The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning

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

24-37

Authors: Mansoor Tavakoli, Sara Hashemi Shahraki, Mohsen Rezazadeh

This study aims to investigate the relationship between language learners' metacognitive awareness (Planning and Evaluation, Problem Solving, Directed Attention, Mental Translation and Person Knowledge) and their performance on the listening section of IELTS. This study employs both quantitative and qualitative data analyses. Based on the participants’ performance on the IELTS test, the participants were identified as less (N=34)or more-proficient (N=32) listeners. The listeners' perceived use of metacognitive strategies was measured using Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal, and Tafaghodtari (2006) Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire. Two less- and two more-proficient listeners were randomly selected from among the participants to participate in a stimulated recall session on their IELTS responses. The results suggested that (1) listeners' metacognitive awareness had a positive relationship with the listening test performance; (2) more-proficient listeners reported significantly higher use of problem solving and directed attention strategies than the less-proficient listeners; (3) less-proficient listeners tended to use mental translation strategy; and (4) there was no difference between the more-proficient and the less-proficient listeners in planning and evaluation and person knowledge. Keywords: listening test performance, metacognitive awareness, metacognitive strategies, more-proficient and less-proficient listeners.

51-74

Authors: Weidong Zhang

This study looks at refusal, one of the important face-threatening speech acts (FTAs) of human communication, and investigates how intermediate to advanced Chinese-as-Foreign-Language (CFL) learners’ perception of the correctness and appropriateness of refusal relates to their production, in both L1 context with native speakers of English and in L2 context with speakers of Chinese. Through a modified Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and a CFL learners’ demographic survey, this study examines how similarly or differently the participants perform the speech acts of refusal in both L1 and L2 contexts, the possible reasons behind the discrepancy or deviation, the role of pragmatic transfer, possibility of cross-cultural misunderstanding. Finally the implications for language teaching are discussed. Keywords: Speech Act, Refusal, Perception, Production, Communicative Competence

89-104

Authors: Aminah Ma Ping

What motivates language teachers to pursue professionalization? Using the American example of National Board certification, this study examined the strength and interrelationships of five motivational factors for foreign language teacher professionalization: improved teaching, financial gain, internal validation, external validation, and collaboration. A total of 433 foreign language teachers participated in the online survey. Repeated measures ANOVAs found improved teaching, financial gain, and internal validation were strong motivations, whereas the other two were less strong or weaker motivations. Additionally, correlational analyses showed a negative correlation between the two highest motivations, improved teaching and financial gain, indicating that they may represent two distinguishing motivational dimensions. These findings dispute teachers’ supposed lack of extrinsic motivations and support a continuum of motivations for professionalization, as seen in the types of extrinsic motivations in Self Determination Theory. Keywords: Foreign language teachers, teacher motivation, teacher professionalization, advanced certification

15-32

Authors: Juliana Chau, Gary Cheng

Reflection has been increasingly recognised as integral to effective learning. Journal writing is advocated for facilitating reflection, and several frameworks are propounded for categorizing reflective proficiency, mostly in the professional domains, but rarely in second language education. The paper, therefore, discusses the results of an ongoing study where a twodimensional four-level framework was developed for monitoring and determining reflective second language learning skills by analyzing Chinese university students’ written journal entries. Four raters evaluated sixteen written journals independently for evidence of reflection on specified areas of second language learning using the proposed framework. The raters provided input from three perspectives: that of teacher, researcher, and student. Analysis of the results suggests that the framework can be a valuable tool in measuring reflective second language learning capacities with appropriate support and further systematic research. Keywords: second language learning, reflection, learning in higher education

45-58

Authors: Demet Yaylı

Self-annotation writing is an important tool as it plays the dual roles of encouraging the students to act as reviewers of their own texts and of providing their instructor with a means of better understanding their descriptions and explanations for the design of their texts. However, although annotation writing has appeared in the literature as a pedagogical tool, the studies systematically examining learners’ self annotation writing practices are scant. This study, therefore, aims to gain insights into the benefits of self-annotation writing embedded in genre-based writing activities of a group of EFL learners. The participants’ literacy narratives, self annotation excerpts and their post-instruction views on self-annotation writing were qualitatively analyzed. The findings indicated several benefits of annotation writing, corroborating some previous studies. It is suggested that training learners to articulate their intentions in annotations should be prioritized so that self annotation might work properly as a tool for awareness-raising and learner autonomy. Keywords: Self annotation, genre-based writing, self assessment, authorial maturity, student-teacher communication

18-29

Authors: Mehdi Latifi, Ali Mobalegh, Elham Mohammadi

The present study attempted to capture the possible effects of movie subtitles on the improvement of listening comprehension. The participants were 36 Iranian intermediate learners assigned into three groups: Bimodal‐Subtitles Group (BSG), Standard‐Subtitles Group SSG) and No‐Subtitles Group (NSG). During the course, each group worked on fifteen‐2‐minute sections of a movie entitled ‘Alvin and Chipmunks.’ At the end of each session, a Multiple Choice (MC) Comprehension test was given to the learners. In the last session, all participants sat on an IELTS test. The results of the data analysis revealed that for MC tests the subtitles groups outperformed the NSG, and SSG performed better than the BSG; however, on the IELTS test the NSG performed significantly better than the SSG, and there was no meaningful difference between NSG and BSG. Overall, the analysis of groups’ performance revealed a better mean score for the NSG compared to other groups.   Keywords: Bimodal subtitling, listening comprehension, movie subtitles, standard subtitling

44-56

Authors: Yesim Bektas-Cetinkaya

This paper examines a Turkish graduate student’s academic reading process in English. It first describes the participant’s reading habits both in his native Turkish and in English, then illustrates the difficulties experienced in academic reading in English and the reading strategies applied while reading academic texts in English. Data were gathered from a twenty‐seven year old Turkish student throughout an autumn semester of his graduate study, through interviews, recall protocols, a think‐aloud protocol, and text analysis. The result of this study indicates that the participant experiences difficulty in focusing on, and being able to maintain a satisfactory level of academic reading in English. It is likely that unfamiliar vocabulary or contexts trigger reading anxiety, which disrupts his reading comprehension.     Keywords: Foreign language reading, academic reading, reading anxiety, reading strategy, case study

39-53

Authors: Susan A Hildebrandt, Minhee Eom

What motivates language teachers to pursue professionalization? Using the American example of National Board certification, this study examined the strength and interrelationships of five motivational factors for foreign language teacher professionalization: improved teaching, financial gain, internal validation, external validation, and collaboration. A total of 433 foreign language teachers participated in the online survey. Repeated measures ANOVAs found improved teaching, financial gain, and internal validation were strong motivations, whereas the other two were less strong or weaker motivations. Additionally, correlational analyses showed a negative correlation between the two highest motivations, improved teaching and financial gain, indicating that they may represent two distinguishing motivational dimensions. These findings dispute teachers’ supposed lack of extrinsic motivations and support a continuum of motivations for professionalization, as seen in the types of extrinsic motivations in Self‐ Determination Theory.   Keywords: Foreign language teachers, teacher motivation, teacher professionalization, advanced certification

64-77

Authors: David R. Byrd

Writing in a second language is a complex process.  Learners are expected to develop an idea—that may or may not be their own—into a fully articulated product while paying attention to linguistic features of the target language that they might not yet possess. Often they are asked to do this on their own without the guidance of their instructor, who expects a polished piece of writing to be turned in later. This article presents several ideas to help jumpstart the writing process; providing students with much needed support throughout. These ideas can be used at any level of second language writing instruction to produce more focused writing pieces and aid in making writing more communicative in nature. Key words: Writing; group work; writing process; second language writing; pre‐writing