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An Integrated Approach to Using Literature to Learn Language (L3): A Guideline for Language Teachers
Full text linkAlthough formerly a cornerstone of language learning, literature became less popular with the rise of communicative language teaching, which prioritizes interaction. However, engaging stories remain a powerful motivator, recognized as a key factor in successful language development. Literature serves as a valuable tool for both teachers and learners. Educators can use literary texts to enhance all four language skills, comprehension, and language awareness, while students benefit from enriched vocabulary, grammar development, and cultural exposure. Additionally, literature fosters critical thinking by immersing learners in diverse perspectives. This paper advocates for a renewed appreciation of literature in language education through an integrated approach. It outlines key components of this method, discussing essential concepts such as translation, simplification, metalanguage and copyright concerns. The study also explores limitations, suggests areas for further research, and considers implications for teacher training. Ultimately, it envisions a future where literature regains its role as a highly effective resource for language learning
The Role of Wisdom in Managerial Decision-Making: A Systematic Review with a Meta-Analytic Approach
Full text linkWisdom in management, leadership, and decision-making is an interdisciplinary approach crucial for enhancing organizational performance and increasing sustainability. This research employs a meta-analytic method to systematically review studies on practical wisdom, wise management, decision-making, leadership, organizational sustainability, and related dimensions. By analyzing 71 selected articles, the present study provides a comprehensive conceptual model of the role of wisdom in management. The findings indicate that managerial wisdom influences strategic and ethical decision-making and is key to effective leadership, change management, innovation, and sustainable development. Additionally, organizations whose leaders operate based on organizational wisdom and continuous learning demonstrate better performance regarding flexibility, organizational justice, empathy, and employee satisfaction. This research, which examines various dimensions of wisdom, offers suggestions for knowledge management, improving organizational culture, and developing wisdom-oriented capabilities in organizational policymaking, thereby serving as a foundation for future research and the design of training programs for managers
Developmental Stages in Chinese: The Case of Chinese Heritage Speakers
Full text linkThe Topic Hypothesis posits that Chinese language learners progress through a developmental sequence comprising five stages (Gao, 2009; Wang, 2011), which includes the Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) structure at stage 4 and the ba-construct at stage 5. According to this hypothesis, learners typically master the OSV structure before acquiring the ba-construction. However, the ba-construction is notably more prevalent in Chinese discourse than the OSV structure. Consequently, extensive exposure to the more commonly used structure may result in a developmental trajectory diverging from the predictions of the Topic Hypothesis. The present study identified evidence from two heritage speakers of Chinese supporting the potential deviation from the predictions of the Topic Hypothesis
Dynamic Assessment of Vocabulary: A Systematic Literature Review
Full text linkGrounded in Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, Dynamic Assessment (DA) can provide fine-tuned information regarding learners’ development and opportunities to promote further development. Vocabulary knowledge, because of its complex nature, requires a more sensitive assessment, especially for second language (L2) learners. This systematic literature review investigated 14 empirical studies that used DA to address L2 vocabulary knowledge to provide a comprehensive picture of what has been done, including the target aspects, instruments, and mediational strategies to answer the questions of what kind of information DA could provide and how well it could promote vocabulary development. The findings indicate that the DA of vocabulary is still premature, and more attention is needed in developing a more encompassing instrument and mediational strategies
Exploring the Educational Potential of ChatGPT: AI-Assisted Narrative Writing for EFL College Students
Full text linkAlthough ChatGPT provides excellent features as a writing assistant tool, few empirical studies have been conducted on its integration into writing education investigating students’ usage pattern and impact on the writing skills of students. This exploratory research aims to fill this research gap by analyzing prompts initiated by students and examining the effects of ChatGPT-assisted narrative writing to explore the educational potential of ChatGPT in college-level L2 writing. Toward this end, the study recruited 44 university students in South Korea. The study explored their patterns of use of ChatGPT and the effects of the narrative writing intervention assisted by ChatGPT. The major findings were as follows. The top three request prompts were: Request for language use, Request for revision, Request for information. The most frequent requests were related to linguistic aspects, and ChatGPT demonstrated successful surface-level error detection. Next, the results of the paired sample t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test to determine the effect of ChatGPT-assisted narrative writing demonstrated high post-test scores in writing fluency and overall performance, and this difference was statistically significant. On the other hand, the post-test scores for syntactic complexity were lower than those for the pre-test, and this difference was also significant. Regarding clause complexity, clausal complements per clause exhibited a significant increase in the post-test. Based on these findings, the pedagogical implications are suggested
Nonlinear Profit-and-Loss-Sharing Contracting versus Equity in Entrepreneurial Finance: Risk Sharing and Managerial Incentives in a Principal-Agent Relationship When the Agent Is Risk-Neutral
Full text linkAn entrepreneur raises capital to finance their business and extends the effort to facilitate its success. If financing is possible solely with risk-free debt capital, the entrepreneur’s effort will be first-best since they will not share the outcome of their business with an outside financier. However, risk-free debt is usually unavailable due to the significant risk involved in starting any business. Therefore, other financing arrangements involving risk sharing have to be considered. Such arrangements will result in a moral hazard problem and dilute the entrepreneur's managerial incentives to exert effort. Financing with equity capital from an outside partner will result in a second-best level of effort, and there will be no advantage from risk sharing if the entrepreneur is risk-neutral. Since risk-free debt financing is not always possible and financing with equity capital is not optimal for a risk-neutral entrepreneur, a third alternative is considered in this paper. It is shown that a nonlinear profit-and-loss-sharing arrangement can be structured so that the incentives of the risk-neutral entrepreneur to extend effort are not diminished. As such, the nonlinear PLS contract considered in this paper, which is based on Islamic profit-and-loss-sharing contracts, is a feasible alternative to risk-free debt financing
The Impact of Self-Directed Learning on Academic Writing Skills of EFL Learners with Critical Thinking Ability
Full text linkThe mediating function of critical thinking ability (CTA) in the link between language learning techniques and the academic writing of EFL learners has garnered increased attention because of recent educational innovations. Present study aims to examine the impact of self-directed learning on the academic writing skills of Pakistani EFL learners by emphasizing the mediating function of critical thinking ability. Validated scales were used to measure all the research variables. Using a quantitative research approach, data was collected from 240 Pakistani students randomly selected based on the population of Punjab province. For data analysis, IBM SPSS AMOS 25 was used to analyze descriptive data, and then SEM was performed to analyze the structural relationship between constructs. Findings indicated that self-directed learning positively enhanced the academic writing skills of EFL learners, and critical thinking ability partially mediated the relationship between self-directed learning and academic writing skills. Moreover, a significant positive relationship was found among all these variables. This study emphasizes the significance of encouraging SDL and critical thinking to improve academic writing skills. These findings provide insightful information to educators and policymakers on how to improve EFL learners' writing performance through active and independent learning in self-directed learning by integrating critical thinking
A Sociocultural Perspective on Foreign Language Education in State Education Systems
Full text linkThis article advocates for a sociocultural perspective on foreign language education policy and practice in state education systems. The article’s geographical focus is on selected countries in Asia, though the general arguments may also be applicable to other countries. It examines factors underlying the divergence between policy intentions and educational outcomes in contexts where English is the first, compulsory foreign language in schools and is typically seen as important to economic development in a globalized world. The article also explores inequality of achievement in the contexts under discussion, where the teaching of English can often be characterized as an impediment to educational success for children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. A basic premise of sociocultural theory applied to foreign language education is that one cannot separate learners and teachers from the social worlds they inhabit. Hence, the article argues for educational policy and the consequences for practice to be viewed from an ‘ecological perspective’, one in which what happens between learners and teachers in classrooms can only be understood meaningfully when viewed as part of a social world which includes the school, the local environment, the wider society and the myriad of elements which comprise its social culture and cultural practices
Artificial Intelligence in Language Education: A Systematic Review of Multilingual Applications, Large Language Models, and Emerging Challenges
Full text linkThe review systematically analyzes AI-disruptive change in language education by considering multilingual settings, large language models, and new implications. After integrating the findings of 161 studies from 2015 to 2024, the review relies on the PRISMA framework to analyze progress and gaps regarding AI use tools, ethical considerations, and pedagogical integration. The findings indicated that AI technologies—conversational agents, speech recognition systems, and writing assistants—help in language learning by reducing learner anxiety, giving pronunciation support, and providing feedback in real time. LLMs such as Aya and LLaMA display scalable multilingual capabilities, with high variations in performance, mostly against low-resourced languages; these languages, however, are still underrepresented in datasets and evaluations. Ethical considerations around cultural biases, gender stereotyping of LLM outputs, and getting too reliant on automated tools emphasize the pressing need for appropriate governance frameworks. The pedagogical implications with mobile learning and gamification are promising but often lean towards accessibility, lacking the depth needed and thus worsening infrastructure inequalities in Africa and Eastern Europe. Other critical gaps identified include (1) little investigation into marginal languages, (2) lack of longitudinal studies on AI's educational impacts, and (3) neglecting socio-emotional issues as to whether AI may erode human interaction
Differentiating Interest and Joy in Foreign and Heritage Language Vocabulary Learning: Expanding the Research in Positive Psychology
Full text linkThe positive turn in SLA (MacIntyre at al., 2016) has sparked growing interest in the relationship between positive affective variables and language learning outcomes. Foreign language enjoyment has garnered particular attention as a positive emotion supporting language learning behaviors and achievement. However, within psychology and cognition, enjoyment is conceptualized as a multifaceted emotion and comprised of interest and joy as subcomponent emotions. The current study takes a quantitative approach to explore the relationship between vocabulary learning and interest and joy, respectively, for 121 advanced foreign and heritage language learners of university Spanish in the U.S. Models of best fit produced through structural equation modeling reveal that interest, but not joy, may act as a predictor of vocabulary learning, particularly for foreign language learners. Cognitive and social aspects of interest and joy, as well as cross-cultural differences between learner profiles, offer insights into the potential implications of interest as a potentially influential emotion in language learning. By expanding the research on positive emotions in SLA and exploring an often-overlooked group of learners, this study carries important theoretical implications and offers an anchor for future research in positive psychology in SLA