Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
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Another look at boredom in language instruction: The role of the predictable and the unexpected
Full text linkAlthough recent years have seen a growing interest in positive emotions in second or foreign language learning and teaching, negative emotions are always present in the classroom and they deserve to be investigated in their own right. The article focuses on boredom, a construct that has been explored in educational psychology but has received only scant attention from second language acquisition researchers. It reports a study which examined the changes in the levels of boredom experienced by 13 English majors in four EFL classes and the factors accounting for such changes. Using data obtained from a few different sources (i.e., boredom grids, narratives, interviews, class evaluations and lesson plans), it was found that although boredom can be attributed to different constellations of factors, it was mainly traced to repetitiveness, monotony and predictability of what transpired during a particular class
Review of Learning words from reading: A cognitive model of word-meaning inference; Author: Megumi Hamada; Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021; ISBN: 978-1-3501-5368-4; Pages: 168
Full text linkBook Review: Learning words from reading: A cognitive model of word-meaning inference. Author: Megumi Hamada. Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. ISBN: 978-1-3501-5368-4. Pages: 16
The gender factor in the perception of English segments by non-native speakers
Full text linkThe aim of the paper is to present the findings of an empirical study which contributes to the ongoing research into gender effects on second language acquisition by exploring a biological influence on L2 pronunciation learning. One of the most frequent arguments used to vindicate single-sex education is that there are substantial sensory and perceptual differences between males and females which rationalize gender-specific teaching methods and gender-segregation at schools. The present study provides some preliminary insights into the perception of selected phonetic contrasts by Polish secondary school learners with the aim of investigating gender-based similarities and differences in the accuracy of sound recognition by males and females. The findings suggest that a commonly cited female advantage in acquiring L2 pronunciation cannot be attributed to their superior phonetic perception, as male participants performed equally well and identified the same number of English segments correctly
How do differences in exposure affect English language learning? A comparison of teenagers in two learning environments
Full text linkThis study investigates whether potential differences in the weight of out-of-school and in-school learning environments affect the acquisition of L2 English by teenagers in two geographical contexts, more and less English-rich, and with less and more linguistic distance to English, respectively. Participants were two groups of 14-15-year-olds, from Denmark and Spain. Language measures included a listening comprehension test, a metalinguistic knowledge test, and a grammaticality judgment test. Data about out-of-classroom exposure was elicited via a questionnaire. The study showed that (a) the Danish group attained a significantly higher level in all language tests except for the metalinguistic knowledge test; (b) the Danish group engaged longer in out-of-school activities although the preference for some activities over others was similar in the two groups; and (c) the types of associations between out-of-school activities and language measures were different between the two groups. These results suggest that the potential influence of out-of-school activities on different language aspects is related to the particular context in which the L2 is learned and to the language proficiency of the learner
Topic familiarity and story continuation in young English as a foreign language learners’ writing tasks
Full text linkPrior research demonstrates that primary and secondary school teachers often find teaching young learners to write in a second language a slow and effortful process. Moreover, students in this age range lack the motivation to write. Therefore, it is important to explore the EFL writing pedagogy suitable for young learners. The present study investigated how story continuation (with or without reading input) under different topic familiarity conditions serves as a viable pedagogical means for secondary school students. Ninety-one Chinese students in four intact classes of comparable proficiency levels were assigned four writing task conditions in a 2 ⨉ 2 factorial design. Group 1 (Fam) was provided with the beginning of a familiar story in L1 Chinese and was required to complete the story in L2 English. Group 2 (UnFam) had the same task as Group 1, with an unfamiliar story. Group 3 (Fam+Input) was initially provided with the complete familiar story in Chinese (the same story as Group 1) as reading input and were then instructed to write the story in English with the reading material taken away. Group 4 (Unfam+Input) received the full unfamiliar story in Chinese (the same story as Group 2) as input before writing. Again they were not allowed to refer to the reading in the composing process. The results revealed that the young learners who wrote on familiar topics (Groups 1 and 3) produced longer texts and demonstrated greater lexical diversity than those with unfamiliar stories (Groups 2 and 4), although topic familiarity did not affect their writing quality or lexical sophistication. As for the story continuation conditions, students who completed writing the story without the L1 reading input on the topics (Groups 1 and 2) developed longer compositions and better writing quality than those with such input (Groups 3 and 4), although their lexical profiles (both lexical diversity and lexical sophistication) remained uninfluenced. Pedagogical implications for EFL writing among young learners were also discussed in the present study
Review of Complexity perspectives on researching language learner and teacher psychology; Editors: Richard J. Sampson, Richard S. Pinner; Publisher: Multilingual Matters, 2021; ISBN: 9781788923545; Pages: 304
Full text linkOne thing that immediately struck me when I sat down to write this piece was the realization that this is yet another review of a book devoted to the application of complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) to second and foreign language (L2) education. On the one hand, this might appear a little strange since I am certainly not an ardent believer in this theory and while I do recognize some of its merits, I have not used it as a theoretical framework in any of the studies I have conducted so far. On the other hand, though, the reason why I am attracted to publications on this topic could be that I am still waiting for someone to convince me that it is indeed the “silver bullet” that will not only help us disentangle the intricacies of L2 learning and teaching but also offer pedagogically sound insights that will contribute to more effective instruction. In fact, I finished my previous review of a recent book dealing with CDST-driven research methods in applied linguistics with the following comment: “I hope that Phil Hiver and Ali Al-Hoorie will continue their efforts to show the utility of CDST and perhaps one day they will also write a book about how adopting complexity theory can actually translate into more effective instruction in the language classroom” (Pawlak, 2020a, p. 394). As fate would have it, a different tandem of scholars has decided to confront this formidable challenge. Richard J. Samson and Richard S. Pinner state in the introduction to their edited volume: “We united under the motto complexity should be made simple [emphasis in original]. Our aim was to make complexity paradigms and research more accessible to people like ourselves, that is, practitioning language teachers who also engage in research” (p. 6). When going over the successive chapters included in this edited collection, I was constantly asking myself if the authors were succeeding in accomplishing this undoubtedly ambitious goal, and it is this vital issue that the review focuses on. Given the nature of the book and limitations of space, I am not going to describe in detail, let alone evaluate, each of the chapters. Rather, the comments are meant to refer to the entire publication, even though they might be illustrated by examples taken from specific papers
The underlying factors of foreign language reading anxiety: Their effects on strategy use and orientation toward reading
Full text linkBoth positive and negative emotions have been the focus of a wealth of language learning research in recent years. This can mostly be attributed to the established links between an individual’s psychological responses, existing and emerging from learning, the learning processes they engage in, and the outcomes they achieve. A look at advanced research on language anxiety, a negative emotion that appears to be strongly involved in learning, has shown that specific information about reading anxiety is comparatively insufficient. This study, therefore, examines the underlying factors of reading anxiety in Korean university students, using the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale. Subsequently, it explores how these anxiety factors are related to strategy use (i.e., metacognitive, cognitive, and support strategies) and orientation toward reading, which demonstrates a reader’s active involvement while reading. Three sub-factors of reading anxiety were found: anxiety experienced during the process of reading English, confidence in reading, and anxiety when reading English characters. Interestingly, confidence or positive emotion was found to be a far more powerful positive contributor to Korean EFL university readers’ use of metacognitive strategies and the degree of orientation to reading than was anxiety experienced while reading. Pedagogical implications are discussed
Review of Situating language learning strategy use: Present issues and future trends; Editors: Zoe Gavriilidou, Lydia Mitits; Publisher: Multilingual Matters, 2021; ISBN: 9781788926713; Pages: 376
Full text linkDespite recently going through a sort of a crisis brought about by critical remarks made by eminent scholars (e.g., Dörnyei, 2005) about the raison d’être of the whole research area, the field of language learning/learner strategies (LLSs) is still very much alive and kicking. This is manifested by constant publication of meta-analyses (e.g., Plonsky, 2011), numerous journal articles, including state-of-the-art pieces (e.g., Pawlak, 2019), special issues of journals (e.g., Pawlak & Oxford, 2018) and books (e.g., Oxford, 2017), and the organization of a conference series (Situating Strategy Use [SSU]), all devoted exclusively to LLSs. The book under review here, Situating Language Learning Strategy Use: Present Issues and Future Trends, edited by Zoe Gavriilidou and Lydia Mitits, includes chapters originating in the talks delivered at the Second International Conference on SSU (Komotini, Greece, September 2017)