Technology-enhanced Language Learning Research Articles

CALL and SLA Theory: Developing A Framework to Analyze Web-based Materials for Teaching Listening Skills

Listening skills, considered by many to be the most critical language learning skills, have yet to emerge a variety of problems for learners. In order to have an effective listening class, teachers can use one of the many technology-enhanced language learning tools, web-based materials. In this article attempts have been made to make a comprehensive review on the grounded theory of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Second Language Learning (SLA) related to the use of web-based resources in teaching and learning English, especially for listening skills. This article also proposes a framework for conducting CALL evaluation that is worthy for website materials. The result yields a good guideline for teachers to make judgment or decision in choosing the most congruent web-based sources for teaching listening skills. As a result, teachers are able to adapt a proper teaching materials and methodology for listening skills.

EFL Classes Must Go Online! Teaching Activities and Challenges during COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic and government policy to carry out online learning, the present research is aimed at investigating how EFL teachers carry out online EFL learning and its challenges. 16 EFL teachers volunteered to participate in this research through invitation. The EFL teachers were requested to make written reflections regarding their practices in carrying out online EFL learning and the challenges they encounter. Five of them were involved in a follow-up interview individually. Semi-structured interview was administered. Data coding was done and appropriate extracts were informed in results section. To validate the data, data coding was done independently by both researchers, continued by several cycles of discussion. As results, the EFL teachers have carried out online learning through a series of activities ranging from checking the students’ attendance to giving score on the students’ works synchronously or asynchronously depending on each school policy. Various applications and platforms ranging from learning management system to additional resource are employed. However, many problems emerge from the students, the teachers, and the students’ parents along with the valid reasons. Therefore, the online learning does not run well since it lacks of preparation and planning. Implications for better online learning are discussed. Future prospective researches are directed and encouraged. Keywords: COVID-19, EFL teachers, online EFL learning, technology enhanced language learning, technology in language learning.

Teaching and Learning Languages in Multimedia Environments in Higher Education

With the current technological innovations in language teaching and learning fields, many higher education institutions (HEIs), particularly HEIs in Malaysia have integrated technological tools in and outside of classrooms. To support this move, education policies are being introduced to prepare ESL learners and instructors, particularly language instructors for the challenges in this technology-enhanced language learning milieu. This editorial section highlights pedagogical benefits for ESL learners from various e-learning environments which are adapted in higher education context, focusing on HEIs in Malaysia. The e-learning environments discussed include Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Computer-supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). Blended learning and its benefits are also briefly addressed considering it to be an essential feature to successfully achieve a globalized online learning environment. With the integration of these technological tools in language classrooms, it is anticipated for learners to possess the necessary skills and competencies to be active participants in global communities in the future.

English Teachers’ Beliefs on Technology Enhanced Language Learning: A Rush Paradigmatic Shift during Covid-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 pandemic has affected multifaceted aspects of life around the globe, including Indonesia. English language pedagogy is an obvious milieu that suffered from this pandemic, notably English teachers. They should shift their beliefs from traditional to technological paradigm (e.g. online teaching). However, this paradigmatic shift generates challenges for their teaching practices. This study aimed at scrutinizing the paradigmatic shift of English teachers’ beliefs on the deployment of Technology-Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) during this pandemic. A descriptive case study was employed as a research design. There were four English teachers involved as participants. The findings implied that the teachers’ beliefs represent their teaching practices during this Covid-19 pandemic.

Review of Studies on Technology-Enhanced Language Learning and Teaching

In this study, we reviewed articles on technology-enhanced language learning and teaching. We aimed to summarize the content of reviewed articles in the following categories: (1) the number of articles published by journals and by year; (2) languages and skills; (3) technology used; (4) promising technologies. We reviewed 398 research articles. The highest number of articles was published in 2017 (n = 80), whereas the lowest number was published in 2014 (n = 53). The Computer Assisted Language Learning journal published the highest number of articles (n = 100), whereas the lowest number of published articles appeared in IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (n = 3). The most common target language was English (n = 267). Writing, speaking, and vocabulary gained the most attention in published articles. Twenty-three different technologies were identified and they were used 406 times. Based on our results, we made several implications and suggestions for future studies. This review study can serve as a guide for teaching and research communities who plan on designing language learning and teaching activities supported by technologies.

Influential factors of working adults' perceptions of mobile-assisted vocabulary learning with multimedia annotations

With the development of technology-enhanced language learning, there have been increasingly more studies on mobile-assisted vocabulary learning with multimedia annotations. However, little research has been conducted to explore working adults' use of multimedia annotations in authentic mobile learning environments, investigate their perceptions of diverse types of multimedia annotations, or discuss the factors that may influence their perceptions of multimedia annotations. To fill in these research gaps, the researchers of this project developed a multimedia-annotation-enhanced vocabulary learning app, iWORDS, and invited 24 working adults in Hong Kong to learn vocabulary using this app. After experiencing mobile-assisted vocabulary learning with four types of multimedia annotations (i.e., the textual, the pictorial, the text-plus-GIF and the text-plus-video annotations), the participants were interviewed about their perceptions and preferences. The results indicated that working adults used textual annotations most frequently but showed strongest preference for text-plus-GIF annotations. Four factors, content quality, attractiveness, efficiency and cognitive stimuli, played important roles in influencing working adults' preferences and perceptions of multimedia annotations. Based on the research results, we proposed some suggestions for the development, selection and usage of multimedia annotations in mobile-assisted vocabulary learning.

Influential factors of working adults' perceptions of mobile-assisted vocabulary learning with multimedia annotations

With the development of technology-enhanced language learning, there have been increasingly more studies on mobile-assisted vocabulary learning with multimedia annotations. However, little research has been conducted to explore working adults' use of multimedia annotations in authentic mobile learning environments, investigate their perceptions of diverse types of multimedia annotations, or discuss the factors that may influence their perceptions of multimedia annotations. To fill in these research gaps, the researchers of this project developed a multimedia-annotation-enhanced vocabulary learning app, iWORDS, and invited 24 working adults in Hong Kong to learn vocabulary using this app. After experiencing mobile-assisted vocabulary learning with four types of multimedia annotations (i.e., the textual, the pictorial, the text-plus-GIF and the text-plus-video annotations), the participants were interviewed about their perceptions and preferences. The results indicated that working adults used textual annotations most frequently but showed strongest preference for text-plus-GIF annotations. Four factors, content quality, attractiveness, efficiency and cognitive stimuli, played important roles in influencing working adults' preferences and perceptions of multimedia annotations. Based on the research results, we proposed some suggestions for the development, selection and usage of multimedia annotations in mobile-assisted vocabulary learning.

Attitudes toward the use of TELL tools in English language learning among Vietnamese Tertiary English majors

Technology plays a crucial role in the self-guided learning of a second language in general and English in particular. Nevertheless, many students in different contexts still ignore the application of technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) tools in enhancing their foreign language proficiency. Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate the attitudes towards the use of TELL tools in English-language learning (ELL) among English majors at one university in Vietnam. To collect data, 197 English majors participated in finishing the questionnaire, and 20 students were invited to join the interviews. The findings are that the majority of students have positive attitudes towards the use of TELL tools and the frequency of using these tools is very high. In addition, the results also reveal that there is no significant difference in attitudes towards and frequency of using TELL tools in learning English in terms of the year of study. However, students of different levels of academic achievements have different attitudes towards using TELL tools and use TELL tools to learn English differently. Received 2nd May 2019; Revised 16th July 2019, Accepted 20th October 2019

Learning beliefs and autonomous language learning with technology beyond the classroom

ABSTRACTOut-of-class exposure to and use of the target language mediated by technological resources are essential to language learning, as foreign language learners very often encounter difficulty in accessing and processing target language in the immediate physical environments. Understanding how foreign language learners’ out-of-class self-directed technology-enhanced language learning experience interacts with their learning beliefs helps inform educators of how these learners could be supported to take advantage of technological resources to enrich language learning. Interview responses from 20 undergraduate foreign language learners at a university in Hong Kong were elicited to shed light on the issue. It was found that learners’ language learning beliefs and technological behaviors had a two-way cyclical interaction, and the interaction was manifested in both the nature of technological resources these learners used and the way they interacted with the resources. Furthermore, the interaction between the two was context-dependent and subject to the influence of the characteristics of self-directed out-of-class technology-enhanced language learning and associated self-concept and affective factors. The study calls for a contextualized and systemic approach towards supporting foreign language learners’ autonomous technology-enhanced language learning beyond the classroom.

Effects of caption and gender on junior high students’ EFL learning from iMap-enhanced contextualized learning

With the global positioning function, mobile learning technology extends the capacity of modern learning to fulfill location-based learning for learners to learn everywhere contextually. This study developed a digital interactive geographic map (iMap) with GPS function to support location-based contextualized EFL learning. Four classes of ninth-graders from a junior high school voluntarily participated in the 2-session 70-min learning activities using tablet PCs. Two experimental groups (non-caption vs. English-caption) were implemented, and the effects of caption and gender on learning performance and motivation were examined. The results showed that the caption*gender interaction was significant on learning performance, and the male non-caption group outperformed the male English-caption group, while the female learners in both groups performed equally. As for motivation, the participants demonstrated positive motivation in all aspects (i.e., self-efficacy, proactive learning, learning value, achievement goal and environmental incentive), and the non-caption group showed higher degrees of motivation in self-efficacy, learning value and environmental incentive than the English-caption group, while the gender effect was non-significant on these motivation aspects. Furthermore, the caption*gender interaction on proactive learning and achievement goal indicated that captions tended to interfere male learners’ learning intention and sense of achievement, suggesting that the adaption of learning strategies to individual traits and gender differences is imperative. This research extends the investigation on issues concerning the application of iMap-enhanced contextualized learning to the research field of technology-enhanced language learning, and the findings further support the argument that contextualized learning induces high motivation and assists learners in language comprehension and application.

Multiculturalism and Technology-Enhanced Language Learning edited by Dara Tafazoli and Margarida Romero

Multiculturalism and Technology-Enhanced Language LearningEdited by Dara Tafazoli and Margarida RomeroHershey, PA: IGI GlobalUS $123.50ISBN: 9781522518822 (Hardback)356 pages2017

Modeling the relationship between socioeconomic status, self-initiated, technology-enhanced language learning, and language outcome

The purpose of this research is to model the link between language learners’ socioeconomic status (SES), their self-directed, technology-enhanced language learning, and their language achievement. The participants of this study are 382 university students taking part in a survey related to their perceptions of their self-directed, technology-enhanced language learning in addition to their experience of language learning at school and in private institutes. Parental income has been used as a proxy to the learners’ SES. Their language outcome has been operationalised by their performance in the English section of the nation-wide entrance exam and their pre-university course. The results of path analysis revealed that EFL learners’ SES is a significant predictor of their autonomous language learning with technology and their language achievement. Furthermore, students’ out-of-class engagement with technology was positively associated with their performance in the English section of the nation-wide exam.

Impacts of flipped classrooms on learner attitudes towards technology-enhanced language learning

This study investigates self-reported attitudes about technology-enhanced language learning in the flipped classroom across borders in three tertiary-level contexts. As a method to address students’ needs for twenty-first century education, the flipped classroom pedagogical approach was chosen to explore student attitudes towards technology for language learning in credit-bearing language courses in USA and Macau and non-credit-bearing courses in Colombia. This study implemented an experimental design with a mixed methods approach for data collection. Data was collected from a technology survey, focus group sessions, and reflective essays. Before each class, students in the experimental groups in all three countries previewed lessons and engaged in activities through online videos and screencasts in order to better prepare for in class activities. Results showed that the USA experimental group showed a statistically significant difference in all self-reported attitudes in using technology for language learning overtime. Between groups statistical analyses found flipped classrooms experienced a statistically significant different change in self-reported attitudes on instrumentality, digital literacy, and anxiety. Overall, students in the USA and Columbian contexts may have less anxiety about using technology for language learning in a flipped classroom, and the flipped classroom may positively impact students’ attitudes towards technology in Columbia, Macau, and USA.

Future trends and research issues of technology-enhanced language learning: A technological perspective

With recent advancements in information technologies and language learning models, rapid innovations of technology-enhanced language learning have been widely witnessed by research communities and educational institutions globally. Powerful new technologies, such as social media and networks, mobile applications, wearable computing, cloud computing, and virtual reality have been integrated into language learning to facilitate various aspects, such as interactivity, immediacy, and authenticity. In this study, we present the Future TELL Model considering learning objectives, theories, and strategies by briefly reviewing recent progresses in this area. Future trends and research issues in technology-enhanced language learning are also discussed in relation to cutting-edge technologies, such as deep neural networks, which have not yet been fully recognized by education technology communities.

UNIVERSAL CODES IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: SPECIFIC CASE OF AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA

In both general humanitarian studies, as well as political studies, the concept of language has a large importance. However, considering any language could be stripped down to a (seemingly more basic) notion of code, actual studies of code as an important aspect of international political communication are scarce, despite it is rather obvious that they have much potential in terms of both practical use and theoretical dwelling. In specific case of this article (and, in wider sense, preceding research by authors) the problem to dwell upon is how such codes could be translated.Translations developed to a quite high level over thousands of years and now appear quickly and conveniently, of certain texts and in needed languages. Level of knowledge of the foreign languages among world’s population is also progressing, as well. And yet, even in such conditions language barrier, whether it gets thicker or thinner at some places, diverse in its shapes and forms, remains. But there is an idea of a language which is understandable anywhere in the world: analogue of a text, in which at least some key elements would be understood by anyone, won’t be lost in translation, no matter which language was it written in. As we mentioned, operating at a level of sub-text, it could be really more adequately referred to as a universal code, but within the practice of audiovisual media it is indeed often called a language.Audiovisual media, fixation of images on film or videotape and digital images as well is what we mostly talk about in this scientific work, because with civilization evolving we become more and more dependent on what was said in that language, spend more time not only searching for new ways, but developing old, as well. Audiovisual media, in that regard, is produced in almost every possible language, including fictional ones. Internet Movie Database (IMDb) divides languages which are specified as used in different listed audio-visual works into common languages and less-common languages, effectively avoiding the notion of non-common and emphasizing that regardless of how common language is, importance of it in the audiovisual media is entirely a decision of creators.Political studies are, to some point, is a glue, that bonds together different aspects of developing and classifies them accordingly to some wide-spread political doctrines. Knowing how such doctrines inspire certain concepts in the everyday life of the state, how they transform in society’s conscience and eventually inspire nation-wide processes is what political studies should concentrate upon and that also might include inspiring the needed and very welcome change in what is known as technology-enhanced language learning (TELL). Studying universal code of audio-visual media in the contexts of International political communication should be taken into consideration in TELL and research thereof, as nowadays people tend to be much more politically involved with the use of Internet and social networks as instruments of political influence, discussion and education – wider then ever and yet also much more restricted then before. Correlation between audio-visual media and new media social platforms, such as Reddit seem to be overlooked and under-researched. Present-day learners are represented mostly by the members of the Facebook/YouTube generation which is more visually developed than whichever of the previous generations. For this generation, online communication via exchanging static and moving images is just as important as face-to-face interaction, often offering knowledge-exchange opportunities. Their expectations strongly influence the modern teaching style by demanding more and more visual aids (first of all films) especially in teaching foreign languages.For political studies in the international relations, audiovisual media, while not exactly being terra incognita, is a place of only a certain level familiarity, which could and should be enriched by further research, as security of the situation pretty much depends on intricate processes of international communication witnessed in a conglomerate of social media and audiovisual media. Already, a situation of hybrid war forming within our own country dictates the need of closer filtration of information provided to us through the social networks, which nowadays, primarily, tend to use audiovisual format to stay fast and relevant. Relevancy of audiovisual media, its whole survival through the years and even decades (centuries are certainly out of question as audiovisual media is much younger then printed one) depended on being fluid, adaptive and developing a very transformative and unique system of approaching the unsuspecting audience from every corner. That resulted in supposed simple entertainment becoming not just one, but several multibillion industries, which intervene in unexpected way when it comes to presenting actual events and then distorting the accounts in latter, fictionalized attempts.

Digital Video Creation in the LSP Classroom

<p>The twenty-first century world of digital media and multimodalities demands a rethinking of approaches to languages for specific purposes (LSP). This article seeks to determine the effectiveness of digital video creation as a teaching and learning tool in the LSP context through an investigation of students’ perceptions of the usefulness of this activity. The study is based on a digital video creation project carried out with a group of second year undergraduate students on the BSc in Biotechnology programme in NUI Galway who also study French as part of their degree programme. The findings are indicative of an overwhelmingly positive response from learners to this activity, both in terms of the development of language skills and other key social and professional skills. However, findings also warn that students’ digital competencies must not be over-estimated, despite a general assumption in technology-enhanced language learning research, that the current generation of students have a high level of digital literacy. This study highlights the pedagogical potential of digital video creation in the language classroom and demonstrates that it embraces many of the core elements underpinning progressive LSP pedagogy, by giving students the opportunity to keep pace with the multimodality afforded by digital media and by ensuring their language learning is both contextualised and authentic. It advocates the use of digital video creation in language learning and particularly in LSP, by highlighting the strong impact that this activity had on the participants in this study.</p>

Strategies in technology-enhanced language learning

The predominant context for strategy research over the last three decades has focused on language learning situated in a conventional classroom environment. Computer technology has brought about many changes in language learning and has become ecological and normalized rather than a supporting tool in the language classroom. Consequently, the landscape of language learning has been rapidly and largely changed with the normalization of technologies in people’s daily communication. The pervasive use of mobile technologies and easy access to online resources require that digital language learners understand and employ appropriate learning strategies for learning effectiveness and that their teachers are able and willing to teach these strategies as needed. This article provides an overview of the state-of-the-art research into technology-enhanced language learning strategies. The strategies under review include those for language learning skill areas, language subsystems, and self-regulated learning. At the end, we discuss the pressing issues that Digital Age language learning has posed to learners, teachers, and researchers and propose considerations for strategy research in digital realms.

Editorial

We welcome you to our special issue of Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching (SSLLT). Our focus is language learning strategies, or LLS. We have been discussing the need for this special issue for years. Over coffee, sodas, or Chardonnet at many conferences and via emails and Skype, we discussed urgent issues in LLS assessment, research, and instruction.SSLLT, like many journals, has published numerous articles involving LLS, and other journals have had special issues on LLS. However, the time is ripe for a special issue that systematically includes LLS for all language skill areas, all major cross-cutting language subsystems such as grammar, and some important yet often ignored topics, such as strategies for learning culture and for technology-enhanced language learning (TELL), which greatly advances decades of research on computer-assisted language learning (CALL). We have gathered articles from a talented team of researchers, most of them well-known and the others rising stars. The articles in this special issue directly involve LLS research in several world regions and allude to such research in many more regions.

TELL (Technology-enhanced Language Learning) in Iranian High Schools: A Panacea for Emotional and Motivational Detriments

Recent expansions in technological tools are shifting the direction of foreign-language education. A plethora of EFL research studies suggested that the benefits of TELL (technology-enhanced language learning) embrace a wide array of cognitive, motivational, and emotional attributes. English language teaching in Iran has recently undergone a host of rapid changes. The most apparent change was that the traditional grammar-based instruction left its place to communicative-oriented approaches. As a result, teachers needed extra aids to provide learners with the desired environments and foster exposure to authentic materials. In this regard, multimedia techniques (MTs) offer wide range of facilities in high speed and effective information processing. The purpose of this study was to examine the possible impact of MTs in high schools on students’ L2 learning attitudes, anxiety, and language proficiency. To do so, the researchers adopted a mixed-methods design integrating experimental and interview analyses. The sample of the study consisted of 124 female students from Motahhareh high school in Mashhad, a city in Northeast of Iran. Twelve items out of Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self- system scale were picked to measure attitudes to L2 learning and L2 anxiety. The Babel test was employed for gauging participants’ language proficiency. The sample was divided into two experimental and two control groups. The participants in experimental and control groups were provided with the same materials and instruction. The point of difference lay in the mode of presenting the materials in experimental group, i.e. via multimedia techniques. In the second phase, a semi-structured interview was conducted with a number of students in experimental groups to delve into their attitudes and feedbacks concerning MT-based instruction. The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences in students’ L2 learning attitudes, anxiety, and language proficiency in favor of the experimental group. In the light of the obtained results, the study presented a number of practical and accessible recommendations for implementing multimedia in teaching English.

Technology-enhanced language learning: Recent developments and what to expect next

One of the key characteristics that are expected from a contemporary instructor is being able to creatively implement innovation in his/her day-to-day teaching activities. An example of such innovative approaches to teaching is the integrated teaching of, for instance, STEM subjects with foreign languages (FL). The latter can be successfully achieved via technology-enhanced learning (TEL) approach. Currently, there are numerous apps and platforms available or still being developed for teaching STEM subjects, which could be combined with learning FLs in order to ensure successful learning outcomes even more. However, the full educational potential of TEL tools for teaching FLs should be investigated and disclosed beforehand. To this end, the present paper provides an overview of the most recent developments in technology-enhanced language learning (TELL). It firstly surveys state-of-the art and then gives an insight into what to expect from the near future studies on TELL.