The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning

24-33

Authors: Chen-Hong Li

This study examines the effect of anxiety-producing situations on the vocabulary output performance of second language (L2) learners. Two levels of learner anxiety, high anxiety and low anxiety, were identified using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). High-anxiety L2 students and low-anxiety L2 students, as measured by the FLCAS, were each asked to write down as many English vocabulary words beginning with ‘b’ as they could think of in two minutes in two anxiety-producing situations. Before they started, half of the high-anxiety students and half of the low-anxiety students were told that an average score on this English vocabulary recall test was ten words. The other half was told that it was forty words, aiming to increase their tension level. The findings show that foreign language anxiety generally led to deficits in output performance; however, the effect of high anxiety-producing situation on language learners could be viewed as facilitative. Keywords: anxiety-producing situation; learner anxiety; vocabulary recall; foreign language anxiety

52-67

Authors: Herbert Mushangwe

This paper is based on the notion that what matters most in language learning is communication. We argue that if a learner can speak what can be understood by native speakers while at the same time understanding what the native speaker say then we can conclude that this learner has successfully acquired the target language. We present a set of ideas based on the voice recognition exercise which was done with 20 students from different African countries who had studied Chinese language for 3 months at Hebei University. Voice recognition application on smart phones and tablets was used for pronunciation practice purpose in order to boast students’ confidence in spoken Chinese. In this exercise the phone acts as the decoding person and it represents how a native Chinese speaker will decode the learner’s speech. The results showed that during the exercise students become more and more conscious of their errors and adjust their pronunciation. Apart from that, voice recognition applications helps to determine whether or not the learner’s pronunciation is stable. Based on the results of the exercise we concluded that it is possible to turn voice recognition application on smart phones into a game that language learners can use to practice their spoken Chinese. This method is cheap and it promotes self-evaluation as well as boasting interest in learning Chinese language. Keywords: Voice recognition; Chinese; pronunciation practice; confidence; stability

79-95

Authors: Chia-hui Chiu

This study investigated the effects of online summarization practice on the reading comprehension and summarization abilities of EFL learners. Thirty-five EFL learners read and summarized expository passages using an online tutoring program called WriteToLearn. Upon online submission of their summaries, the learners received instant automated feedback and had multiple opportunities to revise summaries. Another group of 34 learners serving as a comparison group read the same passages and did comprehension exercises which required them to provide answers to comprehension questions in writing. Both groups took a reading comprehension test and a summarization test once before and once after the four-week training. The results showed that while the two groups exhibited significant improvement in micro-level and macro-level reading comprehension and summarization, the online summarization group performed significantly better than the comprehension exercise group in macro-level reading comprehension and summarization after training. The findings suggest that online summarization practice is superior to the traditional procedure of answering comprehension questions for helping learners enhance reading comprehension and summarization abilities. Keywords: Reading comprehension, Summarization, Online tutoring program