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Transitivity Shifts in Academic Writing

Transitivity Shifts in Academic Writing

| December 1, 2012

This is an experimental non-equivalent designs study, comparing four groups of ESL students who have drafted a scientific essay. The main research question of this study is whether there is an observable difference in clause types as students progressed from draft to draft. T-tests and the one way ANOVA were used to test if there was a significant difference in clausal change between the groups.

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“Do You Understand?”: An Analysis of Native and Non-native EFL Teachers’  Questioning Patterns at a Taiwanese Cram School

“Do You Understand?”: An Analysis of Native and Non-native EFL Teachers’ Questioning Patterns at a Taiwanese Cram School

| December 1, 2012

A number of young Taiwanese students take extra English lessons at cram schools where classes are taught in English by native speakers of English; however, not much has been studied in such settings in previous literature. This study investigated questioning patterns of four cram school teachers, two native and two non-native speakers of English, with high- and a low-level classes of young learners.

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Revisiting English in Thailand

Revisiting English in Thailand

| December 1, 2012

The article considers the impact of English in Thailand in the context of Thailand’s minority peoples, especially Thailand’s largest minority, the Isan of Northeast Thailand. It addresses the issues of bilingualism and multilingualism in Thailand and examines to what extent these have been implemented. It also considers linguistic obligations placed on Thailand as a result of its membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

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Thematic Clustering in Second Language Vocabulary Learning:  Scenarios versus Mental Scenes Development

Thematic Clustering in Second Language Vocabulary Learning: Scenarios versus Mental Scenes Development

| December 1, 2012

Thematic clustering has been established to be a facilitating strategy in presenting words in a second language (L2) to be memorized (Tinkham 1997). Indeed, groups of similar words based on psychological association and shared thematic concepts (Al-Jabri 2005) appear to be easier to learn than the ones based only on semantic and syntactic similarity.

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Using Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment to Model the Underlying Structure of a Listening Test: A Sub-Skill-Based Approach

Using Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment to Model the Underlying Structure of a Listening Test: A Sub-Skill-Based Approach

| December 1, 2012

Research into the psychological and cognitive aspects of language learning, and second language (L2) learning in particular, demands new measurement tools that provide highly detailed information about language learners’ progress and proficiency. A new development in measurement models is Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA), which helps language assessment researchers evaluate students’ mastery of specific language sub-skills with greater specificity than other item response theory models. T

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Exploring Academic Self-Concept among Learners with Foreign Language Anxiety

Exploring Academic Self-Concept among Learners with Foreign Language Anxiety

| December 1, 2012

This study assesses the academic self-concept of learners who experience different levels of language anxiety in Taiwan’s EFL classrooms. The findings determine that language anxiety is significantly and negatively related to two major components of academic self-concept: academic confidence and learning effort. MANOVA test results show that low-anxiety students had the most positive academic self-concept out of all the subjects.

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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Genre-Based Instruction: A Writing Course of English for Hospitality and Tourism

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Genre-Based Instruction: A Writing Course of English for Hospitality and Tourism

| December 1, 2012

This study investigates 24 ESP learners’ progress in composing three different promotional brochures in an 18-week genre-based writing course. Each student’s work was revised three times and subsequently evaluated by non-Chinese speakers based on the authenticity of the design and the motivation of visiting the venue. Follow-up interviews were also conducted to probe learners’ perceptions of the instruction.

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The Effects of Instruction in Reduced Forms on the Performance of Low-Proficiency EFL University Students

The Effects of Instruction in Reduced Forms on the Performance of Low-Proficiency EFL University Students

| December 1, 2012

This purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the comprehension and productive development of reduced-form (e.g., wanna, and whadaya) instruction with low-proficiency English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. The participants were 52 Japanese, non-English major university students. They received 30 minutes’ weekly instruction in understanding and using reduced forms of English speech.

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A Small Clean Warm Plastic: Understanding EFL1 Autobiographical Writing and Identity

A Small Clean Warm Plastic: Understanding EFL1 Autobiographical Writing and Identity

| September 17, 2012

In the past two decades, autobiographical writing has grown into a powerful way of informing Second Language or L2 learners’ identities, but not yet in the EFL context. Focusing on Anne, the writer of “An unforgettable event in childhood” to be quoted partially below, this case study–as guided by a postmodern framework through a multi-storied approach to narrative analysis–explores the impact of EFL autobiographical writing on identity.

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Word Knowledge: Aspects, Viewpoints and Performances

Word Knowledge: Aspects, Viewpoints and Performances

| September 17, 2012 | 0 Comments

This study collected learner and teacher beliefs about depth of vocabulary knowledge in L1 and L2 to see if and to what extent these aspects were taken as important, and whether there was any relationship between the ratings of these aspects in L2 and learners’ actual performance.

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