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The Comparative Effect of Recasts and Prompts on EFL Learners’ Vowel and Consonant Accuracy
Get PDFThis study examined the comparative effect of recasts and prompts on EFL learners’ pronunciation accuracy of consonants and vowels. Eighty-nine elementary EFL learners were selected among 117 through their performance on a piloted sample KET and were randomly assigned into two experimental groups (recast, prompt), and a control group. A piloted researcher-made pronunciation pre-treatment test was administered to the three groups to measure their pronunciation accuracy before the treatment. The three groups underwent the same amount of teaching time and received the same material. The participants in the recast group received recast and those in the prompt group received prompt. However, the participants in the control group received no specific type of corrective feedback. At the end of the treatment, the participants took a pronunciation post-test parallel with the pre-treatment test. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was run. The results indicated that both recast and prompt had a significantly positive effect on EFL learners’ pronunciation accuracy of consonants and vowels. Moreover, the results showed that there was no significant difference between the effect of recast and prompt on EFL learners’ pronunciation accuracy of consonants and vowels
Introduction to the Special Issue in Honour of Professor Glenn Fulcher
Get PDFLanguage testing and assessment are diverse areas which continue to experience rapid development as fields of study. The same growth is also true when we consider the range of methods of testing and assessing student abilities that we have at our disposal. Indeed, as a glance at ‘flagship’ journals such as Language Testing (2022) and Language Assessment Quarterly (2022) will confirm, the scope of academic scholarship is now enormous, as are the many ways in which testers and assessors create, administer, score, and evaluate the tests and assessments they have at their disposal. However, despite this rapid and continuous development, at the heart of these areas is the need for appropriate, fair, valid, reliable, and useful testing and assessment practices and instruments (see recent considerations of these issues in Fulcher & Harding, 2022). This Special Issue in honour of Professor Glenn Fulcher is a tribute to his work at the heart of these areas. The Special Issue describes this work holistically and across different domains of focus
Performance-based Speaking Tests: Possibilities in Local Language Testing
Get PDFDrawing on Glenn Fulcher’s extensive work in performance-based language assessment of speaking, this paper explores the assessment of L2 speaking ability in local language testing contexts. For that purpose, I review Fulcher’s influential work that highlights the relationship between the speaking construct, the task, the performance, and the scale, and I provide an overview of various task types, approaches to scale development, and rater-training programs. Then, I argue that local language testing provides a wide range of possibilities for task development, scale design, and rater training due to the opportunity for collaboration with local expertise (students, instructors, policy-makers) and the ability to keep up with the evolving speaking construct in the local context
Does Working Memory Capacity Predict Literal and Inferential Comprehension of Bilinguals’ Digital Reading in a Multitasking Setting?
Get PDFThe ubiquity of multitasking has led researchers to investigate its potential costs for reading and learning (Clinton‐Lisell, 2021). While some studies have not shown detrimental effects of multitasking for reading comprehension (Bowman et al., 2010; Cho et al., 2015; Pashler et al., 2013), one particular study has found a benefit of multitasking (Tran et al., 2013). These results, nevertheless, do not converge with the findings of recent meta-analyses, which have suggested both a negative effect of multitasking for reading comprehension (Clinton‐Lisell, 2021), as well as the disruptive effects of listening to lyrical music while reading for comprehension (Vasilev et al., 2018). Previous research seems to converge with the theories of how working memory copes with the complexity of reading as a process, since several subprocesses must be orchestrated so that the ultimate goal of reading – the construction of a mental representation – is fully achieved (Tomitch, 2020). In addition to that, no previous study has investigated reading as a multilevel construct in which both literal and inferential comprehension (Alptekin & Erçetin, 2010; Kintsch, 1998) is assessed in a multitasking setting. With that in mind, we investigated whether working memory capacity, measured by the Self-Administrable Reading Span Test (Oliveira et al., 2021), predicts proficient bilinguals’ performance in literal and inferential comprehension, by means of comprehension questions (Pearson & Johnson, 1978) and reading times, under a multitasking setting in two conditions – listening to lyrical music (experimental) as opposed to listening to non-lyrical music (control). Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that working memory capacity significantly predicted inferential, but not literal comprehension nor reading times, and only when participants were listening to lyrical music. Results are discussed both in terms of the effects of multitasking on reading comprehension as well as the role of working memory in language comprehension
Research into Individual Differences in SLA and CALL: Looking for Intersections
Get PDFResearch into the role of individual difference (ID) factors in the process of second and foreign language (L2) learning and teaching has been one of the most robust lines of inquiry in the field of second language acquisition (SLA; Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015; Griffiths & Soruç, 2020; Pawlak & Kruk, 2022). Most of these empirical investigations have concerned L2 learning in general contexts while empirical inquiry targeting specific instructional settings has been quite limited in terms of both quantity and scope. One such context is computer-assisted language learning (CALL), which involves numerous applications, devices and environments that can be drawn upon to enhance and support L2 learning and teaching. While many studies have been carried out in this area, there have been very few comprehensive attempts to synthesize such empirical evidence and such research has largely lagged behind the developments in the broader domain of SLA. The aim of this paper is to synthesize and critically evaluate research into ID factors in CALL against the backdrop of such advances in SLA and consider future directions of such empirical investigations
The Impact of Academic Information System to Students’ Satisfaction in Higher Education
Get PDFAcademic information systems reflect the quality of management of a college and are one of the efforts of educational institutions to provide quality services to provide convenience and comfort to students. There are obstacles such as the difficulty of controlling the scheduling of courses and information that is less updated on academic information systems. This study aims to determine how much influence the academic information system has on student satisfaction. This study uses a type of research based on a quantitative approach. The research subjects were bachelor and graduate school students from Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. The data collection method used a questionnaire. Data processing techniques and data analysis using simple linear regression formulas. The results showed that (i) there was a significant influence between the implementation of academic information systems on the level of satisfaction of Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta bachelor and graduate school students amount 41% (ii) supporting and inhibiting factors perceived by students in the implementation of academic information systems found in speed, timeliness, and ease of access. This article has empirical contributions related to academic information systems in higher education and can be used as insights for policy holders in universities in making policies
Investigating the Strategies and Problems of Iranian EFL Learners While Writing Summaries in Academic Contexts
Get PDFThe present study intended to investigate the summary writing strategy use and writing quality of 57 Iranian EFL learners in an academic setting. As for collecting the required data, the students (1) completed an expository essay (as a measure of their writing competence), (2) summarized the literature review section of a research paper (as a measure of summary writing quality), and (3) responded to the items of a summary writing strategy questionnaire (exploring the extent of planning, discourse synthesis, source use, and evaluation strategy use). The results of this study indicated that the participants produced better texts in terms of content compared to the form (cohesion and coherence) and language use. In producing their texts, they made the most use of evaluation strategies in comparison to the other summary writing strategies. There was also a moderate relationship between writing competence, summary writing quality, and strategy use. Moreover, MANOVA results revealed significant differences among high-skilled, moderately-skilled, and low-skilled student writers in summary writing quality and strategy use. Subsequently, the main problems encountered by these students while summarizing the passages were identified by soliciting their own views and analyzing the content of the texts they produced. Finally, it was suggested that in order to improve the quality of students' summary writing, writing courses must be complemented with explicit instruction of the conventions governing this academic genre, teach the summarization strategies through adequate modeling and scaffolding and give the students opportunities to practice and use the strategies while working on real pedagogical tasks
Using Statistical Transformation Methods to Explore Speech Perception Scale Lengths
Get PDFThe practice of second language (L2) speech perception has traditionally relied on equal-interval perceptual scales and novice listeners’ (NLs) impressionistic judgments of constructs such as accentedness and comprehensibility (Munro & Derwing, 2011). However, issues have surfaced with respect to how well NLs can use these scales, whether they use the entire scale, and how valid/reliable their ratings are. This study draws inspiration from the work of Glenn Fulcher in the area of L2 speech assessment, specifically on construct validity and scale design (1993; 2003). The current study explores similar issues from the lens of the speech perception practice, relying on scale transformation methods and multi-faceted Rasch measurement to examine the overall question of an ideal equal-interval scale length. Speech ratings of L2 accentedness and comprehensibility were originally collected from 56 NLs on 9-point bipolar Likert scales. Statistical transformations from 9-point to 7- and 5-point scales were compared through several indices (i.e., listener consistency, listener severity, scalar point discrimination, and scale usage) across four common speech tasks (i.e., read-aloud, spontaneous speech, elicited imitation, and picture description) (see Thomson & Derwing, 2015). With every statistical scale length reduction across four tasks, listeners’ consistency improved, their levels of severity slightly decreased, and their scalar usage became more precise. Implications for L2 speech perception research suggest that the shorter 5-point perceptual scale shows potential in increasing the reliability and validity of scoring, while more appropriately distinguishing among speaker ability levels
Effects of Focused Written Feedback and Revision in the Development of Explicit and Implicit Knowledge in EFL Writing
Get PDFThis study investigated the effect of (a) direct written corrective feedback (WCF) and (b) opportunities for revision on the development of second language learners’ explicit and implicit L2 knowledge in an EFL setting. Twenty-six intermediate-level university students were randomly divided into three groups: two treatment groups (direct feedback, direct feedback + revision), and a control group (no feedback). In a pretest-posttest design, over the span of six weeks, participants completed picture-prompted writing tasks, timed grammaticality judgment tests and error correction tests. Participants also produced two new writings with members of the direct feedback + revision group being given an opportunity to revise their writing. The results for the direct feedback group indicated accuracy gains in posttests. There was also some evidence that these gains were dependent on the structure targeted. However, there was no comparable improvement in the direct feedback + revision group. Therefore, it was not possible to interpret these effects as strong evidence for development of learners’ L2 knowledge. Conversely, there was evidence that the direct feedback + revision group had benefitted from the opportunity to revise their writing
Possibilities and Caveats of Implicit Language Aptitude Measurements
Get PDFThis paper probes into implicit language aptitude (LA), a set of cognitive abilities that showcase learners’ unconscious, automatic second language (L2) attainment. Implicit LA is becoming an important part of aptitude research, and advances the understanding of L2 learning mechanism. This paper critiques the construct of implicit LA and proposes that implicit learning ability and implicit memory ability are two key components of implicit LA. We then explore the measurements of implicit LA. We raise a number of caveats derived from the validation of these measurements, and discuss how to circumvent these issues. One apparent reason for these caveats is the lack of empirical research that focuses exclusively on implicit LA, and thus, aptitude researchers are encouraged not only to include implicit LA measurements in their test batteries, but also to address the connection between the construct and its measurements