On several occasions in his work, R. S. Peters identifies a difficulty inherent in teaching that underscores the complexity of this relationship: the teacher has the task of passing on knowledge while at the same time allowing knowledge that is passed on to be criticised and revised by the learner. This inquiry asks: first, how does Peters envisage these two tasks coming together in teaching, and, second, does he go far enough in developing what it means for the teacher to (...) recognise the difference and otherness of the learner? At the heart of the matter in answering these questions is how to conceive of the connection between learning and the transformation of the individual. Before turning to Peters, this inquiry begins by discussing connections between transformation and learning in classical and contemporary philosophical discourse. In this context, notions of discontinuity and interruption are shown to be central to understanding transformational learning processes. Peters' thought is then located within this discourse and taken up in three central ways: (1) by analysing his notion of teaching (2) by examining the ideas of learning and transformation embedded in his concept of teaching, and (3) by inquiring into how these issues relate to his idea of philosophy of education as a central part of teacher education. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Transformation and the Negativity and Discontinuity in Learning Recognising the other as learner: On Peters' Concept of the Teacher as Educator World as Other: Transformative Encounters with the World as a Challenge to Teacher and Learner Implications for Teaching On the Indispensability of Philosophy of Education for Teacher Education Conclusions Notes References.

States are beginning to restructure their U.S. history assessments from previous multiple-choice based assessments to include written-response questions that have higher levels of academic language demands. These higher-order thinking and analytical items pose challenges to linguistically and culturally diverse students. The purpose of the current study is to investigate how the restructuring of a U.S. history state assessment is associated with English Learners’ (ELs) achievement over time. The author incorporates 3 years of data from the Tennessee Department of (...) Education, and utilizes multi-level modeling (Hierarchical Linear Modeling) to examine and compare the association between school percentage ELs and U.S. history achievement on Tennessee's (TN) U.S. history state assessment. Findings indicate that the restructuring of the TN U.S. history state assessment in the 2015–16 school year is significantly and inversely associated with ELs’ achievement on this assessment. At the same time, there are no significant associations for the 2012–13 and the 2013–14 school years. This suggests a negative inverse association between the restructuring of the TN U.S. history state assessment and ELs’ performance. In addition, this suggests that ELs’ lack of U.S. history reading and writing ability may have contributed to the negative association. (shrink)

In the current climate of high-stakes testing and performance-based accountability measures, there is a pressing need to reconsider the nature of teaching and what capacities one must develop to be a good teacher. Educational policy experts around the world have pointed out that policies focused disproportionately on student test outcomes can promote teaching practices that are reified and mechanical, and which lead to students developing mere memorisation skills, rather than critical thinking and conceptual understanding. Philosophers of dialogue and dialogic teaching (...) offer a different view of teaching, one that counters mechanical, transmissive or ‘monologic’ teaching. In this paper, I seek to extend the notion of dialogic teaching as a method of supporting social and moral learning processes. Specifically, my focus is on answering the question: What capacities must a teacher have to engage students dialogically? Drawing on Paulo Freire and other contemporary philosophers, I examine dialogic interaction as involving a way of ‘being with learners’ and put forth three teacher capacities necessary for dialogic teaching: self-critique, narrativity and building community. I then examine further what is concretely entailed in the practice of dialogic teaching using research in educational psychology. I aim to highlight how dialogic teaching, unlike monologic teaching, involves the teacher's active ability to support learners’ identification and exploration of their own blind spots—that is, the limits of knowledge and ability—and those of others. Following this, I consider implications of my discussion for international policy on teacher assessment. I close the paper with considerations for future research on teacher capacity and teacher evaluation. This paper contributes to our understanding of teacher capacity and the nature and aims of good teaching. (shrink)

Teaching seeks to enhance learners’ well-being as well as their educational motivation since both constructs cause advancement in the process of learning and they increase the level of success in the educational cycle. Well-being is a critical requirement inside the academic environment that is considered as the main dimension of individuals’ tendency in the topic of positive psychology research, which is crucial for learning. Besides, as a significant idea in language domain and in order to consider the relation between (...) well-being and motivation, the other concept is arisen in PP, namely resilience that seems to be effective for learners as it deals with the capability to effectively manage difficulties in the past and present time in the learning process. As a result, this study considers the relationship between well-being and motivation; however, it also inspects the mediating role of resilience in this regard. Consequently, this review of literature holds suggestions for researchers, philosophers, and experts searching for better exploration and attention to the functions of resilience as a mediator in the relationship between learners’ motivation and well-being. (shrink)

In his central educational work, The Science of Education (1806), J.F. Herbart did not explicitly develop a theory of listening, yet his concept of the teacher as a guide in the moral development of the learner gives valuable insight into the moral dimension of listening within teacher-student interaction. Herbart's theory radically calls into question the assumed linearity between listening and obedience to external authority, not only illuminating important distinctions between socialization and education, but also underscoring consequences for our understanding of (...) the role of listening in educational relations. In this inquiry, Andrea English argues that critical listening in teaching contributes to the moral education and development of the learner. To do this, she examines Herbart's view of the teacher's task as a moral guide in the realm of moral education. English contends that reexamining Herbart's theory of education (a theory that is, for the most part, no longer discussed in Anglo-American educational philosophy) can productively inform our understanding of moral education in democratic and pluralist societies. (shrink)

Reforms surrounding the teacher’s role in fostering students’ social competences, especially those associated with empathy, have moved to the forefront of global higher education policy discourse. In this context, reform in higher education teaching has been focused on shifting teachers’ practices away from traditional lecture-style teaching—historically associated with higher education teaching—towards student-centred pedagogical approaches, largely because of how the latter facilitate students’ social learning, including the development of students’ abilities connected to empathy, such as intercultural understanding. These developments towards learner-oriented (...) higher education teaching may offer promising opportunities; however, a central problem within these current policy recommendations is that the connection between cultivating empathy and cultivating imagination is not explicitly foregrounded. Against this background, I turn to Dewey’s notion of imagination to show how imagination is indispensable to all learning, and therefore has a role to play in teaching. In this article, I show how imagination is not only deeply connected to empathy, but also critical for gaining intercultural understanding and is a condition for the possibility that, as human beings, we can learn with and from others. On this basis, I argue that Dewey’s notion of imagination provides significant insight on how to rethink what is needed to create inclusive classrooms in higher education, especially under conditions of cultural, linguistic and religious diversity. First, I consider Dewey’s concept of learning and the indispensable role of imagination in learning. Second, drawing on the work of Martha Nussbaum, I examine how teaching through the narrative arts in higher education cultivates the imagination and helps us engage the lives of others. I use an example from my own teaching to illustrate how the narrative arts can foster dialogue across difference through the development of what I call ‘third voice’—a different or other ‘position’ that productively mediates reflective interaction between participants, including teacher and learners. In closing, I consider the implications of my discussion for present and future higher education policy on the evaluation of ‘quality teaching’. (shrink)

This study investigates metaphor in its role to mediate concepts in academic textbooks and promote content understanding in the English-medium instruction (EMI) context. Of particular interest is how the language of the discourse affected and possibly hindered metaphor comprehension. Drawing on the theoretical insights found in sociocultural theory and cognitive linguistics, a stance was assumed in which language is treated as embodied and contextual, and verbalizing thoughts (languaging) assists understanding. Three pairs of Japanese students with varying English proficiency (...) levels were invited to participate in online group-based think-aloud protocols where they read and discussed selected paragraphs taken from two social and two natural science textbooks written in English. After accessing the participants’ general knowledge about the main topic of each paragraph, content understanding was accounted for in form of prompts during the think-aloud sessions and a 3-week delayed posttest. In total, over 8 hours of video data were collected, transcribed, and treated with the metaphor identification procedure MIPVU. Qualitative inspections of charged moments in discourse pinpoint metaphor as an important tool for compressing abstract entities or processes into meaningful, dense bundles of information. Participants also created their own analogies and expanded on found metaphoric expressions in textbooks when attempting to make sense of abstract phenomena in science. Further, this study confirms that the lack of English proficiency or schematic knowledge can result in non-understanding, misunderstanding, or partial understanding of metaphoric expressions which has implications for the EMI context. (shrink)

Many researchers have acknowledged the role of metacognition in facilitating learning to write in English as a foreign language. Although research on metacognition has explored learners’ metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive strategies in the field of EFL writing, little is known about the nature of learners’ metacognitive experiences in EFL writing. To fill such an important gap, this study was designed to assess EFL learners’ metacognitive experiences before, during, and after writing. Data were collected from a total (...) of 760 undergraduates through three self-report questionnaires and a writing task. Results from quantitative analyses showed four subcategories of EFL learners’ metacognitive experiences in writing: metacognitive feeling, metacognitive judgments/estimates, online task-specific metacognitive knowledge, and online task-specific metacognitive strategies. Based on the empirical evidence, we propose a model of metacognitive experiences in EFL writing. Theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications are discussed. (shrink)

Drawing on the sociocultural approach, this study aims to explore EFL learners’ perceptions toward collaborative writing, and the role that learners’ emotions play as a factor influencing their collaboration and achievements in face to face and Blackboard Chatbox as applied in their EFL classes. A mixed-methods research approach was used with a sample of 58 male students enrolled in writing courses at three levels at the Department of English Language and Translation, Qassim University. Three instruments were used (...) for data collection; a 45-item closed-ended questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and the learners’ overall performance. The findings shown that most learners have positive perceptions toward studying online through Blackboard, and Blackboard Chatbox. Furthermore, Blackboard Chatbox could provide necessary affordances to facilitate learners’ emotion, which could enhance their collaborative writing. However, no significant difference was observed between learners’ performance in the two models of instruction. Taken together, the results of the present study enhance current understanding of the role of learners’ emotions in collaborative writing with the use of technology. (shrink)

Learners’ willingness to communicate in a foreign language is regarded as a critical issue in educational contexts, so the role of emotional factors in learners’ willingness to communicate has drawn the attention of investigators. This review investigated the studies on the relationship between English as a Foreign Language learners’ grit, foreign language anxiety, and willingness to communicate. This review showed a significant relationship between learners’ grit and willingness to communicate. The earlier studies showed that gritty (...) learners with incessant inspiring efforts are more likely to communicate in a foreign language. This review also indicated that lower anxious learners tend to have more willingness to communicate. Earlier studies also indicated that the theories, such as broaden-and-build, positive psychology, dynamic system, affective filter, and attentional control can justify the relationships between these constructs. Moreover, the study has some pedagogical implications and suggestions for teachers, learners, syllabus designers, material developers, teacher educators, policy-makers, and advisors. The ideas can improve their awareness of teachers’ willingness to communicate, grit, and foreign language anxiety in educational environments. (shrink)

Foreign language learning anxiety has been the target of many studies in the field of applied linguistics, but, with the dynamics turn in the field, attempts have been recently made to uncover the dynamics of anxiety English as a foreign language learners go through, especially within the moments of their conversational interactions. Within these interactions, dynamics of anxiety might emerge in different patterns under the influence of the status of the participants’ interlocutors and their familiarity with them. This (...) study explores the dynamics of EFL learners’ anxiety while interacting with different interlocutors from an idiodynamic perspective. The participants of this case study were two female freshman students, taking a speaking and listening university course, who were interviewed by four interlocutors with different status and level of familiarity. Following an idiodynamic method, they self-rated their anxiety fluctuations under the influence of each interlocutor throughout each conversation followed by stimulated recall interviews regarding the explanations of the changes in their anxiety during the conversations. The results showed both change and stability in the participants’ anxiety under the influence of the interlocutors’ familiarity with the participants and their status as well their verbal and nonverbal feedback. The explanation of these changes based on the main properties of complex dynamic system theory is discussed. (shrink)

This research aims to investigate the impact of learning lexical chunks on the English as a Foreign Language Saudi learners’ speaking fluency. The study uses an intervention with intermediate Saudi learners comprising lexical chunks based upon the books Collocation in Use and Common Idioms in English. Findings obtained from the post-test show that the experimental groups scored significantly better when compared to their performance in the pre-test of speaking fluency. On the contrary, the difference in the (...) performance of the control group between the pre and post-tests is not significant as far as speaking fluency is concerned. The findings also show that the experimental group participants had favorable sentiments regarding explicit lexical chunk training. The research has theoretical and practical consequences in teaching and learning a foreign/second language. (shrink)

Recently, the use of new educational technologies in language teaching development is expanding rapidly. Educational technologies attach new features to the learning environments. The integration of educational technologies in language teaching has been received special attention among language researchers. In so doing, the present study investigated language learners’ perceptions of the integration of innovative educational technologies in their language classrooms. The sample comprised 301 English as a foreign language students with different academic qualifications from Shaanxi Province and other (...) provinces in China. To gather the necessary data, the researcher conducted a technology integration questionnaire and a focus group interview. The results of obtained data demonstrated that the language learners had positive attitudes toward using technology in their classrooms. However, the findings of the interviews indicated that learners had some problems such as lack of technology literacy and inadequate assess to facilities in participating in technology-based classroom activities. (shrink)

It has been widely acknowledged that exemplifi cation plays a very signifi cant role in foreign language learning. Many studies have been conducted on dictionary examples, but little attention has been paid to how examples can assist a specifi c group of foreign learners engaged in a specifi c learning activity. The present study is intended to fi ll this gap by investigating how to optimize examples in English learners’ dictionaries to help Chinese learners with writing (...) in English. The functional theory of lexicography will be employed in this study. This investigation will be carried out in two stages. The fi rst one consists in identifying the lexicographic needs of foreign learners engaged in the task of English writing and consulting dictionary examples. The second stage is a demonstration of some proposals for exemplifi cation in learners’ dictionaries through model articles. The purpose of this study is to give new insights into exemplifi cation in learners’ dictionaries for future lexicographic research and practice. (shrink)

Within the context of China, this study seeks to examine the relationship between English language proficiency, the native dialect of the learner, and the learner’s reason, or motivation for learning English. English language proficiency can be an important vehicle for accessing high quality higher education, for interacting with non-Chinese, and for enhancing employment and career opportunities Data was gathered through an online survey with 985 usable responses recorded. Respondents included a distribution of speakers from five of the (...) major distinct dialects of China. The analysis provides empirical evidence of a diversity of propensities and motivations for English language acquisition among learners from different regions and native dialects. Access to international higher education as a type of motivation is found to have a moderating effect on English proficiency. Other findings suggest that learners in regions with more historic exposure to foreign interaction are more likely to be motivated for social reasons, those from regions with export focused commerce will be motivated for business related reasons. The results of this study may be of interest to policy makers, linguists, educators, and those with an interest in socioeconomic sustainability through language acquisition and education as a method of socioeconomic mobility. (shrink)

Given the centrality of learners’ individual differences in their academic achievement, a plethora of research has been done on various individual difference variables and their associations with learners’ increased achievement. Yet, the role of creativity and self-efficacy in EFL learners’ academic achievement has not been extensively studied. Further, no review inquiry has simultaneously probed into the consequences of these two individual difference variables for learners’ academic achievement. This study strives to fill this underappreciated gap by addressing (...) the positive consequences of creativity and self-efficacy for EFL learners’ academic achievement. The desirable consequences of creativity and self-efficacy beliefs were clarified using the available evidence. Finally, the conclusions and consequences of the findings are discussed. (shrink)

The “dynamic turn” in the field of second language acquisition catalyzed scholarly devotion to the complex dynamic relationships between learner and teacher variables and various academic emotions. As such, the present study examined the varying effects of the aforementioned variables on the constructs of positive and negative flow, and determined their strongest predictors, respectively. This study used a mixed-method approach to collect data from 607 Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language learners. In stage one of the research, the researcher first assessed the (...) participants’ levels of positive flow and negative flow in a blended learning context, then performed Pearson correlation analysis to confirm a significant, but weak positive relationship between positive flow and negative flow. Then, significant difference tests were run to determine the varied effects of those variables on flow. Finally, two multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify five predictors of positive flow, with the biggest contribution coming from learners’ attitudes toward the foreign language, and three predictors of negative flow, with the learners’ major accounting for the majority of variance. In the second stage of the research, a qualitative corpus was constructed, based on accounts of classroom experiences from 71 participants of the total sample, and further illustrated the quantitative findings. Pedagogical implications for educational psychologists and teachers of second and/or foreign languages are addressed. (shrink)

Socializing students to Academic Integrity in the face of great cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic diversity in the student population in higher education calls for innovative strategies that are aligned with equity, diversity and inclusion principles. Through a mixed method of quantitative analysis of learner engagement data from the Learning Management System and analysis of anonymous evaluation survey, along with thematic analysis of students’ open-ended responses in the evaluation survey, the authors explored how students responded to AI Socialization during a 4-week (...) non-credit, online co-curricular program called ‘Reading and Writing Excellence’. Nine groups of undergraduate students from 34 disciplines in different global locations during the COVID-19 pandemic were introduced to a curated set of AI online resources. Through a learner-driven, instructor-facilitated approach the AI Socialization also engaged students in language development and empowered them to communicate about their disciplinary course topics through written journal entries, receiving instructor feedback that increased their cultural and linguistic capital for further academic writing. This approach led to a high volume of written output. Nonparametric ANOVA was used to establish that low-proficiency students were able to produce as much written output as their more proficient peers. Survey results for various aspects important to academic integrity show students’ self-perception of readiness for academic writing: paraphrasing and summarizing ; organization of ideas ; critical thinking ; logic/argument. Insights gained about educative engagement, language development and learner empowerment that can help students from diverse backgrounds to avoid Academic Integrity Violations and gain transformative access and success in higher education are incorporated into a set of recommendations that are applicable to a wide range of teaching contexts. (shrink)

Since learners’ academic achievement is the ultimate goal of any system of education, multitudes of studies have been conducted on this variable and its determinants. That is, several scholars have explored the effects of student-related and teacher-related factors on learners’ academic achievement. Notwithstanding, a few researchers have investigated the effects of teachers’ self-efficacy and creativity on learners’ academic achievement. Furthermore, no study has reviewed the role of these teacher-related factors in learners’ achievement. Therefore, the present study (...) seeks to bridge the lacunas by delving into the influence of teachers’ self-efficacy and creativity on English as a Foreign Language learners’ academic achievement. The beneficial effects of self-efficacy beliefs and creative teaching were outlined through the existing evidence. This seems to be illuminative for EFL teachers. Given the positive consequences of teachers’ self-efficacy for students’ achievement, EFL teachers should believe in themselves and their abilities to lead their students to academic success. Additionally, with regard to the positive impact of teachers’ creativity on learners’ achievement, EFL teachers are expected to teach the course content creatively. (shrink)

The present study aimed at investigating the motivational factors affecting Iranian learners’ learning of English as a Foreign Language across differing levels of language proficiency. To this end, 110 males and 70 females with an age range of 18–31 took part in the study and a mixed-methods approach was adopted. First, the researchers administered Oxford Placement Test to determine the proficiency level of the participants and placed them into three levels of language proficiency. Elementary, intermediate, and advanced. Next, (...) as for the quantitative part of the study, the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery questionnaire was distributed among all the participants to delve into the motivational factors. Finally, a semi-structured interview was conducted to qualitatively probe into EFL learners’ motivational factors affecting their learning of English. It was found that the motivational factors which encouraged EFL learners resulted from either intrinsic or extrinsic tendencies. The recognized intrinsically-based motivational factors were personal enjoyment, social prestige, and being challenged. The extrinsically-oriented factors as the source of motivation to learn English were getting a job, pursuing education, earning more money, traveling to foreign countries, pursuing academic careers, making efficient use of technology, and effectively interacting with native speakers. It was concluded that beginner and intermediate English language learners tended to learn English more based on extrinsic factors whereas advanced learners were found to be more intrinsically motivated. (shrink)

This review tends to investigate the related studies on the relationships among positive affectivity as a type of positive psychology construct and academic disengagement and communication apprehension as two types of negative emotions. The negative correlations among CA, disengagement, and positive affectivity like enjoyment have been verified in the review of the literature. Moreover, little research has been done on the relationship between academic disengagement and CA. The studies showed that some factors such as encouraging teaching methodologies, positive classroom context, (...) exciting and challenging classroom tasks can act as mediators in the relationship between positive affectivity and CA. In the end, the pedagogical implications are explicated to foster the language learning quality and to develop a language educational system. Suggestions for further research are provided to develop the existent literature on the relationship between English as a foreign language learners’ academic disengagement, CA, and their positive affectivity. (shrink)

This paper investigates the evaluation of ritual frame indicating expressions (RFIEs) in two groups of L2 learners: British English learners of Chinese and Mainland Chinese learners of English. RFIEs are expressions by means of which speakers confirm their awareness of rights and obligations in a particular standard situation. Previous research in applied linguistics has largely ignored the production and evaluation of such forms, despite the fact that they are pragmatically-loaded and, as such, are very important (...) for the development of the (meta)pragmatic competence of L2 learners. In our study, we have conducted an experiment in which we exposed our learners to both authentic and constructed uses of RFIEs. The evaluation of their (meta)pragmatic competence has revealed notable linguacultural differences between the two groups of L2 learners. (shrink)

This study investigates the reasons leading to Chinese students? foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA). China is a nation with the largest number of English as a foreign language learners in the world, but most of them have learnt ?mute English? when it comes to expressing themselves orally in English. FLSA may be an important factor leading to their unsatisfactory learning achievements. However, it has not been adequately addressed in the educational settings of China. This study endeavours (...) to make a contribution in this aspect. With two cross-validated methods (questionnaire survey and focused interview), this study drew comprehensive data from 332 participants at two universities in China and found 14 major reasons of Chinese students? FLSA. It also compared students? and teachers? views about these reasons and reported the significant differences emerged. It further argued that understanding the reasons is an important step in reducing FLSA and hence enhancing learning effectiveness. (shrink)

While previous studies have examined front-line teachers’ written feedback practices in second language writing classrooms, such studies tend to not take teachers’ language and sociocultural backgrounds into consideration, which may mediate their performance in written feedback provision. Therefore, much remains to be known about how L2 writing teachers with different first languages enact written feedback. To fill this gap, we designed an exploratory study to examine native English-speaking and non-native English-speaking teachers’ written feedback practices in the Chinese tertiary (...) context. Our study collected 80 English as a foreign language students’ writing samples with teacher written feedback and analyzed them from three aspects: Feedback scope, feedback focus, and feedback strategy. The findings of our study revealed that the two groups of teachers shared similar practices regarding feedback scope and feedback strategies. Both NES and NNES EFL teachers used a comprehensive approach to feedback provision, although NNES teachers provided significantly more feedback points than their NES peers and they delivered their feedback directly and indirectly. However, their practices differed greatly with regard to feedback focus. Specifically, when responding to EFL students’ writing, NES teachers showed more concern with global issues, whereas NNES teachers paid more attention to linguistic errors. With a surge in the recruitment of expatriate NES and local NNES English teachers in China and other EFL countries, our study is expected to make a contribution to a better understanding of the two groups of EFL teachers’ pedagogical practices in written feedback provision and generate important implications for their feedback provision. (shrink)

The present study intends to provide empirical evidence on the effect of Philosophy for Children integrated with English picture storybook instruction on adolescent learners of English as a foreign language. Previous studies have documented the instructional benefits of P4C in various fields; very little evidence, however, can be found in ESL or EFL contexts. The present study was therefore carried out to explore the beneficial effects of P4C applied in EFL instruction with picture storybooks as instructional materials. (...) A total of 62 students participated in the study, divided into one P4C group and one non-P4C group. Participants in the P4C group underwent 10 weeks of English storybook instruction with P4C in a school club, and the effects of instruction were measured by questionnaires and reading comprehension tests. Results of the study showed that students in the P4C group experienced a slightly higher level of English learning anxiety, retained higher English learning motivation after the instruction, and improved their English reading comprehension. Finally, pedagogical implications are presented. (shrink)

As the use of strategies facilitates the tedious process of language learning, a multitude of studies have been conducted on language learning strategies and their educational consequences. Nonetheless, grammar learning strategies have not been widely studied. Moreover, no review study has been carried out to illustrate the role of individual differences in the use of GLSs. To address the existing gaps, the present review study intends to explain the role of English as a foreign language learners’ individual differences (...) in their employment of GLSs. The favorable impact of individual difference variables on grammar learning strategy use was proved using the theoretical and empirical evidence. Future research directions and pedagogical implications are also discussed. (shrink)

The main goal of this study was to identify factors motivating pragmatic transfer in advanced learners of English. Based on a cross-cultural comparison of requesting behavior between Koreans and Americans, this study determined the impact of individual subjective motives on pragmatic language choice. Two different groups of subjects participated in this study: 30 Korean participants and 30 American college students. Data were collected by using a Discourse Completion Task. Korean participants provided the data for Korean and English (...) versions of DCT. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 13 Korean ESL learners who showed the most and least amount of pragmatic transfer. Findings showed evidence of pragmatic transfer in the request responses given by Korean ESL learners in their requestive strategies, level of directness, and perspectives of head acts. The interview data revealed that Korean students were conscious of differing rules for making requests. Learners’ judgment of L2 pragmatic norms, perception of their own language, and their attitudes of the target language influence language use. Furthermore, findings showed that purpose of learning English, different types of motivation, and the length of intended residence contribute to the extent of pragmatic transfer. (shrink)

Founded on the advent of Positive Psychology in recent decades, the learners’ involvement has been a critical issue since the origin of teaching and learning despite it being quickly developed in previous decades. The enhancement of motivational aspects like self-efficacy and interest appears to have a high impact on learners’ success and achievement. Although both constructs are extensively investigated in various subjects, their association between and the learners’ involvement in the process of language learning have not been (...) taken into account so far. This review intended to scrutinize the association among students’ self-efficacy, their academic interest, and their involvement. It is significant to pinpoint that the current review can help educational administrations, professional improvement centers, and policymakers to consider the above-mentioned issues in the progression of language education to develop their involvement. (shrink)

Influenced by the flowering of positive psychology in the field of foreign language acquisition research in recent years, the present study aimed to explore the perceived functions of playfulness, as a personality construct, among English as a foreign language learners. To this aim, an initial sample of 38 EFL learners were selected randomly from the private language institutes of Mashhad, the second largest city in Iran. They were interviewed about any perceived functions of playfulness in the EFL (...) learning context. A qualitative content analysis of the collected data led to the extraction of four categories: Fun and laughter, creativity, mastery orientation, and cultivating relationships. A further in-depth analysis of the categories and comparison with the functions of adult playfulness in psychology revealed that these four categories can be subsumed under two of the four structural components of adult playfulness; namely, other-directed playfulness and intellectual playfulness. The ability of EFL learners to turn language learning situations, tasks, and environment into enjoyable ones via their playfulness can have implications for the quality of their interpersonal interactions in class and eventually their language proficiency. The findings of this study can pave the way for the translation of the adult playfulness construct from developmental and personality psychology and family relations into the second language acquisition domain and its conceptualization in future research in this domain. (shrink)

The present study investigated the impacts of mobile assisted vocabulary learning via digital flashcards. The data were collected from 44 adult English as Foreign Language learners in three intact classes in a private language teaching institute in Iran, randomly assigned to experimental and control learning conditions. The experimental group used a freely available DF application to learn items from a recently developed corpus-based word list for high-frequency vocabulary in English. The treatment was implemented as out-of-the-classroom learning activities (...) where the EFL learners used DFs to augment their vocabulary knowledge, and their learning gains were compared to the control group that received regular English language education. The participants’ vocabulary knowledge was tested in pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests, and the findings indicated that using DFs for outside the classroom vocabulary learning contributed significantly to short- and long-term improvements in the knowledge of high-frequency words. The study provided empirical evidence for the affordances of mobile assisted vocabulary learning for learning a considerable proportion of core vocabulary and has some implications for addressing the vocabulary learning needs of EFL learners. (shrink)

The expression of time in languages is universal, whereas the means of expressing time are language specific. Hence the acquisition of a foreign language always involves the acquisition of different linguistic means to express time. Generally the writer/ speaker of a language can apply lexical means to do so, i.e. s/he may apply temporal adverbs, adjectives, substantives, prepositions, conjunctions, particles and verbs, and grammatical means, i.e. tenses, aspects, and syntactical means. Usually time is not conveyed by the use of only (...) one of these means, but by employing several means,1 what makes the acquisition of a second language all the more difficult. (shrink)

This study examined the interrelationships among selected cognitive characteristics of Iranian EFL learners including English self-efficacy, metacognitive awareness, and their test performance. For this purpose, a model was proposed based on empirical studies and was tested using structural equation modeling. Following this, two questionnaires were administrated to 200 Iranian EFL learners of two language institutes in Mashhad, Iran. Results of this study indicated that Iranian EFL learners perceived themselves self-efficacious. They were also metacognitively aware of their (...) learning process. Correlation analysis results showed that metacognitive awareness statistically correlated with English self-efficacy and foreign language test performance. It was found that English self-efficacy significantly correlated with foreign language test performance as well. The proposed SEM model adequately fitted the data. Results of the SEM indicated that self-efficacy was the strongest direct predictor of learners’ test performance. Metacognitive awareness directly affected learners’ English self-efficacy. It also indirectly affected test performance through affecting English self-efficacy. (shrink)

Languages differ systematically in how to encode a motion event. English characteristically expresses manner in verb root and path in verb particle; in Chinese, varied aspects of motion, such as manner, path and cause, can be simultaneously encoded in a verb compound. This study investigates whether typological differences, as such, influence how first and second language learners conceptualise motion events, as suggested by behavioural evidences. Specifically, the performance of Chinese learners of English, at three proficiencies, was (...) compared to that of two groups of monolingual speakers in a triads matching task. The first set of analyses regarding categorisation preferences indicates that participants across groups preferred the path-matched (rather than manner-matched) screens. However, the second set of analyses regarding reaction time suggests, firstly, that English monolingual speakers reacted significantly more quickly in selecting the manner-matched scenes compared with monolingual speakers of Chinese, who tended to use an approximately equal amount of time in making manner- and path-matched decisions, a finding that can arguably be mapped onto the typological difference between the two languages. Secondly, the pattern of response latency in low-level L2 learners looked more like that of monolingual speakers of Chinese. Only at intermediate and advanced levels of acquisition did the behavioural pattern of L2 learners become target-like, thus suggesting language-specific constraints from the L1 at an early stage of acquisition. Overall, our results suggest that motion event cognition may be linked to, among other things, the linguistic structure of motion description in particular languages. (shrink)

Different writing systems in the world select different units of spoken language for mapping. Do these writing system differences influence how first language (L1) literacy experiences affect cognitive processes in learning to read a second language (L2)? Two groups of college students who were learning to read English as a second language (ESL) were examined for their relative reliance on phonological and orthographic processing in English word identification: Korean students with an alphabetic L1 literacy background, and Chinese students (...) with a nonalphabetic L1 literacy background. In a semantic category judgment task, Korean ESL learners made more false positive errors in judging stimuli that were homophones to category exemplars than they did in judging spelling controls. However, there were no significant differences in responses to stimuli in these two conditions for Chinese ESL learners. Chinese ESL learners, on the other hand, made more accurate responses to stimuli that were less similar in spelling to category exemplars than those that were more similar. Chinese ESL learners may rely less on phonological information and more on orthographic information in identifying English words than their Korean counterparts. Further evidence supporting this argument came from a phoneme deletion task in which Chinese subjects performed more poorly overall than their Korean counterparts and made more errors that were phonologically incorrect but orthographically acceptable. We suggest that cross-writing system differences in L1s and L1 reading skills transfer could be responsible for these ESL performance differences. (shrink)

Advancement of social media in the modern era provides a good incentive for researchers to unleash the potential of social networking tools in order to improve education. Despite the significant role of social media in affecting second/foreign language learning processes, few empirical studies have tried to find out how Instagram feed-based tasks affect learning grammar structure. To fill this lacuna of research, the current study set forth to delve into the influence of Instagram feed-based tasks on learning grammar among (...) class='Hi'>English as a foreign language learners. In so doing, a sample of 84 intermediate EFL learners were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The learners in the control group received regular online instruction via webinar platforms. In contrast, the learners in the experimental group were exposed to Instagram feed-based tasks. Data inspection applying one-way ANCOVA indicated that the learners in the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in the control group. The results highlighted the significant contributions of Instagram feed-based tasks in fostering learning grammar. Furthermore, EFL learners’ positive attitudes toward using Instagram Feed-based Tasks in Learning Grammar was concluded. The implications of this study may redound to the benefits of language learners, teachers, curriculum designers, as well as policy makers in providing opportunities for further practice of Instagram feed-based tasks in language learning and teaching. (shrink)

To reduce the workload of paper evaluation and improve the fairness and accuracy of the evaluation process, a writing assistant scoring system for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners is designed based on the principle of machine learning. According to the characteristics of the data processing process and the advantages and disadvantages of the Browser/server (B/s) structure, the equipment structure design of the project online evaluation teaching auxiliary system is further optimized. The panda method is used to (...) read the data, the clean method is used to realize the data preprocessing, the model test is carried out, the cross validation method is selected, the data is divided in advance, and the process of programming the problem scoring system is further optimized, the automatic scoring technology is constructed by English teaching recognition module, feature extraction module and scoring module, the table structure of programming problems is designed, the auxiliary evaluation program of English writing is designed, and the design of writing auxiliary scoring system is completed. The analysis of the experimental results shows that the accuracy of the system is close to 90%, and the total average difference is 0.56. The system can normally take out a variety of test papers. Considering the subjectivity of manual scoring and the impact of key code setting on scoring, the carefully set key code can effectively improve the scoring accuracy of the system. The scoring strategy of the automatic scoring system is effective and the scoring effect is good, and it can be used in practical application. (shrink)

In the era of eLearning 4.0, many researchers have suggested that multimodal input helps to enhance second language vocabulary learning. However, previous studies on the effects of multimodal teaching have failed to yield definitive conclusions. Furthermore, only few studies on the multimodal input of vocabulary learning have aimed at junior high school students and have focused on explicit vocabulary instruction in class. To explore the effects of multimodal input on English as a foreign language learners’ vocabulary learning and (...) summarize effective methods, this study adopts a mixed-method approach. Based on dual coding theory and cognitive load theory, the teaching materials in this study were designed using the resources provided by the multimodal corpus iWeb and other websites. A total of 60 junior high school students who learned EFL and had a similar English proficiency level were divided into an experimental group and a control group. Target words were selected through questionnaire I. During the experiment, the CG learned from monomodal materials while the EG received multimodal input, and an immediate post-test was delivered to the two groups. Questionnaire II was distributed in the EG, and five students of the EG were randomly selected for an interview. One week later, a delayed post-test was conducted on the EG and CG. The results showed that the EG performed better in the post-test but did worse than the CG in the delayed post-test. The results of the questionnaire and the interview suggest that students held both positive and negative attitudes toward the multimodal input approach in vocabulary learning. The study concludes with some implications for choosing a multimodal input approach in vocabulary learning, along with a number of suggestions on how to optimize its positive influence and minimize its negative effects. (shrink)

ObjectiveFew research efforts have substantially introduced relevant studies on Chinese students’ adaptability in relation to the ineffectiveness of blended learning mode in College English. This study is guided by social cognitive theory, and related literature has been reviewed concerning adaptability. In this study, we aim to examine the involved relationships among contextual factors, self-efficacy, motivation, and adaptability to blended learning mode among non-English majored Chinese learners in the College English course.MethodsThe quantitative research method was employed in (...) this study, and 595 respondents were eventually collected to enable the data analysis. The structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the data.Results The non-English majored learners’ adaptability to blended learning mode in College English was at a low level with a mean value of 2.26, indicating that students still suffer difficulties from class conducted in blended learning; the fit indices were at the level of good fit, and it suggested the structural model had an overall good fit to the data as shown: x2/df = 2.496, RMESA = 0.050, GFI = 0.956, AGFI = 0.936, NFI = 0.968, RFI = 0.959, IFI = 0.980, TLI = 0.975, CFI = 0.980; adaptability was positively related to contextual factors, self-efficacy, and motivation ; contextual factors exerted an indirect effect on the adaptability not only through the separate mediating role of self-efficacy and motivation, but through the chain mediating role of self-efficacy and motivation.ImplicationsThis study theoretically extends previous studies on adaptability by investigating the affecting factors in the framework of social cognitive theory. More practically important is that this study sheds light on the impact mechanism of positive and enjoyable environment, self-efficacy and motivation on non-English majored learners’ adaptability to blended learning mode in English course, which would provide a vital insight for administrators and College English instructors to reconsider the role of learners’ responses in the mixed mode to improve their English achievement more effectively, as well as to enhance and promote their user experience of the offered blended learning service. (shrink)