Journal of Second Language Teaching & Research
Welcome to the Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research (JSLTR). This is an open-access journal which provide a platform both for established and early-career researchers. JSLTR is engaged with building a community of practice (both online and offline) and supports debate and scholarship in second language teaching and research. The journal is published on a rolling basis each year and accepts research papers and forum articles from the fields of English language and modern language teaching. Research papers and forum articles are all subject to peer review before being accepted for inclusion. Contributions for future editions are welcome. ISSN- 2045-4031 For all correspondence with the journal, please contact: openjournals@uclan.ac.uk
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Native-speakerism: A Thorn in the Side of ELT
Abstract Native-speakerism, as Kumaravadivelu (2016, p. 82) famously noted, is a subject where “seldom in the annals of an academic discipline have so many toiled for so long and achieved so little”. There have been several suggestions for the reverse of this trend but none of them appear to have penetrated the mainstream industry. This article aims to reflect on this phenomenon by analysing the study of attitudes towards native-speakerism among students in Portugal and the UK with a particular emphasis on attitudes towards NS and NNS accents including features such as accuracy which included an evaluation of the students’ own accents in English and their goals for learning English in terms of acquisition/non-acquisition of a particular variety of English and attitudes towards English as a lingua franca. Overall, it was found that native-speakerism is widespread amongst students learning English, which corroborates other studies on this topic. Nevertheless, students in this study appear to show an interest in learning more about English varieties and World Englishes even though they are drawn to and hold the dominant standard - UK and American varieties - as the benchmark of acceptability and aspiration. By arguing that the frequently proposed measures cannot tackle native-speakerism on a truly global scale, this paper is meant to contribute to the body of research on native-speakerism and at the same time take a critical approach towards the perspectives of eliminating native-speakerism.
Revisions, Resource Consultations and Their Interplay: A Study of L2 Student Writers
Revisions and the consultation of resources are both central components of L2 student writing and essential elements in developing writing skills. In this study we aim to create insights into the writing practices of L2 student writers by exploring textual revisions and digital resource consultations, and their possible interplay. Such insights will benefit researchers and teachers in the field of second language writing and can eventually be used to support L2 students in improving their writing skills. The revisions and external resource consultations of four Danish second-year university students during the writing of a Spanish press release were captured using screen recording software and later analysed manually. Results suggest that revisions of form were far more common than revisions of content indicating that the students succeeded in generating suitable content, which did not often require revision. Results also indicate that students, by far, preferred to consult the traditional online bilingual dictionary as an external resource. This suggests that the most common problems were lexical in nature. Moreover, almost one fifth of the revisions were carried out after consulting external resources which suggests that the students frequently demonstrated the capacity to solve the problems solely by means of internal resources.
Assessing EFL Speech: A Teacher-Focused Perspective
With the aim of better understanding the difficulties that non-native teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) face when assessing oral skills, we conducted an educational training activity for in-service teachers, involving action research and reflective practice. In the first part, 27 non-native teachers were asked to use the scales of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) to assess a number of authentic EFL speech samples taken from a learner corpus. Their assessment was examined quantitatively as well as qualitatively and compared to that of two native professional raters. While the analyses highlighted a good degree of agreement between the teachers as well as between the teachers and the experts, they also confirmed the often-observed tendency for non-native raters to be more severe in their evaluation of L2 performance than native raters. The results also indicated that teachers and native experts do not base their overall assessment on the same aspects of the spoken performance. For the second part of the study, we designed group activities and discussions to help the teachers reflect on their own practices and learn from those adopted by others. The analyses showed that the teachers did not feel well-equipped to assess speech and that they would benefit from appropriate training in this area.
The Case for Synchronous Delivery of Language Teaching in the Digital Era
Technological innovation has afforded increased opportunities for second language learners in the mode of Face-to-Screen learning. Rather than simply reading graded readers, second language learners can simultaneously listen to and read an audiobook, reaping the benefits of bi-modal input. Nevertheless, not all students are able to apply themselves to online language learning, and many indicate a preference for live interaction in the second language. Face-to-Face learning offers unique advantages to second language learners; the interpersonal mode of embodied delivery continues to be important despite the proliferation of Face-to-Screen learning. Nevertheless, since the 2020 pandemic, Face-to-Face learning has been withdrawn in many cases and replaced by Live Face-to-Screen learning. Some of the unanticipated benefits of Live Face-to-Screen learning, which have become apparent since the transition to this mode of learning, are presented.
“Song-advantage” or “Cost of Singing”? A Research Synthesis of Classroom-based Intervention Studies Applying Lyrics-based Language Teaching (1972–2019)
While lyrics-based activities are increasingly popular in foreign language education, and a number of theoretical arguments have been suggested by applied linguists and SLA researchers why they are beneficial for learners, only a few empirical assessments of the actual effectiveness of lyrics-based teaching have been conducted. This contribution reviews relevant classroom-based intervention studies (N = 28) that employ a pre-/post-test multiple group design. A main aim is to assess previous claims of a “song-advantage” (Busse et al., 2018) when input is presented with the help of songs and their lyrics vs. a “cost of singing” (Racette & Peretz, 2007) in terms of an additional processing burden lowering rates of verbal recall, for instance. Results suggest that, overall, lyrics-based teaching is effective in comparison to control conditions. Effectiveness may vary, however, when different subareas (e.g. grammar vs. vocabulary) are compared. In summary, it is argued that lyrics-based activities can be viewed as a valuable means in the foreign language classroom, even though they cannot serve as universal remedy and are most effective when combined with other materials and activities. Eventually, it is suggested that both additional primary studies at a high level of methodological transparency and rigor and quantitative meta-analyses (e.g. to assess the influence of moderator variables and to systematically compare control groups with different teaching conditions) are desirable.
A corpus-based analysis of linguistic interference of Italian native speakers in English and Spanish written production as a foreign language
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the language learning process of Italian native speakers through the analysis of errors found in their English and Spanish written performance. In order to accomplish this goal, essays written by Italian university students were collected, typed and used to build two computer-readable corpora. Furthermore, competence errors retrieved from each corpus were classified according to their sources into intralingual and interlingual errors. Then, interlingual errors were classified according to linguistic levels and form of errors. Finally, the created taxonomies were analysed to simulate, subsequently, the students’ interlanguage systems. Thus, by comparing the results of the analysis, and examining the L1 negative transfers encountered in the interlanguage systems, the study has explored whether native speakers of the same L1 will develop the same learning process towards different languages. The results of the research endeavour have demonstrated that L1 has a very strong influence on foreign language acquisition and use. Moreover, the empirical research evidence has shown that in most aspects of students’ interlanguage systems, L1 influence is greater than other factors that lead to intralingual errors such as incomplete rule application and overgeneralisation. Specifically, the level of similarity between L1 and TL does not affect the considerable degree of L1 influence.
“They have a Eureka moment – there’s a rule!” The role of grammar teaching in English as a second language in Norway.
This study investigates teacher cognition and the role of grammar in English second language instruction (ESL) and the use of the target language (TL) in selected secondary schools in Norway. The data include interviews with teachers, classroom observations, and a collection of term plans. The findings suggest that teachers consider grammar an important part of ESL-instruction in order to improve students’ writing and to learn a metalanguage that can be used for discussing the structure of languages. However, little time seems to be dedicated to systematic, explicit grammar teaching and metalinguistic discussions. Interestingly, focus on grammar seems to diminish as students’ language competence improves. Furthermore, most of the teachers say that they use a deductive approach, and speak both Norwegian and English when teaching grammar. The teachers also say that many students express that they have an intuition for what is grammatically correct, but that they still make mistakes. I conclude that increased focus on explicit grammar instruction and metalinguistic awareness and discussions may improve students’ overall proficiency of English.
Investigating English Language Teachers’ Beliefs and Stated Practices Regarding Bottom-up Processing Instruction for Listening in L2 English
In a survey of teachers’ beliefs and stated practices, sourced mainly through Twitter, it was found that instruction in bottom-up processing for L2 listening in English language teaching, as recommended by research literature, is stated as being carried out although not to a very large or regular extent. It also found that most teachers stated that they do not base their listening instruction upon L1-L2 phonological differences. Additionally it was found that teachers stating they taught at the single-sound level also correlated strongly with stating that they taught at the single-word level.
A meta-investigation of the use of the labels ‘longitudinal’ and ‘long-term’ in studies of feedback on writing
A number of studies have called for more ‘longitudinal’ research of feedback on writing. However, few offer concrete definitions of the term and in practice it seems to be used inconsistently. The purpose of this meta-investigation was to explore how the terms ‘longitudinal’ and ‘long-term’ are used within the literature on feedback on writing in order to determine what the terms mean in this context. Understanding the ways in which the terms are used will increase clarity in terms of the extent of longitudinal research in the area of feedback on writing and the extent to which further longitudinal research is still needed. Having a clearer understanding of the ways in which the terms are used will help researchers to design research to fill the reported gap. Analysis illustrated discrepancies in the use of the words: a wide range in the length of time, vast difference in the amount of feedback and the number of times feedback was given. It may be prudent for researchers to not only describe their research design using labels, but to also justify the basis on which each label applies to the research.
Gender Differences in the Effects of Explicit Vocabulary Learning Strategies Training
Vocabulary knowledge is a building block in language learning, but many students struggle to learn new words regardless of their proficiency level. Various studies have demonstrated the efficacy of explicit instruction of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS). On the other hand, other studies have demonstrated that gender can affect a student’s use of language learning strategies including vocabulary learning strategies, and many of them have confirmed that females use a larger variety of strategies more often than their counterparts. The aim of this study was to shed light on gender difference as a variable for the influence of explicit VLS training. The participants were 109 Japanese EFL bioscience majors. They completed a questionnaire on vocabulary learning behavior before and after receiving explicit VLS training for 11 weeks. The questionnaire consisted of nine categories of items, two on metacognitive strategies, six on the use of cognitive and memory strategies, and one on overall use of VLS. The quantitative measures used a 5-point Likert scale and multiple-choice. The VLS training focused on four memory strategies, namely imagery, association, affix and grouping. The results from two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with VLS training and gender as factors revealed that VLS training was effective in enhancing the participants’ use of metacognitive strategies, writing rehearsal, and grouping strategy, although significant gender differences were observed for writing and grouping strategies. The students’ written comments gave us insight into their perception of these strategies. Gender difference was also observed in the overall use of strategies.
Theory and Practice in Foreign Language Writing Instruction
Foreign language (FL) instruction in the United States currently suffers from a lack of consensus regarding the teaching of writing within the FL curricula. Despite a series of advances in second language (L2) writing theory, many university FL instructors continue to use writing to focus almost exclusively on language surface form and do not encourage/require their students to focus on other deeper functions of writing. This case study investigated levels of knowledge of four of the most important L2 writing theories among 10 FL faculty members responsible for first and second-year FL curricula working at 6 U.S. universities. Participants also provided materials they use to teach FL writing and participated in a series of classroom observations which showcased their teaching of writing in the classroom. Results revealed overall very low levels of knowledge and implementation of mainstream L2 writing research among these participants.
Literary dialogues as models of conversation in English Language Teaching
This study explores dialogues from a corpus of 19th century fiction as a possible model of conversation for use in English as a second or foreign language classrooms. We employ corpus linguistics methods to investigate the extent to which such dialogues contain lexical chunks and conversation strategies. This is then compared to usage in unscripted 21st century conversations, as found in a large spoken corpus. Findings show that there are a number of similarities to modern day spoken language in the chunks used in the 19th century data but also some key differences in how some common chunks function. It is also clear that many conversation strategies are significantly underused in the fictional dialogues. Overall, the study shows that dialogues from fiction have some potential as a model of conversation and could be used to supplement materials offering very contrived dialogues.
Adult L2 Japanese learners’ production and perception of Vietnamese monophthong vowels
This paper reports a study that investigated the role of prior native or first language (L1) phonological and phonetic learning on the integration of vowel quality features in the acquisition of second language (L2) vowels by examining adult L2 Japanese learners’ perception and production of Vietnamese monophthong vowels in an identification, an imitation and a read aloud tasks. Two groups of participants took part in the study (11 control Vietnamese, 10 Japanese learners of Vietnamese). The stimuli consisted of 9 Vietnamese monophthongs /i, e, ɛ, a, ɔ, o, u, ɤ, ɯ/ and 5 simple Japanese vowels /i, e, a, o, ɯ/. The results showed that Japanese learners of Vietnamese failed to distinguish the Vietnamese vowel pairs /ɛ/-/e/, /o/-/ɔ/ and /u/-/ɯ/ accurately in their perception. In terms of production, Vietnamese vowels /ɛ/ and /e/ merged in vowel space. Moreover, the three Vietnamese vowels /ɔ/, /o/ and/ɤ/ produced by Japanese learners in both production tasks tend to cluster together. Vietnamese vowels /u/ and /ɯ/ produced by Japanese learners also overlapped in vowel space. In general, the findings of this study showed that Japanese learners transfer their L1 vowel quality features into the production of Vietnamese vowels.
Comparing lexical development at two distinct IELTS bands within an international foundation programme
This study measures lexical development in the writing of two groups of non-native speaking students on an international foundation programme at a UK University. The higher-level group entered the programme with IELTS 7.0 in writing and the lower-level group 5.5 in writing. Laufer and Nation’s (1995) Lexical Frequency Profile has been used, along with Antwordprofiler (Anthony, 2014), to calculate what proportions of common and less common vocabulary were present in their writing at the beginning and end of the academic year. These proportions were then compared with a benchmark taken from a corpus of 30 essays of accomplished students’ writing. The results show that the higher-level group moved firmly into the range of the native-speaker benchmark, but the lower-level group made more limited progress. Other measurements based on lexical variation give a different picture of lexical development in the lower group, indicating that lexical knowledge should be treated as a multi-dimensional construct. Implications for EAP courses are discussed.
An Investigation on Instructional-Level Reading Among Chinese L2 Learners
This study investigates oral reading speed and accuracy rates, silent reading speed and comprehension rates, and the relationship between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension at the instructional level of reading among Chinese-as-a-second-language (Chinese L2) adult learners across four learning levels. 80 students from three U.S. universities participated in the study. The results showed that when reading a material at the instructional level, oral reading speed increases as learning level increases for Levels 1-3, but not for Level 4, and silent reading speed increases across learning levels, but not synchronizing with reading-comprehension rate. A mid-to-high correlation was found between oral-reading fluency and reading comprehension for Levels 1-3, but not Level 4. However, a trend was observed, in that correlation strength decreases as learning level increases. Based on the findings, a scale for selecting instructional-level reading material for Chinese L2 was proposed, along with pedagogical suggestions.
The Impact of Rubric Use on Peer Feedback Tasks in a TESOL Practicum
This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study examines the impact of analytic rubric use in peer feedback on preservice teachers’ ability to recognize indicators of best practice for second language lesson planning and lesson delivery. Fifty-three preservice teachers in a university-level, semester-long TESOL practicum course received direct instruction on indicators presented in the analytic rubrics. They were then randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. The experimental group used rubrics with the indicators during peer feedback tasks, while the control group used a modified rubric without the indicators. The result from an independent samples t-test on posttest mean scores indicated a significant difference between groups for both lesson planning and lesson delivery, favoring the experimental group (p=.012). Qualitative data were also collected via written comments on the posttests and from focus-group interviews. From thematic analyses of qualitative data, three key themes emerged, including specific tensions that resulted from the type of feedback preservice teachers desired and the type of feedback they were willing to give to their peers. These findings provide further insight into the use of analytic rubrics in peer feedback practices in second language teacher education (SLTE).
Students’, Teachers’ and Recruiters’ Perception of Teaching Effectiveness and the Importance of Nativeness in ELT
The question of whether students prefer ‘native speaker’ teachers has been extensively explored (Chun, 2014; Lasagabaster & Sierra, 2005; Moussu & Llurda, 2008). Equally, there is a growing body of literature which has aimed to identify what teacher skills and qualities contribute to being an effective English teacher (Bell, 2005; J. C. Richards, 2010). Nevertheless, the question of preference for ‘native speakers’ has rarely been explored in the context of the skills and qualities of effective English teachers. Consequently, this MMR attempted to triangulate the perceptions of students, teachers and recruiters in Polish language schools as to which skills and qualities they view as important for an effective English teacher and compare these to the importance attached to ‘nativeness’. The results show that students and recruiters attached significantly more importance to proficiency and ‘nativeness’ than did the teachers, who in turn found gaining rapport in class significantly more important. Nevertheless, ‘nativeness’ and the teacher’s L1 were considered to be the least important qualities by all three cohorts. This suggests that despite the prevalence of native speakerism, ELT professionals recognise that it is not the teacher’s L1, but their pedagogical skills that contribute to teaching effectiveness.
Young EFL Learners as Co-researchers: Agents in Foreign Language Contexts
Autonomy is a crucial concept that has gained popularity in educational contexts in recent years. The importance of autonomous learners who are independent in that they are able to plan, control and evaluate their own learning has increased in classrooms. That is why this study investigates young EFL (English as a foreign language) learners’ attempts as co-researchers doing their own research autonomously. Fourth grade students in a primary school were assigned to conduct a study on a topic of their interest and were interviewed to get insights into their research processes to identify their autonomous actions. Findings show that the majority of participants were able to choose a topic and conduct studies individually without any support from the teacher, and to successfully report their findings. They had problems with reflecting on and evaluating their outcomes.
The Constraints that Influence the Application of Feature Films in EFL Classrooms in Algeria
Many learners of English in Algeria struggle with the basics of the language: poor understanding, weak grammar, inadequate vocabulary, and a lack of the four language skills. One of the crucial challenges a teacher of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) may face in Algeria is that English is not used authentically in the settings in which learners live, and learners are not motivated to learn in a conventional way. One of the widespread multimedia technologies that have become gradually more common in the teaching of English as a foreign language is film application. The research literature highlights the advantages of using films in language classes and how they can improve students’ language skills. This study investigates the constraints that influence the use of feature films in Algeria based on the main findings of a research study that was carried out at one university in Algeria involving teachers of oral expression and first-year EFL students through the use of semi-structured interviews. The findings show that the use of films is, to a great extent, effective in EFL classes. However, a key issue is how teachers can avoid the potential challenges that may influence the whole process.
Non-native Students’ Dismay in the Spoken Context in the United Kingdom
Non-native English users may not be comfortable during their stay in a native context experiencing that English is used slightly in a different way from what they learnt from books. The differences between the English of text-books and the English of daily life in a native context can contribute to an experience of language shock for non-native English users who need to use English in a native context when they travel abroad for higher education. Though both native and non-native speakers can experience language shock in either a spoken or a written context, English users who have learned English mainly from text books are at a higher risk of language shock in a native spoken context than in an academic context. This paper will critically examine how naturally spoken English in a native context differs from the academic English of text books, illustrating why the experience of language shock is more probable in any spoken context than in any written context.
Omani EFL Undergraduate Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes towards Essay Writing
Writing is still understudied regardless of its increasing significance in the academic and professional fields which demand writing proficiency in English from their candidates. However, writing in the EFL context (English as a Foreign Language) is a considerably challenging activity, with which many students struggle. Essay writing is usually a vital element in EFL writing courses and is considered an essential academic requirement. Therefore, utilizing a quantitative approach, this study investigated students’ knowledge of and attitude towards essay writing in an Omani university in relation to their majors and English language proficiency. Sixty-four male and female students responded to a two-part questionnaire that tested students’ knowledge of essay writing and examined their attitudes towards it. The study revealed a moderately positive attitude towards essay writing. It also showed a statistically significant moderate positive correlation between their knowledge of and attitude towards essay writing. It revealed that knowledge of essay writing differed significantly based on students’ English proficiency levels but not their majors. The study also showed that students’ attitude towards essay writing could be predicted based on their knowledge of essay writing but not based on their majors and English language proficiency.
How Accessible Are Unsimplified Novels for Advanced Learners of English?
Research into extensive reading, primarily by Nation (1992; 2000; 2006), suggests that an overall coverage of 98% is required to read a text with ease, further suggesting a vocabulary of 8000 words to achieve this. Through an analysis of advanced learner’s (IELTS 6.5 or above in this study) interpretation of two texts, the researcher sought to uncover whether ‘infrequent’ vocabulary was the main issue in comprehending authentic texts, considering other factors such as polysemy and diction. VocabProfile’s ability to predict the difficulty of texts in regards to frequency was analysed to answer the question, are ‘difficult’ words the same as ‘infrequent’ words? In order to investigate the above factors, VocabProfile was used to analyse two extracts from vastly different novels – Wuthering Heights (Brontë, 1847) and The Shadow of the Wind (Ruiz Zafón, 2001) – in order to establish which ‘infrequent’ words occurred in the texts. Participants were then asked to read the texts and manually repeat this process by highlighting words they did not know, and to talk about their difficulties. The results suggest there are other difficulties beyond vocabulary for advanced readers and these are discussed further with some examination of why certain participants outperformed others.
An Error Analysis of the Use of Lexical Collocations in the Academic Writing of Libyan EFL University Students
The main aim of this paper is to explore the difficulties Libyan undergraduate university English major students have in the use of verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations by looking at their performance in free production. Furthermore, twelve verbs and twelve adjectives[1] identified in this research were investigated in depth as part of their combinations. To achieve the main aim, a 250-word academic writing task was used to collect data from fourth-year university students at Tripoli University (the Department of English). The data was analysed using AntConc 3.2.1w (Anthony, 2007). After extracting the learners’ collocations, four methods were used to determine and judge the acceptability of learners’ collocations in terms of conforming to native-like use. They are: (1) the OCD (2009), (2) the online British National Corpus (3) consultations with two native speakers, and (4) the acceptability-of-collocations survey was used to triangulate the above three methods Findings from the academic writing data reveal that: (1) three broad categories of errors were identified in the erroneously produced verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations in the LLC: (i) grammatical errors, (ii) lexical errors and (iii) errors related to usage; and (2) Furthermore, these categories were classified into sixteen and twelve error types in verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations respectively such as wrong choice of verb, wrong choice of adjective, wrong choice of noun, determiner errors, preposition errors, number errors, wrong word order errors, word form errors, usage category errors, intensifier errors and wrong register errors. [1] The twelve verbs are do, provide, acquire, gain, enhance, make, offer, take, give, get, have and require. The twelve adjectives are good, academic, high, higher, modern, current, practical, specific, basic, general, great and special.
The Pragmatic Functions of the Expression ‘Insha’a Allah’ in the Speech Acts of Non-native, Non-Muslim Arabic Speakers
There is a large volume of published studies on the pragmatic functions of the Arabic expression ‘insha’a Allah’, which has a literal translation of (“God willing”). However, these studies investigated this issue from the perspective of Arab or Muslim participants only. Thus far, no attempt has been made to understand how the expression is used by non-native, non-Muslim speakers of Arabic as a second language. Based on the speech-act theory, this paper reports on a pilot study which investigates the different intercultural pragmatic functions of the expression ‘insha’a Allah’ in the speech acts of seven non-Arab, non-Muslim participants who speak Arabic as a second language, and who have been aware of the expression ‘insha’a Allah’ for at least four years. Accordingly, this qualitative study is unique because it is the first that aims to (1) contribute to the fields of intercultural communication and pragmatics; and (2) shed light on misunderstandings of the expression ‘insha’a Allah’ before and after individuals become familiar with it. To obtain data, the researcher constructed a questionnaire to generate factual and attitudinal information (Dörnyei, 2003). The questionnaire consisted of twelve open-ended questions to provide the participants with the opportunity to answer freely (Creswell, 2014). The results revealed that the intercultural pragmatic functions of the expression ‘insha’a Allah’ as recognised by the participants serve six illocutionary and two perlocutionary functions. Also, the results showed that the participants’ motivations for using it reflect their deep understanding of the importance of integrating with Arabs in order to communicate successfully.
The 4th International Conference on Modern Foreign Languages, Linguistics and Literature was held at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK on 1st June 2017. The six papers collected in this special edition of the Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research have been developed from papers first delivered at the event which brought together over thirty presentations in total from presenters in ten countries. Largely focused on giving opportunities to postgraduate research students to acquire valuable experience of conference participation and attendance, the event also included early career researchers, and addressed a wide range of research topics across theoretical and applied linguistics, as well as literary and cultural studies.
Explicit Demonstration of Cross-linguistic Similarities in Teaching Japanese Kanji to Malaysian University Students
This study examines the usefulness of using Malay to teach Japanese words comprising Chinese characters (“Kanji”) to 107 Malaysian, native Malay-speaking university students. Most participants had no previous knowledge of Japanese and the others were still at the novice level. The experimental group was provided a vocabulary list with written instructions in Malay and Japanese vocabulary that included 28 frequently used characters, whereas the control group was given a list with the same words but without such instructions. The 28 Japanese words were presented as 14 pairs in the list distributed to the experimental group, with each pair comprising a common Kanji component or common Malay radical that highlighted semantic similarities between Japanese and Malay. Both the experimental and control groups were given 30 minutes to learn the 28 Kanji and another 30 minutes to answer identical multiple-choice tests containing 28 questions. After the test, the average scores of the experimental and control groups were analyzed using the t-test. At a 5% confidence level, a significant difference was found between the scores of the two groups (p < .001, t = 6.893, d = 1.34). Thus, the authors concluded that providing a vocabulary list highlighting semantic similarities between Japanese and Malay with written instruction in Malay, the learners’ first language, can benefit native Malay-speaking university students in their acquisition of basic Chinese characters used in Japanese.
Examining Pre-service ESL Teacher Beliefs: Perspectives on First Language Use in the Second Language Classroom
Although research into the use of the first language (L1) in second language (L2) learning has grown in strength in recent years, the majority of ESL teacher-training courses still provide little to no information regarding L1 use in L2 teaching. This paper investigates the perspectives of pre-service ESL teachers regarding the use of the L1 in L2 learning, the potential reasons underpinning these views, and what, if any, further education is needed in ESL teacher training courses regarding L1 use in the L2 classroom. The results of this study suggest that, although the pre-service teacher participants were accepting of L1 use at times, their acceptance was limited, implying a lack of a complete understanding overall. The author recommends ESL teacher-training courses equip future teachers with more information regarding L1 use in L2 learning so that they can to make their own informed decisions on effective L1 use in their classrooms.
The use of drawing tasks as a creative strategy for pupils in the English as Foreign Language (EFL) classroom
The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of drawing tasks as a creative strategy for pupils in the English as Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. The study of 39 fifth-graders (15 girls and 24 boys) used anonymous feedback forms, interviews and a whole-class discussion to elicit pupils' attitudes towards drawing strategies. The main findings revealed that drawing increased pupils' motivation and participation in EFL lessons, as well as promoted comprehension and retention of content materials. Based on the results, we believe that drawing activities are specifically suited to foreign language learning for emotional and academic reasons. Teachers should clarify the goal of drawing activities in the EFL classroom and emphasize their importance for pupils' demonstration of acquired content knowledge, rather than the aesthetic elements of artistic production. We recommend the addition of drawing tasks to expose pupils to alternative learning strategies for foreign language learning.
Students' Use of Second Life in Learning Spanish as a Foreign Language
The affordances of Second Life provide a life-like environment for language learning. This study explores how college students learn Spanish as a foreign language in the Second Life environment. We investigated their perceptions of and experiences with Second Life in their foreign language learning, from a sociocultural perspective. Employing qualitative research methods, we collected chat logs, observations, reflective journals, and interviews. Findings include a) the advantages of authentic communication with native Spanish speakers, b) learners’ motivation and anxiety, c) opportunities to practice the target language, d) the nature of their language production, and e) the participatory culture. Our discussion highlights the various ways in which Second Life can provide a good environment for language learning. We describe benefits such as opportunities for authentic conversation, and to explore the target culture, as well as increased motivation for foreign language learning in Second Life. Students did encounter a few challenges, but in general Second Life provides an excellent platform to practice language skills.
Explicit Instruction of Memory Vocabulary Learning Strategies in an ESP Context
Recent studies have shown that proficient language learners make substantial use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS). However, teaching VLS is not emphasized in English education in Japan. This is especially problematic when students are required to learn the technical terms of their field in university since those terms are usually low-frequency words that the students do not encounter when learning academic English. The present study examines the effectiveness of explicit VLS instruction for learning biology terms for Japanese students who major in biology. The study also investigates which VLS are suitable for these students in accordance with their vocabulary size. The instructed VLS in this study were all memory strategies: imagery, association, grouping, and a strategy using affixes. The results revealed that both students with smaller vocabulary sizes and those with larger vocabulary sizes were satisfied with explicit VLS instruction but that lack of vocabulary can hinder the use of some types of memory strategies. The study demonstrates the efficacy of explicit memory VLS instruction in ESP settings, especially the strategy using affixes and roots.