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L2 motivation in ESP and EGP courses: An investigation of L2 motivational selves among learners of English in Saudi Arabia
No full textThis paper investigates the L2 motivation of Saudi university students in ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and EGP (English for General Purposes) courses. One of the common arguments about ESP courses suggests that they are more likely to generate higher levels of motivation than other types of English courses (i.e., EGP courses). Some scholars (e.g., Basturkmen, 2010; Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998; Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) hold this view, asserting that ESP courses are more relevant to learners’ needs and interests, which increases their motivation. However, none of these claims are based on empirical research; the present study aims to fill this gap. Using Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) L2 Motivational Self System, 4,043 students enrolled in ESP and EGP courses at four Saudi universities completed an online survey. The analysis showed a significant relationship between learners’ motivation and their attended English course. The ESP group had higher ideal L2 selves and more positive attitudes towards the L2 learning experience than the EGP group, whereas the ought-to L2 selves were not significantly different. In addition, a multiple regression model was designed, and indicated that the two self-constructs had an impact on participants’ L2 achievements, either positively or negatively
Surveying pragmatic performance during a study abroad stay: A cross-sectional look at the language of spoken requests
No full textThis paper documents a cross-sectional look at L1 transfer and L2 contact for learners of English in a UK study abroad (SA) context. The study employed an instructional experimental design over a 6-month period with 34 Chinese students assigned to either an explicitly instructed group or a control group receiving no instruction. Instruction took place prior to departure for the UK and performance was measured based on a pretest-posttest design using an oral computer-animated production test (CAPT). This paper explores the data in two specific ways. Firstly, the request data were analysed at the pre-and delayed test stages (six months into the study abroad period) to analyse the extent to which participants’ reliance on L1 request strategies and language changes over time. Secondly, we measured the amount and type of contact with English which participants reported prior to and six months into the study abroad period. Results show that instruction facilitated development of pragmatically appropriate request language over time, with instructed learners showing significantly less reliance on L1 transfer than non-instructed learners. Contact with English increased significantly for both groups on all measures of language production but not all receptive contact with English. When compared, there was no significant difference between the groups’ contact with English at each stage, suggesting that instruction did not result in significantly more interaction with English during the study abroad period
Toward written error correction with a Japanese-English parallel corpus: Data-driven learning in the japanese EFL classroom
No full textThe concept of data-driven learning (DDL) – direct student use of corpora – has been gaining attention among researchers and teachers. DDL gives learners the chance to take an inductive approach to learning by recognizing patterns in corpus data rather than following abstract rules. However, very few studies focus on presenting clear practices that other teachers can readily use in their classes, particularly related to written error correction. This paper begins by reviewing research pertaining to DDL in student writing as well as using Japanese-English parallel corpora. It then outlines a recent study by Jenifer Larson-Hall (2015), notes weaknesses in the study, and outlines a current project (McGuire & Larson-Hall, under preparation)
Incidental vocabulary learning through watching movies
No full textIt is thought that in order to comprehend general conversation at the native-speaker level, it is necessary to know thousands of word families. Vocabulary learning is therefore a vital component to attaining proficiency in a language. The revolution in digital and information technology has dramatically transformed the landscape of resources available to language students. Learners increasingly have access to audio-visual, meaning-focused input, such as DVDs and streamed video material. Studies indicate that such materials can be used as linguistic input to facilitate incidental vocabulary learning, in the same way extensive reading (ER) uses graded readers have traditionally been used for the same purpose. The current study sought to measure the effect of watching a single movie in English, with English captions, on the ability of Japanese students to recall a selection of words taken from the movie script. The results revealed a significant increase in students’ ability to recall the words directly after watching the movie. From a list of 42 target words, the mean number of words recalled increased by 1.7 (4.05%) words after viewing. The result suggests that meaning-focused audio-visual input such as movies are a valuable supplementary resource for language learners, which can help provide a welcome boost their rate of vocabulary acquisition
Enhancing peer feedback practices through screencasts in blended academic writing courses
No full textThe case study presented in this paper investigates the roles that the Moodle workshop activity module and peer feedback screencast training have on the development of formative peer feedback practices in low level English academic writing classes. The development of 26 first-year Japanese students’ peer feedback practices were tracked over 6 separate feedback sessions. The findings indicate that without training, students produced vague and unhelpful peer feedback. However, the intuitive structure of the Moodle workshop module and screencast feedback training sessions helped develop the skills necessary to offer critically evaluative feedback that proved useful for essay revision. Further findings show that although students were initially reluctant to offer feedback written in English, their use of the target language increased with adequate practice. Finally, student perceptions of their own abilities point to a highly significant relationship between screencast feedback training and improvement in peer feedback practices. These results suggest that the combination of the Moodle workshop activity module and feedback training screencasts facilitate effective peer feedback practices even in low level l2 academic writing courses
Negotiating intercultural spaces and teacher identity in an internationalised school in Shanghai
No full textThere is now a general acceptance that schools need to prepare students for the realities of a globalised world, which necessitates developing intercultural competence. Such an educational mandate is felt particularly keenly in internationalised schools, where the work of teaching and learning involves the negotiation of diverse cultural assumptions, practices, and identities on a daily basis. Whilst schools are in a position where they need to formulate some kind of understanding of what intercultural competence means and how it is expected to be developed with educational content and pedagogical practices, the notion of intercultural competence is perpetually contested. Critical scholars have critiqued the tendency for theorising on intercultural competence to adhere to “solid” notions of culture and assume that there is an end to the intercultural process at which point an individual will become interculturally competent (e.g., Dervin, 2016; Ferri, 2018). This paper, however, argues that it is important to understand the ways in which solid notions of culture surface in the lived experiences of teachers working in intercultural contexts. The paper draws on findings from a qualitative case study of international teachers’ cross-cultural experiences in an international school in Shanghai, China to highlight the ways in which individuals draw on notions of solid culture as a resource for claiming an identity position in relation to dominant cultural practices in the local context
What makes students speak Japanese in immersion programs?
No full textLanguage immersion programs, which are a form of bilingual education, are shaped by multiple factors, including the specific characteristics of the region, the language, the community and the learners, as well as national and regional policies on language education. While the underdeveloped production skills of immersion students have been identified as the product of teacher-centred and controlled learning environments, it is not known what role background or heritage language students play in the Australian one-way immersion context, where their presence itself potentially enhances the speaking environment. This paper, based on a project on developing speaking strategies for a Japanese immersion program in Australia, argues that the speaking performance of students in immersion classes is also determined by other factors, such as peer interactions with background students, whose treatment in education systems in Australia remains ambiguous, reflecting the history of separation between foreign language education in schools and the maintenance of mother tongues in the community. By applying Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this paper analyses language policy and educational documents and discusses how the language performance of individual learners could be influenced not only by the curriculum but also by policy makers’ improved understanding of individual learners with diverse linguistic backgrounds within schools
Validating the construct of readability in EFL contexts: A proposal for criteria
No full textThis article examines how English as a foreign language learners might be better matched to reading texts using automatic readability analysis. Specifically, I examine how the lexical decoding component of readability might be validated. In Japan, readability has been mostly determined by publishers or by professional reading organizations who only occasionally publish their lists of readability ratings for specific texts. Without transparent readability methods, candidate texts cannot be independently evaluated by practitioners. Moreover, the reliance on centralized organizations to curate from commercially available texts precludes the evaluation of the multitudes of free texts that are increasingly available on the Internet. Previous studies that have attempted to develop automatic readability formulas for Japanese learners have used surface textual features of texts, such as word and/or sentence length, and/or they have used word-frequency lists derived from large multiregister corpora. In this article, I draw upon on the findings of a study that examines how such word-lists might be validated for use in matching Japanese learners to texts (Pinchbeck, manuscript in preparation). Finally, I propose a list of general criteria that might be used to evaluate the components of readability formulas in general
Revisiting communicative competence in the teaching and assessment of language for specific purposes
No full textThe term communicative competence captures the notion that the ability to use language in interaction requires not just control of linguistic form but also awareness of rules of use in different contexts (Hymes 1972). Communicative competence is a slippery term: different actors in second language (L2) research, education, and assessment interpret the term in a variety of ways and use it for a range of purposes, perhaps particularly in the field of languages for specific purposes (LSP). This is unfortunate because it is a key concept in LSP, as in applied linguistics more generally. Communicative competence can be considered to be the target of second language acquisition, a main goal of second or foreign language teaching and learning, or the object language testers seek to measure via performance tests. In addition, current interpretations of communicative competence may be somewhat questionable adaptations of Hymes’ concept, modified and often simplified to reflect current approaches in both formal and functional linguistics, and to respond to practical concerns in language teaching and testing. This paper seeks to re-examine communicative competence from three perspectives – L2 research, teaching, and testing – highlighting problems in terms of theory and practice with respect to LSP. Drawing on recent research on indigenous assessment criteria, the paper concludes with a revised model of communicative competence for LSP offering a richer interpretation closer to the original concept and to current concerns in the field
Language MOOCs: An expanding field
No full textMOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) were first introduced to the wider public in 2008, with the first language MOOCs appearing in 2012. Following the initial hype (The New York Times crowned 2012 the Year of the MOOC), practical experiences and research studies have surfaced a number of problems with the way they had been conceived and implemented. In this article we revisit some of the arguments for and against MOOCs, specifically for language education, and review some of the ways new forms of online learning environments are emerging, as well as new ways of using (elements of) MOOCs, for both teaching and research purposes. In particular, we focus on their potential for the collection, analysis and pedagogical application of large data sets through learning analytics and educational data mining. We argue that hybrid forms of online environments that better foreground social aspects of learning and that take better account of individual differences, have the potential to successfully support language learning on a large scale and to provide researchers and practitioners with unique insights into the language learning process