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Measuring the vocabulary burden of popular English songs
No full textThis study measured the vocabulary burden of popular English songs to determine what vocabulary is needed to understand 95% and 98% of the words in songs. The researcher analyzed the vocabulary in 2,175 songs, which consisted of 678,309 tokens. The results showed that knowledge of the most frequent 2,000 word families and proper nouns and marginal words provided 96.05% coverage, and knowledge of the most frequent 5,000 word families and proper nouns and marginal words provided 98% coverage of the English used in songs in the corpus
Learner perceptions of online peer pronunciation feedback through P-Check
No full textReceiving adequate pronunciation feedback is an ongoing challenge for l2 learners. Although instructors are the most important source of corrective pronunciation feedback (Szpyra, 2014; Timson, 2007), l2 learners can also benefit from peer pronunciation feedback (Lord, 2008; Kim & Yoon, 2014; Roccamo, 2015). This paper examines Japanese university students’ perceptions of online peer feedback on intelligibility (Derwing & Munro, 2005). To aggregate the feedback, P-Check, a plug-in for the Glexa lms (Version2, 2015) was developed and its recognition and dialog functions were piloted in two studies. In the first exploratory study (N = 59), a post-treatment survey and diaries were used to explore participants’ attitudes. Participants believed that peer feedback through P-Check was useful and had increased their awareness of their pronunciation strengths and weaknesses. In the second quasi-experimental study (N = 55), no significant difference was found in participants’ perceptions of the usefulness of peer feedback, whether delivered face-to-face or via P-Check. Recommendations for further development of P-Check and other similar plug-ins are given
Preparing Japanese students’ digital literacy for study abroad: Is more training needed?
No full textStudy abroad programs provide an excellent opportunity for students to accelerate their language learning and acquire cultural capital (Byram & Feng, 2006). Research into returnees from a variety of study abroad programs, however, has revealed that this is not always the case (e.g., Kinginger, 2011; Sato & Hodge, 2015; Yoshimitsu, 2009). To promote a more positive academic and culturally-inclusive study abroad experience, one recommendation is for language teachers to focus on students’ digital literacy (Kinginger, 2011). Given the reported poor levels of digital literacy among Japanese freshman students (see Lockley 2011; Murray & Blyth, 2011), the researchers in this current study were attempting to determine if this wider trend also applied to students at their private university in Tokyo. The authors surveyed first-year College of Tourism and Hospitality (cth) students preparing for a year-long study abroad program. This paper will report on student responses to two sections of a computer literacy questionnaire created by Son, Robb and Charismadjiri (2011). The first section considers students responses to the digital self-assessment items, and in the second section, student results in a 10-item digital skills knowledge test will be reported on
The suitability of cloudbased speech recognition engines for language learning
No full textAs online automatic speech recognition (asr) engines become more accurate and more widely implemented with call software, it becomes important to evaluate the effectiveness and the accuracy of these recognition engines using authentic speech samples. This study investigates two of the most prominent cloud-based speech recognition enginesApple’s Siri and Google Speech Recognition (gsr) to determine which engine would be more accurate at transcribing l2 learners’ speech. The average recognition accuracy of Siri and gsr is reported using language samples of Japanese learners speaking English. The study also presents a series of computerized speech assessment tasks that were developed by the researchers using a cloud-based speech recognition engine in conjunction with Moodle, a widely used course management syste
The use of psycholinguistic formulaic language in the speech of higher level Japanese speakers of English
No full textA recent study by Cordier (2013) suggests that psycholinguistic formulaic sequences (multiword units that present a processing advantage to the individual speaker) may be more prevalent in L2 speakers than previously thought. The current study adopts the same identifcation process to explore the use of psycholinguistic formulaic sequences in the speech of Japanese Speakers of English (JSE).Eight adult JSE at intermediate or advanced levels of English each performed two speaking tasks: a structured interview and a narration task. Formulaic sequences were identifed on the basis of hierarchical conditions applied in strict order. The frst condition was fuency and the second condition checked for holisticity (using given diagnostic criteria). For each sample, two measures of formulaicity were calculated: FS% (the percentage of syllables that were part of a formulaic sequence) and ANR (the average number of formulaic syllables per run).The mean formulaicity of the samples (FS%=34.6%, ANR=1.64) suggests that psycholinguistic formulaic sequences, as defned and identifed here, may be a signifcant feature in the speech of intermediate/advanced JSE. The study also confrms the sensitivity of the results to task, with signifcantly more formulaic sequences used in the interview task than in the narration. Overall, the identifcation process was found to be a useful and systematic way of identifying formulaic sequences, but some further refnements of the diagnostic criteria and measures used are also suggested
L2 lexical attrition and vocabulary re-learning in three L1 English L2 Japanese children
No full textIn this paper I review the evidence for the role of age in affecting second language attrition, and find it strongly supports a large difference in attrition around a breakpoint of age 8. I propose a Dynamic Attrition Model which posits that attrition sets in immediately upon the loss of contact with a language but the speed of loss differs depending on age. Three children who began their incubation periods at age 6, 8 and 10 are examined when they are re-exposed to Japanese 6 years later. All children showed strong savings rates but large losses to their L2 Japanese
Collaborative tasks in web conferencing: A case study on Chinese online
No full textThis case study aimed to explore best practice in applying task-based language teaching (tblt) via a Web-conferencing tool, Blackboard Collaborate, in a beginners’ online Chinese course by evaluating the pedagogical values and limitations of the software and the tasks designed. Chapelle’s (2001) criteria for computer-assisted language learning (call) task appropriateness were adopted and adapted to evaluate five tasks designed for an online environment in terms of practicality, language learning potential, learner fit, authenticity, and positive effects. Sixteen undergraduate on-campus students who enrolled in an introductory Chinese language course participated in this project. Five fortnightly 1-hour online sessions were conducted, which included two jigsaw tasks, two decisionmaking tasks, and one information-gap task. Learners’ interaction in the online sessions was recorded and transcribed to conduct a thorough investigation of learners’ negotiation actions in peer-to-peer interaction. Their experiences of using Blackboard Collaborate and carrying out the tasks were recorded in in-depth interviews and pre- and post-session questionnaires
Learner agency and its effect on spoken interaction time in the target-language
No full textThis paper presents the results of how four dyads in an online task-based synchronous computer-mediated (tb-scmc) interaction event use their agency to carry out speaking tasks, and how their choices and actions affect time spent interacting in the target language. A case study approach was employed to analyse the language functions and cognitive and social processing that occurred in audio recordings of spoken interaction between four dyads, alongside other indicators of pre-task behaviour, triangulated with results from learner questionnaires. The study revealed that whilst all cases engaged in overt spoken interaction, some cases also avoided the designed task and engaged in covert pre-task planning. Learners’ ability to reconfigure 1) the time mode of the task design; 2) the ways in which technological tools were used and 3) language choice, all impacted on their time spent interacting in the target language. The findings highlight tensions between learners’ choices across the three dimensions that they had reconfigured, raising questions as to how to support time in synchronous interaction in the target language whilst supporting learners’ agency. The implications are presented and discussed
i-lex v1 and v2: An improved method of assessing L2 learner ability to see connections between words?
No full textKnowing a word’s associations is considered an aspect of word knowledge. It follows that L2 learner ability to see connections between words may improve with gains in vocabulary knowledge. Word association tests (WATs) may measure not only learner ability to see links between words, but they may also assess the degree of organization of L2 learner lexical knowledge which plays a role in the development of lexical competence. The aim of this study is to develop a new WAT wherein learners are presented with the three most common associates of a cue word. The task is to supply the missing cue word. Following this format, a test was developed using sets of three cue words chosen from the fve most common associates to 50 target words (TWs) listed in the Edinburgh Associative Thesaurus, or EAT. Results of an initial study (i-lex v1) showed that, on average, a group of native speakers outperformed an experimental group of Japanese learners of English ranging in level from elementary to upper intermediate. Further, both in the initial study and a follow-up study (i-lex v2), signifcant and positive correlations were found among nonnative i-lex scores and a translation test. In i-lex v2, signifcant and positive correlations were also found among nonnative i-lex scores and the New Vocabulary Levels Test. These results indicate that the ability of these groups of participants to see links between highly frequent English words is related to their vocabulary knowledge
