Journal of Language Teaching and Learning最新文献

{"title":"Language attitudes towards French: A mixed-method investigation on potential Chinese immigrants in Ontario and Quebec Canada","authors":"Jiahang Li","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.017","url":null,"abstract":"This mixed-methods study aims to explore the language perceptions of Chinese individuals who live in Canada and consider immigration, specifically focusing on their attitudes towards French. The goal is to understand their attitudes towards French and, ultimately, increase policy makers’ awareness of the future maintenance of French in Canada and re-evaluating the current language teaching approach. Seventy-eight Chinese participants from Quebec or Ontario regions completed two questionnaires that were derived from the Belief about Ethnolinguistic Vitality framework, followed by a semi-structured interview conducted with sub-sampled nine participants to explore reasons behind their attitudes. In terms of analyses and results, although Quebec participants believed that French would become more commonly valued and used in the future, both Ontario and Quebec participants claimed that French would not be as essential as English, and they had more positive attitudes towards the English acquisition because of its great regional power and instrumental benefits. Additionally, a multi-regression analysis demonstrated that attitudes towards French engagement were affected by sociocultural differences and language proficiency but were not affected by educational contact (French language course). The findings of thematic analysis indicate that problems about the monolingual teaching approach led to a negative view of French lessons and even a negative attitude towards engaging with the French language. Finally, practical implications and suggestions were provided in order to enhance their attitudes towards French engagement in Canada.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79660751","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}

{"title":"Using SFL-based text analysis to inform instruction for emergent bilingual learners","authors":"J. Dougherty, Joshua Schulze","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.016","url":null,"abstract":"Emergent Bilingual Learners (EBs) need language-focused instructional support if they are to access content, make meaning, and engage critically with academic texts in English. Text analysis informed by systemic functional linguistics (SFL) helps teachers identify “the language of schooling” (Schleppegrell, 2004) which they will need to make visible to their students. The authors, both teacher educators in an ESOL endorsement program, recognize that both the teacher candidates who are analyzing texts and the students whose instruction will be informed by the analysis engage in literacy practices that may not be recognized and valued by all teachers or aligned with the language demands of mandatory, high-stakes assessments. With that in mind, we envision a text analysis assignment that promotes language as meaning based, rather than rule based, and additive, rather than subtractive (Garcia, 2009) in terms of the language resources of teachers and students in language learning settings. Additionally, we look for ways to support our teacher candidates in interrogating texts critically as part of their analysis to uncover dominant perspectives. This practice-based article models the process of SFL-based text analysis facilitated by a text analysis tool we designed. The goal is that teachers can apply what they have learned from their analysis to create language-focused instruction that both supports academic language learning and promotes critical stances towards the connections between language choices and meaning making in specific academic contexts/disciplines. Additionally, we encourage teachers to use a variation of this text analysis format with students to explore how language is used in the text to develop all languages in the students' linguistic repertoire.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82507425","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}

{"title":"Review on the validity of China’s Standards of English Language Ability","authors":"Lu Wang, Meihua Chen","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.014","url":null,"abstract":"The English and Chinese versions of China’s Standards of English Language Ability (CSE) were released in 2018. The appearance of CSE helps to solve the problems of different standards of English exams in China, the separation of teaching and assessment objectives, and the incoherence of teaching objectives at various stages. Before, during, and after the development of the CSE, many scholars have discussed the construction of the scale from theory to practice and contributed to the realization of the same standardization for English testing in China. This paper aims to review the relevant studies in order to provide insights and suggestions for the future research and application of the CSE from three aspects: 1) introducing the two major theoretical frameworks for validating language scales in China; 2) reviewing the studies on the validity of the CSE in general; and 3) reviewing the empirical studies on the validity of the sub-scales in the CSE, including listening, speaking, reading, writing, interpreting, translation, pragmatic competence. However, there is a lack of studies on the aspect of organizational competence.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84060051","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}

{"title":"Metaphor as a cognitive facilitator in L2 vocabulary acquisition","authors":"Dexter Yim","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.012","url":null,"abstract":"Vocabulary acquisition is a cognitive activity that poses a significant challenge to second language learners. Non-literal language, particularly metaphor, has long been recognized as a potent cognitive and linguistic tool for expressing and understanding abstract concepts, emotions, and experiences. However, some contend that learning non-literal language may impede L2 vocabulary acquisition. This research paper aimed to investigate the impact of metaphorical competence and metaphorical awareness on vocabulary acquisition in second language learners based on theoretical and empirical studies. It examined a few studies that demonstrated how metaphorical competence and awareness facilitate vocabulary acquisition, such as scaffolding learners’ acquisition of word meanings and improving their vocabulary retention. The implications for L2 vocabulary research were discussed for future design, and pedagogical implications were proffered for educators.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83643247","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}

{"title":"“It makes my whole body hurt”: Foreign language anxiety through the ages","authors":"Arianna Bassetti","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.013","url":null,"abstract":"Learning a foreign language in a classroom setting can be a veritably miserable experience. Nowhere is this better described than in Buddenbrooks, where Thomas Mann dissects his young protagonist’s feeling of negative anticipation before a language class, with its attendant physical and behavioural symptomatology. Skipping forward eight decades, this essay gives a brief overview of how applied linguists started using the construct of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) in the 1980s to explain deficient performance and a series of deviant learner behaviours in foreign language classes. It briefly clarifies how FLA fit into the institutional landscape of US higher education, and explains how the construct has since been refined by a wider body of empirical evidence. It concludes by discussing some implications for language teaching in similar instructional contexts today, while recognising that a classroom is not where the majority of people learn a foreign language.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85714780","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}

{"title":"Improving persuasive speaking skills using a student-developed template in an online learning environment","authors":"Daniel A. Mabini","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.011","url":null,"abstract":"Effective persuasive speaking is requisite for successful academic, professional, and social life (Nippold, 2007, in Heilmann et al. 2020). However, there is dearth in literature that recommends an effective rhetorical structure that addresses the most pressing and recurring needs of non-native English public speakers – communication apprehension (Bastida & Yapo, 2019) and problems in organizing and outlining ideas in the speech (Lee & Liang, 2012). This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study investigated the effect of a student-developed persuasive speaking template taught in an online class to the persuasive speaking skills of non-native English speakers in a secondary school. Results showed a significant improvement in the participants’ persuasive speaking skills before and after they were trained to use the student-developed template as manifested by their careful word choice, formulation of engaging introduction, effective vocal expression and paralanguage, connection with the audience, and lessened communication apprehension. In addition, it was found out that no significant correlation between the online learning environment and the improved skills. The research results revealed that the student-developed template, direct skills instruction, time for research and practice, and teacher’s guidance helped improve skills and could form part of an alternative rhetorical pedagogy.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87954640","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}

{"title":"Spanish teachers’ perceptions about their positive impact on their students to maintain their interest","authors":"Comfort Pratt","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.010","url":null,"abstract":"The shortage of foreign language speakers in the United States has reached alarming levels. While Spanish is the most widely spoken and studied foreign language, it has also been experiencing low enrollments and discontinuation after a short term of study, leading to lack of acquisition of communicative competence, which is essential for fluency in the language. To that end, this mixed-method study, which forms part of a large-scale study on foreign language teachers’ perceptions, investigated Spanish teachers’ perceptions about how they determine if they successfully impact their students to maintain their interest in the language and study it long enough to acquire communicative competence. Findings revealed that the teachers believe that the factors that indicate to them that they have a positive impact on their students to maintain their interest in the language are the students’ interest in their classes and the language, their motivation toward the language, the feedback they provide, teacher–student relationships, and the students’ engagement in classroom activities and academic success. Recommended follow-up studies include an investigation of students’ perceptions to ascertain where the teachers’ and the students’ perceptions coincide and where they differ in order to ensure the successful maintenance of students’ interest in the language.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91264710","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}

{"title":"A sociocultural perspective understanding the role of L1 in the learning of L2 through TBLT and CLIL pedagogical approaches","authors":"Junlong Li","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.008","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past few decades, there have been an increasing number of empirical studies exploring the use of the first language (L1) in pedagogical approaches (e.g., Lee, 2018; Lo, 2015; Turnbull, 2001). However, to date relatively less research has undressed the role of the L1 from a sociocultural perspective to inform educational practitioners of theory-supported teaching practices. With a focus on two specific pedagogical approaches, namely, task-based language teaching (TBLT) and content and language integrated learning (CLIL), this paper reviews two recent studies whose findings pertaining to the role of L1 in second language (L2) learning and teaching are discussed and re-interpreted through the lens of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of mind (1978, 1986). The discussion uncovers the multifaceted role of L1 as a cognitive, affective, and interactional mediator, which I argue could optimise the L2 learning process within both the TBLT and CLIL classroom discourse. Such a reconceptualisation of the mediating role of the L1 may shed light on the benefits of using L1 in TBLT and CLIL pedagogies and help language educators make research-informed decisions about their language use choices in the L2 classroom.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89504807","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}

{"title":"The word profile of a Global Online Course for English language teachers: A corpus-based research project","authors":"Sebnem Kurt, J. Beck, Abdulrahman A. Alharthi","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.005","url":null,"abstract":"Providing useful reference materials for online course participants is an important aspect for online courses. To aid a course designed to provide professional development to English language teachers from around the world, this corpus-based study investigated the frequency and coverage of Academic Word List (Coxhead, 1998), General Service List (GSL) first 1000 words (1K), and GSL second 1000 words (2K) lists. Gathering course materials and participant discussion board posts into two corpora for this study, frequency and coverage of the three base lists were calculated using AntWordProfiler and AntConc, resulting in a coverage of 9.56 % for AWL words and over 80% coverage for the two GSL lists combined in the first corpus. The high percentage of off-list words (9.75%) in the first corpus and low percentage of AWL words in the second corpus (5.23%) motivated the creation of a new word list that contains the most frequently used words outside of the AWL, GSL 1K, and GSL 2K words from the first corpus to supplement future course participants with technical words that are required to successfully complete the course.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79384196","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}

{"title":"Issues of monolingualism: A new expression of Neo-Colonisation? The ideological underpinnings of language education in Australia: The case of New South Wales","authors":"Lingling Zhang","doi":"10.54475/jlt.2023.009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54475/jlt.2023.009","url":null,"abstract":"In recent decades, the drift toward English monolingualism has been a significant concern in Australian multilingual education. Despite Australia being multicultural and linguistically diverse, extensive research has shown that the nation is still adversely affected by a persistent ‘monolingual mindset’. Potential weaknesses regarding multilingual education have been long addressed but no satisfactory countermeasures have been implemented.\u0000A recent challenge to the conceptual underpinnings of the ‘monolingual mindset’ have emerged in the last half-century from the neoliberal marketisation of education. Discouragement of multilingualism and multiculturalism may be related to Australia's ‘liberal status quo’, in which language education has not been provided with adequate structural support from Australia’s liberal government and society. While Australian language educators have made continuous efforts to maintain ethnic minority ‘community languages’ within this context, these efforts will seemingly remain ineffective if a monolingual mentality is permitted to remain at a structural level. Recently, a neoliberal challenge has been levelled to make such structural changes, with the privatisation of education encouraging the learning of minority languages and cultivation of ethnic identities. However, political problems are raised by this response, which risks stressing ethnic conflict and political tensions. This paper investigates the issues around Australia’s liberal ‘monolingual mindset’, the structural causes for its discouragement of language learning and the strengths and weaknesses of its responses.\u0000This paper utilises a qualitative approach to analyse documents relevant to current language syllabi in New South Wales. Through critical discourse analysis, thematic categorisation will reveal the values and interests contained in these documents. New South Wales has been chosen as a reference for other Australian states and territories regarding language planning and education due to its rich multicultural and multilingual makeup. This study is intended to motivate further inquiry into what may motivate students to pursue future language studies.","PeriodicalId":53931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Teaching and Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74933884","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}