Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: input

Resumen:

This article reports on two studies, testing how three different types of input (skewed first, skewed random and balanced) affect second language (L2) learning of English present counterfactual (IF-Is) and past counterfactual (IF-IIs) conditionals, two constructions differing in complexity. The experiment included a proficiency test, a pretest, a posttest and a delayed posttest for both IF-Is and IF-IIs. Results suggest that the three types of input did not affect learning gains within the two complexity conditions. However, there was a difference in learning gains between the two conditions, namely that more gains were made in the simpler condition (i.e. IF-Is). In a follow-up study, effects of intralingual influence were tested. Participants who had studied IF-Is were taught the more complex construction, IF-IIs. Again, there were...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: pensamiento crítico

Resumen:

Critical thinking and second language (L2) critical writing are very important for students at the tertiary level. However, applied linguistics and L2 acquisition research has mostly focused on linguistic knowledge development. Second language research has yet given scarce attention for examining the development of critical thinking and critical writing. This article explores the impact of critical analysis based on augmented reality (AR) technology on developing critical thinking and critical writing. Two groups of L2 undergraduates (n = 120) participated in this study. The experimental group used critical analysis based on AR, and the control group used online instruction based on a learning management system without AR. The findings showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in critical thinking and writing....

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: enseñanza/aprendizaje de vocabulario

Resumen:

In light of mixed findings in existing input enhancement research, Issa and Morgan-Short in a 2019 article urged researchers to compare the relative effects of input enhancement that taps into learners’ attention to the external format of second language (L2) target forms (e.g. through capitalizing or boldfacing the forms) and input enhancement that taps into learners’ attention to the internal attributes of L2 target forms (e.g. via increasing the frequency of the forms). In response to this call, the study described in this article drew on a pretest-treatment–posttest-experimental-design to explore whether working memory (WM) capacity modulates the extent to which L2 learners benefit from input enhancement engaged by internal and external attentional manipulations for partially-acquired L2 vocabulary. Analyses of these learners’...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: colocaciones

Resumen:

This study explored how to promote incidental collocation learning from task-based reading. In this study, 101 Cantonese speakers read three English texts that contained 12 target collocations. Playing a role as an editor of a magazine, participants were asked to determine if the three texts were acceptable to be published in the next issue. While half of the participants (– Guidance, n = 50) were asked to simply accept or reject the texts after reading, the other half (+ Guidance, n = 51) received task guidance that contained a list of specific reviewing criteria. Participants’ eye-movements were recorded during the editor task, and 10 participants from each condition were asked to produce stimulated recalls while viewing their eye-movements. The rest of the participants’ (n = 81) knowledge about the target collocations was measured...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: estrategias de aprendizaje

Resumen:

The present study investigated the effects of self-regulated strategy-based speaking instruction on English-as-a-foreign-language learners’ speaking performance and strategy use. Despite extensive research on self-regulated learning in various educational contexts, its application to second language speaking development remains underexplored. This explanatory mixed-methods quasi-experimental study employed self-report questionnaires, speaking assessments, and semi-structured interviews for data collection. A linear mixed-effects model results revealed that the experimental group (n = 54, receiving the self-regulated learning strategy-based intervention) demonstrated significantly greater improvement in speaking performance compared to the control group (n = 53, receiving traditional instruction), with effects sustained at delayed post...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: pragmática

Resumen:

The present study deals with the effect of audio-visual material for second language (L2) pragmatic learning in the foreign language classroom. More specifically, it analyzes whether being exposed to captioned and non-captioned input in an experimental condition entailing no instruction on pragmatics might have any influence on the learners’ pragmatic performance. To this aim, two intact classes ( N = 31) of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a B1 level were exposed to videos with captions and without captions, respectively. Before and after watching the videos, all the students were asked to carry out a role-play task with situations like those in the videos. A mixed-methods approach was used to analyze the learners’ performance in terms of types and number of strategies to perform speech acts (quantitative) and in...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: teoría sociocultural

Resumen:

This article investigates the effect of concept-based instruction (CBI), a pedagogy based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, on second language (L2) learners’ writing development. A quasi-experimental intervention lasting 16 weeks was conducted involving 88 first-year Chinese university students of English. The participants were assigned to three conditions: Full CBI (F-CBI) treatment, Partial CBI (P-CBI) treatment (i.e. CBI without peer–peer talk) and control. A definition task and two writing tasks (a narrative and an argumentative task) were used to measure students’ knowledge and understanding of genre and their writing performance, respectively. The results indicated that the F-CBI intervention generated significantly larger gains in learners’ understanding of genre as well as their overall writing performance than did the...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: feedback/retroalimentación

Resumen:

English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ noticing of written corrective feedback (WCF) has a positive impact on their writing development. However, the effect of EFL learners’ noticing when receiving various sources of input, including model texts, the teacher’s written recasts, peers’ compositions, and the implementation of the sociocognitive transformative approach, on their writing performances in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) has not been explored. A class of 27 English majors, all intact, participated in the study. A pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest design was employed to understand the effectiveness of the semester-long treatment conditions and learners’ noticing in various learning contexts on the three performances. The class was divided into two subgroups using different picture prompts for the...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: aprendizaje colaborativo

Resumen:

Collaborative writing (CW) has been proven advantageous to enhance the second and foreign language skills of university students. However, little research to date has explored whether CW practices are fruitful for secondary school learners in foreign language (FL) contexts, a population characterized by low language proficiency levels, and few opportunities to engage with the FL. The present classroom-based study examines CW in this setting and aims to determine whether CW fosters language opportunities, operationalized as language-related episodes (LREs), which will allow learners in low-input scenarios to compose better texts. Two parallel intact classes were studied: a control group (n = 16) which produced an argumentative essay individually, and an experimental group (n = 16) which did so in pairs while recording their...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: feedback/retroalimentación

Resumen:

This study investigated the relationship between learner beliefs about peer feedback and development of second language (L2) pronunciation skills after peer feedback on pronunciation had been used in the classroom. Seventy-four first-year learners of German were assigned to a peer feedback provider group, a peer feedback receiver group, and a control group. After completing a questionnaire designed to elicit learner beliefs about peer feedback, the provider group and the receiver group received general pronunciation training. Following the training, the provider group gave feedback to peers on their pronunciation and the receiver group listened to this feedback. Participants’ learning gains were measured by means of native speaker comprehensibility ratings of their productions both before and after the intervention. Statistical...

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