Main Editions
An Analysis of L2 Motivation, Test Validity and Language Proficiency Identity (LPID): A Vygotskian Approach
This paper explores the potential impact of high-stakes English testing on young English language learners’ (ELL) attitudes, beliefs, and motivations. A more meaningful role for consequential validity in language testing is sought through engagement with sociocultural theory, specifically Vygotskian conceptions of identity formation, in order to more fully contextualize a high-stakes learning environment, its effects on younger ELLs, and its implications for the test validation process. This initial phase, to be followed by a larger study, consisted of a pilot questionnaire developed from a working model of Language Proficiency Identity (LPID), and subsequently administered to 202 ELLs of various education levels.
Socio-Economic Orientations in Foreign Language Learning Motivation: The Case of Yemen
This paper examines the relationship patterns between socio-economic factors, i.e. parental occupations, cultural capital, and motivation to learn English in the Yemeni context. Two survey questionnaires were used in this study, based on Gardner’s (2001a) framework and Bourdieu’s (1985, 1986, 1989) status-based approach to social stratification. Questionnaires were administered to 142 fourth-year students in the English Department of the College of Arts and Education, the Hadramout University of Science and Technology, Yemen. Besides questionnaires, individual semi-structured interviews were used to obtain supportive data.
The Effect of Collaboration on the Cohesion and Coherence of L2 Narrative Discourse between English NS and Korean L2 English Users
This research looks at differences between how native speakers of English and Korean L2 English learners manage cohesive reference maintenance, as well as the effect of scaffolded interlocutor collaboration on the coherence and cohesion of extended L2 narrative discourse. Scaffolded and unscaffolded narratives were elicited from 10 Korean learners of English as an L2 and were compared against the narratives of 5 native speakers of English, to compare the grammatical means used to maintain coherent reference to discourse referents within and across clauses, as well as to see the effect that any scaffolding had on the L2 participant’s ability to maintain coherence during performance.
Learner Self-management Procedures Reported by Advanced and Intermediate ESL Students
This study aims to investigate the learner self-management procedures that advanced and intermediate ESL students used in their three-week preparation for a five minute seminar as part of their English Proficiency Program at a New Zealand university. The study used learner diaries, follow-up interviews, and classroom observations to collect data from 4 advanced and 6 intermediate ESL students. All of the students from both proficiency groups reported going through a range of self-management procedures including planning, self-monitoring, and problem solving. Both groups reported a limited amount of planning, i.e. setting goals, setting criteria, analyzing the task, and setting a timeline. However, within the planning procedure itself, the groups revealed different focuses.
Second Language Development through Technology Mediated Strategic Interaction
Teaching language proficiency can be particularly problematic in a Japanese university context because of issues with low motivation (Yashima, 2002; Oda, 1993), anxiety and shyness (Kitano, 2001), and practical difficulties associated with monitoring performance and providing effective feedback to large numbers of students. Strategic interaction (SI), as proposed by Di Pietro (1987), uses the scenario as an organizing principle for classroom practice. This involves learners being given different parts or roles in a situation to be resolved through language in unfolding interaction.
The Impact of Assessment Change on Language Learning Strategies: The Views of a Small Group of Chinese Graduate Students Studying in the UK
Chinese students embarking on further studies within an English-speaking higher education environment face significant changes in assessment. This study, undertaken at University of Warwick (UK), reports on Chinese graduate students’ retrospective views of their developing language learning strategies, in the light of changes in assessment during their courses. The study charts the students’ perceptions of their own experiences over one year of study, beginning with their preparatory English course and ending upon completion of their Masters’ degree programme.
Word-Meaning Inference: A Longitudinal Investigation of Inference Accuracy and Strategy Use
Ability to infer the meaning of unknown words encountered while reading plays an important role in learners’ L2 word knowledge development. In order to provide a longitudinal inquiry into this topic, this study conducted a qualitative analysis of three Korean college-level ESL learners’ meaning-inference behaviors over a 4 week period, focusing on inference accuracy and strategy use.
Taking an Ecological View to Research Taiwanese EFL Students’ English Literacy Learning
This study aims to illustrate in what ways an ecological view of literacy, espoused in the New Literacy Studies, can be applied in the field of English Language Teaching in EFL learning contexts. We weave research areas of literacy as social practice, student learning in higher education, and L1 and L2 student writing. Following a qualitative multiple case study approach, we combine in-depth interviews with supplementary methods including questionnaires, reading tasks, students‘ written assignments in English, and observation notes to investigate the two particular Taiwanese EFL undergraduates‘ literacy learning.
Secondary EFL Students’ Perceptions of Native and Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers in Japan and Korea
This survey study explores Japanese and Korean secondary school students’ perceptions about their native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNESTs), concerning their competence in the target language and in language teaching, cultural and personal traits, teaching styles, and the classroom atmosphere the teachers establish. The purpose of the study was to examine and extend previous studies’ findings concerning the characteristics of NESTs and NNESTs.
Second Language Learners and Their Self-confidence in Using English: A Social Constructive Perspective
This paper examines how self-confidence is socially and discursively constructed through the qualitative analyses of the lived experiences of two Chinese advanced learners/users of English in Australia with data obtained from in-depth interviews. Built on sociocultural views on L2 learning and Norton‘s (2000) conception of self-confidence as being socially constructed, the learners‘ senses of confidence are shown to be strongly influenced by external factors such as power relations in specific contexts of interaction.
