{"title":"The relationships between spoken and written input beyond the classroom and young EFL learners’ proficiency","authors":"Art Tsang","doi":"10.1177/13621688231211367","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231211367","url":null,"abstract":"The present mixed-methods study was an inductive investigation of 8-to-12-year-old English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) children’s English input received beyond the classroom (IBC) in Hong Kong. Individual interviews, with an inductive co-constructive approach, were conducted with the participating children’s parents/guardians ( n = 173) to elicit their IBC. The children completed four proficiency tests (listening, reading, speaking, and writing), the scores of which were analysed with their IBC. Medium to large effects were found in correlations between various aspects of IBC and proficiency. Spoken IBC (i.e. exposure to spoken English) generally showed stronger associations with proficiency than written IBC (i.e. exposure to written English) did. Regression analyses demonstrated that both types of IBC were significant predictors, explaining 25% of the variance in proficiency. There were large to very large differences in proficiency between children receiving abundant IBC and little/no IBC. Intriguingly, only specific types of IBC were found to relate to differences in proficiency. The article ends with a discussion of these findings.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"66 22","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138605062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yi Guan, Siyu Zhu, Xinhua Zhu, Yuan Yao, Yue Jiang
{"title":"Performance-based differences in the associations among ideal self, enjoyment, and anxiety: A longitudinal study on L2 integrated writing","authors":"Yi Guan, Siyu Zhu, Xinhua Zhu, Yuan Yao, Yue Jiang","doi":"10.1177/13621688231216295","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231216295","url":null,"abstract":"Recently, second language (L2) researchers gradually shift their focus on learners’ motivational and emotional responses to specific language skills, such as L2 writing. However, there is a paucity of empirical research on the relationships between learners’ L2 writing performance, motivation, and emotions from a longitudinal perspective. With a sample of 235 English-major students from a Chinese university, the present study explored the changes in the ideal L2 writing self and its relationships with L2 writing enjoyment and L2 writing anxiety among students with different integrated writing (IW) performance over an academic year. The ANOVA results reported that the ideal L2 writing self remained stable over time and showed no significant difference among three groups of students (high-level, middle-level, and low-level). The multi-group path analysis results revealed that, for all three groups, the ideal L2 writing self at time 1 positively predicted the ideal L2 writing self at time 2, which, nonetheless, displayed varied influence on L2 writing enjoyment and anxiety among the three groups. The study contributes to the literature by exploring the relationships between L2 writers’ motivational and emotional responses from longitudinal and performance-based perspectives. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are proposed based on the findings.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"34 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138602551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effect of pedagogic intervention in enhancing speech fluency by EFL students: A longitudinal study","authors":"Mahmood Yenkimaleki, Vincent J. van Heuven","doi":"10.1177/13621688231205017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231205017","url":null,"abstract":"The main goal of many students of English as a foreign language (EFL) is to be fluent in the target language, i.e. to be capable to transfer their thoughts smoothly and easily in different contexts. The present study examines the effect of pedagogic intervention on enhancing speech fluency in EFL using a pretest – immediate posttest – delayed posttest design. Two groups of 32 EFL students at a University in Iran took part in the study, receiving the same amount of instruction (18 hours over 18 weeks). The Control group listened to / viewed authentic audio recordings and movies in English, discussed their contents, and completed a variety of speaking skills tasks but received no fluency training. The Experimental group spent part of the time on fluency strategy training, encouraging the memorization, repetition, and retelling of the audio and video materials. Systematic interviews were run to assess the EFL learners’ speech fluency. The findings revealed that the fluency training significantly enhanced the EFL students’ speech fluency. The findings also show that students’ second language speech fluency development can be partly predicted by the fluency in their first language. These results have pedagogical implications for practitioners in EFL settings, material designers, and EFL instructors.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135871301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Positive emotions and intrinsic motivation: A self-determination theory perspective on using co-created stories in the language acquisition classroom","authors":"Liam Printer","doi":"10.1177/13621688231204443","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231204443","url":null,"abstract":"A surge in empirical investigations in second language (L2) learning motivation in recent years has revealed a growing link between emotions in the foreign language classroom and language learner motivation. Nonetheless, there remains a distinct focus on the impact of negative emotions such as frustration and anxiety. The current year-long study investigates the links between positive emotions such as enjoyment, interest and excitement, and intrinsic motivation. The enquiry explores the influence of the Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) strategy on students’ motivation and emotions using a Self-Determination Theory (SDT) lens. The study analyses the extent to which a group of French language students perceive that TPRS satisfies SDT’s three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. It employs a mixed-methods, longitudinal case study approach, using data obtained from motivational questionnaires, reflective journals, classroom observations, focus group interviews and individual interviews at four stages throughout one academic year. The findings conclude that TPRS results in sustained, heightened positive emotions in the FL classroom and can be a highly effective tool to intrinsically motivate students of FLs. The autonomous nature of co-created stories results in an increased sense of language ability, whilst also fostering strong connections within the class. The students’ positive motivational and emotional trajectories were maintained at the end of the academic year. The findings resonate with conclusions from other studies on the importance of positive emotions in the FL classroom for engagement and motivation whilst reflecting previous studies linking increased student motivation to increased teacher motivation.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135870803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Are we really back to normal?’: A qualitative study on language teachers’ teaching practices during the post-COVID-19 era","authors":"Jaerin Ahn, Yao-Kai Chi","doi":"10.1177/13621688231205668","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231205668","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted language teaching and learning environments. The current study explored how language teachers have adapted to post-COVID-19 classrooms. It also examined the ways in which their experiences during the pandemic influenced their teaching. Drawing on an ecological perspective toward language teacher agency (LTA), this study interviewed 10 less commonly taught language (LCTL) teachers to explore their expectations, preparations, and teaching strategies for post-COVID-19 classrooms. In addition, it aimed to discern the challenges encountered by teachers, their approaches to overcoming them, and the consequential influence of these experiences on their overall perspective of language teaching. The findings revealed mixed feelings among the teachers regarding returning to in-person instruction, unexpected challenges, and adjustment techniques. With pedagogical uncertainties, language teachers exercised agency by integrating technology into teaching, employing new teaching strategies, extending their roles to caregivers and community builders, and reflecting on future teaching practices. The teachers viewed these experiences as learning opportunities that would ultimately help them to grow.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"47 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135170869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring Chinese higher vocational college teachers’ perceptions of reading and teaching reading in English","authors":"Jing Xu","doi":"10.1177/13621688231202008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231202008","url":null,"abstract":"The current article presents the findings of a qualitative study which focused on six Chinese higher vocational college teachers’ evolving understandings of reading and teaching reading in English through a three-month teacher professional learning programme. Methods of data collection included questionnaire, professional learning conversation, classroom observation and reflective practice. Results showed that a skill-based view was the mainstream understanding of reading and teaching reading in English. Through the teacher professional learning programme, however, there was a shift in the participants’ perception from a skill-based to a social-practice perspective of reading and teaching reading in English. Accordingly, the focus of teaching shifted from language to language and content integrated instruction with criticality development as a key component. The findings indicated that higher vocational college teachers were capable of weaving between a skill-based and a social-practice perspective of language and literacy practices while highlighting the need for cultivating a social-practice perspective in order to develop higher vocational college students as whole persons as locally grounded and globally minded citizens with critical minds. A more significant implication was that it was possible to empower higher vocational college students by enlightening teachers through a systematic teacher professional learning programme.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"97 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135513253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A retrodictive qualitative modeling study of complex and dynamic language learning motivation viewed as control, value and truth effectiveness","authors":"Jakub Bielak, Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak","doi":"10.1177/13621688231200576","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231200576","url":null,"abstract":"The dynamics of second language learning motivation (L2 motivation), which depends on multiple intra-personal and contextual influences, is increasingly examined. As part of this research trend, we explore the usefulness of a global view of motivation – covering control, value and truth effectiveness – for tracing English majors’ motivational development spanning their entire learning histories. Viewing L2 motivation as a complex system, we employ complex dynamic systems theory and retrodictive qualitative modeling. We created a “blueprint” integrating diverse motivational forces under the three types of effectiveness. Control emerged as crucial as, in interaction with the others, it pushed the motivational system into qualitatively different states, particularly through feedback on progress and the (non-)compatibility of goal foci (promotion/prevention) with learning strategies (eager/vigilant). The motivational development of seven learners representing different learner archetypes was captured in (1) a common motivational base in the form of slow motivational evolution (for one learner this was exhaustive), and (2) distinct signature dynamics, i.e. developmental patterns, which involved periodic attractor states (for four learners whose motivation was fluctuating considerably) and fixed point attractor states (for two learners whose motivation was strong, with just one major fall/change). Pedagogy-wise, we recommend that teachers foster success experiences, communicate/discuss teaching goals, consider individualized instruction, and use/teach (meta-)motivational strategies highlighting the control, value and truth effectiveness types, promotion/prevention goal foci, and eager/vigilant strategies.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136033199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
YouJin Kim, Sanghee Kang, Meredith D’Arienzo, Naoko Taguchi
{"title":"Comparing traditional and task-based approaches to teaching pragmatics: Task design processes and learning outcomes","authors":"YouJin Kim, Sanghee Kang, Meredith D’Arienzo, Naoko Taguchi","doi":"10.1177/13621688231195876","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231195876","url":null,"abstract":"The goal of the current study is twofold: (1) to demonstrate how to design authentic blog-posting tasks for Korean learners of English as a foreign language (EFL); and (2) to compare traditional (textbook-based) and task-based instruction in Korean high school students’ learning of advice-giving strategies in English. Fifty high school students in Korea were assigned to either a traditional or a task-based instruction condition. The traditional group was taught advice-giving strategies using their required textbook. For the task-based instruction group, advice-giving tasks were designed simulating online Q&A communities. Participants were asked to read other high school students’ blogs about their personal concerns and respond to the concerns by posting their advice in a forum. Both groups completed a background survey, a pretest, instructional treatment (a textbook exercise for the traditional condition and individual advice-giving tasks for the task-based condition), a reflection survey, and immediate and delayed posttests over three months. Both groups’ pretest/posttest responses were analysed in terms of the occurrence of advice-giving strategies (e.g. expressing sympathy) based on existing coding frameworks and what students produced. In addition, linguistic forms in each strategy were coded for syntactic complexity (e.g. bi-clausal or mono-clausal constructions). The frequency of different advice-giving strategies and linguistic forms on posttests was compared between the two groups, and between the pretest and posttests for each group. The results showed that the task-based group outperformed the traditional group on the immediate posttest only. However, both groups demonstrated significant gains in advice-giving knowledge at the immediate posttest, and the learning was sustained for 8 weeks. In terms of learning complex constructions of advice-giving head acts (i.e. bi-clausal constructions), there were immediate learning benefits for the task-based group only.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135758914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Going beyond boundaries: A collaborative autoethnographic study of three teachers’ negotiation of cognitive/emotional dissonances","authors":"Miso Kim, Eunhae Cho, Sungwoo Kim","doi":"10.1177/13621688231195317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231195317","url":null,"abstract":"Teachers undergo various cognitive/emotional dissonances along their professional journeys. These dissonances may provide growth points for teachers to develop further if they receive responsive mediation, which guides them toward the higher levels of professional development. Thus, understanding how these dissonances interact with contexts along the axis of time and place plays an important role in charting teachers’ developmental trajectories and providing relevant mediation for them. Using collaborative autoethnography (CAE), this study delves into the cognitive/emotional dissonances of three teachers at different career stages across various geographic locations, and investigates what institutional, geographical, or socioeconomic factors facilitate or impede their efforts to resolve these dissonances. A thematic analysis of biweekly individual multimodal narratives and meeting transcripts over 16 months revealed three strands of cognitive-emotional dissonances involved in teaching practices, transnational movement, and institutional and socioeconomic precarity. The present inquiry provides three important lessons regarding the ways in which teachers in liminal spaces can receive relevant responsive mediations. First, it is necessary to build a network of teachers that goes beyond their immediate institutional environment. Second, teacher identity development needs to be understood as a dynamic nexus of domain-specific phenomena and a whole person enterprise encompassing multiple sociocultural dimensions along their lifelong journey. Third, CAE itself can be a way of (re)connecting with fellow teachers and function as a safe place for addressing contingent cognitive/emotional dissonances and encouraging mutual growth. This suggests that the mediation-enabling, space-making power of CAE needs to be examined further in various contexts, such as graduate training or professional development programs.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"107 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135758917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engagement with written corrective feedback: Examination of feedback types and think-aloud protocol as pedagogical interventions","authors":"Mahmoud Abdi Tabari, Masatoshi Sato, Yizhou Wang","doi":"10.1177/13621688231202574","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688231202574","url":null,"abstract":"This study examined the combined effects of written corrective feedback (WCF) and think-aloud protocols (TAPs) as two types of pedagogical intervention for improving the revision quality of second language (L2) writing. With a quasi-experimental design, it explored whether TAPs trigger deeper processing of WCF under two WCF-type conditions: direct or indirect WCF. Participants were 80 high-intermediate learners of English as a second language (ESL) at a US university who were divided into (1) direct WCF+TAPs; (2) direct WCF-only; (3) indirect WCF+TAPs; and (4) indirect WCF-only. The impacts of the interventions were gauged by changes in seven subsystems of complexity–accuracy–lexis (CAL) between the first and final drafts of narrative essays. Results showed differential impacts of the four conditions depending on the linguistic dimensions, including some negative impacts of TAPs. Participants’ comments during TAP sessions were used to triangulate the interventions’ effects. We conclude that WCF and TAPs promoted different types of processing; while WCF contributed to the potential restructuring of learners’ interlanguage systems, TAPs triggered learners’ higher-order thinking and served as a self-reflection tool to make strategic decisions in revising the text.","PeriodicalId":47852,"journal":{"name":"Language Teaching Research","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135804004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}