Ampersand最新文献

{"title":"Implementing collaborative pre-task planning with intermediate Arab EFL learners in a blended, task-based environment: A mixed methods study","authors":"Osama Alzoubi","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100193","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100193","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pre-task planning (PTP) has received scant attention in L2 writing and task-based research, especially pertaining to its effect on the writing production of intermediate, school L2 learners. This study examines mainly the influence of implementing collaborative PTP on the writing production of Arab EFL learners within blended, task-based environment. Following a mixed methods experimental design, intermediate L2 learners were distributed in planning and no-planning conditions and conducted a pre- and post-test. Students in both groups composed a number of argumentative essays over a 10-week period, which were analyzed for complexity, accuracy, fluency, ideational content, and lexical richness. Results from independent samples <em>t</em>-test and univariant analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated several significant differences between participants' performance on the post-test compared to the pre-test but with differential effects in terms of the five measures. Analyses revealed that PTP didn't promote all the measures simultaneously, but it mainly assisted L2 writers produce enhanced content planning (idea generation, lexis, and argumentation) and resulted in greater fluency and overall improved organization and writing quality. Results of classroom observations supported the statistical results and showed that blended, task-based PTP positively impacted students' writing performance, motivation, self-confidence, and learning independence, and thus created a positive, engaging L2 writing environment. The study results were interpreted through the lens of cognitive processing theories, particularly Skehan's (1998, 2014) Limited Attentional Capacity Model and Robinson's (2001) Cognition Hypothesis, providing support to Robinson's position that PTP led to greater fluency. The use of data and methodological triangulation in this study offers new insights into the role of PTP in the L2 writing process, especially with intermediate, school learners in an authentic classroom setting, and thus contributes to the inconsistent results of previous PTP studies (Ellis, 2021).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100193"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142425275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Revisiting writing feedback: Using teacher-student writing conferences to enhance learners’ L2 writing skills","authors":"Kumneger Chenekew Goshu,&nbsp;Hailay Tesfay Gebremariam","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100195","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100195","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Previous studies have largely overlooked teacher feedback, which plays a significant role in the social construction of knowledge within educational ecosystems worldwide. While written corrective feedback has been the focus of writing feedback research, oral feedback in teacher-student L2 writing conferences has not received as much attention, especially from an ecological lens. To address this research gap, this study investigated how writing training, including teacher-student conferences, can improve learners' L2 writing skills, with a specific focus on Ethiopia. The study explores how these conferences can help students enhance their L2 writing skills through constructive criticism and encouragement. To achieve this, 63 students (aged 15 to 23; 38 male and 25 female) were divided into experimental and control groups using a quasi-experimental design. The students underwent pre- and post-tests during an eight-week intervention. MANOVA was used to evaluate the pre-test data, while ANCOVA was used for the post-test analysis. The post-test results show that teacher-student conferences can effectively improve three writing skills: organization, vocabulary, and mechanics. The greatest impact on students' understanding of the writing process was seen in mechanics (43.4%), vocabulary (36.9%), and organization (11.5%). However, the intervention did not have a statistically significant impact on two other writing skills: content and language usage or grammar. Recommendations for future research and strategies for integrating teacher-student conferences into writing instruction are provided.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100195"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221503902400033X/pdfft?md5=831c88540cfcf9be582bf77474f8f8df&pid=1-s2.0-S221503902400033X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142229857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring Indonesian EFL students’ lexical diversity and its correlation with academic vocabulary use in an online academic writing environment","authors":"Beauty Sholeha Raufi,&nbsp;Herri Mulyono,&nbsp;Hamzah Puadi Ilyas,&nbsp;Siti Zulaiha","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100196","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100196","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study designed to explore the relationship between lexical diversity and academic vocabulary use among Indonesian EFL university students engaging in online academic writing discussions and assignments. The study analysed 11,624 tokens and 5437 types collected from students' contributions in online discussions and academic writing assignments. Findings revealed that the level of lexical diversity among the students was significantly varied depending on the text length and the total amount of data. It was found most students were indicated to possess average ESL level of academic writing with a D value ranging from 50 to 70 while some others indicated a high level of adult ESL with developed academic text in the range between 70 and 80 D level. Moreover, it was also found that the degree of lexical diversity was not affected by the writing topic familiarity or students' academic year. Findings revealed a statistically significant negative correlation between measures of lexical diversity and academic vocabulary use. Contrary to expectations, while a diversified vocabulary generally correlates positively with student writing performance, this relationship reverses in contexts emphasizing the academic quality of writing. These results highlight the complex dynamics of lexical usage in academic writing and suggest that mere lexical diversity does not always equate to higher academic writing quality. This study contributes to a critical understanding of how lexical diversity functions in digital academic environments and offers implications for English language teaching practices in higher education settings.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100196"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039024000341/pdfft?md5=f8c06cfd8f21ed09db4149b49d8d45b8&pid=1-s2.0-S2215039024000341-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142172536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Park or bark? VOT production of English bilabial stops in Omani Arabic speakers of English","authors":"Azza Al-Kendi,&nbsp;Khalsa Al-Aghbari","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100194","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100194","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study compares Voice Onset Time (VOT) patterns of word-initial English/b/and/p/in three groups: Omani undergraduate students, Omani professors and native English speakers (NES). It aims to investigate whether Omani Arabic students and professors can produce native-like VOTs of the English bilabial stops compared to NESs, and to what extent the findings support speech learning theories, such as the Speech Learning Model and the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis.</p><p>Words containing/b, p/in two different phonetic environments (CV and CC) were elicited from the participants using a reading task. Also, Arabic words containing word-initial/b/were elicited from Omani professors to compare the VOT of Arabic and English/b/. The results revealed a significant difference between the mean VOT of Arabic and English/b/. A significant difference in the VOT patterns of/p/between students and NESs were also found, but not between professors and NESs. Students'/p/productions were characterized with shorter lag compared to those of professors or NESs. Variability in the production of English/b/existed among Omani speakers. While VOT production in NESs were characterized with short lag, students' and professors’ productions were characterized sometimes with voicing lead and other times with short/long lag. VOT values of/b/and/p/were not significantly affected by the phonetic context. The findings are discussed in relation to the Speech Learning Model and the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100194"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039024000328/pdfft?md5=73dd32024f39cd5095cad8d47eea0ac6&pid=1-s2.0-S2215039024000328-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142242131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Working memory of young school-age learners acquiring L2 English morphology: An experimental exploratory lab study with structured input intervention","authors":"Dietmar Roehm ,&nbsp;Tanja Angelovska","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100192","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100192","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The aim of this pre-/posttest design lab case study is to find possible interactions between working memory (WM) effects and the effectiveness of structured input among 10-11-year-olds with first language (L1) German children. The target feature is the simple English past tense. The WM capacity was assessed via three span tasks: listening (LST), reading (RST), and a digit span task (DST). Second language (L2) learners' WM scores for all three span tasks were included as continuous predictors in the mixed model analysis. Assessment entailed sentence-level interpretation tasks yielding accuracy scores with reaction times, and a gap-filling production task with accuracy scores. Regarding interpretation, results varied. L2 learners with high DST scores outperformed learners with low DST scores in terms of accuracy. A mixed model analysis including reaction times did not improve the model's fit. Regarding production, the WM did not prove to be a predictor for the accuracy effects. However, L2 learners with early age of onset English (AOE) showed significant improvement over time and L2 learners with late AOE showed no effect at all. We conclude that instruction with structured input is effective regardless of the WM score, and its effects are retained over a 3 weeks' delayed period.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100192"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039024000304/pdfft?md5=5b3ed7f037f65965b2d42dce57ef8973&pid=1-s2.0-S2215039024000304-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142311187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Learning and using multiple languages: Experiences of adults with ADHD","authors":"Franziska Köder ,&nbsp;Cecilie Rummelhoff ,&nbsp;Maria Garraffa","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100191","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100191","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts many areas of a person's life. So far little is known on how ADHD affects the learning and usage of additional languages. The present study investigates what potential challenges and benefits adults with ADHD experience in second language (L2) learning, and what strategies they have developed to offset ADHD-related differences in cognition and behaviour. As part of a larger questionnaire, 59 participants with ADHD provided written responses, answering questions on how ADHD has influenced their learning and use of multiple languages. After a multiple-step classification process, three overarching topics were identified: (1) the effects of cognition on language learning and use; (2) how different language components and language modalities are affected by ADHD; and (3) what language learning strategies adults with ADHD apply. In our analysis, we present authentic quotes from individuals with ADHD and place them into the larger context of research on neurodivergence and L2 acquisition. Our results highlight the great heterogeneity in learning experiences and pathways in adults with ADHD. Interestingly, many respondents embrace their neurodiversity and develop individual strategies to enhance L2 proficiency. Our research aims to contribute to a better understanding of multilingualism within neurodiverse populations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100191"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039024000298/pdfft?md5=c80cbda6df0df0a03de178302ff8bad8&pid=1-s2.0-S2215039024000298-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142096448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effect of ADHD-type behaviours on language skills development in the classroom context from the perspective of Polish EFL teachers","authors":"Agnieszka Kałdonek-Crnjaković","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100190","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100190","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study investigated the effect of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on language skills development in English as a foreign language (EFL) from the teacher perspective. The focus was the ADHD effect on the learning of the individual with the condition and their classmates. The participants were 51 pre-school, primary and secondary school teachers in Poland. Data were collected using an online questionnaire with closed- and open-ended questions. The findings suggest various effects of ADHD on skills development in the EFL context. Statistical analysis also found a more significant impact of ADHD-type behaviours on the EFL learning of the classmates of the individual with ADHD and in upper grades of primary school and secondary school. The findings are discussed in the context of foreign language school curricula and inclusive classroom practices.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100190"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039024000286/pdfft?md5=aeabf9951ec8958694e581f06cfd0f25&pid=1-s2.0-S2215039024000286-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142083070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Two gender systems in a bilingual mind: A study of gender assignment in code-switched Russian-Hebrew adjective-noun phrases","authors":"Oksana Rekun ,&nbsp;Natalia Meir","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100189","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100189","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Russian and Hebrew bilingualism offers a unique opportunity to study gender assignment in code-switched adjective-noun phrases, as both languages mark grammatical gender. The present study investigated code-switched Russian-Hebrew adjective-noun phrases in order to trace gender assignment strategies: default, translation equivalent, shape-based, and insertion. For this purpose, 60 Russian-Hebrew bilingual speakers were recruited and divided into two groups: heritage language (HL) speakers of Russian dominant in Hebrew and immigrant (IMM) speakers dominant in Russian. Participants filled out a background questionnaire and completed an experimental task in which they were asked to listen to and rate the acceptability of sentences with embedded Hebrew code-switched nouns within Russian matrix sentences. The results demonstrated that most participants in the study exhibited a clear preference for two gender assignment strategies: shape-based and insertion. However, rating for opaque Hebrew nouns differed between the HL and IMM groups, pointing to the role of language proficiency in the gender assignment strategy preference: the HL group favored the insertion strategy, while the IMM group showed a preference for the shape-based strategy. The current study adds to the existing literature on gender assignment strategies in code-switched adjective-noun phrases and the mechanisms driving the choices of the speakers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100189"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039024000274/pdfft?md5=74bbcd249ea8755206e34ca9eb5ef2af&pid=1-s2.0-S2215039024000274-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142242704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Family language policy in Italian transnational families in the UK: Influence of language ideologies on heritage language management","authors":"Christina Balaska","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100188","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100188","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study investigates how parental language ideologies and attitudes shape Family Language Policy (FLP) in Italian transnational families in the UK. There has been an increasing interest in FLP research in recent years; however, the Italian community in the UK is under-studied. This exploratory study aimed at investigating how language ideologies in Italian transnational families affect language practices and management. The findings suggest that language ideologies such as the ‘bilingual advantage’ have a significant impact on language practices and management in the family domain. However, language ideologies are not always in line with language practices with conflicting language ideologies being more common in mixed marriage families. Additionally, the study offers new insights into the complexities of emotions surrounding FLP and bilingual upbringing as well as how parental future aspirations can shape FLP. Further research is suggested with regards to the role that siblings' dynamics can play on the negotiation of FLP as well as longitudinal research which will offer insights into the constantly evolving linguistic environment of transnational families.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100188"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039024000262/pdfft?md5=15a806482e9edc77a58ba86c3cc14b76&pid=1-s2.0-S2215039024000262-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142012253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Disfluencies as a window to macrostructure performance in the narrative of bilingual children","authors":"Hadar Yaari ,&nbsp;Sveta Fichman ,&nbsp;Pola Osher ,&nbsp;Fedor Dorokhov ,&nbsp;Carmit Altman","doi":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100187","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.amper.2024.100187","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Disfluencies mirror processes of speech production and when examined in both languages of bilingual children, can provide valuable information regarding their linguistic skills. The aim of this study is to characterize the rates and the types of disfluencies across episodes of a narrative as well as across different story grammar (SG) elements in participants’ home language (Russian) and societal language (Hebrew) as a reflection of narrative macrostructure skills. Twenty bilingual Russian-Hebrew children aged 60–78 months produced narratives in Russian and Hebrew using the wordless picture book <em>Frog, Where Are You?</em> (Mayer, 1969). Narratives were transcribed, divided into five episodes, and coded for main SG elements (Character + Setting, Initiating event, Internal response, Plan, Attempt and Consequence). Four types of disfluencies (silent pauses, filled pauses, repetitions, and self-corrections) were analyzed in relation to each SG element per episode in both languages. Overall children produced more SG elements in Russian with a finer analysis showing that Initiating Event, Character and Setting differed across languages while Attempt, Plan and Internal response were similar. Disfluencies significantly impacted macrostructure differently across languages such that in Russian, a high percentage of disfluencies was associated with <em>higher</em> production of Character + Setting and Plan, whereas in Hebrew it was associated with <em>lower</em> production of Attempt and Consequence. The present research suggests that disfluency has impact on macrostructure, and consequently on overall narrative quality differently across the languages. The theoretical contribution may shed light on the understanding of planning and formulation processes among bilingual children. The application of the results may relate to these processes impacting diagnosis and/or intervention protocols in bilingual children.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35076,"journal":{"name":"Ampersand","volume":"13 ","pages":"Article 100187"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215039024000250/pdfft?md5=09e8a455e5b860673c66f22c61ba4149&pid=1-s2.0-S2215039024000250-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142044773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}