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Exploring gender and language proficiency variations in English Listening Comprehension Difficulties (LCDs) among college EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners
No full textThis study examines how listening comprehension difficulties (LCDs) vary among college-level learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), with a focus on the roles of gender and language proficiency. Listening comprehension is an essential component of language learning, presenting notable challenges for EFL students. These challenges are influenced by specific learner characteristics, including gender and language proficiency level, which impact both the learning process and comprehension ability. The objective of the study is to understand the interaction between these factors and LCDs, especially in the college student population. The research was conducted at a university in Taiwan, involving 304 students in a survey. The results reveal a subtle but significant influence of both gender and language proficiency level on students' perceptions of LCDs. Although the study did not find gender differences to significantly alter students' perceptions of LCDs overall, it was noted that female students experienced more difficulty in processing listening inputs than their male counterparts. Moreover, students with lower language proficiency levels reported facing more challenges in listening comprehension than those with higher proficiency. Interestingly, more advanced learners indicated slightly more difficulty with contextual aspects of listening. While this study did not find statistically significant differences attributable to gender and English proficiency, it highlights the importance of acknowledging the subtle variations in student perceptions. This understanding allows educators to create suitable instructional strategies to improve listening proficiency across all students, irrespective of their gender or English proficiency level
ChatGPT in language education: Centering learner voices
No full textWithin educational linguistics and applied language studies, the debut of ChatGPT has spurred significant scholarship analyzing its potential benefits and consequences in language teaching and learning. However, limited empirical research on factors influencing language learners’ use or non-use of ChatGPT exists. From an ecological theoretical perspective, an understanding of this (non)usage is nevertheless essential: a nuanced understanding of if, how, and why language learners use these tools is necessary to craft meaningful approaches to ChatGPT and other similar generative AI tools in the language classroom. To address this gap, the current article reports on an online survey of 173 learners of non-English languages at a large public university in the United States. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and iterative qualitative coding (e.g., thematic analysis). Analysis revealed a large majority of participants (74%) elected not to use ChatGPT in their language learning. The article subsequently explores the factors that influenced this non-use, namely policies; concerns about ethics both inside and outside the language classroom (e.g., concerns about cheating, intellectual theft, and questions of fairness); beliefs about tool limitations; considerations of the potential negative impacts on language learning; and reflections on education more broadly. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to the role of digital literacies in language education; the production of knowledge in education; and the meaning of language study, including actionable items in the language classroom
L1-L2 congruency as a criterion to identify collocations based on contrastive analysis
No full textIn lexicon studies, L1-L2 congruency refers to the similarity in form and meaning of the way a word or phrase is said between two languages. If there is low L1-L2 congruency, the learning burden of a word or phrase can be higher. For example, an unacceptable structure could be produced when L2 (second language) learners directly use translation strategy to formulate English multiword units (MWUs). Thus, it would be ideal if such language items were identified and teachers brought students’ attention to them. This current study will use L1-L2 congruency as a criterion to identify English MWUs with low congruency with their Persian equivalents to create a resource for Persian-speaking English learners. A L1-L2 contrastive analysis was conducted on Rogers’ (2017) list of approximately 11,000 high-frequency MWUs. This list was translated, and the items were given ratings regarding their congruency in Persian. The results revealed that more than 60 per cent of the items examined were incongruent with their translations, demonstrating that L1-L2 congruency is a significant factor in selecting MWUs for Persian-speaking English learners. Thus, this study indicates that to avoid errors in MWU production, focusing on incongruent items may be beneficial for such learners
Enacting teacher emotion, agency, and professional identity: A netnography of a novice Chinese language teacher’s crisis teaching
No full textThis netnography explores how teacher agency, emotion regulation, and professional identity were enacted by a novice Chinese language teacher in response to emergency remote teaching (ERT) in Australia amid the global pandemic. Ecologically sound, netnography creates uncoerced spaces to allow participants to have their voices heard, thus enabling researchers to discover nuanced patterns linked to the social-emotional state and wellbeing of the community members, regarding fears, tensions, and resilience triggered by ERT. Multiple data sources were triangulated from the teacher’s reflection journal, digital teaching artifacts, debriefing sessions, interviews, and online questionnaire responses. Thematic analysis reveals teacher identity was re-envisioned through crisis teaching pedagogy and the regulation of negative emotions to facilitate agency, which reciprocally bolstered teacher identity. The findings also indicate teacher identity development is challenged and shaped by negotiating a new role in remote teaching, thus impacting pre-ERT identity. Hence, the emotion regulation trajectory of ERT can stimulate and encourage technology-enhanced professional learning as teacher agency and resilience reinforce a new identity reimagined as a capable online teacher. By situating novice teacher agency, emotion regulation, and emerging identity in crisis teaching, this netnographic research conceptualises how ERT presents not only challenges for novice teachers’ identity development and emotion, but also the sustainability and empowerment of online teaching and professional growth of impacted teachers of Asian languages
Navigating the third culture: Comparative case studies of Japanese expatriate students in Singapore and factors influencing English language development
No full textThis study utilises comparative case studies of three Japanese third-culture kids (TCKs) living in Singapore aged 16, each from a different school type (international school, Japanese school, and local Singapore school). It explores if the home language, language used in school, language used in social circles, and language of media consumed of Japanese TCKs in Singapore are enabling or mitigating factors of their development of English language. This study builds on the framework of TCKs established by Useem et al. (1963) and redefined by Pollock and Van Reken (2001), Dewaele et al.’s (2003) definition of bilingualism, and Tokuhama-Espinosa’s (2000) ten factors of success in raising multilingual children. Language used in school, language used in social circles, language of media consumed, and individual motivation were found to be enabling factors whereas home language was found to be neither an enabling nor mitigating factor. Differing pedagogies were found between different school types. Most of the findings are in line with the literature reviewed
ChatGPT as an AI L2 teaching support: A case study of an EFL teacher
No full textThe present study investigates the potential of ChatGPT as an L2 teaching support and aims to explore the extent to which this Generative AI-powered tool is helpful for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. Therefore, this exploratory single instrumental case study followed an EFL teacher using ChatGPT for seven months, from January to June 2023, as an aid for her English classes in a private language school in Spain. Data were collected from her ChatGPT history in relation to her prompting tasks and outputs received, from her lesson plans when she implemented ChatGPT in class, and from a post semi-structured interview. The analysis followed a qualitative approach using thematic analysis of the data to identify the type of support received by ChatGPT and to determine the level of reliability and helpfulness of the outputs. The results indicate that ChatGPT offers significant support to EFL teachers in planning and designing lessons, in implementing ChatGPT in lessons and in assessing learners’ writing. Our data highlights the potential of ChatGPT as a support for EFL teachers as long as they possess specific AI competencies, such as prompt crafting to obtain useful and meaningful outputs, and critical thinking, together with EFL teaching knowledge, to be able to recognize inaccuracies and identify relevant outcomes
Investigating the life cycle of language learning applications: Going beyond the Hype Cycle
No full textAs learning is more real and permanent when connected to learners’ private lives beyond the classroom (Godwin-Jones, 2011), mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) has emerged as a good way to support language learning especially in informal contexts. With thousands of language learning applications (apps) becoming available, more and more language learners have started to use them as a support for their language learning. The purpose of this research is to investigate the life cycle of language learning apps and the reasons why learners decide to start, stop and restart using apps to better understand the real situation of the use of the apps. The data collected from a survey of 186 participants with experience of using language learning apps were analyzed. The results showed that the language learning app has three different phases in its life cycle, which are “increasing period”, “decreasing period” and “reviving period” with three turning points. This life cycle is similar to the Hype Cycle, a model describing how a new technology develops. Furthermore, the reasons behind the three turning points were also discussed. Influence from teachers and friends was the most significant one among factors contributing to starting using apps; the reasons for abandoning apps can be divided into app-related ones such as dissatisfaction of apps and learner-related ones such as stop learning a language; restarting to learn a language is the major reason for participants who chose to use apps again. The results also revealed that language learners had a positive attitude towards language learning apps, while the high abandoned rate of using apps also indicated that both apps and learning patterns could be improved if teachers can provide more sufficient and appropriate guidance to support the selection and use of apps, and app-designers can include more meaningful and interactive activities rather than just providing drills
The effects of gamified daily awards on digital vocabulary flashcard learning: A case study
No full textGamification in second language acquisition research is a popular topic but there are few empirical comparative studies in the literature. This quasi-experimental mixed-approach study enrolled volunteer Japanese university EFL learners to enable a comparison between two digital vocabulary flashcard learning software conditions carefully designed by the author; (1) the gamified group’s software had daily awards (i.e., consecutive day awards, medals related to daily participation, and a bonus point counter in an effort to encourage spaced spaced learning principles and discourage cramming) and (0) the non-gamified group’s did not. The daily awards had a significant effect in encouraging the gamified group to spread out their study efforts throughout the 12-week study period more effectively than the control group as they completed a lower median number of tasks per active study day (non-gamified: 104.76, gamified: 82.11; p= .021, r(75)= -.264) but studied on more days to complete a similar total number of vocabulary tasks (non-gamified: 2313.00, gamified: 2228.50; p= .601). Moreover, the gamified group significantly outperformed the non-gamified group in terms of vocabulary knowledge score gains between the pretest and posttest; p= .03, r(50)= .300. These results show the numerous and significant positive pedagogical impacts of gamified daily awards
Comparing peer, ChatGPT, and teacher corrective feedback in EFL writing: Students' perceptions and preferences
No full textThe effectiveness of Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) provision in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms for enhancing students’ writing has been well-established. With the advent of various feedback modes in modern classrooms, this pilot study aims to explore EFL students’ perceptions and preferences regarding the effectiveness of three distinct feedback modes: peer feedback, artificial intelligence (AI), and teacher feedback. The study also aimed to determine the distribution of feedback across specific components of writing, while accounting for revisions made. Fifteen pairs of participants were assigned to complete a brief writing task, followed by receiving WCF from peers, an AI tool (ChatGPT), and the teacher. Subsequent revisions to their writing were made after each feedback mode. A qualitative approach utilizing a survey was used for data collection and analysis. Results indicated that participants perceived both ChatGPT and teacher feedback as effective, with peer feedback also being generally regarded as effective by most participants. Preferences leaned towards receiving teacher WCF, as well as a combination of teacher and ChatGPT WCF. Furthermore, the study identified the proportion of feedback allocated to specific writing components, with subsequent discussions regarding implications. These findings have potential implications for refining feedback practices within EFL classrooms