Second Language Research Research Articles

A scaffolding intervention to improve self-efficacy in source-based argumentative writing.

This study examined the role of scaffolding as temporary support offered by an educator to help students complete a learning task that would be challenging to accomplish without this support. Although there is a great deal of research in (L2) second language writing on the effect of scaffolding on improving students' writing outcome variables (e.g., organization, coherence, content, and overall writing performance), few studies have explored the contributions of scaffolding to learners' emotions and psychological variables. Using a double pre-test post-test design, this quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of a scaffolded writing intervention on students' self-efficacy beliefs (i.e., confidence in their ability) in source-based argumentative writing. We analyzed the students' (N = 50) source-self-efficacy beliefs 3 weeks before the intervention, immediately before the intervention, and immediately after the intervention. At the end of the intervention, students' performance was measured using a scoring rubric containing key criteria in source-based argumentative writing. A post-study semi-structured interview was conducted with participating students (N = 13) to further understand their experience with the scaffolding intervention. The analyses demonstrated that the intervention had a positive and significant impact on students' self-efficacy beliefs of their abilities to organize ideas, summarize different sources, and revise their essays. There were no significant changes in the participants' beliefs about skills related to deciding if the evidence from different sources is strong, finding weaknesses in the arguments presented in different sources, and writing a counterargument. Furthermore, correlational analysis using post-test self-efficacy overall score and students' writing performance scores on four major aspects (idea development, organization, source use, and language use) revealed a positive relationship between self-efficacy and two aspects of writing (source use and organization). Students' interview results further confirmed the effectiveness of the intervention in enhancing the participants' self-efficacy beliefs and performance in source-based argumentative writing. These findings highlight the importance of scaffolding strategies targeting self-efficacy to improve confidence in source-based writing and hence writing performance.

Foreign Language Boredom of Second Language Learners in China

With the development of educational research in the realm of SLA, the number of studies for foreign language boredom (FLB) has witnessed an obvious increase in both China and the rest of the globe during the past decade. However, related research in China is still relatively insufficient. This essay aims to discuss the characteristics and uniqueness of FLB research in Chinese English foreign language (EFL) and second language (L2) education, as well as the characteristics of FLB itself, by summarizing and analyzing information from previous studies conducted in China. With the information provided, it can be concluded that FLB studies in China are characterized by their compatibility with different research instruments and convenience. The measurement scales invented for FLB studies in China can be used worldwide, and those invented for FLB studies in other nations can be used in China as well. The phenomenon of FLB in China varies across students with different backgrounds and identities. It can also be concluded from previous studies that the cause and impact of FLB in China is multidimensional. The present article holds referential value for future scholars who plan to analyze the phenomenon of FLB within their countries and suggests future researchers to conduct studies that include students from different educational backgrounds and nations.

Student Teachers’ Perceptions and Application of Questionnaire Survey in an EFL Context

Although questionnaire surveys are widely applied in second-language research, there is still little research on the application of questionnaire among early career researchers. Problems such as the lack of details concerning why the questionnaire survey is adopted, how the questionnaire is constructed, and how the survey is administered and reported are prevalent in student teachers’ research proposals or theses, which greatly impairs the quality of their academic work. However, few studies have been conducted to address these problems. This study aims to explore the real situation of the questionnaire survey application by examining student teachers’ perceptions of a questionnaire survey and their application of this research method to their theses. Using a mixed-method approach, the study collected quantitative and qualitative data from 138 student teachers, including 103 fresh undergraduates and 35 post-graduates. Quantitative data analysis used descriptive statistics, while qualitative data analysis used semi-structured interviews and content analysis. The study found that: (1) student teachers had some basic but unsystematic perceptions of the questionnaire survey. They had insufficient awareness of the rules of writing good questions, piloting questionnaires, sampling strategies, doing reliability, and validity analysis, etc. (2) Most student teachers developed questionnaires based on existing questionnaires without explaining reasons and adjustments. They introduced questionnaire design in their theses in an incomplete way, with piloting, selecting sample strategies, and statistical analysis methods often missing. Thus, some pedagogical implications can be drawn to improve student teachers’ awareness and competencies of the questionnaire survey.

Editorial: Expanding the horizon of feedback research in second language

On behalf of the editorial board, we welcome readers, researchers, and potential authors to the inaugural issue of the new journal Feedback Research in Second Language. The journal aims to fill gaps in research on corrective feedback by publishing a variety of studies to contribute to the scholarly community. While feedback has long been recognized as critical in composition studies and second language writing, Feedback Research in Second Language will push to include studies that explore the intricate characteristics of both oral and written corrective feedback. The journal emphasizes the importance of feedback as a form of assessment in language education, highlighting its role in promoting language accuracy, individualized learning, and motivation, and its position as a powerful form of self-assessment when reflected upon by the writer.

Brain-bound vs. extended: Contrasting approaches to second-language research writing in digital environments

This article responds to calls to better understand the digital literacy practices of second and foreign-language writers. Researchers followed two Arab undergraduates as they completed a research writing task in a first-year writing course, tracing how these students used common digital resources, particularly digital 1) research tools, 2) writing tools and 3) course materials. Via screen-capture and regular interview sessions the participants’ research and writing activity was observed over a period of five weeks. To understand the resulting data, Vygotskian notions of mediation were combined with writing as extended mind, a recently introduced theoretical program that emphasizes the distributed nature of cognition. Study participants were found to deploy a wide range of digital resources, often in complex and creative ways. We identify two distinct mediation profiles that we argue mark two distinct approaches to research writing: a relatively brain-bound approach, which uses external resources primarily to structure internal cognitive function, and a more extended approach, which offloads a higher degree of cognitive function to the writer’s environment. These findings offer unique insight into the digital literacy practices of an understudied student population. They also raise important questions about how best to teach writing in a digital age.

Xiaofei Lu: Corpus Linguistics And Second Language Acquisition: Perspectives, Issues, And Findings

With the growing availability of large-scale learner corpora and the increasing reliability of automated corpus analytical tools, recent decades have witnessed a large body of empirical studies using corpus linguistic methods to investigate diverse areas of second language acquisition. Corpus Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition: Perspectives, Issues, and Findings, authored by Xiaofei Lu, is a valuable reference for corpus-based second language acquisition (SLA) research. Through a detailed examination of issues and research in second language (L2) use, processing, production, and development, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the interface between corpus linguistics and SLA. This volume consists of six chapters. It begins with a highly accessible introductory chapter that sets out the aims and scope of the book. In Chapter 1, the author first presents an overview of native and learner corpora and various tools for corpus annotation and analysis. This incursion into the basic knowledge makes the following chapters much easier to understand. The author then summarizes four major research questions in SLA, capturing the gist of each main chapter in the book. These questions also help engage the readers and motivate them to find the answers as they read along.

The Impact of Attitude Towards Mandarin as A Foreign Language Achievement

Attitude plays a fundamental role in the learning process of foreign languages. It has recently gotten much attention from first and second-language researchers. Previous studies have indicated that learners showed a positive attitude towards learning Mandarin. Limited studies investigated the correlations between language learning attitude and course achievement among Mandarin foreign language learners. Therefore, this study tends to fill this gap. 614 non-native Malay learners of Mandarin from 5 different public universities in Malaysian participated in this study. The study used a quantitative design, and data was collected through questionnaires and the end-of-semester course grade. Descriptive statistics analysis, correlation and linear regression using SPSS. 25 were run to analyse the collected data. This study revealed a statistically positive correlation between attitude and Mandarin foreign language course achievement. The linear regression result revealed that learning attitude statistically predicted Mandarin foreign language learners' course achievement (β = .20, .001). This study has concluded limitations and recommendations to help institutions and interested researchers shed light on these further research studies.

PHOR-in-One: A multilingual lexical database with PHonological, ORthographic and PHonographic word similarity estimates in four languages.

A large body of research seeking to explore how form affects lexical processing in bilinguals has suggested that orthographically similar translations (e.g., English-Portuguese "paper-papel") are responded to more quickly and accurately than words with little to no overlap (e.g., English-Portuguese "house-casa"). One of the most prominent algorithms to estimate orthographic similarity, the normalized Levenshtein distance (NLD), returns an index of the proportion of identical characters of two strings, and is an efficient and invaluable tool for the selection, manipulation, and control of verbal stimuli. Notwithstanding its many advantages for second-language research, the absence of a comparable measure for phonology has resulted in the adoption of different strategies to assess the degree of interlanguage phonological similarity across the literature, with profound implications for the interpretation of results on the relative role of orthographic and phonological similarity in bilingual lexical access. In the present work, we introduce PHOR-in-One, a multilingual lexical database with a set of phonological and orthographic NLD estimates for 6160 translation equivalents in American and British English, European Portuguese, German and Spanish in a total of 30,800 words. We also propose a new measure of phonographic NLD, a pooled index of orthographic and phonological similarity, particularly useful for researchers interested in controlling for and/or manipulating both estimates at once. PHOR-in-One includes a comprehensive characterization of its lexical entries, namely Part-of-Speech-dependent and independent frequency counts, number of letters and phonemes, and phonetic transcription. PHOR-in-One is thus a valuable tool to support bilingual and multilingual research.

Evaluating word lists against word frequency, lexical age-of-acquisition and concreteness

This study investigated the efficacy of three criteria, i.e., word frequency, lexical age-of-acquisition (lexical AoA), and concreteness, in evaluating English word lists constructed primarily for the purpose of second-language acquisition. The word lists chosen for evaluation were the New General Service List (New-GSL) and the Academic Vocabulary List (AVL), which are utilized internationally in second-language research, and they were compared against two English word lists that have been widely adopted in China. Statistical analyses revealed that word frequency and lexical AoA were collectively effective in classifying word lists constructed for speakers of different levels of proficiency, e.g., the New-GSL vs the AVL. Furthermore, each of the three criteria appeared to independently qualify the differences between words lists. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating cognitive factors, e.g., lexical AoA and concreteness, into second-language research and theories, which help to specify the characteristics and pinpoint the limitations of word lists in light of the underlying mechanisms of language acquisition and development.

Commentary

Abstract Ariadna Sánchez-Hernández presents five articles that showcase current trends of study abroad research in second language (L2) pragmatics. The study abroad context has attracted a large number of empirical investigations in L2 pragmatics (for a review, see Pérez Vidal & Shively, 2019). The popularity of the study abroad context in pragmatics is understandable when we consider the nature of pragmatic competence. Pragmatic competence involves linguistic knowledge, sociocultural knowledge, and the ability to interact with others appropriately using these knowledge bases (Taguchi, 2017). As such, the study abroad context, which offers opportunities to observe cultural norms and to practice contextually appropriate language use, is a prime site for pragmatic development. In this commentary, I focus on three innovative aspects of study abroad pragmatics research that run across the five studies in this volume: (1) longitudinal research design, (2) technology-enhanced data collection methods, and (3) pre-departure instruction focusing on pragmatics. For each aspect, I present critical reflections and recommendations for future research.

Language learner motivation, where it’s been and where it’s going

Since 2005 there has been a surge in empirical and theoretical research in second language (L2) motivation. This phenomenon has been quantified as the equivalent of one paper being published every twenty-two days in 2005, and one paper every five days in 2014 (Boo, Dörnyei, & Ryan, 2015). This unprecedented boom is still on an incline, meriting the unique domain status of L2 motivation (Boo et al., 2015). This paper will give an overview of previous research in L2 motivation, discuss if such claims are still valid twenty-two years later, and discuss developments in the L2 motivation regarding engagement and visualisation.

Pragmatic Competence and Willingness to Communicate Among L2 Learners of Chinese.

Research in second language (L2) pragmatics has paid increasing attention to learners’ individual differences, but few studies have examined the relationship between learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in L2 and their pragmatic competence. To this end, this study investigates the association between WTC and pragmatic awareness and comprehension of Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners. A total of 80 CSL learners studying abroad in three universities in China participated in this study. Data were collected through a WTC questionnaire, a self-perceived communication competence (SPCC) questionnaire, a pragmatic awareness judgment task, and a multiple-choice test for pragmatic comprehension. Statistical analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between the learners’ pragmatic awareness and pragmatic comprehension on the one hand and their WTC and SPCC in L2 on the other. The findings indicated that SPCC correlated positively with the learners’ L2 pragmatic comprehension, but not with their L2 pragmatic awareness. No correlation was found between WTC and pragmatic awareness and comprehension. The results suggest that SPCC may contribute to learners’ L2 pragmatic comprehension; some implications for teaching and future research directions are also discussed.

Mixed methods research in second language writing: A systematic research synthesis

In the field of second language (L2) writing, we have recently seen “a collective future trend towards methodological diversity and expansion of repertoires of research methods and approaches” (ManchIŒn & Matsuda, 2016, p. 9). In responding to the call for methodological diversity, we set out to explore mixed methods research methodology in L2 writing research. Mixed methods research (MMR) has been acknowledged as a ‘third’ or ‘alternative’ methodological approach along with quantitative and qualitative research approaches over the past two decades in social sciences and other fields. However, relatively little has been discussed with regard to MMR in the field of L2 writing. More importantly, well-designed, rigorous MMR can have a great potential to provide a holistic understanding of complex issues in L2 writing research. Given these, in this article, we report the findings from our systematic synthesis of 27 empirical MMR in L2 writing with respect to ‘research contexts/participants,’ ‘research topics,’ ‘purpose of MMR,’ ‘data sources,’ and ‘structure of MMR.’ Our research synthesis provides L2 writing researchers with some valuable insights into the trend of and future directions for MMR in L2 writing.

Swedish noun-phrase structure in Russian-speaking learners: An explorative study of L1 influence and input-frequency effects

Articles pose a particular challenge to second-language learners whose first language does not have them. Variability in article production in these learners is often explained in terms of first-language influence, but there are also suggestions that frequency-biased regularities in the target language itself might play a role. While most second-language research on articles has focused on English, a language with a relatively simple article system, the present study explores first-language influence and input-frequency effects by focusing on Swedish. Swedish expresses definiteness using a complex noun-phrase structure including several free-standing and bound morphemes, some relatively frequent in input, others less frequent. An oral-production task elicited adjectivally modified and non-modified noun phrases in indefinite and definite contexts from 23 foreign-language learners of Swedish who were native speakers of Russian, an inflectional language without articles. The analysis revealed that the learners were more likely to supply high-frequency morphemes than low-frequency ones. Furthermore, while the learners were equally likely to supply bound and free-standing morphemes, only their suppliance of free-standing morphemes was negatively affected by adjectival modification; their suppliance of bound morphemes was not. While the role of cross-linguistic influence should not be neglected, these findings suggest that probabilistic regularities in the linguistic input are a key factor in second-language acquisition of functional morphology.

INVESTIGATING TEXTUAL ENHANCEMENT AND CAPTIONS IN L2 GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

AbstractTo probe the limits of attention raising through form-focused instruction, second-language research must adapt to the needs of a technologically driven learning environment. In this study, we used a randomized control design to investigate the effect of captioned media on the learning of vocabulary and grammar in L2 Spanish (n = 369 learners). Through four data-collection sessions, participants were presented with a grammar-lesson video and a multimodal video with one of three captioning formats: textually enhanced target vocabulary, textually enhanced target grammar, or no captioning. Results show strong immediate effects of captioning on target vocabulary, with additional effects of captioning on some, but not all, target-grammar structures. The findings demonstrate that (a) the learning of some grammatical structures is more conducive to captioning than others, and (b) there is space for future investigation into the factors that may influence the effectiveness of multimodal interventions, such as prior knowledge or frequency of use.

A Review of Teaching and Learning Linguistic Politeness

Research on politeness has flourished since Brown and Levinson's (hereafter B&L) classical (1978, 1987) definition of politeness theory, and has extended to current research on impoliteness. However, there is a knowledge gap in the area of Teaching and Learning Politeness (hereafter TLP) in second language acquisition.This paper aims to identify this gap, by tracing the roots of research on TLP since 1975, to explore how past research has impacted current trends, and then focuses on the position and relevance of TLP in the local Australian curriculum, in the area of intercultural competency, benchmarked in reference to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The synthesis of the literature in this paper will elicit the challenges in TLP and potentially result in a clearer direction in the area of second-language research on politeness.

Seven Deadly Sins: Culture’s Effect on Scholarly Editing and Publishing

The opinion piece aims to draw readers’ attention to the effects cultures other than English-related ones exert on the processes of scholarly editing and publishing. Non-Anglophone writers with little academic English skills or a weak command of English tend to face desk-rejections or very difficult and time-consuming rounds of edits and revisions. Second-language researchers often are biased toward national schools of thought with the most prominent international research ignored. Such authors are unaware of the recent developments in their field on a global scale and are sometimes prone to misunderstanding scientific and academic genres in the internationally accepted mode. Non-Anglophone writers are also inclined toward native-language patterns of thought and, consequently, rhetorical schemas different from English. Such second-language researchers may have their specific understanding of ethics and criticism, responding to the latter in an unexpectedly harsh way. This combination of factors can lead to unoriginal, vague, unimportant, and unacceptable submissions to international journals, resulting in failures to disseminate their research globally. The authors share their approaches to curbing unpleasant and inefficient experiences for second-language contributors, editors, and reviewers.

Recasts and Negotiated Prompts: How do Chinese L2 Learners Perceive Them?

Two types of corrective feedback, recasts and prompts, have sparked much research in second language (L2) learning and teaching. However, it is still unclear how these two types of feedback draw learners’ attention to the erroneous forms in L2 classes. This study used an open questionnaire to investigate Chinese learners’ perceptions of recasts and negotiated prompts (i.e. clarification requests, elicitations and repetitions) for their English learning. The results show the majority of the comments about the two feedback types were positive, indicating the learners’ overall positive attitudes to error correction. Significantly, most of the comments on the two feedback types accord with scholarly opinions about their usage for L2 learning, such as being able to identify the error made after hearing what the teacher said in the recast. Another example might be engaging in a thinking process on receiving a prompt. However, some of the comments provide new insights about how learners may use the two types of feedback for L2 learning, for example, having a deep impression/memory of what the teacher said in the recast and the difficulty in self-correcting their error following a negotiated prompt. These findings, in particular the new insights, confirm Swain’s (2000) argument that research needs to test scholarly assumptions about pedagogical tasks or devices.

Statistical assumptions in L2 research: A systematic review

Statistical tests carry with them a number of assumptions that must be checked. Failing to do so and to report the results of such preliminary analyses introduce a potential threat to the internal validity of a study and to our ability as consumers to put faith in study findings. This article systematically examines the reporting of checks on assumptions in two major journals of second-language (L2) research ( Language Learning and Second Language Research) over a span of six years (2012–2017 inclusive). Using synthetic techniques, each study in the sample ( K = 107) was coded for whether or not the assumptions associated with five statistical tests were reported: independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and chi-square. In doing so, two coding standards (‘stringent’ and ‘lenient’) were adopted to arrive at a more comprehensive picture of researchers’ practices and to reflect the different types of checks required by quantitative analyses. The lenient standard was coded as being met if one or more of the assumptions for a given analytical technique was reported; the stringent standard, by contrast, was recorded as met if all assumptions were reported and checked. Overall, 17% and 24% of the sample were found to have met the stringent and lenient standards, respectively. The study also addresses differences in the checking and reporting of assumptions across the five statistical procedures we examined. Despite overall weak reporting, we note several improvements taking place over time. Suggestions for improving data analytic and reporting practices in the field are discussed as well as implications for researcher training (see Loewen et al., 2014; Plonsky, 2014).

Cultural Background and First Language Acquisition as the Errors Interfere in Second Language Acquisition : a Case Indonesian EFL Writing

Abstract : Error Analysis is one of the major topics in the field of second language acquisition research. The learner of English as a second language is unaware of the existence of the particular system or rule in English language. The learner’s errors have long been interested for second and foreign language researchers. Some factors contributes in error of second language acquistion are habit formation relates to cultural background which bound their backgorund in education and another aspects. This paper attempts to investigate the notion of cultural background as the factors of errors in SLA which is the result of interference L1. The method that the researcher used is case study qualitative research, in which studying a phenomenon over time within its natural setting in one or a few sites. The result of the study indicates that cultural background, the society and education takes the big role in second language acquisition. The students with some English experiences even not native language, more adequate in comprehend the written form. Keywords : Error analysis, interference, second language acquisition