Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: enfoques y métodos comprensión oral expresión oral

Resumen:

Traditional English teaching in China is predominantly teacher-centered, which limits student engagement and reflective learning. Transformative learning theory (TLT) advocates a student-centered approach that fosters critical reflection and active participation, potentially enhancing English listening and speaking skills. This study examines the effectiveness of a TLT-based curriculum intervention in improving Chinese college students’ English proficiency. Using a quasi-experimental design, 135 freshmen at a comprehensive university in China participated in the study. The experimental group (EG) received a 10-week TLT-based curriculum, while the control group (CG) underwent traditional instruction. Language proficiency was assessed using the Cambridge English Language Assessment’s Preliminary English Test (PET), and multivariate...

Ver ficha completa

Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: dramatización literatura expresión oral

Resumen:

Texto completo

This article intends to add to the rising discussion related to the employment of authentic plays and drama within a high school compulsory curriculum for enhancing learners’ foreign language (L2) oral skills. In particular, it examines the pedagogical use of authentic contemporary plays for developing learners’ L2 oral production in terms of (1) complexity – syntactic and mean length of AS-units (MLAS) and (2) accuracy – global and pronunciation accuracy. For this purpose, a class of 10 final year high school students with a lower-intermediate to upper-intermediate level of language in an Italian context was exposed longitudinally to a blended-drama approach – the use of literary play scripts,...

Ver ficha completa

Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: aula invertida/flipped learning enseñanza en línea e híbrida expresión escrita

Resumen:

The present study investigated the effects of integrating the flipped classroom (FC) with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ writing, measured in complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). To this end, 60 university students with intermediate proficiency in English were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The former experienced the FC integrated with MOOCs; the latter underwent traditional face-to-face classes. All participants took two essay writing tests: one at the beginning of the study as the pretest and another at the end as the posttest. The results showed that integrating the FC with MOOCs had a significantly positive effect on the experimental group’s writing in terms of CAF and its subcomponents. However, there was no significant difference...

Ver ficha completa

Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: expresión escrita estrategias de aprendizaje comprensión lectora

Resumen:

This study examined the components of writing strategies employed in the story continuation writing task (SCWT) and investigated how these strategies related to different aspects of writing performance. Specifically, it adopted factor analyses to validate the strategy subscale of Ye et al.’s (2021) writing performance questionnaire and used structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the relationship between strategy use and writing performance, as measured by the holistic writing scores and 11 textual indices. The data comprised 330 questionnaire responses and 330 SCWT essays produced by the same group of high school English as a Foreign Language learners selected through convenience sampling. Factor analyses identified three task-specific strategy components: reading_to_select , reading_to_organize , and content_developing . These...

Ver ficha completa

Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: enseñanza/aprendizaje de lenguas expresión escrita estrategias de aprendizaje

Resumen:

The contribution of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies to second language (L2) education has recently garnered significant attention in various contexts. However, the way these strategies interact with task engagement in the domain of specific language skills such as L2 writing has been overlooked. To fill this gap, this study employed an experimental–comparison group, pretest–posttest design, conducted within a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, to investigate whether and how SRL strategies-based writing instruction of English argumentative essays affected L2 learners’ task engagement in the short and long term. The intervention and control intervention consisted of a 14-session instructional program on writing English argumentative essays. The intervention was enhanced with an SRL strategies-based instruction based...

Ver ficha completa

Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: estrategias de aprendizaje competencia digital diferencias individuales

Resumen:

Major advances have been made in understanding language learning strategies (LLS). However, rapid changes in human interaction induced by the internet and web 2.0 warrant a re-assessment of LLS in today’s context, especially vis-à-vis digital nativeness. Therefore, a large-scale quantitative investigation involving 891 college students was conducted. Their LLS use patterns and frequency and their level of digital fluency were examined using two instruments: Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and Teo’s Digital Natives Assessment Scale (DNAS). The participants reported moderate usage of all the strategies described in SILL. However, they reported using specific SILL categories (compensation, memory, and metacognitive) more frequently than others (social, cognitive, and affective). Participants with different levels...

Ver ficha completa

Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: enfoque por tareas creencias y actitudes de los profesores innovación educativa

Resumen:

This study uncovers the under-explored influences that encourage teachers to incorporate task-based language teaching (TBLT) for teaching Chinese as a second language, and the process of teachers’ pedagogical attempts at a Chinese university. Activity Theory (Engeström, 1987) was adopted as the conceptual framework. As a qualitative study, the analysis drew on data from interviews and classroom observations with eight teachers, and complemented by interviews with two directors and 17 students. The study reveals that teachers’ pedagogical practice results from a process of negotiating the possible pedagogical tools to reach their teaching objectives in their context of teaching. In particular, teachers depart from the traditional teaching approach to incorporate tasks as a personal initiative in response to the perceived challenges in...

Ver ficha completa

Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: disponibilidad léxica influencia de la L1 competencia léxica

Resumen:

Lexical availability studies provide valuable insights into learners’ breadth and depth of controlled productive vocabulary, and structure of their lexicon. Yet, little is known about the performance of different-L1 learners on different prompts. Likewise, this study compared the available lexicon of three different-L1 groups of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) (L1-Persian, L1-Arabic, and L1-Turkish) to explore whether first language (L1) background and type of prompt (concrete vs. abstract) yield quantitative and qualitative differences in retrieving available lexicon. An online New Vocabulary Levels Test and a lexical availability task were administered to 116 tertiary different-L1 EFL learners. Studying concrete and abstract prompts would uncover the intricate cognitive processes in word processing and retrieval, and...

Ver ficha completa

Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: factores afectivos motivación diferencias individuales

Resumen:

Although research into emotions has flourished in second language (L2) / foreign language (FL) learning in recent decades, few attempts have been made to examine learners as clusters based on their emotional profiles. The current study set out to first investigate the nature of 98 Grade-4-to-5 English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ emotional profiles, as represented by classroom anxiety, boredom, and enjoyment. The hierarchical clustering analysis revealed three distinct profiles: Negative Emotion (NE; 21.43%), High Enjoyment (HE; 46.93%), and high in both Enjoyment and Anxiety (EA; 31.63%). We then analysed FL motivation and family background (household income and parental education) between the three groups. We also compared the FL proficiency levels (listening, reading, speaking, and writing) between the three groups from...

Ver ficha completa

Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: adquisición de segundas lenguas factores afectivos diferencias individuales

Resumen:

Chinese students are frequently seen as passive learners because of their apparent reluctance to speak, particularly in English classrooms. However, this impression seems to reflect a stereotype which is likely to confound willingness to communicate (WTC) and communication behaviour. In this article we argue for more attention to be paid to individual differences to complement culture-related explanations of differences in WTC. Self-report data on WTC at both trait and state levels and personality characteristics were analysed in relation to L2 language learning performance in a sample of 103 university students. Individual differences in WTC L1 were found to be strongly related to extraversion; whilst individual differences in WTC L2 were associated with openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, rather than...

Ver ficha completa