UCLan Open Journals (University of Central Lancashire)
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How Accessible Are Unsimplified Novels for Advanced Learners of English?
Full text linkResearch into extensive reading, primarily by Nation (1992; 2000; 2006), suggests that an overall coverage of 98% is required to read a text with ease, further suggesting a vocabulary of 8000 words to achieve this. Through an analysis of advanced learner’s (IELTS 6.5 or above in this study) interpretation of two texts, the researcher sought to uncover whether ‘infrequent’ vocabulary was the main issue in comprehending authentic texts, considering other factors such as polysemy and diction. VocabProfile’s ability to predict the difficulty of texts in regards to frequency was analysed to answer the question, are ‘difficult’ words the same as ‘infrequent’ words? In order to investigate the above factors, VocabProfile was used to analyse two extracts from vastly different novels – Wuthering Heights (Brontë, 1847) and The Shadow of the Wind (Ruiz Zafón, 2001) – in order to establish which ‘infrequent’ words occurred in the texts. Participants were then asked to read the texts and manually repeat this process by highlighting words they did not know, and to talk about their difficulties. The results suggest there are other difficulties beyond vocabulary for advanced readers and these are discussed further with some examination of why certain participants outperformed others
The use of drawing tasks as a creative strategy for pupils in the English as Foreign Language (EFL) classroom
Full text linkThe purpose of this study was to investigate the use of drawing tasks as a creative strategy for pupils in the English as Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. The study of 39 fifth-graders (15 girls and 24 boys) used anonymous feedback forms, interviews and a whole-class discussion to elicit pupils\u27 attitudes towards drawing strategies. The main findings revealed that drawing increased pupils\u27 motivation and participation in EFL lessons, as well as promoted comprehension and retention of content materials. Based on the results, we believe that drawing activities are specifically suited to foreign language learning for emotional and academic reasons. Teachers should clarify the goal of drawing activities in the EFL classroom and emphasize their importance for pupils\u27 demonstration of acquired content knowledge, rather than the aesthetic elements of artistic production. We recommend the addition of drawing tasks to expose pupils to alternative learning strategies for foreign language learning
Explicit Demonstration of Cross-linguistic Similarities in Teaching Japanese Kanji to Malaysian University Students
Full text linkThis study examines the usefulness of using Malay to teach Japanese words comprising Chinese characters (“Kanji”) to 107 Malaysian, native Malay-speaking university students. Most participants had no previous knowledge of Japanese and the others were still at the novice level. The experimental group was provided a vocabulary list with written instructions in Malay and Japanese vocabulary that included 28 frequently used characters, whereas the control group was given a list with the same words but without such instructions. The 28 Japanese words were presented as 14 pairs in the list distributed to the experimental group, with each pair comprising a common Kanji component or common Malay radical that highlighted semantic similarities between Japanese and Malay. Both the experimental and control groups were given 30 minutes to learn the 28 Kanji and another 30 minutes to answer identical multiple-choice tests containing 28 questions. After the test, the average scores of the experimental and control groups were analyzed using the t-test. At a 5% confidence level, a significant difference was found between the scores of the two groups (p < .001, t = 6.893, d = 1.34). Thus, the authors concluded that providing a vocabulary list highlighting semantic similarities between Japanese and Malay with written instruction in Malay, the learners’ first language, can benefit native Malay-speaking university students in their acquisition of basic Chinese characters used in Japanese
Examining Pre-service ESL Teacher Beliefs: Perspectives on First Language Use in the Second Language Classroom
Full text linkAlthough research into the use of the first language (L1) in second language (L2) learning has grown in strength in recent years, the majority of ESL teacher-training courses still provide little to no information regarding L1 use in L2 teaching. This paper investigates the perspectives of pre-service ESL teachers regarding the use of the L1 in L2 learning, the potential reasons underpinning these views, and what, if any, further education is needed in ESL teacher training courses regarding L1 use in the L2 classroom. The results of this study suggest that, although the pre-service teacher participants were accepting of L1 use at times, their acceptance was limited, implying a lack of a complete understanding overall. The author recommends ESL teacher-training courses equip future teachers with more information regarding L1 use in L2 learning so that they can to make their own informed decisions on effective L1 use in their classrooms
Students\u27 Use of Second Life in Learning Spanish as a Foreign Language
Full text linkThe affordances of Second Life provide a life-like environment for language learning. This study explores how college students learn Spanish as a foreign language in the Second Life environment. We investigated their perceptions of and experiences with Second Life in their foreign language learning, from a sociocultural perspective. Employing qualitative research methods, we collected chat logs, observations, reflective journals, and interviews. Findings include a) the advantages of authentic communication with native Spanish speakers, b) learners’ motivation and anxiety, c) opportunities to practice the target language, d) the nature of their language production, and e) the participatory culture. Our discussion highlights the various ways in which Second Life can provide a good environment for language learning. We describe benefits such as opportunities for authentic conversation, and to explore the target culture, as well as increased motivation for foreign language learning in Second Life. Students did encounter a few challenges, but in general Second Life provides an excellent platform to practice language skills
Preface to the special edition
Full text linkThe 4th International Conference on Modern Foreign Languages, Linguistics and Literature was held at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK on 1st June 2017. The six papers collected in this special edition of the Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research have been developed from papers first delivered at the event which brought together over thirty presentations in total from presenters in ten countries. Largely focused on giving opportunities to postgraduate research students to acquire valuable experience of conference participation and attendance, the event also included early career researchers, and addressed a wide range of research topics across theoretical and applied linguistics, as well as literary and cultural studies
An Error Analysis of the Use of Lexical Collocations in the Academic Writing of Libyan EFL University Students
Full text linkThe main aim of this paper is to explore the difficulties Libyan undergraduate university English major students have in the use of verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations by looking at their performance in free production. Furthermore, twelve verbs and twelve adjectives[1] identified in this research were investigated in depth as part of their combinations. To achieve the main aim, a 250-word academic writing task was used to collect data from fourth-year university students at Tripoli University (the Department of English). The data was analysed using AntConc 3.2.1w (Anthony, 2007). After extracting the learners’ collocations, four methods were used to determine and judge the acceptability of learners’ collocations in terms of conforming to native-like use. They are: (1) the OCD (2009), (2) the online British National Corpus (3) consultations with two native speakers, and (4) the acceptability-of-collocations survey was used to triangulate the above three methods Findings from the academic writing data reveal that: (1) three broad categories of errors were identified in the erroneously produced verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations in the LLC: (i) grammatical errors, (ii) lexical errors and (iii) errors related to usage; and (2) Furthermore, these categories were classified into sixteen and twelve error types in verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations respectively such as wrong choice of verb, wrong choice of adjective, wrong choice of noun, determiner errors, preposition errors, number errors, wrong word order errors, word form errors, usage category errors, intensifier errors and wrong register errors. [1] The twelve verbs are do, provide, acquire, gain, enhance, make, offer, take, give, get, have and require. The twelve adjectives are good, academic, high, higher, modern, current, practical, specific, basic, general, great and special
The Usefulness of a Suggested Paradigm for Improving Paragraph Coherence
Full text linkThis study aims to explore the effectiveness of a paradigm to teach native Cantonese-speaking university students the hierarchical structure of expository prose to improve paragraph coherence. Most of the diagnostic argumentative essays the participants in this study wrote in the course were incoherent, failing to meet readers’ expectation of “topic maintenance” (Connor & Farmer, 1985), nor did the essays show any of the progression patterns, as identified by Lautamatti (1987). Above all, the students seemed unaware that most English expository texts are characterized by a hierarchy of ideas. Accordingly, a paradigm in which causation or aspect constitutes major text structure, was devised. Minor elaboration skills (e.g., definition) were suggested for lower-level ideas. The paradigm was first introduced in two lessons of two hours each and then reinforced through two individual teacher-student advising sessions, in which a three-layer mind map was used to demonstrate the thinking process of generating a hierarchy of ideas. The experimental group (75 participants) scored significantly higher marks in Discourse Competence (DC) and in Task Fulfillment (TF) than did the control group (75 participants) in the end-of-course writing examination. Findings from questionnaires suggested that most participants found the paradigm conceptually useful. However, it was difficult to put it into practice for lack of adequate ideas and for unfamiliarity with writing deductively, which might arise from their “employing a rhetoric and a sequence of thoughts” (Kaplan, 1966, p.4) typical of their L1 writing
Chinese in The Classroom: Initial Findings of The Effects of Four Teaching Methods on Beginner Learners
Full text linkThe following is an article documenting the researcher’s initial findings examining the effects of four different teaching methods on beginner CFL (Chinese as a foreign language) learners in terms of their ability to not only recall and recognize Chinese characters but also to use these characters for understanding and creating texts. The researcher is currently teaching approximately 98 students, aged 14-16, for one academic year. They are divided into four groups which each deploy a different teaching method. Depending on their groups, the participants are learning Chinese via rote memorization, delayed character introduction, character color-coding, and the method currently used in some Irish institutions, which focuses on the reading, writing, speaking and listening of Chinese as a whole. Therefore, participants in the fourth group are taught via integrated learning, without specific focus on the learning of characters as in the case of the other three groups. The outcomes of formative and summative evaluations throughout the year will highlight each group’s progression and therefore the effectiveness of each method, not only in terms of character recall and recognition, but also the use of the language. At the time of writing (November 2016), the researcher has completed approximately ten weeks of teaching (to continue until May 2017). This paper therefore presents a background to the study, a condensed literature review, methodology, preliminary findings and analysis of the first formative evaluation, and a summary of the project thus far, including correlations between theory and practice. So far, results from the first formative evaluation have suggested that the rote memorization group is the most successful in recalling and recognizing characters, whereas the character color-coding group has displayed positive results in terms of character use as well as character recall and recognition. The control group has shown strengths primarily in conducting exercises such as cloze tests and reordering sentences, and the delayed character introduction group has shown positive results in the use of and recognition of Chinese Pinyin, however it remains to be seen how this group will perform once the characters have been introduced. As the data collection will continue until the end of the academic year in May, further results of the remaining formative and summative evaluations will allow for more concrete correlations between teaching methods and learning outcomes to be established