Second Language Research Articles

Making sense of a new language: authenticity and semiotics in additional language learning

Abstract The concept of authenticity has received much discussion in applied linguistics and educational studies. Valuable insights have been gained into how authenticity is problematised in language teaching and how to improve the situation by engaging learners with better-designed materials and activities. These achievements notwithstanding, empirical evidence remains insufficient to understand learners’ meaning-making endeavours in real-life learning scenarios. The current study attempts to examine authenticity in additional language learning from a semiotic perspective, which may shed new light on the complex cognitive process of beginner learners’ first encounter with a new language and how this process could be motivated and facilitated by teachers in a classroom setting. Evidence of semiotic articulation and production of authenticity from a low-pressure Spanish classroom is analysed focussing on cultural authenticity, interactive authenticity and authenticity of behaviour and engagement. The evidence is discussed to find how semiotic resources in combination with lived experiences may help learners’ comprehension and appreciation of the target language and its culture. These findings reveal the relevance and value of semiotic approaches to language teaching research and provide practical implications for exposing pre-tertiary young learners to languages other than English for more diverse and extensive learning experiences.

Teletherapy to address language disparities in deaf and hard-of-hearing children: study protocol for an inclusive multicentre clinical trial

IntroductionChildren who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) are at risk for speech and language delay. Language outcomes are worse in DHH children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, due in part to...

Feasibility of caregiver diabetes distress screening in routine clinical care of youth with type 1 diabetes.

Caregiver diabetes distress (DD) consists of feeling overwhelmed, sad, and/or concerned; one-third of parents of youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) report severe distress up to 4 years after T1D diagnosis. PAID-PR (Problem Areas in Diabetes Survey-Parent Revised) assesses DD primarily in research settings; however, less is known about its clinical utility. We aimed to identify the feasibility of implementing PAID-PR screening at a diverse, academic US paediatric diabetes center during routine clinic follow-up visits through quality improvement methodologies. The PAID-PR was intended to be offered in English to caregivers at all paediatric T1D appointments, by the front desk during appointment check-in, or through REDCap prior to telehealth appointments or at local sites to all eligible caregivers. Adult psychosocial resources were provided to all, regardless of score. Forms were scored after appointments; scores ≥80 were referred to Diabetes Psychology providers for follow-up. A total of 391 caregivers completed the PAID-PR, though only half of eligible caregivers received it in person. Response rates were highest in person (90%), compared to REDCap (25%). In total, 27% (n = 107) scored ≥56 (DD). Of those with DD, 21% (n = 23) scored ≥80 and were referred to psychology. Demographics are reported in Table1. PAID-PR score was positively correlated to A1c (p = 0.038) and inversely to child age (p = 0.014). Clinic caregiver DD screening was implemented with higher response rates in person; however, expanding in-person screening to all eligible caregivers is necessary. Furthermore, since the PAID-PR was in English, some caregivers with DD were likely missed. Future directions include screening in additional languages.

Subject position in Greek and Spanish monolingual and bilingual production: Exploring the influence of verb type and definiteness

ABSTRACT This research study aims to capture linguistic variation in subject distribution in monolingual and bilingual speakers of an understudied language combination of two null subject languages, following the premises of the Interface Hypothesis (IH). Greek and Chilean Spanish are examined with a focus on subject-verb (SV) inversion in neutral contexts as influenced by two factors: verb type and subject definiteness. Oral semi-structured narratives were elicited from 116 participants: Greek and Spanish monolinguals (N = 40) and Greek-Spanish bilinguals (N = 86), namely immigrants, heritage speakers (HS), and L2 speakers of Greek. The findings show crosslinguistic differences between Greek and Spanish regarding verb-subject(-object) [VS(O)] orders, which are allowed more liberally in Greek than in Spanish. The bilingual groups behaved similarly on subject placement regarding verb type. The effect of definiteness, which was statistically significant in all the other groups, was not obtained in the HS data, indicating a relaxed distinction between definite and indefinite subjects in the heritage grammar. The findings are discussed in the light of the Interface Hypothesis (IH) and provide valuable insights into bilingual language production in relation to vulnerability in heritage and bilingual grammars, involving an insufficiently researched linguistic phenomenon.

Higher reading spans mitigate context effects on lexical processing by low-proficiency L2 learners: a self-paced reading study

AbstractThis study examines context effects on lexical processing by low-proficiency Japanese learners of English during sentence comprehension, and the role of individual differences in verbal working memory (WM). Thirty Japanese learners of English as a second language (L2) and 27 speakers of English as a first language (L1) were recruited for a self-paced reading task with high and low context sentences to assess lexical processing abilities, and a reading span task to measure WM capacities. Bayesian modeling indicated that, at the group level, L2 learners had slower lexical processing times for low context sentences compared to high context ones, especially in the spillover region, while L1 speakers showed no difference. At the individual level, higher WM capacities among L2 learners appeared to mitigate these context effects, supporting the interactive-compensatory model (Stanovich in Read Res Q, 10.2307/747348, 1980; Remedial Spec Educ 5(3):11–19, 10.1177/074193258400500306, 1984). The findings highlight context effects on L2 lexical processing and the crucial role of WM in managing these effects among L2 learners.

“Because we bilingual”: Examining an early career ESOL teacher's humanizing approach to language use

Although some of the scholarship in applied linguistics and teacher education illustrates an understanding of the complicated domination of English—and particularly White Mainstream English (WME)—in the education of multilingual students who are learning English as an additional language, the issue remains that the teaching and learning of English is often positioned as a neutral, value-free endeavor in much of the curriculum and practice used in US K-12 classrooms, and around the world. Therefore, an important question centers around how teachers might use linguistically sustaining, humanizing language practices in their classrooms, despite working in contexts that generally privilege WME. To illustrate the important role that teachers can play in supporting humanizing, linguistically vibrant classrooms, we highlight the practices of Catherine, an African American teacher of multilingual students, and explore how she leveraged her own multilingualism to affirm a variety of language practices in her classroom.

Teaching and learning challenges faced by teachers and young learners in early literacy: Reading and writing in EFL context

This article aimed at identifying and investigating the teaching and learning strategies in early literacy which were used by the English teaching, obstacles faced by learners, and the solution in the teaching reading and writing for young learners especially in foreign language context. It was collected through peer review journals, theories, articles, books and finding from previous studies. Based on the researches and studies made on L1 and L2 acquisition, the learners who completed their first language acquisition have been found more successful in L2 and FL acquisition. The results of this article show that the teachers can integrate L1, L2 or Foreign Language in teaching reading, and also appropriate materials. Therefore, some strategies for early literacy for EFL learners are provided; teaching phonological awareness and making balancing between bottom-up and top-down processing skills.

More foreign-accented but more comprehensible: Attrition and amelioration of L1 speech in proficient L2 learners.

There is an increasing interest in cross-linguistic influences of the second language (L2) on the first (L1), but its communicative impact remains to be elucidated. This study investigates how L2 learners' L1 pronunciation is perceived as foreign-accented and (in) comprehensible as a function of their L2 learning experience and proficiency levels. Read speech of 154 L1 Japanese learners of L2 English in the J-AESOP corpus was examined, where approximately one-third of them had lived in English-speaking countries and the rest had never lived outside of Japan. Their L1 speech was rated by another group of native Japanese listeners for accentedness and comprehensibility (from October 25, 2022 to August 20, 2023), while their L2 speech was previously rated by native American English listeners for nativelikeness or proficiency. The speakers' vowel acoustics were also examined. More proficient L2 speakers were perceived as more foreign-accented in their L1, but only if they had lived overseas; their length of residence abroad predicted the degree of perceived accentedness. In contrast, more proficient L2 speakers were consistently perceived as more comprehensible in the L1, regardless of prior overseas experience. Acoustic analyses indicated that perceived accentedness is associated with a clockwise chain shift of all vowel categories in the vowel space. It was also revealed that the dispersion, rather than compactness, of vowel production contributed to perceived comprehensibility, although the degree of L1 vowel dispersion did not predict L2 proficiency. The overall results suggest two main conclusions. First, perceptible L1 foreign accent likely results from L1 disuse rather than L2 interference, thereby L1 pronunciation differs from native norms at a system-wide rather than category-specific level. Second, L2 learning has a positive influence on perceived L1 comprehensibility, rather than individuals with clearer and more comprehensible L1 speech being inherently better L2 learners.

The Impacts of Self-Efficacy on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skills

In L2 speaking learning contexts, highly self-efficacious EFL learners are characterised as speakers capable of sharing their ideas confidently with other interlocutors as they have put a higher degree of belief towards their current speaking competencies. In support of self-efficacy, EFL learners are strongly willing to proceed with the complex speaking learning processes as they are prompted to foster their L2 communicative competencies to the utmost level. This small-scale library study was initiated to reveal the potential impacts of self-efficacy on EFL learners’ speaking skills. To achieve the primary study objective, 30 previous self-efficacy studies were profoundly reviewed with a thematic analysis to yield more understandable and trustworthy research results. Based on the obtained research results, it is strongly suggested that second language-speaking learning instructors infuse the robust construction of self-efficacy within EFL learners since they can progressively transform into more successful and confident L2 speakers. In conclusion, a higher degree of self-efficacy growth allows EFL learners to persistently confront various speaking learning impediments due to the successful employment of their speaking learning strategies mutually interlinked with the current speaking learning situations. Keywords: Self-efficacy; Speaking skills; EFL learners.

Collocation in the Mind: Investigating Collocational Priming in Second Language Speakers of Italian

AbstractCollocational priming is a priming effect induced by collocationally related words; it has been taken to explain the cognitive reality of collocation. Collocational priming has largely been observed in first language (L1) speakers, whereas work on the representation of collocation in a second language (L2) is still limited. In the present study, we sought to investigate this phenomenon in L1 and L2 speakers of Italian. We used a lexical decision task to explore collocational priming in verb–noun and noun–adjective collocations differing in frequency and collocational strength. Both L1 and L2 speakers were found sensitive to the frequency of collocations. Importantly, exposure to L2 Italian was found to play a role. The results suggest that collocational priming occurs both in L1 and L2 speakers, and that the mechanisms associated with collocation processing and representation in L1 and L2 speakers may be comparable.

Supporting students with English as an additional language during emergency remote teaching: a Q methodology study

AbstractStudents with English as an additional language (EAL) comprise approximately a third of the government school population in Australia’s second most populous state of Victoria. While the broad impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers and students has been the focus of recent studies, there is a lack of information on how EAL educators adapted to meet the needs of this diverse cohort of students during periods of emergency remote teaching (ERT). In this mixed-methods study, eleven EAL educators from diverse educational contexts in Victoria completed a Q-sort of 49 statements followed by in-depth interviews. The by-person factor analysis resulted in a three-factor solution that revealed the transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic brought both challenges and opportunities for EAL educators. Some students who struggled in traditional classrooms engaged more effectively in remote learning, while others experienced significant anxiety. Additionally, some educators experimented with digital tools and strategies, gaining valuable insights into effective approaches for students with EAL. These findings render a nuanced picture of educators’ experiences during this time, enhancing our understanding of transformative educational practices for linguistically diverse students.

On Promoting Literacy in Regional and Minority Languages: Some Potential Pointers from Central and Eastern Europe for Trinidad English Creole

Based on current initiatives to promote literacy in several Central and Eastern European minority languages, the present article provides a reflective overview of a range of pointers that these case studies could potentially offer for Trinidad English Creole, a creole language spoken widely in the Caribbean twin-island nation of Trinidad & Tobago but which does not have official status in that jurisdiction. Though the case study may at first seem unusual, the article justifies the selection by briefly comparing and contrasting the relevant historical factors which have influenced the modern-day usage of several minority languages in Central and East Europe with the situation regarding Trinidad English Creole, drawing attention to shared factors such as the prevalence of language contact, diglossia, and sociocultural domination by external influences. After sketching the current state of the art regarding the usage and the wider (lack of) recognition of Trinidad English Creole, the study then outlines the chosen methodological approach, which is qualitative and desk-based in purview, and linking it to the author’s existing research studies which have centred on these themes and geographical areas. Subsequently, taking the Central and East European context as a point of departure, the study then outlines the different potential pointers which could lead to the promotion of greater literacy in Trinidad English Creole, noting that up until now the focus of governmental and educational efforts has coalesced around encouraging the uptake of Spanish as an additional language in Trinidad & Tobago. In observing changing attitudes to creole languages in the wider English-speaking Caribbean, the first point centres around awareness- raising, advocating for the existence of a specialist university-based institution to promote the research and academic study of Trinidad English Creole, thus emulating examples taken from other minority languages in Central and Eastern Europe such as Rusyn, South Estonian, and Kashubian. The second point relates to the potential development of intensive training courses (of several months’ duration) for Trinidad English Creole which could incorporate a literacy-based component. In presenting the Central and East European context, it gives a cursory overview of the possibilities for such courses, profiling the recent addition of specialised long-term courses designed to promote the uptake and spread of Lower Sorbian, whilst acknowledging the success of such programmes for Breton. In addition, similarly to the case of other Central and East European minority languages, such schemes could also encourage the production of necessary and relevant pedagogical materials to study, learn, and teach Trinidad English Creole in an effective and sustainable manner. Linked to the previous one, the third point relates to the potential development of language certification schemes for Trinidad English Creole, noting the existence of similar schemes for Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. It also draws attention to the myriad other factors which are involved in creating and developing training programmes, including the potential viability and prospects of such initiatives.

Critical Discourse Analysis of Pre-enrolment English Program Curriculum Documents: Preparing Students for University Registers

Objectives: Critiques in academic literature and Australian media focus on the English proficiency of international students in Australia, particularly those with EAL (English as an additional language) studying in Australia, raising doubts about their preparedness for university-level English studies (Arkoudis, et al., 2019). These concerns extend to pre-enrolment English program. To address this, the study examines the curriculum handbook of Australian universities' English programs. It reveals that this curriculum not only offers course and program information but also serves as a model for EAL students aspiring to enroll in Western universities. The study extends the analysis using the Verclaff Framework for Action (1989, 1995). Methods: Applying Fairclough’s framework, the study used a three-pronged critical discourse analysis of the English language program curriculum. This involved examining the text, interpreting the creation processes, and understanding the social and historical contexts influencing the text. Results: interestingly, the description reveals a clear and comprehensive structure, providing detailed information not only about the curriculum but also about staff, facilities, and the wider university and city environment students will engage with. Moreover, it delineates assessment tasks, with some fully detailed presentations. Conclusions: The curriculum document has become a comprehensive “book of rules” and a legal representation of the university. This study shows how the document prepares international students by teaching academic norms, complying with regulations, advertising courses, and providing curriculum information, while also addressing the socio-cultural aspects of their future studies at an Australian university.

Exploring the relationships between ASS indices and CAF and the impact on Chinese college students’ oral English performance

Automatic Speech Scoring (ASS) has increasingly become a useful tool in oral proficiency testing for Second Language (L2) learners. However, limited studies investigate the alignment of ASS indices with the Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency (CAF)—the three dimensions in evaluating L2 speakers’ oral proficiency, and the subsequent impact indices on the oral performance of Chinese college students. To bridge this gap, this study used comparative analysis, Pearson analysis, and linear regression analysis to delve into the relationship and correlations between paired ASS indicators of “pronunciation”, “fluency”, “integrity”, “speed”, “duration”, and “overall”, while also analyzing the relationships between “overall” and other variables. These analyses were conducted using 956 audio clips of freshmen who took the College English Test-Spoken English Test Band 4 (CET-SET-4) in May 2022 in China. The findings reveal that (1) the ASS indicators and evaluation methods are similar but not identical to those employed in prior studies; (2) “pronunciation” encapsulates both the accuracy and fluency dimensions of CAF; (3) “pronunciation” and “integrity” have significant impacts on Chinese college students’ oral English performance in read-aloud tasks. The study suggests that future research should further investigate the specific pronunciation challenges faced by Chinese college students, such as phonetics, stress, and intonation. Additionally, it highlights the need to comprehend teachers’ attitudes and preferences towards ASS to enhance its effectiveness in assessing second language (L2) learners’ oral proficiency. The study would provide some references to teachers for oral English teaching design and students for their self-assessment of oral English proficiencies.

What difficulties do children learning English in addition to another language experience with English oral language? A systematic review

ABSTRACT Within the majority of English-speaking settings, children learning English as an additional language (CLEAL) underperform academically relative to their monolingual, English-speaking peers. This systematic review (preregistration: https://archive.org/details/osf-registrations-zgmha-v1) identifies the elements of the English oral language where these children experience difficulty. We focused on research measuring an English oral language outcome for CLEAL between the ages of 3 and 7 and their age-matched, monolingual English-speaking peers. We searched PsycINFO, Web of Science, British Education Index and Linguistics and Language Behaviour s, for studies published between 2015 and 2024, written in English. Of the 2125 records identified, 20 were eligible for inclusion, with a low-to-moderate risk of bias. Overall, our target group performed significantly worse in tests of English receptive and expressive vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, listening comprehension, embedding, collocational knowledge and areas of narrative skill and phonological production. However, these children were comparable with their peers in other areas of narrative skill, lexical and pragmatic understanding, elements of morphological production and areas of phonological production and processing. Overall, while the picture is mixed, highlighting the need for further study of oral English in CLEAL, this review strengthens existing arguments for vocabulary and syntax acquisition as appropriate targets for intervention.

Spoken word choreographies in additional language learning practices in upper secondary school: Entanglements between languaging‐and‐dancing

AbstractThere are calls for developing ways to teach language that can inspire and motivate students to study additional languages. While previous research has pointed toward benefits of arts‐based activities in language learning, combining language and dance has mainly been studied with younger language learners. Contextualized within the course “Dance with language,” this study explores spoken word choreographies—word‐ and movement‐based choreographies—that combine dance and the learning of Swedish as an additional language at a Finnish upper secondary school. The study engages with new materialist theories to understand languaging as an activity and relational, embodied, and material processes. Using diffractive analysis with comics‐based research strategies, the analysis suggests that languaging‐and‐dancing become entangled through four doings: exploring, re‐working, co‐creating, and negotiating‐and‐switching. The spoken word choreographies offer a potentially valuable way to teach language in their move beyond students’ potential restrictions of vocabulary, structure, and grammar in the language to emphasize playfulness and creative explorations as part of language‐learning processes. In conclusion, the study proposes that dancing and spoken word, and the combination thereof, bring specific qualities to creating smooth languaging spaces that embrace wild, playful, creative, and unpredictable forces and movements in language‐learning practices.

‘Finally, it's all in vain’: A Chinese as an additional language teacher's agency in navigating the teaching-research nexus in a neoliberal Chinese university

The neoliberal emphasis on performance metrics, such as research outputs and citations, has weakened the symbiotic relationship between teaching and research in language education. However, language teachers' experiences of navigating the challenge that neoliberalism creates for the teaching-research nexus have been largely absent, with the existing literature predominantly focusing on documenting the impact of neoliberalism on research and teaching. This narrative case study aims to address this gap by tracing a Chinese as an additional language (CAL) teacher's agency in navigating the teaching-research nexus in a neoliberal Chinese university. Based on data from three rounds of interviews, informal conversations, notes, and policy documents, this study identified a noticeable shift in the participant's narrated experiences, progressing from active engagement with research to enhance teaching practices, to pragmatic engagement in research for scholarly publication, and eventually to disenchanted retreat from the academic battlefield. This trajectory highlights the escalating challenges faced by the participant in navigating the teaching-research nexus. Practical implications are discussed to strengthen the link between teaching and research in language education in the neoliberal context.

Thinking about numbers in different tongues: An overview of the influences of multilingualism on numerical and mathematical competencies.

In an increasingly multilingual and multicultural world, understanding the interactions between language and mathematics is critical, especially when individuals must acquire and exercise their mathematical competencies in multiple languages. Indeed, research shows that, overall, L2 language learners are at an academic disadvantage compared to their L1 peers. The current article briefly overviews how multilingualism influences basic and advanced mathematical skills and interacts with mathematical learning difficulties. We first outline the traditional cognitive models of number learning and language processing. We then discuss the particularities of multilingualism and how it impacts numerical skills such as counting and building lexical-semantic associations, transcoding and arithmetic, mathematical word problems and mathematical performance tests, and dyscalculia diagnosis. We end this review by outlining challenges, recommendations, and solutions for multilingual educational settings. The article is intended as a guide for numerical cognition researchers who work with diverse populations and for mathematics educators and educational policy-makers facing the challenges of a multilingual classroom.

Parental involvement predicts Grade 4 learners’ reading literacy: an analysis of PIRLS data for students in Mpumalanga, South Africa

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to examine how parents’ involvement is associated with Grade 4 learners' reading literacy achievement in Mpumalanga. Selected variables from the PIRLS 2016 home and school questionnaires were used, and interviews were conducted with parents to gain a deeper understanding of parental involvement in their child’s education in terms of reading literacy. A sequential explanatory mixed-method design was used based on the pragmatism paradigm. The quantitative data (1,025 learners) was gathered before the qualitative data (ten parents). For the quantitative data, multi-level analysis showed that parents who read books with their child before the child went to primary school, parents who participated in their child’s reading outside school hours, and parents being included in their child’s education by the school are the best predictors of Grade 4 reading literacy achievement. For the qualitative data, the findings indicated that parents understand that promoting English as First Additional Language is of great importance; however, they lack the skills, time and resources to effectively teach English reading at home. This study suggests that more research should be conducted on effective parenting strategies at home to teach their children to read.

Acoustic behavioral observation in study abroad research: A case study using the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR)

Frequency of (aural) language exposure and productive (oral) language use, context, and interlocutors are important factors for language learning. Applied linguists and study abroad (SA) researchers have studied these variables mostly retrospectively through questionnaires and learners’ self-reports which have unknown correspondence with learner's actual language use and social networks. Surprisingly few applied linguists have attempted to capture quantitative aspects of day-to-day language use through systematic long-term observation even though methods to do so have been used in psychological science for some time. In this article, we present arguments for the application of acoustic behavioral observation in applied linguistics and SA research. We introduce the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR; Mehl, 2017) and illustrate its application in a case study about the use of first, second, and additional languages by two German high school students during their year abroad in the USA. The EAR is a digital audio recorder, currently available as an app for Android devices. It can be installed on smartphones worn by their users as they go about their daily activities. The app intermittently (e.g., 5 times per hour) records brief (e.g., 30 s) snippets of ambient sounds from the wearer's moment-to-moment sonic environment. EAR users are unaware of when exactly the device is recording. We describe the method, data collection, transcription, coding and analyses, address ethical concerns about its application, and report findings from the case study about the SA students’ language use to illustrate the potential and limitations of the method for applied linguistics research.