Often, second/foreign (L2) language learners receive little opportunity to interact orally in the target language. Interactive, conversation-based spoken dialog systems (SDSs) that use automated ...speech recognition and natural language processing have the potential to address this need by engaging learners in meaningful, goal-oriented speaking practice. However, these technology-based learning tools are often developed without input from teaching professionals. As part of a larger development effort, this study examined English as a second language (ESL) teachers' perceptions regarding SDS-based speaking tasks, addressing the following research questions: (a) What do teachers think about the SDS-based tasks? (b) How would they use them in the context of their English instruction? Overall, 16 ESL instructors in an intensive English program in the United States were asked to interact with four SDS-based speaking tasks designed to elicit specific linguistic phenomena (e.g. making requests; wh-questions). The teachers completed a survey after each task to gauge their user experience, level of engagement, and perceptions of the usefulness of the tasks for their teaching contexts. A subgroup of instructors (n = 7) also participated in audio-recorded focus group meetings. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each survey item and the open-ended responses from the surveys and focus groups were analyzed qualitatively for major themes. The findings show that teachers had positive views of the SDS tasks' potential for speaking practice and diagnostic purposes, primarily in a flipped classroom model. Their perceptions seemed to be related to their own user experience and, in particular, to the perceived authenticity of a given task.
Abstract
Considering the recent criticism of the competence-oriented concern of the PISA study, the present paper proposes a practical teaching concept that opposes the isolated practice of reading ...skills. In the era of Post-truth, this contribution presents a lesson plan for Robert Musils’s novel “The Man without Qualities”, which aims at promoting aesthetic sensibility in the universityGerman courses for advanced levels.
Teacher scaffolding plays a crucial role in shaping the quality of classroom learning, yet little is known about the effective features of scaffolding in classes using content language integrated ...learning (CLIL), especially in terms of its effects on learners’ language and cognitive development. To address this issue, the study adopts a classroom discourse analysis approach to capture features of effective teacher scaffolding in a CLIL-framed intensive reading class. Results showed a perceived increase in learners’ language and cognitive abilities while also revealing a series of effective teacher scaffolding strategies in CLIL. These include frequent use of dialogic inquiry and incidental feedback in discourse extensions, and the variation of teacher scaffolding strategies in response to students’ learning needs. The findings will inform the development of the CLIL pedagogy in EFL (English as a foreign language) education in China and other parts of the world.
In many academic courses, students encounter a particular fact or concept many times over a period of a few weeks and then do not see it again during the remainder of the course. Are these brief ...instructional periods sufficient, or should the same amount of instruction be distributed over longer periods of time? This question was the focus of several recent studies in which a fixed amount of instruction was distributed over time periods of varying duration and followed by a delayed posttest. With few exceptions, the results showed that longer instructional periods produced greater posttest scores if the posttest was delayed by at least a month or so. Notably, the search criteria for this review excluded several oft-cited studies favoring short foreign language courses over longer ones, but a closer look at these studies reveals limitations (e.g., no delayed posttest or confounding variables). In brief, the best reading of the data is that long-term learning is best achieved when the exposures to a concept are distributed over time periods that are longer rather than shorter.
This study frames intensive English language programs (IEPs) in institutions of higher education as potential vehicles for social justice among marginalized international students. In this study we ...examine the differences in academic achievement between international students who enter a university through an English proficiency test and those who pass through an IEP. We compared both populations through nearly 900 cases, out of a sample of 4888, who had similar language proficiency at the time of enrolling at a large research-intensive university in the Southwest of the United States. The results revealed great similarity between the populations of students indicating that as an intervention-style program, the IEP was successful in meeting the linguistic and academic needs of the students. The study also revealed potential implications for higher education policy in ensuring both program quality and benefit to students. The paper also raises issues of equity in terms of the lack of analysis in long-term outcomes for these types of programs compared to other interventions, the need for expansion of international student data collection by institutions of higher education and overall transparency in pre-university programs.
The present paper seeks to analyze, based on the decolonial perspective, how the epistemic and ontological elements of the coloniality of power that operates through the linguistic imperialism of ...English are made present in the hierarchies of knowledge in marketing. For this, we use the generative trajectory, a semiotic theoretical model of meaning, to analyze advertisements of a transnational online English language company operating in Brazil, which reinforces in its communications the importance of learning English as the only way to succeed in the business world and to overcome the backwardness of local culture and language. The semiotic analysis helped to analyze the manipulation path and strategies and the concretization of the narratives present in the communication made through the ads, unveiling epistemic and ontological elements that make up the coloniality of power and its association to English, which was, in turn, related to the hierarchies of knowledge in marketing.
Different from the traditional term language input, affordance, an ecological term, has been deployed to analyze the perceived opportunities for second language (L2) learning an environment provides ...to L2 learners. L2 learning occurs only when the semiotic resources in the environment resonate with the learner's capacities such as their abilities, aptitudes, and attitudes. Adopting affordance as a theoretical and analytic construct, this study investigates using qualitative research methods what language development affordances WeChat, one of the most popular Social Networking Systems in Chinese-speaking communities, provided to two university-level Chinese language learners while they were studying abroad in an intensive language program in Shanghai. Four affordances were identified. The results also show that each affordance was manifested differently with each language learner due to unique communication norms on WeChat, each language learner's Chinese language proficiency, and their personal preference in WeChat communication. Pedagogical implications are also provided to guide educators and L2 users as to how to take advantage of WeChat for language learning.
Language skills are central to refugee integration and the availability of language courses could thus be a limiting factor. We explore how the most important provider of language courses in Germany, ...adult education centers (VHS), adapted their course supply to the refugee wave of 2015/2016. Our results highlight two channels through which the local environment can affect opportunities for participation in adult learning: First, exploiting the quasi-random allocation of refugees to counties, we causally estimate by how much VHS scaled up their German language course (DAF) supply as a reaction. Moreover, we show that DAF courses were created almost exclusively at the cost of other courses, that is, by crowding out. Second, we uncover heterogeneities in scaling success. VHS with more prior DAF course experience and larger VHS adapted better, which shows the relevance of initial conditions in course offers.
Culture is inescapable in education, incorporating cross-cultural dialogue and serving as the foundation of Chinese foreign education (CIE). This study aims to investigate, from the standpoint of ...intercultural communication, the impact of sports on the development of a positive psychological climate in CIE. The study employed quantitative and qualitative methods, collected data through tests, classroom observation, and interviews, and conducted a quasi-experimental comparison of the experimental group learning CIE and culture curriculum and the control group learning traditional language skills curriculum. This study determined that the experimental group's cross-cultural attitude improved more rapidly after the systematic study of cultural courses, which plays a more significant influence in fostering a positive psychological climate in CIE. In addition, the study indicated that culture is transmitted through language and that cultural elements play an essential role in language acquisition. In addition, most learners of a second language originate from nations and areas with different cultural backgrounds than the target language. Comparing one's culture with students and determining the most effective cross-cultural communication strategies are essential for teaching.
This data‐driven study framed in the interactionist approach investigates the influence of social graph topology and peer interaction dynamics among foreign exchange students enrolled in an intensive ...German language course on second language acquisition (SLA) outcomes. Applying the algorithms and metrics of computational social network analysis (SNA), we find that (a) the best predictor of target language (TL) performance is reciprocal interactions in the language being acquired, (b) the proportion of output in the TL is a stronger predictor than input (Principle of Proportional Output), (c) there is a negative relationship between performance and interactions with same‐first‐language speakers, (d) a significantly underperforming English native‐speaker dominated cluster is present, and (e) there are more intense interactions taking place between students of different proficiency levels. Unlike previous study abroad social network research concentrating on the microlevel of individual learners’ egocentric networks and presenting an emic view only, this study constitutes the first application of computational SNA to a complete learner network (sociogram). It provides new insights into the link between social relations and SLA with an etic perspective, showing how social network configuration and peer learner interaction are stronger predictors of TL performance than individual factors such as attitude or motivation, and offering a rigorous methodology for investigating the phenomenon.
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