Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: enfoque por tareas expresión escrita cognición y procesamiento

Resumen:

Task design features have different effects on second language (L2) production and can be adopted for different pedagogical purposes. However, the synergistic effects of task features were left unexplored in the extant task-based literature. The present study investigated the synergistic effects of two task design features, namely, prior knowledge and reasoning demands, on the writing performance of Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Fifty EFL learners were invited to complete two writing tasks, with varying reasoning demands, under one of two conditions, namely, with prior knowledge available or without prior knowledge available. Their written texts were analysed in terms of complexity, accuracy, fluency, and communicative adequacy, to reflect the multi-componential nature of task performance. The results...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: trabajo teórico

Temas: enseñanza/aprendizaje de lenguas creación de materiales materiales didácticos

Resumen:

Despite growing calls to humanize materials for English language teaching (ELT), the emotional dimension of materials design remains largely overlooked, limiting their potential to foster affective engagement and support emotionally rich learning experiences that contribute to learners’ holistic development. This article proposes an emotional design framework for ELT materials, which draws on Norman’s Emotional Design Theory and empirical findings of emotional design in multimedia learning, and is informed by research in ELT materials, language education and applied linguistics. The framework outlines three levels of emotional design: visceral, behavioral, and reflective, to guide the development of ELT materials that stimulate the senses, promote meaningful and interactive language learning, and encourage personal reflection. To...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: uso de la L1 en el aula aprendizaje colaborativo expresión escrita

Resumen:

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Reflecting the important role of collaborative dialogue in second language (L2) learning, collaborative writing tasks have been widely used in L2 classrooms to help students gain new knowledge and consolidate their existing knowledge about how the target language works. Although use of the first language (L1) during peer interaction has been criticized (Levine, 2003; Unamuno, 2008), collaborative dialogue research has identified how L1 English use serves several important sociocognitive functions and supports knowledge mediation in foreign language classrooms (Swain & Lapkin, 2013). This study also examines the sociocognitive functions served by English in an L2 French classroom but compares...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: motivación pronunciación AICLE/CLIL

Resumen:

Research on young learners’ motivation in second language (L2) acquisition has expanded considerably, yet pronunciation-specific motivation remains largely overlooked, particularly in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts. At the same time, gender has frequently been claimed as a source of variation in L2 motivation and pronunciation attainment, although recent evidence from primary-school CLIL settings suggests that such differences may be far less pronounced than traditionally assumed. This study compares English pronunciation motivation across CLIL and non-CLIL programs in Spanish primary education learners and between boys and girls within each type of instruction. A total of 337 pupils in Grades 3 and 4 from five semiurban schools in a monolingual region of northern Spain (3 CLIL, 2 non-CLIL) completed a 38-...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: pronunciación prosodia fonética

Resumen:

Though research has shown that rhythmic training is beneficial for phonological speech processing, little empirical work has been carried out to assess whether rhythmic training in the classroom can help to improve pronunciation in a second language. This study tests the potential benefits of hand-clapping to the rhythm of newly learned French words for the acquisition of pronunciation patterns by Chinese adolescents. In a between-subjects training experiment with a pretest/posttest design, 50 Chinese adolescents either repeated new French words while clapping out their rhythmic structure (clapping condition) or only repeated the words (non-clapping condition). Participants’ oral production before and after training was (1) perceptually rated for accentedness by two French native speakers and (2) acoustically analysed for final...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: factores afectivos competencia intercultural expresión oral

Resumen:

This study examined out-of-school oral willingness to communicate (WTC) in two modes of communication – face-to-face (FtF) and digital – among secondary school students of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Poland and Spain. It also examined the associations between affective factors and intercultural sensitivity with WTC in both settings. A total of 1,480 students from 17 schools in Poland and 1,128 students from 11 schools in Spain participated in this study. The study found that learners from both national contexts shared extremely similar levels of out-of-class oral WTC in the two settings. After controlling for sociodemographic factors (age, gender, socioeconomic status, and relative self-assessed spoken competence), hierarchical regression analyses revealed that Foreign Classroom Language Anxiety (FLCA), Foreign Language...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: inteligencia artificial creación de materiales comprensión lectora

Resumen:

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools have shown great potential for assisting teachers in their teaching routines. However, there is an urgent need for more empirical research to investigate the implementation and effectiveness of these tools. This study aimed to explore how teachers in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context perceived and used a generative AI-based tool, ChatPDF, to develop materials for reading lessons. Data were collected from three EFL teachers’ dialogues with ChatPDF, artefacts (including original and finalized materials), and individual semi-structured interviews. Content analysis was used to analyse the dialogues with ChatPDF through the lens of pedagogical content knowledge. The interviews were analysed thematically, and the artefacts were used for triangulation. The findings show that the...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: factores afectivos interacción enfoque por tareas

Resumen:

This study investigated the nature of learners’ positive emotional engagement during a task-based interaction and its relationship with their interactional behaviours. Vietnamese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL; n = 74) performed a communicative task in dyads in 15 minutes. Their positive emotional engagement was gauged using an Experience Sampling Method via a questionnaire that the participants completed after every five-minute interval of the interaction, capturing three timepoints of learners’ emotional engagement. Learners’ cognitive and social interactional behaviours were examined in light of the amount of second language production (words and turns), language-related episodes (LREs), and the degree of collaboration. Results showed that learners’ positive emotional engagement fluctuated over the course of a 15-...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: translingüismo enfoque por tareas expresión oral

Resumen:

Translanguaging has thrived as a pedagogy for second language (L2) acquisition because of its potential in maximizing L2 learners’ communicative repertoire. However, limited attention has been paid to how translanguaging can influence L2 speaking within the framework of task-based language teaching (TBLT). This study explored how different language use (i.e., L2 only and translanguaging) in collaborative pre-task planning contributed to L2 learners’ subsequent monologic speaking performance, as measured by complexity, accuracy, fluency (CAF), and idea units. The planning behaviours were also examined to offer explanations for the differences in learners’ speaking performance. Altogether 72 undergraduate students from a Chinese university voluntarily participated in this study. The results showed that translanguaging planning...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: trabajo teórico

Temas: metodología de investigación creencias y actitudes de los estudiantes educación primaria y secundaria

Resumen:

This article examines the use of the repertory grid technique as a method to investigate learner perceptions in language education research. An important issue raised in this article concerns how far a researcher’s agenda may be unintentionally imposed onto a research study which is investigating learners’ perceptions, and how far the ensuing data may provide an accurate representation of the learners’ viewpoints. A discussion of conventional research methods in perception research indicates the limitations of many structured research instruments such as questionnaires, surveys and interviews with regard to gaining reliable insights into learners’ views. The article considers the potential of using the repertory grid technique in perception research in terms of minimizing researcher influence and obtaining data that reflects learners...

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