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Some evidence of the development of L2 reading-into-writing skills at three levels
No full textWhile an integrated format has been widely incorporated into high-stakes writing assessment, there is relatively little research on students’ cognitive processing involved in integrated reading-into-writing tasks. Even research which reviews how the reading-into-writing construct is distinct from one level to the other is scarce. Using a writing process questionnaire, we examined and compared test takers’ cognitive processes on integrated reading-into-writing tasks at three levels. More specifically, the study aims to provide evidence of the predominant reading-into-writing processes appropriate at each level (i.e., the CEFR B1, B2, and C1 levels). The findings of the study reveal the core processes which are essential to the reading-into-writing construct at all three levels. There is also a clear progression of the reading-into-writing skills employed by the test takers across the three CEFR levels. A multiple regression analysis was used to examine the impact of the individual processes on predicting the writers’ level of reading-into-writing abilities. The findings provide empirical evidence concerning the cognitive validity of reading-into-writing tests and have important implications for task design and scoring at each level
Examining learners' further investment in Japanese learning through study abroad experiences
No full textThis study examined further investment in Japanese language learning from the perspective of Indonesian learners of Japanese through their study abroad experience in Japan. Employing a model of investment proposed by Darvin and Norton, the study analyzed learners' oral and written narratives, focusing on three key constructs, namely identity, ideology, and capital. Data analysis revealed that study abroad to Japan has become a symbolic capital, as well as a way for learners to gain benefits related to some aspects of their linguistic capital they were not able to acquire when studying Japanese in their home country. Study abroad to Japan also offers a new possibility for Japanese learners to get closer to their imagined identity they wish to realize in their imagined communities related to Japanese language. This study revealed how different ideologies have shaped Japanese language institutional practices and educational policies and how these have impacted on language learners as they position themselves within the contexts. It posed critical view on Japanese language education policy and planning with its double-edged ideologies which has created constraint and opportunity for learners. The study indicates the importance to rethink Japanese language education planning and policy from the perspective of language learners' investment on Japanese learning, in the era of globalization where student mobility across borders and boundaries is prevalent
Voicing the academy
No full textThe development of an appropriate authorial voice is considered to be fundamental to successful academic writing in the target language. Voice research in second language writing, therefore, seeks to delineate voice salience in L2 academic texts, the relationship between voice and high quality academic writing, the second language (L2) writer’s development of an appropriate authorial voice, and how voice research might inform second language writing pedagogy. However, while voice research addresses a range of concerns in second language writing, there are a limited number of methods available for analysing authorial voice in texts. The following article investigates Ivanic and Camp’s (2001) typology, which indexes voice as a series of ideational, interpersonal, and textual voice types, as a possible method for measuring voice. The typology was applied to two long argument essays written by postgraduate international students studying at an Australian university. The results of the application of the typology underscored a range of both normative and non-normative voices in the students’ texts. The article concludes that Ivanic and Camp’s (2001) typology has the potential to contribute to present understandings apropos of the language resources that correlate to normative and non-normative voice types. The article also provides some recommendations for future research
Examining the word family through word lists
No full textThe choice of lexical unit has important consequences for L2 vocabulary research, testing and instruction. In recent years, the most widely used lexical unit has been the word family. This study examines the characteristics of word lists based on the word family and explores the levels of text coverage such lists may provide should the assumption that learners can deal with word families be incorrect. This is pursued through the detailed examination of a set of word-family-based word lists. The study finds that such word lists pose a number of challenges, including the number of word forms with multiple affixes, the number of word forms with more challenging affixes, and the number of word families in which the base word is not the most frequently occurring member. Moreover, the first thousand word families in particular are shown to be challenging. The study then demonstrates that if learners are unable to deal with the complexity of word families, even to a relatively small degree, word-family-based lists may provide far lower text coverage levels than may be assumed. It concludes that in work on second language vocabulary, careful consideration is needed of the appropriacy of the word family as the lexical unit and highlights the range of work based on the word family that may need reevaluating
A comparative analysis of face to face instruction vs. telegram mobile instruction in terms of narrative writing
No full textThe emergence of computer technology in English language teaching has paved the way for teachers’ application of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (mall) and its advantages in teaching. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the face to face instruction with Telegram mobile instruction. Based on a toefl test, 60 English foreign language learners with intermediate level of language proficiency were selected and randomly assigned to the class attendees group, which received the intended treatment program in a classroom environment, and the Telegram group which received the treatment in a virtual environment. Two pre-tests and posttests were administered before and after the treatment. Related non-parametric statistics were applied, and the results were encouraging for the Telegram group. Moreover, the findings of the study might support the claim that innovative instructional approaches and Telegram mobile-learning/teaching specifically could provide new opportunities for the teaching-learning process and that teaching/ learning through new mobile-based methods, Telegram m-learning/teaching in particular, helped Iranian students to perform better on narrative writing tasks. The result of this study would be valuable for methodologists, teachers, and learners
Commentary on four studies for JALT vocabulary SIG
No full textThe four papers in this volume focused on mainly three areas: readability (Pinchbeck), wordlist evaluation (Ishikawa, Culligan), and data-driven learning (McGuire). The author would argue that whilst applied corpus linguistics and L2 vocabulary research are closely related to each other, there has not been much interaction between the two disciplines. The review of the four papers has also shown such lack of interaction between the two fields. By reviewing each study, some additional concepts and previous related studies in corpus linguistics will be presented in order to fill those gaps
Multiculturalism: An asset or a problem? Implications for intercultural education
No full textIn the present article, I will examine the discourse and practices of multiculturalism as an alleged emancipatory aspect of contemporary social life. I will argue why a “one world, many peoples” doctrine has proved to be a far-fetched dream on many occasions. To do so, I will first review the ideals of multiculturalism and then will discuss how these very ideals are, at times, violated through a discriminatory treatment and representation of multicultural “others” in the Western communication media and organizations. The article, however, does not intend to depict a dystopia. Rather, the possibilities to arrive at tolerant heterogeneous communities will also be explored and ideas to promote successful intercultural communication and education will be put forward
Interpersonal meaning of code-switching: An analysis of three TV series
No full textAs one of the most widespread linguistic phenomena, code-switching has attracted increasing attention nowadays. Inspired by previous studies in this field, this paper addresses code-switching under the guidance of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), with the primary goal of analysing the interpersonal meanings of code-switching in three TV series. The research data were collected as follows: first, internet resources were examined to find three popular TV series with code-switching, namely I Not Stupid, Moonlight Resonance, and Humble Abode; second, the data were selected, classified and observed for analysis. As the focus of this paper is interpersonal meaning, functional theories were elaborated towards a single framework for interpersonal meanings of code-switching in two parts: appraisal theory and tenor in register. The first part aims to evaluate emotions which are embedded in code-switching. The second part deals with the roles and relationships between different participants. With these theories included in the research, qualitative analyses were conducted: first of all, sample data were categorised based on their grammatical structures; then interpersonal meanings of code-switching are discussed under the guidance of these functional theories to test the applicability of SFL in this field. It is concluded that code-switching in these TV series is a natural reflection of interpersonal meanings in daily life. People switch codes to express their emotions and negotiate the interpersonal relationships between different participants. It is hoped that the major findings of the present research will contribute to broadening the research scope of code-switching
An examination of the new general service list
No full textThe New General Service List (NGSL, Browne, Culligan, & Phillips, 2013b) was published on an interim basis in 2013 as a modern replacement for West’s (1953) original General Service List (GSL). This study compared GSL and NGSL coverage of a 6-year, 114-million word section of the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), and used COCA word frequencies as a secondary data source to identify candidates for addition to the NGSL. The NGSL was found to provide 4.32% better coverage of the COCA than the GSL. Moreover, several candidates were identified for inclusion to the NGSL: three are current members of the NGSL’s companion list, the New Academic Word List (Browne, Culligan, & Phillips, 2013a), five are words whose usage has increased in recent years, and five are individual types that appear to have been miscategorized during the original development of the NGSL. Because NGSL word selection was based on not only empirical but also subjective criteria, the article calls for the addition of annotations to the NGSL to explain decisions regarding low-frequency NGSL constituents and high-frequency non-constituents
The relationship between willingness to communicate and social presence in an online English language course
No full textVietnamese high school students have few opportunities to use English outside class and they are often reluctant to speak in class. This paper describes and explains the students’ willingness to communicate (wtc) and relates this to varied perceptions of social presence. Eighteen high school students in Vietnam took a six-week online course using Facebook and Skype. They were interviewed individually before and after the course about their experiences, focusing on their perceptions of their own wtc. The results show that the students were more willing to use English spontaneously in the online environment in contexts where they perceived that they had less social presence. Text and audio chat were felt to be less face threatening than video chat, and consequently, students were more willing to speak in conditions of lower social presence. It can be concluded that the more social presence students felt they had in the online environment, the less their wtc. This was true for both synchronous and asynchronous online environments. Allowing students to control their social presence in online communication can embolden shy students and increase their WTC