Research Methods in Applied Linguistics最新文献

A scoping review of oral task repetition: Evolving concepts for speaking skills development 口语任务重复的范围回顾：口语技能发展的演变概念

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-20 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100292

Keiko Hanzawa , Yuichi Suzuki , Akifumi Yanagisawa , Junya Fukuta

{"title":"A scoping review of oral task repetition: Evolving concepts for speaking skills development","authors":"Keiko Hanzawa , Yuichi Suzuki , Akifumi Yanagisawa , Junya Fukuta","doi":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100292","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100292","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Over the past three decades, oral task repetition has been extensively investigated in second language acquisition (SLA) research. While this growing body of research is characterized by diverse conceptual and methodological foci, few reviews have systematically examined the relationship between them. Using a scoping review methodology—which aims to explore the breadth, depth, and nature of prior research—this paper synthesizes 74 empirical studies and maps the field’s conceptual landscape by analyzing the research questions (<em>what</em> aspects of task repetition have been studied and <em>how</em> researchers have operationalized their interests in oral task repetition) and related methodological features (<em>how</em> it has been studied). The analysis revealed four primary research domains: (1) task repetition effects, (2) additional interventions, (3) mediating/moderating variables, and (4) learner/teacher perceptions. Importantly, while many earlier works tended to frame task repetition as a “planning” tool for immediate performance gains on the same task, recent studies increasingly regard it as a form of “practice” for long-term speaking skills development, which can be transferred to new tasks. We argue that clarifying one’s position and aligning research methods with these perspectives can facilitate more refined research designs in future task repetition research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101075,"journal":{"name":"Research Methods in Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"Article 100292"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790486","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Mixed-methods approaches to analyzing multilingual repertoires in endangered manuscripts: A study of Thai medical texts 分析濒危手稿中多语种曲目的混合方法：泰国医学文本的研究

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-04 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100304

Sutthiluck Sawanyavisuthi , Parama Kwangmuang

{"title":"Mixed-methods approaches to analyzing multilingual repertoires in endangered manuscripts: A study of Thai medical texts","authors":"Sutthiluck Sawanyavisuthi , Parama Kwangmuang","doi":"10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100304","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100304","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Documenting endangered script traditions requires methods that handle multilingual complexity across levels while remaining transparent and replicable. We present an integrated corpus-ethnographic framework comprising three codified innovations: (1) a 127-category, multi-tier annotation system for graphemic, morphological, syntactic, and discourse-pragmatic coding with validated inter-annotator reliability (Cohen’s κ = 0.78-0.91); (2) ethnographic triangulation protocols that test corpus-derived patterns through practitioner interviews and participant observation using explicit convergence–divergence procedures; and (3) multi-scalar integration rules that align level-appropriate theories (e.g., Matrix Language Frame; Multidimensional analysis) and coordinate their outputs. The framework is applied to a curated corpus of 30 Thai medical manuscripts from Bueng Kan (18 Tham; 12 Thai Noi; approximately 127,000 syllable-tokens, 113 disease descriptions, 211 formulations) compiled under uniform inclusion criteria and metadata standards. The methods surface reproducible patterns, including type-normalized morphological productivity (Baayen’s P = 0.84–0.91), correlations between morphological complexity and code-switching (r = 0.73, p < .001), and recurrent spiral discourse cycles (approximately 32%). Ethnographic checks substantiate pattern interpretations and delimit scope. We argue that the contribution is methodological: the annotation schema, triangulation protocol, and integration rules render corpus and ethnography jointly operational and auditable in manuscript linguistics. Limitations include resource intensity and single-region focus; we outline efficiency refinements and cross-tradition validation as next steps.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101075,"journal":{"name":"Research Methods in Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"Article 100304"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146187782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Evaluating and enhancing the accuracy of automated fluency annotation tools in L2 research 评估和提高二语研究中自动流畅性标注工具的准确性

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-30 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100302

Jueyu Lu, John Rogers

{"title":"Evaluating and enhancing the accuracy of automated fluency annotation tools in L2 research","authors":"Jueyu Lu, John Rogers","doi":"10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100302","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100302","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fluency is a central dimension of L2 oral proficiency. Further, fluency assessment is important for many applied contexts, including pedagogical and assessment purposes. Yet, the measurement of fluency using manual annotation is labor-intensive, which limits its broad application and scalability. We evaluate two automated tools — an acoustic-based tool (de Jong et al., 2021) and a machine-learning tool (Matsuura et al., 2025) — using data from L1-Chinese learners of English. Accuracy was assessed for three metrics, articulation rate (AR), pause ratio (PR), and mean pause duration (MPD), via Pearson correlations with manual annotation. We compared two automated tools and tested whether targeted manual post-processing (TextGrid checks and transcript adjustments) improves metric extraction using Steiger’s test. Results from our sample indicated that de Jong et al. (2021) yielded higher accuracy for silence-based metrics (PR, MPD). However, text-dependent metrics (syllable number after removing disfluency words in AR) benefited from corrected TextGrids (for the acoustic tool) or corrected transcripts (for the machine-learning tool). These findings suggest a scalable division of labor: use an acoustic-based tool for silence-driven metrics, and apply corrected transcripts with a machine-learning tool when extracting text-sensitive metrics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101075,"journal":{"name":"Research Methods in Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"Article 100302"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146077174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Mapping language economy strategies in Spanish political discourse on X 西班牙X政治话语中的语言经济策略映射

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-23 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100301

Sergei Sikorskii, María Luisa Carrió-Pastor

引用次数: 0

Intersubjectivity as the distinguishing feature or common ground: A contrastive study between human-written abstracts and LLM-generated abstracts 主体间性作为特征或共同点：人类撰写的摘要与法学硕士生成的摘要的对比研究

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-13 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100297

Miaoru Lin, Dingjia Liu

{"title":"Intersubjectivity as the distinguishing feature or common ground: A contrastive study between human-written abstracts and LLM-generated abstracts","authors":"Miaoru Lin, Dingjia Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100297","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100297","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The vast knowledge and great efficiency of Large Language Models have made it essential to demystify the language written by human beings and that generated by LLMs, particularly their interactional capability. As a pivotal genre in academic discourse, “abstract” serves both the informative and the communicative functions. This study aims to explore intersubjective discourse markers manifested in human-written abstracts and LLM-generated ones as well as their similarities and differences across disciplines. The results show that human writers employ a wider range of stance and engagement markers to facilitate intersubjective positioning. Human-written abstracts exhibit a more sophisticated linguistic realization of intersubjectivity through lexical resources, patterned phrases, and syntactic structures. The correspondence analysis reveals that human writers emphasize disciplinary distinctions, while LLMs adopt a convergent approach to achieving writer-reader interaction among different disciplines. These findings underscore human writers’ superiority in navigating complex writer-reader interaction in abstract writing. Though LLMs have demonstrated some potential in emulating intersubjective communication, their interactional capability falls short of that of human writers. The findings offer significant implications for deepening our understanding of the nature of LLMs and contributing to LLM-assisted EAP studies and EAP teaching across disciplines.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101075,"journal":{"name":"Research Methods in Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"Article 100297"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145976502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Computational modeling of semantic synchrony using transformer architectures in the context of online second language instruction dialogues 在线第二语言教学对话中使用转换器架构的语义同步计算建模

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-11 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100290

Pauline Aguinalde , Jinnie Shin , Sara A. Smith , Maria S. Carlo

{"title":"Computational modeling of semantic synchrony using transformer architectures in the context of online second language instruction dialogues","authors":"Pauline Aguinalde , Jinnie Shin , Sara A. Smith , Maria S. Carlo","doi":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100290","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100290","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Linguistic synchrony refers to the alignment of linguistic features between conversational partners and is considered a critical factor in language learning environments, as it directly impacts the quality of learning interactions. This is especially relevant in online tutoring settings, where adaptive alignment between students’ and instructors’ language use can enhance comprehension and engagement. Recent studies have introduced transformer-based models to improve the efficiency and accuracy of measuring semantic synchrony in such contexts. While these models have advanced synchrony measurement, their consistency and effectiveness in educational settings remain underexplored. Hence, this study investigated the reliability of synchrony measures derived from four transformer-based models–BERT, MBERT, SBERT, and XLMR–using 125 one-on-one online L2 tutoring sessions. We analyzed synchrony at both global (session-level) and local (utterance-level) scales and examined their correlations with student learning outcomes. Results indicated that models with similar pre-training architectures tended to produce more consistent synchrony measures, while multilingual models introduced greater variability, particularly in bilingual contexts involving code-switching. With respect to student outcomes, MBERT, trained on a multilingual corpus using the BERT architecture, exhibited the strongest and most consistent correlations with comprehension outcomes. Our findings also revealed that synchrony scores derived from different models show varying degrees of association with student outcomes, underscoring differences in their effectiveness and predictive validity for capturing meaningful patterns in tutoring interactions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101075,"journal":{"name":"Research Methods in Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"Article 100290"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

A framework for verb annotation of Spanish L2 written corpora using local LLMs 基于本地llm的西班牙语二语语料库动词注释框架

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-07 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100308

Giovanni Zimotti

{"title":"A framework for verb annotation of Spanish L2 written corpora using local LLMs","authors":"Giovanni Zimotti","doi":"10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100308","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100308","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Manual coding of L2 written production presents several limitations, such as inter-rater reliability issues and significant time demands, limiting the ability of L2 researchers to complete longitudinal large-scale studies. Automating this process could allow linguists to effectively analyze large corpora. However, valid and reliable automation remains elusive due to the shortcomings of existing technologies. The application of traditional Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools to SLA research has limitations, especially when used with novice and intermediate learners, while commercial Large Language Models (LLMs) present inherent risks regarding privacy and replicability. To address these limitations, this study proposes a framework for automated verb annotation that integrates three local LLMs, NLP with spaCy, and a consensus vote to determine a consensus score that can significantly reduce annotation time. The framework was validated on a dataset of 14 paragraphs from L2 learners of Spanish, with a focus on specific tense-mood features. Results of this study indicate that when all three models agreed, the accuracy for binary correctness was 97.2%, and for present tense usage specifically, it reached 100%. This suggests that researchers can confidently automate the analysis of approximately 80% of a dataset for specific grammatical features like present tense, reserving manual human review only for instances where the models disagree. This framework represents an initial step toward enabling SLA researchers to work with large-scale learner corpora in a transparent and replicable way. By distributing the workload between LLMs and researchers, it makes the analysis of extensive corpora feasible.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101075,"journal":{"name":"Research Methods in Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"Article 100308"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146187726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Who participates in research, and why? A response to K. M. Kim & E. Chen’s “Toward research inclusivity in applied linguistics: A reflection and methodological guideline for inclusive online experimentation” 谁参与研究，为什么？对Kim K. M. & Chen E.“应用语言学研究的包容性：对包容性网络实验的反思与方法论指导”的回应

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-16 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100289

Ashley R. Moore

{"title":"Who participates in research, and why? A response to K. M. Kim & E. Chen’s “Toward research inclusivity in applied linguistics: A reflection and methodological guideline for inclusive online experimentation”","authors":"Ashley R. Moore","doi":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100289","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100289","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As Kim and Chen have shown, online outreach and experimentation have been somewhat effective strategies for reaching out to and recruiting populations not typically found on university campuses and other research hubs. In this response, I hope to expand and complexify the conversation by considering the following questions: Who participates in research, and why? In the first section, I draw on Bourdieu (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; Grenfell, 2014) and argue that research is a kind of social practice emerging from the dialectic alignment between individual habitus and the social field of research. I posit that, unless certain aspects of the field of research change, some people remain unlikely to participate in research. In the second section, I discuss the critical and ethical ramifications of using social media networks and crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon Mechanical Turk and Prolific to recruit research participants. I argue that, by shifting the practice of research participation from the field of research to the fields of social media and gigified capitalism, new logics are introduced that threaten concepts that are vital to the ethical generation of valid data through research, including participant wellbeing and voluntary consent.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101075,"journal":{"name":"Research Methods in Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"Article 100289"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Negative entrenchment and statistical preemption in L2 acquisition: A scoping review with methodological directions 第二语言习得中的消极防御和统计上的先发制人：一个具有方法学方向的范围审查

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-18 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100291

Junya Fukuta , Masato Terai

{"title":"Negative entrenchment and statistical preemption in L2 acquisition: A scoping review with methodological directions","authors":"Junya Fukuta , Masato Terai","doi":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100291","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100291","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent years have seen a growing number of empirical studies that examine negative entrenchment and statistical preemption as mechanisms of frequency-based learning in second language (L2) acquisition. As the body of research expands, there is a need to take stock of how these mechanisms have been studied and what kinds of evidence have accumulated. This scoping review analyses 24 empirical studies published between 1993 and 2024, focusing on the range of target structures, language backgrounds, task types, and reported outcomes. While both negative entrenchment and statistical preemption have received empirical support, null results were also frequently reported. Crucially, these null results are not confined to specific methodological choices or task types. This review, therefore, examines the conditions under which such mixed findings emerge and shows that they arise at the intersection of L1 influence and broader universal constraints. Building on this analysis, the paper proposes several methodological directions, including simulation-informed Bayesian modelling as an integrative approach and experimental paradigms carefully designed to isolate mechanisms as a disentangling approach. It also highlights the need for greater transparency in sample-size determination, preregistration practices, and other measures that enhance the reliability of future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101075,"journal":{"name":"Research Methods in Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"Article 100291"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Adapting the L2 engagement scale for young language learners: Methodological considerations for age-appropriateness 适应年轻语言学习者的第二语言投入量表：适合年龄的方法论考虑

Research Methods in Applied Linguistics Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-22 DOI: 10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100293

Yohei Nakanishi , Osamu Takeuchi

{"title":"Adapting the L2 engagement scale for young language learners: Methodological considerations for age-appropriateness","authors":"Yohei Nakanishi , Osamu Takeuchi","doi":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100293","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100293","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aimed to adapt an L2 engagement scale—originally developed by Teravainen-Goff (2023) for secondary school students in the United Kingdom—for young language learners (YLLs) in the Japanese EFL context, with particular attention to age-appropriateness throughout the questionnaire adaptation process. The present study implemented a rigorous six-step process to adapt the scale for YLLs and assessed its validity and reliability. Three hundred ninety-nine elementary school students in a Japanese EFL context completed the adapted L2 engagement scale. The exploratory factor analysis identified four key factors of L2 engagement, including “perceived quality of engagement with peers,” “perceived quality of engagement with teachers,” “intensity of effort in learning,” and “perceived quality of engagement with teaching content.” The validity and reliability of the adapted L2 engagement scale were further confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. This study provides a detailed account of the questionnaire adaptation process to ensure methodological rigor and transparency. Our findings not only contribute to a better understanding of YLLs’ engagement in EFL classrooms but also establish methodologically sound questionnaire-adaptation procedures for under-researched populations in the field of applied linguistics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101075,"journal":{"name":"Research Methods in Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"Article 100293"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0