UCLan Open Journals (University of Central Lancashire)
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Comparing lexical development at two distinct IELTS bands within an international foundation programme
Full text linkThis study measures lexical development in the writing of two groups of non-native speaking students on an international foundation programme at a UK University. The higher-level group entered the programme with IELTS 7.0 in writing and the lower-level group 5.5 in writing. Laufer and Nation’s (1995) Lexical Frequency Profile has been used, along with Antwordprofiler (Anthony, 2014), to calculate what proportions of common and less common vocabulary were present in their writing at the beginning and end of the academic year. These proportions were then compared with a benchmark taken from a corpus of 30 essays of accomplished students’ writing. The results show that the higher-level group moved firmly into the range of the native-speaker benchmark, but the lower-level group made more limited progress. Other measurements based on lexical variation give a different picture of lexical development in the lower group, indicating that lexical knowledge should be treated as a multi-dimensional construct. Implications for EAP courses are discussed
Students’, Teachers’ and Recruiters’ Perception of Teaching Effectiveness and the Importance of Nativeness in ELT
Full text linkThe question of whether students prefer ‘native speaker’ teachers has been extensively explored (Chun, 2014; Lasagabaster & Sierra, 2005; Moussu & Llurda, 2008). Equally, there is a growing body of literature which has aimed to identify what teacher skills and qualities contribute to being an effective English teacher (Bell, 2005; J. C. Richards, 2010). Nevertheless, the question of preference for ‘native speakers’ has rarely been explored in the context of the skills and qualities of effective English teachers. Consequently, this MMR attempted to triangulate the perceptions of students, teachers and recruiters in Polish language schools as to which skills and qualities they view as important for an effective English teacher and compare these to the importance attached to ‘nativeness’. The results show that students and recruiters attached significantly more importance to proficiency and ‘nativeness’ than did the teachers, who in turn found gaining rapport in class significantly more important. Nevertheless, ‘nativeness’ and the teacher’s L1 were considered to be the least important qualities by all three cohorts. This suggests that despite the prevalence of native speakerism, ELT professionals recognise that it is not the teacher’s L1, but their pedagogical skills that contribute to teaching effectiveness
Young EFL Learners as Co-researchers: Agents in Foreign Language Contexts
Full text linkAutonomy is a crucial concept that has gained popularity in educational contexts in recent years. The importance of autonomous learners who are independent in that they are able to plan, control and evaluate their own learning has increased in classrooms. That is why this study investigates young EFL (English as a foreign language) learners’ attempts as co-researchers doing their own research autonomously. Fourth grade students in a primary school were assigned to conduct a study on a topic of their interest and were interviewed to get insights into their research processes to identify their autonomous actions. Findings show that the majority of participants were able to choose a topic and conduct studies individually without any support from the teacher, and to successfully report their findings. They had problems with reflecting on and evaluating their outcomes
The Impact of Rubric Use on Peer Feedback Tasks in a TESOL Practicum
Full text linkThis sequential explanatory mixed-methods study examines the impact of analytic rubric use in peer feedback on preservice teachers’ ability to recognize indicators of best practice for second language lesson planning and lesson delivery. Fifty-three preservice teachers in a university-level, semester-long TESOL practicum course received direct instruction on indicators presented in the analytic rubrics. They were then randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. The experimental group used rubrics with the indicators during peer feedback tasks, while the control group used a modified rubric without the indicators. The result from an independent samples t-test on posttest mean scores indicated a significant difference between groups for both lesson planning and lesson delivery, favoring the experimental group (p=.012). Qualitative data were also collected via written comments on the posttests and from focus-group interviews. From thematic analyses of qualitative data, three key themes emerged, including specific tensions that resulted from the type of feedback preservice teachers desired and the type of feedback they were willing to give to their peers. These findings provide further insight into the use of analytic rubrics in peer feedback practices in second language teacher education (SLTE)
Adult L2 Japanese learners’ production and perception of Vietnamese monophthong vowels
Full text linkThis paper reports a study that investigated the role of prior native or first language (L1) phonological and phonetic learning on the integration of vowel quality features in the acquisition of second language (L2) vowels by examining adult L2 Japanese learners’ perception and production of Vietnamese monophthong vowels in an identification, an imitation and a read aloud tasks. Two groups of participants took part in the study (11 control Vietnamese, 10 Japanese learners of Vietnamese). The stimuli consisted of 9 Vietnamese monophthongs /i, e, ɛ, a, ɔ, o, u, ɤ, ɯ/ and 5 simple Japanese vowels /i, e, a, o, ɯ/. The results showed that Japanese learners of Vietnamese failed to distinguish the Vietnamese vowel pairs /ɛ/-/e/, /o/-/ɔ/ and /u/-/ɯ/ accurately in their perception. In terms of production, Vietnamese vowels /ɛ/ and /e/ merged in vowel space. Moreover, the three Vietnamese vowels /ɔ/, /o/ and/ɤ/ produced by Japanese learners in both production tasks tend to cluster together. Vietnamese vowels /u/ and /ɯ/ produced by Japanese learners also overlapped in vowel space. In general, the findings of this study showed that Japanese learners transfer their L1 vowel quality features into the production of Vietnamese vowels.
An Investigation on Instructional-Level Reading Among Chinese L2 Learners
Full text linkThis study investigates oral reading speed and accuracy rates, silent reading speed and comprehension rates, and the relationship between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension at the instructional level of reading among Chinese-as-a-second-language (Chinese L2) adult learners across four learning levels. 80 students from three U.S. universities participated in the study. The results showed that when reading a material at the instructional level, oral reading speed increases as learning level increases for Levels 1-3, but not for Level 4, and silent reading speed increases across learning levels, but not synchronizing with reading-comprehension rate. A mid-to-high correlation was found between oral-reading fluency and reading comprehension for Levels 1-3, but not Level 4. However, a trend was observed, in that correlation strength decreases as learning level increases. Based on the findings, a scale for selecting instructional-level reading material for Chinese L2 was proposed, along with pedagogical suggestions
