The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning

21-29

Authors: Jingjing Qin

This classroom-based research is intended to examine the effectiveness of employment of the Toulmin model in teaching argumentative writing in a Turkish EFL university classroom. Argumentative writing samples by 16 freshmen were collected before and after the instruction. During the instruction, a variety of one-hour activities incorporating the Toulmin model were integrated into the regular 10-week teaching curriculum, including explicit instruction of the Toulmin model, awareness-raising about the Toulmin model and its elements with carefully selected reading passages, class debate on controversial issues, and identification of Toulmin elements in published argumentative essays. The results showed that students’ argumentative papers improved after instruction, presenting more enriching and complex argument structures, exhibiting the important elements in argumentation, such as opposing views and rebuttals, which were almost non-existent in their previous argumentative papers. The students also felt that the instruction had empowered them to write argumentative papers in the future. Keywords: Toulmin model, academic argument, argumentative instruction, Turkish EFL university students, academic writing, EFL writing

40-57

Authors: David R Byrd, Catherine A. Byrd

Second language (L2) camps provide learners with a short-term and intense experience with the target language and culture. The interactions among the campers can provide the opportunity for beliefs and values to be questioned or supported as language and culture skills are developed. This study examines the identity development of one L2 learner at a language camp in Turkey, as recorded through journal entries. Using a qualitative phenomenological research approach, the data analyzed suggest that both dissonant and harmonious events can shape a language learner’s concept of self. Applications for the classroom are discussed, based on the findings of the study. Keywords: L2 identity development, language camp, reflection, journaling

65-71

Authors: Alison Crump

In this globalized world, second and foreign language classrooms are becoming increasingly linguistically and culturally diverse. Despite the numerous benefits of including learners’ L1(s) in language teaching, common approaches to language teaching (e.g., CLT) are based on the idea that languages need to be kept separate in order to be learned. This article begins with an overview of the benefits of using the L1 in second and foreign language learning, including encouraging cross-linguistic transfer of skills and motivating and engaging learners. It then provides practical teaching suggestions for fostering multilingual spaces that teachers can use with groups of students who do or do not share the same L1. Keywords: Multilingualism, L2/FL pedagogy, translation, identity texts, dual language books, language awareness

20-36

Authors: Masoud Saeedi

This research study is primarily an attempt to examine the effects of engaging in strategic planning before retelling narratives with different degrees of storyline complexity on complexity, accuracy, and fluency in the oral production of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL).To this aim, the effects of four task performance conditions (i.e., strategic planning with a single storyline narrative task, no strategic planning with a single storyline narrative task, strategic planning with a dual storyline narrative task, no strategic planning with a dual storyline narrative task) on learners’ complexity, accuracy, and fluency in producing English language were examined. Sixty Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners participated in this study. The results of one-way ANOVAs revealed that though giving learners the opportunity to engage in strategic planning before retelling a narrative with two storylines exponentially advantages complexity, it impairs accuracy. The outcomes have certain theoretical and pedagogical implications for researchers and practitioners in EFL context. Key words: Strategic planning; Narrative storyline complexity; Complexity; Accuracy; Fluency; EFL context

54-68

Authors: Jessica Salmon, Julianne Nyhan

Augmented Reality adds a layer of digital information to a live direct or indirect view of a real-world environment. Of late, many claims have been made about the potential of augmented reality software in education. Technically such software may offer many exciting features but little research has been done into the teaching and learning foundations upon which it is built. This is problematic because in a time of budget cuts, on the one hand, and ever increasing examples of such software, on the other, educators do not have available to them an objective framework that they can use to evaluate the potential pedagogical usefulness of such software. Furthermore, technical developers have little guidance as to the pedagogical expectations of educators. By focusing on the area of foreign language teaching this article takes a first step towards addressing this research gap by proposing an evaluative framework that has been constructed with reference to teaching and learning scholarship, as opposed to that of digital humanities or computer science. It tests this framework using a series of case studies dealing with existing augmented reality applications for language teaching and learning and those which could be repurposed. It concludes that the evaluative framework created in this study has established a potentially useful baseline for making decisions about the possible use of augmented reality applications for teaching and learning in the classroom. We hold that the integration of such a framework with existing digital humanities and computer science methods of evaluation may result in a more objective and interdisciplinary framework that can be used for the evaluation of such software. Keywords: Augmented reality; Assessment; Foreign language teaching and learning