The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning

1-21

Authors: Polly Holder

There are many buzzwords flying about in the field of education that promise to revolutionize teaching and learning. Some of the most exciting and prominent involve the concepts of standards based classrooms (Marzano, 2007) and mastery learning (Guskey, 1996). This research focused on the implementation of a mastery learning/standards-based pedagogical paradigm in an upper level foreign language classroom. Of particular interest was how the underlying tenets of this approach allow for explicit and open communication with students about end goals of the course and the opportunity to re-attempt assessments. This action research attempted to determine if this method would influence student self-efficacy and motivation. Results showed that students had improved ownership of the course and higher achievement. Teacher survey data demonstrated a favorable perception. Conclusions can be made that this is a promising framework to use in foreign language classroom to help students as they move towards fluency. Keywords: standards-based; motivation; self-efficacy; mastery learning; motivation

37-53

Authors: Susana Nicolas Roman, Silvia Abril Soriano

Autonomy and self-assessment are crucial elements to be developed in the process of foreign language learning according to the Council of Europe recommendations. The European Language Portfolio is conceived as a tool that allows users to record their language learning achievements and their experience of learning and using languages. This paper presents the results of a study carried out in Spain on Primary education level with the ELP as the working basis to engage students in their own learning process. The analysis of the results offers insights on learners’ autonomy and self-assessment, plurilingualism, diversity awareness and usefulness of the ELP from both the teacher’s and students’ perspective. Keywords:ELP-autonomy-self-assessment-EFL teaching

74-85

Authors: Terri Schroth, Bryant Smith, Erin Kyles

In order to determine how learner background and attitudes affect English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ verb production, eleven ESL learners participated in both oral and written tasks. They were given written surveys to determine if speaking or writing was emphasized more in learning English in their home countries. Another survey was administered to determine which of these activities they preferred. Next, the participants watched a movie clip and completed writing and speaking activities. The total amount of written and spoken verbs and the total amount of verbs used correctly were compared and analyzed to determine if there was a relationship among participants' learning background knowledge, correct verb usage, and activity preference. In the end, a variety of demographic differences played the largest role in verb production. Meanwhile, a slight but noticeable relationship between a preference for speaking and the number of correct verbs produced was noted. Keywords: English as a Second Language (ESL), second language acquisition (SLA), verb acquisition, language learning background knowledge, learner attitudes

1-23

Authors: Zhi Huang, Jemina Napier

This paper investigates perceptions of teachers and students on the qualities of effective translation teachers in universities using survey and focus group interview research. Research results show that translation teacher effectiveness includes but not limited to the following factors: effectiveness of classroom teaching, a level of understanding of translation theory and skills, a way of demonstrating these skills, pedagogies to motivate students for their independent learning, a personality which influences students on their learning process and road to professionalism, and ongoing help for students. This study has implications for both translation teachers and students, giving them insights to cope with different teaching requirements and environments, be more creative, innovative, socially active and responsible, and become lifelong learners; for language teachers in universities, and also for teachers generally in higher education in relation to perceptions of effective teaching. Keywords:Translation, Translation teaching, Effective translation teacher, Perceptions, Qualities

34-51

Authors: Hyun-Ju Kim

This study involves a small-scale investigation of codeswitching in university classrooms. The perceptions of the use and the effectiveness of codeswitching were investigated from the perspectives of 23 instructors and 765 students in various fields at a Korean university. In addition, the actual use of codeswitching in the classroom by an instructor, teaching the theories of English education, was investigated. These two data sources have served as the subsequent main study. The results show that both instructors and students perceive the use of codeswitching is effective in learning English skills overall, but the instructors consider it more effective in reading while students perceive it more effective in listening. This study also explored the functions of codeswitching in the classroom. The findings suggest that the codeswitching is employed to accommodate the participants’ language preference or competence. Keywords: codeswitching, university classrooms, perceptions, functions, English skills

68-78

Authors: Mohammad Nowbakht

This study investigates the comparative effects of presenting the new vocabulary items to students in semantically related groups vs. semantically unrelated groups on vocabulary receptive acquisition in long term memory. Two groups of participants studying at the Iran Language Institute (ILI), a well-known second language school, in Isfahan, Iran, were presented twenty new vocabularies in short reading texts, one group in semantically related sets and the other group in semantically unrelated sets. The results of the study indicate that the group which was taught the semantically unrelated sets of words outperformed the group which received semantically related sets of words in its immediate and delayed post-tests. The findings of this study provide evidence that presenting new words to students in semantically related sets may hinder long-term receptive vocabulary acquisition due to interference of similar words with each other. Learners have to discriminate between the properties of the similar words and this can impede their learning and retention. Keywords: semantically related sets; semantically unrelated sets; receptive vocabulary acquisition; interference; retention

1-14

Authors: Xinxiao Yang, Dianbing Chen

The Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (1996; 2006) listed culture as one of five goals of learning a foreign language. However, the perceptions of foreign language instructors towards the teaching of culture and their effects on students’ foreign language learning remain unclear. This study involved six instructors from five different foreign language programs and four undergraduate students who are enrolled in the current language programs. Documents, classroom observations, and interviews were collected and analyzed to report the findings. The results indicated that instructors’ perceptions on teaching culture in foreign language classroom did make a difference in students’ learning and teaching a foreign language. Keywords: The teaching of culture, perceptions, instructors, culture teaching and learning, qualitative study

29-47

Authors: Dick Smakman, Agnieska Duda-Osiewacz

This study compares native English publications with non-native English publications. Specifically, publications have been compared of Anglophone and Polish scholars in the past two decades. Various stylistic and linguistic characteristics and several textual levels are assessed by applying Kaplan's (1966) Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis. Results show that differences exist at the paragraph level and not at the sentence or textual level. Native texts have a higher degree of reciprocity (reader-friendliness) and are more linear. Results reveal that Polish authors write academic English with traces of a Teutonic style but as far as reciprocity is concerned they are moving towards the stylistic features of native English; newer publications by the Polish authors are more reader-friendly than the older ones. Native speakers are not able to reliably recognise native and non-native sentences and often mistake non-native writings for native writing, and in many cases they even label native sentences as non-native. These findings put into perspective the aims applied in teaching academic language.contrastive rhetoric, academic English, Poland Keywords contrastive rhetoric, academic English, Poland

63-75

Authors: Rebecca Galeano, Kelly M. Torres

The National Standards for Foreign Language Learning seek to prepare U.S. students to be “culturally equipped to communicate successfully in a pluralistic American society and abroad” (NSFLL, 1996). Each of the five areas, Communication, Culture, Connections, Communities, and Comparisons, articulates a goal related to the culture and there is at least one cultural sub-standard under each of the other goal areas (Galeano, 2013). Even with such a stated focus on preparing students to function in a multicultural, multilingual world, language teaching, or focusing on the grammatical elements of the target language, continues to be prioritized in U.S. foreign language classrooms. This study analyzes whetherU.S. teachers continue to present information about target cultures at the surface level or whether they lead students to a deeper understanding of how cultural products, practices, and perspectives are related. It also examines whether or not teachers who have spent time living or studying abroad approach the teaching of culture differently from those who have not. Keywords: Culture, classroom, K-12 learners, National Standards for Foreign Language Learning, perspectives

84-91

Authors: Hayo Reinders

Backchanneling is a technique for monitoring student engagement and performance in the language classroom. In this article I give the pedagogical rationale for this activity and describe some examples of best practice. The article concludes with a number of practical recommendations on how to get started with the various tools that are available and how to best make use of their affordances with your students. Keywords: Motivation, assessment, monitoring, CALL

1-14

Authors: Christian Jones, Tania Horak

This study analyses spoken language from a small corpus of the popular UK soap opera EastEnders in order to understand the extent to which the language used may be a useful model of conversational English at intermediate levels and above. Results suggest that the spoken language used in EastEnders has a number of similarities to unscripted conversational language in general spoken corpora. It involves extensive use of the two thousand most frequent words in the British National Corpus (BNC) spoken lists and the most frequent words and two-word chunks are comparable to general spoken corpora and a larger soap opera corpus. The findings suggest that soap operas of this type may be a useful model of spoken language as they have more similarities to unscripted, naturally occurring conversations than dialogues often found in ELT textbooks. Keywords: Spoken language; authentic materials; soap operas; corpora

37-54

Authors: Ko-Yin Sung, Hsiao-Mei Tsai

This study explored college student errors, teachers' oral corrective feedback, learner uptake and repair, and learners' corrective feedback preferences in a Chinese language classroom setting. Data collection included the oral interactions in the classrooms, a preference of feedback survey, and focus-group interviews. The present study adopted the coding schemes used in Yoshida (2008) and in Lyster and Ranta (1997) to categorize data. Chi Square tests were run to examine whether there were significant differences in the frequency of students' error types and teachers' feedback types, and whether teachers' feedback types and learners' subsequent responses were related. The results showed that the most frequently made errors were phonological and lexical and that recasts were the most frequently used feedback type. Also, this study found a statistical significance between feedback type and learner repair in the beginner class. In addition, the survey results showed that the majority of the beginners preferred recasts while the advanced participants had preferences more scattered among different feedback types. The interview results showed that the participants' preferences were influenced by their learning styles and beliefs, their proficiency levels, the nature of the Chinese language, and the differences between Chinese and their native language, English. Keywords: Corrective feedback, learner uptake and repair, learners' preferences of corrective feedback, Chinese language teaching and learning.

69-83

Authors: Vahid Panahzade

Second language acquisition (SLA) researchers contend that focus on form (FonF) instruction plays a pivotal role in the course of language acquisition. Focus on form (FonF) instruction is learner-centered and is consistent with the learner’s internal syllabus. There has been an ongoing query in the literature as to whether focus on form should occur prior to error commitment or be reactive to the actual errors of the learners during the task. In this regard, this study tried to explore the effectiveness as well as the relative impacts of planned preemptive vs. delayed reactive focus on form on lexical resource of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ oral production in meaningoriented interviews. The study adopted a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design including two experimental groups, each receiving a distinct treatment during the whole semester. The participants of the study were a total of 19 upper-intermediate adult all-female students. Paired-samples t-test and independent-samples t-test were utilized to evaluate and compare the differing effects of the two treatments respectively. The findings of the study demonstrated that both types of form-focused instructions are conducive to learners’ oral production lexical resource. One of the interesting findings of the present study was that preemptive focus on form can be planned in advance on the basis of teachers’ experience, which can lead to a blurred dichotomy between planned and incidental focus on form. Keywords: Focus on form; meaning-oriented lessons; planned preemptive FonF; delayed reactive FonF; lexical resource

1-20

Authors: K. James Hartshorn

Though most ESL learners desire a “native-like” pronunciation, researchers have observed that some may want to retain features of their L1accents as a means of maintaining identity. This raises important questions about the best ways to teach L2 pronunciation. Therefore, the aims of this study were to discover how pervasive a preference for accent retention may be and to identify possible reasons learners exhibit this preference. To accomplish this, a scale was designed to assess a preference for accent retention, and potential explanatory variables were identified. Analyses of 350 ESL learners identified varying levels of a preference for accent retention, and revealed three significant predictors of this tendency. This article explores possible reasons for the observed results, including an effort to unify the findings through what is referred to as a propensity for proximal linguistic status. Some considerations for ESL pronunciation pedagogy are also discussed. Keywords: Pronunciation pedagogy, accent retention, accent reduction

30-39

Authors: Yasemin Kırkgöz

This in-depth, qualitative study examines perceptions of the learning approach that students receiving their higher education in the medium of English language adopt, factors that influence students to adopt a particular learning approach, and which approach tends to be more effective in terms of learning outcome. First and finalyear students (n=151) responded to a survey questionnaire. Furthermore, interviews were held with volunteering students (n=48). Students’ responses indicated a tendency towards surface learning during the first-year and a mixture of surface and meaningful learning during the final-year. Various factors were identified affecting the students’ adoption of an approach. Deeper learning was achieved through the use of a strategic learning approach by the students’ jointly constructing disciplinary knowledge. Suggestions are proposed to promote students’ achievement of more effective learning of their disciplinary knowledge. Keywords: English-medium higher education, acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, strategic learning, deep learning, surface learning, joint construction of disciplinary knowledge

58-64

Authors: Razieh Rabbani Yekta

In comparing the high- stakes ESP tests administered in recent years in Iran for Master Degree and PhD levels admission purpose, a vast area of uncertainty arises as to the nature of scoring system used at the large scale for these competitive exams. Where we had the modular PhD entrance exam with a prerequisite EGP Module followed by a Specific Purpose Module, the participants of our Master Degree counterpart test sat for a joint or blended EGP-ESP subtest which then was scored and reported in a composite percentile and interpreted along with other knowledge subtests against a common national norm. In this article, we attempted to address the issues associated with these models of scoring and the problems which are due from it for our accountability system. Keywords: Composite percentile, joint EGP-ESP tests, scoring system, norm- referenced models

72-83

Authors: Hamako Furuhata-Turner

The use of Japanese comic manga as a learning tool enhances students’ translation competences, cultural knowledge, and motivation. Due to strong interest in Japanese popular culture, the enrollment of college students in Japanese language classes in the United States has been growing since the beginning of the 21st century. This paper will explore the advantages of teaching Japanese through translation via manga. This paper will present useful information for translating Japanese manga texts, reflecting how Japanese communication choice reflects cultural norms. The characteristics of the linguistic, sociolinguistic and cultural aspects of manga texts will also be discussed. Translation procedures will be presented using samples of Japanese sentences, so that the procedures will assist students in translating such texts. Finally, challenges that cause translation difficulties in translating Japanese into English are introduced, and some tips and strategies are offered for aspiring student translators. Keywords: Japanese translation, teaching translation, comic translation, Japanese Manga