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Intelligibility of L2 speech in ELF
No full textThis paper investigates the phonology of L2 speech and its impact on intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) contexts. Many studies have considered speaker-related characteristics, such as speech styles and pronunciation features, that influence the intelligibility of L2 speech for both non-native speakers (NNS) and native speakers (NS). However, only a handful of studies have considered what impact listener-related conditions, such as a shared first language (L1) background or L1 typology between NNSs, may have on the intelligibility of their speech. Therefore, an online survey was used to study the intelligibility of Mandarin-English, French-English, Japanese-English, and German-English from the perspective of 100 NNSs. It was hypothesized that a shared L1 or shared L1 typology between two NNSs will enhance the intelligibility of their speech. However, the findings did not support this supposition. For example, the Mandarin speakers did not find Mandarin-English to be more intelligible than Japanese-English or any of the other two accent types. Similarly, the results indicated that a shared L1 typology between two NNSs does not improve the intelligibility of their speech. The data did suggest however that a listeners’ familiarity to one accent type may improve the intelligibility of a typologically related novel L2 accent. The limitations of the findings are discussed along with their implications for future research directions
Introducing mnemonics to Japanese students as a vocabulary learning strategy
No full textMnemonic strategies are not often utilised by Japanese students to learn and consolidate vocabulary, despite research showing that they are particularly effective. As part of an informal action research process, a structured lesson plan was devised that would introduce mnemonic strategies indirectly, that is, not by applying them directly to second-language vocabulary study from the outset, but instead as a means of memorising simple word/number pairings in something of a game. The strategy’s applicability to vocabulary study was shown only after it had been witnessed and practised by the students. This lesson was given in numerous classes from a variety of academic disciplines. A survey of the students (n = 361) was later carried out to ascertain whether despite its initially bypassing second-language concerns and complications, the lesson had been effective in introducing mnemonics as a vocabulary learning strategy that the students might choose to utilise in an upcoming programme of vocabulary learning and testing. Responses indicated that the lesson had been highly effective and that students in similar contexts might benefit from being introduced to mnemonics in such a way
Virtual reality in education: The promise, progress, and challenge
No full textVirtual Reality (VR) has made significant inroads into both the consumer and professional sectors. As VR has matured as a technology, its overall practicality for use in education has also increased. However, due to the rapid evolution of the technology, the educational field struggles to stay informed of the latest advancements, changing affordances, and pedagogical applications. Even the authors’ own 2018 work that categorized VR technology for different educational applications, is no longer completely applicable to the current educational landscape. Though education struggles to keep up with technological developments, both researchers and practitioners have been contributing to a growing body of knowledge and experience. Accordingly, this article explores the progress of VR in educational research and classroom practice through three key questions: (1) What benefits does VR offer for education?, (2) What are the challenges to applying VR in an educational context?, and (3) Has VR matured to a point where it is useful for a wide range of educational purposes? Through a review of literature published from 2017-2020, the authors explore these questions to provide a snapshot of how VR is being used in classrooms and educational research. The authors conclude with predictions for the future and suggestions for future research
Errors by Simpson and Dervin (2019) in their description of the council of Europe's reference framework of competences for democratic culture
No full textIn a recent paper, Simpson and Dervin (2019a) offer a radical critique of the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC). However, Simpson and Dervin’s paper contains numerous factual errors, interpretative errors and category errors in its description of the RFCDC. We identify 12 such errors which invalidate the conclusions drawn by them. We correct all of these errors, and suggest that, rather than using Simpson and Dervin’s paper as a source of information about the RFCDC, readers should read the RFCDC itself, before drawing their own conclusions about the RFCDC and the adequacy of the arguments offered by Simpson and Dervin
Gender-inclusivity and gender-neutrality in foreign language teaching: The case of French
No full textThis is a secondary research discussion paper on the issue of non-conforming gender-inclusivity or neutrality in foreign language teaching of gender-based languages. Australian universities welcome increasingly diverse populations of students. One source of diversity among the student population is characterised by the notion of gendered identities, and especially the affirmation of the rights of LGBTQIA+ communities. Universities aim to show equal respect to all gendered identities. It entails using the language that is most respectful to refer to people in a non-sexist, gender-neutral, or gender-inclusive manner, and to allow students to use the language they are most comfortable with. The demands for gender-inclusive and/or gender-neutral language brings some new challenges with respect to the teaching of gender-based foreign languages. In this article, I delineate these challenges with regards to the teaching of French as a foreign language. There is a growing body of literature on ESL Queer teaching, but a paucity of information about this issue in the foreign language teaching of gender-based languages. Even the best-intentioned teacher can therefore feel insecure because of the lack of information. I specifically review strategies on how to deal with the introduction of gender-inclusive and gender-neutral modes of expression in foreign language teaching, dealing with so-called inclusive writing and the neo-morphemes that have been proposed, and examine how language teachers can raise awareness among their student population about LGBTQIA+ issues
Assessing threshold level of L2 vocabulary depth in reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary learning
No full textThis study measures the threshold level of depth of word knowledge in L2 incidental learning and reading comprehension. I administered the Word Associates Test (WAT) (Read, 2004) to measure depth of word knowledge. Based on participants’ scores on the WAT, they were divided into three proficiency groups: high proficiency (HP), intermediate proficiency (IP), and low proficiency (LP). As part of data collection, participants were also asked to read a short story and then complete items of the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) (Paribakht & Wesche, 1997) for the 30 chosen target words. To rate incidental vocabulary acquisition, I administered the VKS test with a repeated measure design in a period of one month. Results indicate that (a) the HPs gained more vocabulary by comparison than the IPs and the LPs, (b) the probabilistic threshold level for L2 incidental learning is from 85 to 135 out of 160 on WAT, and (c) no significant role of depth in reading comprehension has been confirmed
Strategy use, self-efficacy beliefs, and self-regulatedness in adult foreign language learning
No full textThe aim of this study was to understand adult learners’ strategy use in foreign language learning. It also explored how such strategy use relates to learners’ sense of self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, and language proficiency. Two questionnaires were administered to obtain data from 90 education majors in a Japanese university. Differences in strategy use in relation to self-efficacy, self-regulatedness, and proficiency were examined using Kruskal-Wallis H tests. Whilst some preferred and less preferred strategy items were identified, the findings suggested that possession of a high self-efficacy profile and self-regulatedness related to both greater use of language learning strategies and a higher level of language proficiency. However, a closer look detected a nuanced, important difference in the magnitude of the effect, whereby self-regulatedness may be more yielding than self-efficacy. Namely, self-regulatedness played a substantial role in differentiating use of several strategy items among different proficiency groups, whereas self-efficacy seems to play a smaller part than self-regulatedness in this respect, considering the effect sizes. Thus, this empirical study contributes to the ongoing discussion of the different roles and nature of the self-efficacy and self-regulatedness constructs in the context of language learning and teaching. Implications for language teaching are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested
Teacher praxis within the “Communicative Course of Study Guidelines” in Japan: Post-implementation pedagogy
No full textIn this paper, Japanese teachers’ experiences under the new communicative course of study guidelines that became fully implemented in April 2016 in the new Japanese high school English Language curriculum, “Communicative Course of Study Guidelines” are examined. The study explored 21 high school teachers from a variety of schools, and with experience ranging from those who have just begun teaching to those who are reaching the end of their careers. It analysed their proficiency and confidence in teaching various skills, the workplace pressures that shaped their pedagogy within the new curriculum guidelines, and whether their implementation of the new curriculum was achieved. Results show that even though there is a willingness among newer teachers to implement communicative approaches within the high school English classroom, the workplace hierarchy and the culture of senpai-kohai (senior-junior) influenced the approaches they used within the classroom regardless of what the new curriculum sets out to achieve
Teaching semantic considerations of ablative and locative cases in Turkish-to-English translated texts
No full textTranslation aims to transmit the original tone of the source text both syntactically and semantically accurate without losing the intent of a message. However, some syntactic considerations such as cases may pose a problem particularly if the source and target texts belong to different language typologies. Accordingly, this study investigated the translation of ablative and locative cases in Turkish-to-English studies to find out and analyse erroneous samples. The population of the study is composed of 131 students at the department of translation and the 360 pages data were gathered through different translation activities. Taxonomy with three categorizations was constructed for the identification and classification of the data, which are inaccurate cases, redundant cases, and case-missing. Results showed that ablative and locative cases had a similar number of errors in translation from Turkish to English, and inaccurate cases made up of the large proportion of these errors. This study concluded that there are a few considerations regarding ablative and locative cases that need to be taken into account while rendering a text. At last, some pedagogical implications aiming at lowering students’ errors of translation relating to ablative and locative cases were suggested