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Automated writing evaluation in an EFL setting: Lessons from China
No full textThis paper reports a series of research studies on the use of automated writing evaluation (awe) in secondary and university settings in China. The secondary school study featured the use of awe in six intact classes of 268 senior high school students for one academic year. The university study group comprised 460 students from five universities across the country. The teaching experiment included the introduction of an awe tool, Writing Roadmap, to the English as a Foreign Language classroom and offering support to the teachers. A mixed-methods approach in the form of quasiexperimental research design, questionnaires, interviews and journals were undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of the teaching experiment. In this paper, we summarize the results of these studies in relationship to implementation, teacher and student attitudes, effects on writing and revision processes, and impact on writing test score outcomes. We also discuss the key factors affecting the successful integration of this technology in the classroom
The impact of learner-related variables on second language incidental vocabulary acquisition through listening
No full textLittle is known about the complex process of L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition from listening and the factors that contribute to its success. To expand our knowledge in this area, the present study investigated the impact of fve learner-related variables on L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition from listening. These variables were gender, L2 vocabulary knowledge, amount of L2 listening (for academic purposes and pleasure), level of enjoyment, and (self-reported) level of comprehension. Ninety-nine Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners at pre-intermediate levels of English profciency were randomly assigned to a listening group and a control group. Sixteen target words were chosen in a graded reader and were then replaced by 16 English-like non-words. The participants listened to the graded reader containing the 16 non-words and completed a vocabulary post-test immediately after the listening session. The posttest measured participants’ knowledge of fve different dimensions of word knowledge at the level of recognition. The fndings revealed that while gender and amount of L2 listening appear to have no impact on incidental vocabulary gains from listening, L2 vocabulary knowledge, level of enjoyment, and level of comprehension are important facilitating factors
The impact of semantic clustering on the learning of abstract words
No full textAbstractIt has been repeatedly argued among vocabulary researchers that semantically related words should not be taught simultaneously because they might interfere with each other. However, the types of relatedness that cause interference have rarely been examined carefully. In addition, past studies that have examined this issue disagree, with some providing results showing that semantic clustering does not cause interference and confusion. Reviewing the literature on working memory, a previous paper by the author indicated that psychologists have long seen visual stimulus as an important component of information processing. Researchers of vocabulary learning have also witnessed some evidence that learners do resort to visual imagery when trying to remember new words. Based on such psychological and applied linguistic research, previous research by the author revealed that visually related items may cause confusion despite the lack of semantic connection. Conversely, visually controlled, semantically related items do not seem to cause confusion. This paper presents the follow-up study, examining the learning of semantically related abstract words that do not have concrete visual images. No evidence to indicate any confusion in the learning of such items was obtained. This supports the working hypothesis that the impeding effect of semantic clustering repeatedly reported in the past could partly be due to the shared visual features of semantically similar words
Responding to research challenges related to studying L2 collocational use in professional academic discourse
No full textThis study describes the English collocational use of non-native university teachers from two different disciplines lecturing in an Englishmedium instruction context at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). The primary focus is on how we addressed the research challenges involved in identifying and classifying collocations used by L2 speakers in advanced, domain-specifc oral academic discourse. The main fndings seem to suggest that to map an informant’s complete collocational use and to get an understanding of disciplinary differences, we need to not only take account of general, academic and domain-specifc collocations but also need to cover the full range of both lexical and grammatical collocations
Impact of talker variability on L2 word recognition among Japanese EFL learners
No full textThis article is a pilot study investigating auditory word priming in 40 Japanese learners of English using speeded repetition tasks to measure the impact of talker changes on second language (L2) word recognition. The results showed that by focusing more on the perceptual dimension, in single-talker conditions, word recognition time was statistically significantly shorter and a perceptual learning effect was seen. However, with talker changes, word recognition time significantly increased and the repetition effects were nullified. The results indicate that Japanese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners have high sensitivity to individual attributes of speech and seem to need some variations in auditory input for some period of time without any need for comprehension in order to form robust representations of L2 words
One year of extensive reading on smartphones: A report
No full textMany research studies into Extensive reading (er) have recognized its potential for improving language learners’ reading proficiency and other language skills. However, some recent reviews of er research (e.g., Waring & McLean 2015; Nakanishi, 2015; Mori, 2015) have argued for more refinement in research design so that er research can be more effectively interpreted. Some areas of disconnection include (a) how extensive reading is conceptualized, (b) the lack of long-term studies, and (c) a lack of transparency concerning how much er was done. Aiming to provide an evaluation of an er treatment that responds to these three issues, this paper reports on 19 university students who read graded readers on their smartphones for the duration of one academic year (April 2015 to January 2016). Each student read an average of 263,767 words or 39 graded readers during this period. Changes in students’ reading proficiency were evaluated in terms of changes in students’ toeic® ip test scores and scores in the reading section of this test. Results showed that all but two students were able to reach the reading targets and the majority of the student sample were able to achieve an increase in toeic® scores after this treatment
Learning through watching: Streaming video in L2 English
No full textThis study considers the practicality of streaming video for use in l2 language education. It begins with a review of literature on the use of video within language learning, asserting that video has four main benefits for learners: (1) authentic language; (2) verbal language features; (3) paralinguistic features; (4) motivational appeal. Next, the study supplies critiques of video as a learning tool which are critically interpreted in light of the affordances of streaming video’s digital format. Through a brief chronology of the use of video technologies in the classroom, this study contends that streaming video proffers advantages not presented by earlier physical technologies. In order to highlight the value of streaming video to l2 education, benefits and problems are explained and the Movieclips.com website (www.movieclips.com) is outlined as an example of a streaming video platform that may be utilised within l2 English teaching
Corpus linguistics and vocabulary: A commentary on four studies
No full textTools and methods developed in the field of corpus linguistics play an often understated but important role in much of vocabulary research. This article offers a commentary on four vocabulary studies that explicitly reference the use of corpus linguistics in the development of new vocabulary resources, tools, and concepts. First, the article categorizes corpus linguistics research into two distinct areas and then positions the four studies in these areas. Next, the article summarizes the results of the four studies, before making suggestions for strengthening the works from the perspective of mainstream corpus linguistics research. The article concludes with a general comment on the value of the studies as they relate to corpus linguistics and vocabulary research in general
Digital literacy of language learners in two different contexts
No full textThis article discusses the concept of digital literacy and presents a digital literacy questionnaire containing questions related to the use of digital technologies and the level of digital literacy skills. It also reports the results of two studies that used the digital literacy questionnaire to investigate the digital literacy level of 100 English for academic purposes (eap) students at a university in Australia and 70 English as a foreign language (efl) students at a university in Japan and examine factors affecting their use of digital technologies for learning English. The findings of the studies provide some insights into the students’ awareness and use of digital technologies and their views of the use of digital tools and resources for language learning. Each group showed a different level of expectations and needs in their digital literacy skills with a different background and experience. It is suggested that the expectations and needs of respondents to the digital literacy questionnaire should be taken into account when the results of the digital literacy questionnaire are presented and interpreted in different contexts
Coverage-based frequency bands: A proposal
No full textSecond language vocabulary research makes much use of word frequency lists and their division into bands. In recent years, bands of 1,000 items have become conventional. However, there does not seem to be any firm basis or rationale for this. Conventional banding may be questioned since the utility of words varies greatly depending on frequency, because there are enormous differences in frequency within higher bands, and because the reliability of the placement of words in bands becomes progressively poorer at lower frequency levels. This article suggests an alternative approach: basing bands on coverage levels. Because of the frequency distribution of words, this means the highest frequency bands would contain very few words, while lower frequency bands would contain a great many words. The article shows how such bands can be constructed and presents a re-analysis of the results of a vocabulary test designed with conventional bands in terms of coverage-based bands. This re-analysis produces a very different profile of learners’ knowledge, and it is argued that the shape of this profile may be more useful in terms of guiding instruction in that it gives a clearer indication of which words should be targeted for a group of learners. It is further argued that the smaller number of words contained in coverage-based bands at higher frequency levels makes them a more feasible basis for instruction. The article thus concludes that coverage-based bands may be a fruitful avenue for researchers to explore.