ narratives about online language learning? I apply nexus analysis (Scollon & Scollon 2004, 2007, 2009) as the analytical method of this study. Focusing on the connections between narratives of historical bodies and language learning in online contexts, four distinct discourses emerged in the data: 1) the lack of embodiment; 2) embodiment as a matter of power; 3) private, safety-giving embodiment; and 4) embodiment in relation to the material and social world.

Academic Experience as Evaluation Material in Online Language Learning

This study aims to explore the phenomena experienced by Lecturers and Students of the Indonesian Language Education Study Program in online learning during the Covid-19 period. The research method is qualitative with a phenomenological approach. Data collection was done through semi-structured interviews with five lecturers and eight students. Interview data was then analyzed within-case and cross-case. Researchers identified two problems related to what lecturers and students experienced in online learning: (1) barriers to using online learning media and (2) obstacles in presenting material and using learning methods. The results showed the lecturers' attitude in carrying out online learning was good by creating a fun online learning atmosphere. Unfortunately, the material provided was not understood by students. They complained about the material and its delivery by the lecturers. It was because the lecturers only provided material and assignments through e-learning. In addition, they only used discussion forums on e-learning to communicate. The researchers also identified that quota and internet network errors were the main problems encountered in online learning. This research can be used as material for evaluating the implementation of online academic activities, especially in language learning of the Indonesian Language Education Study Program. Data validity used member checks, triangulation, and peer debriefing.

THE CHALLENGES TO LEARN MALAY LANGUAGE AMONG FOREIGN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS THROUGH ONLINE LEARNING

The Malay Language is Malaysia's national language and learning it is very essential. Since the Covid-19 epidemic, most educational institutions have used online learning as one of their teaching strategies. Unfortunately, studying and reading a language through online instruction can be challenging, and some students may find this way to be very tedious. This research investigates the difficulties that foreign students and lecturers may encounter when learning and teaching Malay language online. To address the research issues, a qualitative method was employed in this study, which drew information from secondary sources such books, chosen articles, and official reports. The initial results indicate that there are numerous foreign students and numerous difficulties for both foreign students and instructors, as they are unable to acquire the language as effectively as they could in completely physical classes. In addition, students struggle to concentrate and face other challenges such as poor internet access, sluggish online videos, and difficulty understanding instructors' pronunciation of the Malay language.

Embodying intercultural communicative competence in French L2 video reflections: Illustrating skills, knowledge, and attitudes

Research has long touted and recently confirmed the importance of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) — the ability to appropriately communicate with those from diverse sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds — in second language (L2) teaching and learning. Additionally, while multimodal course materials have contributed to learners’ ICC, the link between students’ embodied modes (gestures, facial expressions, body movements) and ICC remains under-explored. Building on ICC and the social semiotic theory of multimodality, this study blends multimodal transcription and conversation analysis to examine how 73 university undergraduate learners of L2 French used embodied modes in 188 asynchronous video reflections and how these modes accompanied demonstrations of ICC skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Findings indicate that gestures and facial expressions indicated students’ demonstrations of the ICC skills of observing, analyzing/interpreting, evaluating, relating, listening, questioning, researching, and problematizing. Further, embodied modes demonstrated students’ retrieval and communication of cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge. This study has implications for online language learning and enhancing ICC through virtual multimodal assignments.

Using learning analytics to understand the learning design patterns of K12 synchronous language teaching

ABSTRACT The global expansion of online language courses is on the rise, offering greater flexibility in the approaches to learning design. This study delves into the exploration of the fundamental learning design patterns within a K-12 synchronous language course. Leveraging a rich array of textual data, including syllabi, textbooks, course outlines, student behavior data, and recorded online instructional videos, network analysis and discourse analysis were employed. Results spotlighted the pivotal role of “dialogue” in connecting various learning activities. Furthermore, the study underscores the significance of language usage over strict adherence to grammatical rules and phonetic pronunciation. Additionally, technology has transcended its conventional role as a mere tool for reinforcing teacher authority, but it has evolved into an environment where instructors regain face-to-face authority, thereby influencing semi-recursive interactions among learners throughout the course. These findings highlight the importance of dialogue and language use in online language instruction, as well as emphasize the transformative potential of technology in reshaping teacher-student interactions.

A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON NEW UNDERGRADUATES’ EXPERIENCE OF UNDERTAKING ONLINE ASSESSMENTS FOR ENGLISH POST COVID-19 PANDEMIC

This initial study set out to investigate university freshmen’s feedback on their online assessment experience using the university’s learning management system in their English Language course which was conducted online. The objectives of this study were to investigate a) the learners’ perception on their overall online assessment experience for a language course using the university’s LMS, b) the learners’ experience in completing a writing assessment and c) the learners’ experience in completing a listening assessment. This basic mix-method study investigated 27 English Language learners of a public university in Malaysia attending Level 1 English proficiency course. A questionnaire containing 17 items using 5-points Likert-type scale was administered to measure their general online experience and their writing and listening assessment experience using the university LMS. This was followed by a round semi-structured interviews to probe further reasons behind their perception and experience. The study found that the freshmen expressed positive perception towards their overall online language assessment experience. They also indicated positive feedback for their experience in taking online writing and listening assessments Through the interviews the students highlighted that they are able to familiarize themselves and adapt faster by drawing on their previous experience during online learning at home during Covid-19 pandemic for their high school studies. They learnt to be patient and not panicky whenever there is any technical glitch which they had faced quite a lot during the pandemic. This shows that the students have developed certain level of literacy and digital education competency.

Transcending the boundaries of mode in online language teaching: A translanguaging perspective on ESL teachers’ synchronous small group online tutorials

The employment of virtual conference tools has created new possibilities for language teaching and learning. Amid the suspension of face-to-face classes at every level of education in most countries globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of teachers and students have to make the transition from classroom-based teaching to synchronous online teaching. The virtual environment is significantly different from the physical classroom; consequently, teachers need to bring with them resources from the classroom context and adapt them to the online teaching context in order to promote effective and real-time interactions with students. This virtual ethnographic study investigates how online English teachers create a translanguaging space by transcending the boundaries of modes from a physical face-to-face teaching context to small group online tutorials in order to mediate students' English language learning. Multimodal Conversation Analysis is employed to analyse the online tutorial data and the analysis is triangulated with the video-stimulated-recall-interviews that are analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings illustrate that the multimodal resources which are typically used in traditional classroom settings by the teachers transcend the boundaries of mode in a social semiotic sense since they are re-enacted in the online tutorial for enhancing the process of online teaching. I argue that such re-enactment highlights online English teachers’ fluid and flexible use of multiple multimodal resources to achieve different pedagogical functions. This study will offer some pedagogical implications to inform the development of a translanguaging pedagogy in an online teaching context.

Hebrew offensive language taxonomy and dataset

Abstract This paper introduces a streamlined taxonomy for categorizing offensive language in Hebrew, addressing a gap in the literature that has, until now, largely focused on Indo-European languages. Our taxonomy divides offensive language into seven levels (six explicit and one implicit level). We based our work on the simplified offensive language (SOL) taxonomy introduced in (Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk et al. 2021a) hoping that our adjustment of SOL to the Hebrew language will be capable of reflecting the unique linguistic and cultural nuances of Hebrew. The study involves both linguistic and cultural analysis beyond Natural Language Processing (NLP). We employed manual linguistic analysis to understand the nuances of offensive language in Hebrew. An accompanying dataset, gathered on Twitter and manually curated by human annotators, is described in detail. This dataset was constructed to both validate the taxonomy and serve as a foundation for future research on offensive language detection and analysis in Hebrew. Preliminary analysis of the dataset reveals intriguing patterns and distributions, underscoring the complexity and specificity of offensive expressions in the Hebrew language. The aim of our work is to capture the complexity and specificity of offensive expressions in Hebrew beyond what automated NLP methods alone can provide. Our findings highlight the significance of considering linguistic and cultural variations when researching and correcting abusive language online. We believe that our streamlined taxonomy and associated dataset will be crucial in improving research in Hebrew language sociocultural studies, natural language processing, and offensive language detection. Our study also makes a substantial contribution to the study of low-resource languages and can be used as a model for future research on other languages.

Offensive language in user-generated comments in Lithuanian

Abstract The aim of the current research is to investigate the feasibility of identifying offensive language in Lithuanian by utilising the Simplified Offensive Language Taxonomy (SOLT). The key principle behind this taxonomy is its ability to complement existing offensive language ontologies and tagset systems, with the ultimate goal of integrating it into publicly accessible Linguistic Linked Open Data (LLOD) resources. The dataset used in the current study is a publicly available corpus of user-generated comments collected from a Lithuanian portal (Amilevičius et al. 2016). The study identified that offensive language predominantly focuses on collective derogatory language rather than individuals. The most common category of offensive language is related to physical and mental disabilities, followed by ideological offenses, xenophobic and sexist remarks, and less frequent categories like ageism, classism, homophobia, and religious discrimination. These results highlight the diverse range of offensive language online and underscore the need to combat discrimination and promote respectful discourse, particularly concerning marginalised groups.

Teaching and Learning Languages Online: Challenges and Responses

The outbreak of COVID-19 generated an unprecedented global push towards remote online language teaching and learning. In most contexts, language teachers and learners underwent a rapid switch to online instruction with limited resources and preparation. Their experiences demonstrate resilience, perseverance, and creativity under highly challenging conditions. This collection of studies examines the challenges that language teachers and learners have experienced in teaching and learning online, explores how they have addressed these challenges, and identifies critical lessons to help language educators better respond to emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. In this introductory article, we discuss the background of this special collection on teaching and learning languages online, provide a review of the growing body of research on online language education in the field, and introduce the studies published in the collection.

Teaching and Learning Languages Online: Challenges and Responses

The outbreak of COVID-19 generated an unprecedented global push towards remote online language teaching and learning. In most contexts, language teachers and learners underwent a rapid switch to online instruction with limited resources and preparation. Their experiences demonstrate resilience, perseverance, and creativity under highly challenging conditions. This collection of studies examines the challenges that language teachers and learners have experienced in teaching and learning online, explores how they have addressed these challenges, and identifies critical lessons to help language educators better respond to emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. In this introductory article, we discuss the background of this special collection on teaching and learning languages online, provide a review of the growing body of research on online language education in the field, and introduce the studies published in the collection.

Online Language Learning in Participatory Culture: Digital Pedagogy Practices in the Post-Pandemic Era

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated the digitalisation of education around the world in a short period of time, which presented a unique opportunity for language teachers and policy makers to reconsider assumptions about language learning in higher education. Against this background, this study examines how digital pedagogy can enhance the experience of language learning in online settings in the post-pandemic era by drawing on a case study of educational activities developed during the pandemic for foreign language modules at a UK university. In particular, this study delves into the different dimensions of participatory culture in relation to digital pedagogy practices for language teaching and learning by adopting an interdisciplinary approach. Ultimately, we argue that online language education should aid students, i.e., the Gen Z cohort, in acquiring and developing digital literacy, or the capacity to communicate effectively by creating a variety of online texts and interreacting and collaborating with other people by means of various digital technologies. Therefore, it has also been argued that language teachers need to play a role as facilitators who can foster interactive, participatory environments to help students to develop student-centred, sustaining learning communities.

Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach (SOFLA): The Flipped Classroom in On-Line Teaching of English Language in College

Abstract The research study deals with the concept of flipped classroom teaching in an online environment. First, the Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach (SOFLA) framework is presented. It consists of eight steps that apply to both synchronous and asynchronous parts of the teaching process. The following part of the article reports the results of a questionnaire survey, which aimed to find out how university students perceive the SOFLA framework in English language teaching. The study found that students gave positive feedback for the parts that focused on group work and homework. Additionally, the synchronous part of the lesson was found to be effective in practicing new content and communication. The article adds to the empirical knowledge in the area of the online flipped classroom and describes a framework that educators can immediately implement in their online language courses.

Eppur si muove: Lexicography is Becoming Intelligent

The paper focuses on an ongoing R&D project which the author is conducting together with Spanish lexicographers as well as computer scientists from a high-tech company specialized in online dictionaries and language services. The objective is to develop an AI-powered Spanish writing assistant for both native and non-native writers and learners. After briefly dis­cussing the current experiences with digital writing assistants, the paper will detail the concrete project, where the lexicographers' task is, on the one hand, to contribute to the training of the underlying language model, and on the other hand, to outline a model for good communication between the tool and its users. Based on a study of practice in existing writing assistants, the paper will then formulate a set of principles for user communication that will be implemented in the writing assistant. The article gives examples of how this implementation takes place, what new challenges it poses, and how the writing assistant will eventually work. Finally, it discusses the lexicographers' new tasks and outlines some perspectives for future work. Keywords: writing assistants, user communication, lexicographical con­textualization, integrated dictionaries, glosses, lexicographical data of a new type, incidental learning, intentional learning, lemma-centred lexicographical databases, problem-centred lexicographical databases

Croient or Croivent: French Language Commentary on Twitter

This article explores online language commentary in the French language on Twitter. The internet has provided a much wider opportunity for all French-speakers, from ‘experts’ to laypeople, to discuss and criticize the language use of others. Furthermore, whilst lay language commentary has presumably long taken place in spoken language, the internet gives us previously unprecedented access to the attitudes of a broader spectrum of society. This article analyses a corpus of French-language tweets which contain one of two non-standard conjugations: croivent ( ils/elles croient) and voyent ( ils/elles voient). The discussion focuses specifically on those tweets that comment on another person's use of non-standard language, examining the recurring tropes and imagery used. These demonstrate how online language commentary connects to a long tradition of printed language commentary in France, which dates back to, at least, the sixteenth century.

The interplay between self-regulated learning behavioral factors and students’ performance in English language learning through Moodle

The increasing popularity of online learning environments, such as Moodle LMS, has led to a growing interest in identifying factors contributing to student success in language learning. Self-regulated learning behaviors, such as goal setting, planning, and self-monitoring, have been identified as key predictors of academic achievement. However, limited research on how these behaviors relate to success in online language learning environments is limited. This study aimed to identify self-regulation learning factors and assess behaviors in English language teaching through Moodle LMS by analyzing trace data. The study analyzed trace data from 1523 English language learners in a Moodle course and identified several behavioral factors. The final course point in English language learning is significantly predicted, including the number of completed quizzes, middle course points, engagement with course materials, time spent on tasks, completion score quizzes, access time in total, and pacing. The study found that completing quizzes was the strongest predictor of the final course point, followed by time spent on task, access time in total, and middle course point. The findings suggest that educators can use the identified behavioral factors to promote self-regulated learning online and develop interventions to support students struggling with self-regulated learning. The studies include using trace data to analyze behavioral patterns and focusing on self-regulated learning factors in online language learning. The study provides important insights into self-regulated learning factors and behaviors in English language learning through Moodle LMS, which can inform the development of effective interventions to support students in online language learning environments.

The online language of work-personal conflict

With the blurring of boundaries in this digital age, there is increasing concern around work-personal conflict. Assessing and tracking work-personal conflict is critical as it not only affects individual workers but is also a vital measure among broader well-being and economic indices. This inductive study examines the extent to which work-personal conflict corresponds to individuals’ language use on social media. We apply an open-vocabulary analysis to the posts of 2810 Facebook users who also completed a survey for an established work-personal conflict scale. It was found that the language-based model can predict personal-to-work conflict (r = 0.23) and work-to-personal conflict (r = 0.15) and provide important insights into such conflicts. Specifically, we found that high personal-to-work conflict was associated with netspeak and swearing, while low personal-to-work conflict was associated with language about work and positivity. We found that high work-to-personal conflict was associated with negative emotion and negative tone, while low work-to-personal conflict was associated with positive emotion and language about birthdays.

Online learning and language

Online learning is a well-established mode for tertiary education and training. However, technology-mediated learning at a distance continues to face challenges to participant engagement, despite the proliferation of models of effective online learning and the implementation of increasingly sophisticated technologies to enhance learning (Bragg, Walsh & Heyeres, 2021). The critical need to build and maintain relationships for effective learning continues to be confounded by the geographic and temporal distribution of online participants as well as the nuances of the technology in use. Online learning occurs in collaborative text-spaces within learning management systems, social media spaces and their attendant learning objects such as forums, many of which foreground language as the primary resource for making meaning with others. As such, ongoing challenges to engagement in online learning may be viewed with fresh eyes by considering the language-based interpersonal affordances of these text-spaces. This pecha kucha presentation examines how the language choices made by learning facilitators impact on student engagement in online learning. It draws on a case study of the strategic use of evaluative language – the language used to express feelings and build relationships - by one teacher educator to engage initial teacher education students in online learning. Underpinned by the Systemic Functional Linguistic model of language (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014) and following Martin & White (2005), appraisal analysis of weekly forum posts across three iterations of a unit of study shows how changes to language choices made by the teacher educator positively impacted on student engagement. This illuminates the relationship between online learning and language, and how judicious use of language-based meaning making resources can be used to improve online participant engagement.