S. Ostovar-Namaghi, Fereshteh Mohit, Mostafa Morady Moghaddam
Data Availability All relevant data are within this paper. Abstract The present study explores communication strategies used by Iranian advanced EFL learners to overcome communication problems. This study aims to explore EFL learners’ awareness of communication strategies. To this end, 17 advanced EFL learners who were willing to partici-pate in the study were selected through snowball sampling. Their awareness of communication strategies was then explored through open-ended interviews and analyzed in line with the cod-ing schemes of grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1991). Iterative data collection and analysis yielded four main categories including explicit, reciprocal, implicit, and reduction strategies. Each of these strategies covers some subcategories. To visualize the findings and explore the degree to which the abstracted strategies reflect the participants’ perspective, the transcribed data, along with the emerged strategies were fed to MAXQDA. This study can contribute to effective oral communication by elaborating on the notion of communication strategies and reaching communicative goals. The findings have implications for language learners, language teachers, and materials developers.
{"title":"Exploring advanced EFL learners’ awareness of communication strategies","authors":"S. Ostovar-Namaghi, Fereshteh Mohit, Mostafa Morady Moghaddam","doi":"10.29140/ajal.v5n2.686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v5n2.686","url":null,"abstract":"Data Availability All relevant data are within this paper. Abstract The present study explores communication strategies used by Iranian advanced EFL learners to overcome communication problems. This study aims to explore EFL learners’ awareness of communication strategies. To this end, 17 advanced EFL learners who were willing to partici-pate in the study were selected through snowball sampling. Their awareness of communication strategies was then explored through open-ended interviews and analyzed in line with the cod-ing schemes of grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1991). Iterative data collection and analysis yielded four main categories including explicit, reciprocal, implicit, and reduction strategies. Each of these strategies covers some subcategories. To visualize the findings and explore the degree to which the abstracted strategies reflect the participants’ perspective, the transcribed data, along with the emerged strategies were fed to MAXQDA. This study can contribute to effective oral communication by elaborating on the notion of communication strategies and reaching communicative goals. The findings have implications for language learners, language teachers, and materials developers.","PeriodicalId":220888,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114539105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
relevant data are within this paper. Abstract Contrastive rhetoric (CR) has made great contributions to our understanding of L2 writing. Nevertheless, CR has endured countless criticisms over the years, resulting in “reimagined” forms attempting to address many of these criticisms. In doing so, these forms have shaped CR into a collection of complex ideologies that have unnecessarily complicated CR and impeded its efficacy in both research and the classroom. Therefore, to make it more practicable, it must be decluttered and brought back to its fundamentals. To accomplish this, I look at CR within the theoretical framework of Clark’s (1996) Common Ground (CG) theory, which affixes it to something much more universal and heterogeneous—communication. Essen -tially, what I postulate here is that when CR is considered in tandem with CG theory, it is shifted from an ideological theory that fails to take into consideration socially and politically conscructed notions of L2 writing to an approach concerned with basic communication principles. When this shift occurs, many of its criticisms can then be assuaged and CR can once again become more practical for researchers and an effective tool for teachers to help their students achieve their writing goals.
{"title":"(Re)turning to contrastive rhetoric’s basic communication principles: A Common Ground theory perspective","authors":"Jonathan Brown","doi":"10.29140/ajal.v5n2.783","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v5n2.783","url":null,"abstract":"relevant data are within this paper. Abstract Contrastive rhetoric (CR) has made great contributions to our understanding of L2 writing. Nevertheless, CR has endured countless criticisms over the years, resulting in “reimagined” forms attempting to address many of these criticisms. In doing so, these forms have shaped CR into a collection of complex ideologies that have unnecessarily complicated CR and impeded its efficacy in both research and the classroom. Therefore, to make it more practicable, it must be decluttered and brought back to its fundamentals. To accomplish this, I look at CR within the theoretical framework of Clark’s (1996) Common Ground (CG) theory, which affixes it to something much more universal and heterogeneous—communication. Essen -tially, what I postulate here is that when CR is considered in tandem with CG theory, it is shifted from an ideological theory that fails to take into consideration socially and politically conscructed notions of L2 writing to an approach concerned with basic communication principles. When this shift occurs, many of its criticisms can then be assuaged and CR can once again become more practical for researchers and an effective tool for teachers to help their students achieve their writing goals.","PeriodicalId":220888,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics","volume":"66 30","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134195824","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
relevant data this paper. Abstract This study aims at a rediscovery of the extent to which a Data Driven Learning (DDL)-based intervention could become instrumental in facilitating grammar instruction with a specific focus on English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and learner autonomy in a preparatory program comprised mostly of Turkish-L1 learners. It provides a context-restricted longitudinal depiction of the effectiveness of a DDL-based grammar instruction endorsed by teacher mentorship across groups asynchronously, thus re-testing the limits of DDL-oriented corpus pedagogy in contexts where a control group is not available. To this end, a corpus was compiled out of the existing reading and listening materials in use ad hoc as the Alternative Corpus of Academic Texts (ACAT), and a total of 19 grammar lessons covering topics in the curriculum of the second level of the grammar course were developed using the ACAT. Blind pre-and post-test procedures were administered with all four experimental groups independent of each other to gradually build up an understanding of the governing pattern of learner achievement through DDL and corpus-based teacher-prepared materials. The analysis demonstrated a rise in student achievement across all groups despite the lack of a teacher disseminating knowledge to students DDL-enhanced teaching. With the design being unorthodox, this study shows that the triple powers of DDL, self-discovery, occasional teacher supervision, in class in the traditional sense, thus showing that a sense of autonomy could be fostered through and corpus-based teaching materials, could help learners survive autonomously no matter how hectic the curriculum run at an institution is. Further research is needed to deepen this insight so that this sort of DDL practice could be implemented at an institutional level.
{"title":"Exploring the data-driven approach to grammar instruction in the ELT context of Turkey","authors":"M. Özer, Ali Özbay","doi":"10.29140/ajal.v5n2.713","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v5n2.713","url":null,"abstract":"relevant data this paper. Abstract This study aims at a rediscovery of the extent to which a Data Driven Learning (DDL)-based intervention could become instrumental in facilitating grammar instruction with a specific focus on English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and learner autonomy in a preparatory program comprised mostly of Turkish-L1 learners. It provides a context-restricted longitudinal depiction of the effectiveness of a DDL-based grammar instruction endorsed by teacher mentorship across groups asynchronously, thus re-testing the limits of DDL-oriented corpus pedagogy in contexts where a control group is not available. To this end, a corpus was compiled out of the existing reading and listening materials in use ad hoc as the Alternative Corpus of Academic Texts (ACAT), and a total of 19 grammar lessons covering topics in the curriculum of the second level of the grammar course were developed using the ACAT. Blind pre-and post-test procedures were administered with all four experimental groups independent of each other to gradually build up an understanding of the governing pattern of learner achievement through DDL and corpus-based teacher-prepared materials. The analysis demonstrated a rise in student achievement across all groups despite the lack of a teacher disseminating knowledge to students DDL-enhanced teaching. With the design being unorthodox, this study shows that the triple powers of DDL, self-discovery, occasional teacher supervision, in class in the traditional sense, thus showing that a sense of autonomy could be fostered through and corpus-based teaching materials, could help learners survive autonomously no matter how hectic the curriculum run at an institution is. Further research is needed to deepen this insight so that this sort of DDL practice could be implemented at an institutional level.","PeriodicalId":220888,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics","volume":"07 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128972939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study aimed to examine the potentials of the NLP approach in detecting discourse markers (DMs), namely okay, in transcribed spoken data. One hundred thirty-eight concordance lines were presented to human referees to judge the functions of okay in them as a DM or Non-DM. After that, the researchers used a Python script written according to the POS tagging scheme of the NLTK library to set rules for identifying cases where okay is used as non-DM. The output of the script was compared to the reference human-annotated data. The results showed that the script could accurately identify the function of okay as DM or non-DM in 92% of the cases. The inaccuracy of detecting the rest was found to be caused by a lack of proper and detailed punctuations. The main implications of the results are that new NLP approaches can detect DMS; however, proper punctuation is required to enable the proper identification of DMs. In accordance with the findings, the researcher recommended adopting the approach after conducting further comprehensive studies.
{"title":"Automated identification of discourse markers using NLP approach: The case of okay","authors":"Abdulaziz Sanosi, Mohamed Abdalla","doi":"10.29140/ajal.v4n3.538","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v4n3.538","url":null,"abstract":"This study aimed to examine the potentials of the NLP approach in detecting discourse markers (DMs), namely okay, in transcribed spoken data. One hundred thirty-eight concordance lines were presented to human referees to judge the functions of okay in them as a DM or Non-DM. After that, the researchers used a Python script written according to the POS tagging scheme of the NLTK library to set rules for identifying cases where okay is used as non-DM. The output of the script was compared to the reference human-annotated data. The results showed that the script could accurately identify the function of okay as DM or non-DM in 92% of the cases. The inaccuracy of detecting the rest was found to be caused by a lack of proper and detailed punctuations. The main implications of the results are that new NLP approaches can detect DMS; however, proper punctuation is required to enable the proper identification of DMs. In accordance with the findings, the researcher recommended adopting the approach after conducting further comprehensive studies.","PeriodicalId":220888,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics","volume":"148 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115192563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There has been a plethora of studies investigating the effect of semantic relatedness on second language (L2) word learning.However, most prior studies failed to control for the lexical properties of target words, which may be responsible for the mixed results yielded. This study, therefore, sets out to revisit this issue by controlling for L1 familiarity, one of the lexical factors confirmed to impact L2 learnability. Another goal of this study is to explore the extent to which semantic relatedness interacts with L1 familiarity, thus helping us determine the suitable condition under which word learning takes place. Towards these two aims, four sets of English target words matched in length were created (i.e., words of high/low L1 familiarity placed in semantic related/unrelated sets). For each set, after the timed learning session, an immediate posttest and an unannounced one-week delayed posttest, both of which measured the receptive knowledge of the target words, were administered to forty-one English as foreign language (EFL) learners. The results showed that (a) semantic relatedness negatively affected L2 word learning on the delayed posttest only, regardless of L1 familiarity status, suggesting a robust hindrance effect; (b) L1 familiarity persistently served as a facilitative force, as it aided the acquisition of both semantically related and unrelated word sets on both posttests; (c) similar L1 familiarity levels might result in additional interference. Our findings highlight the complex interplay between these two input-related variables.
{"title":"What constitutes vocabulary learning difficulty? A classroom-based study of semantic relatedness and L1 familiarity effects on L2 word learning","authors":"Hanzhong Sun, Shaohua Fang","doi":"10.29140/ajal.v4n3.545","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v4n3.545","url":null,"abstract":"There has been a plethora of studies investigating the effect of semantic relatedness on second language (L2) word learning.However, most prior studies failed to control for the lexical properties of target words, which may be responsible for the mixed results yielded. This study, therefore, sets out to revisit this issue by controlling for L1 familiarity, one of the lexical factors confirmed to impact L2 learnability. Another goal of this study is to explore the extent to which semantic relatedness interacts with L1 familiarity, thus helping us determine the suitable condition under which word learning takes place. Towards these two aims, four sets of English target words matched in length were created (i.e., words of high/low L1 familiarity placed in semantic related/unrelated sets). For each set, after the timed learning session, an immediate posttest and an unannounced one-week delayed posttest, both of which measured the receptive knowledge of the target words, were administered to forty-one English as foreign language (EFL) learners. The results showed that (a) semantic relatedness negatively affected L2 word learning on the delayed posttest only, regardless of L1 familiarity status, suggesting a robust hindrance effect; (b) L1 familiarity persistently served as a facilitative force, as it aided the acquisition of both semantically related and unrelated word sets on both posttests; (c) similar L1 familiarity levels might result in additional interference. Our findings highlight the complex interplay between these two input-related variables.","PeriodicalId":220888,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics","volume":"160 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127578260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Based on one of the central tenets of chaos/complexity theory (Larsen-Freeman, 1997) indicating the “interconnectedness of a variety of variables,” numerous contextual elements come into play in any discussion of the evolving field of SLA and learning environments. There has been a rich variety of research in the literature over the past two decades on the role of the environment in second language acquisition, serving as an effective entry point to approach the study of the SLA process. Concerning the role of context, Larsen-Freeman’s chaos theory indicates that internal and external elements interact with learning; this emphasizes the intricacy of spatial, contextual, interdisciplinary, and intra-disciplinary factors and the effect they exert on language learning, thus laying the basis for SLA. The general underlying concept of the book is to clarify the move from the state of being to one of how complex spatial and environmental elements affect the whole body of SLA. It is a readable 165 pages filled with rich academic insights. I would like to elaborate on the main tenets of various chapters and outline the benefits that may be gained from reading the book.
{"title":"Review of Language Learning Environments: Spatial Perspectives on SLA","authors":"A. Panahi","doi":"10.29140/ajal.v4n3.578","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v4n3.578","url":null,"abstract":"Based on one of the central tenets of chaos/complexity theory (Larsen-Freeman, 1997) indicating the “interconnectedness of a variety of variables,” numerous contextual elements come into play in any discussion of the evolving field of SLA and learning environments. There has been a rich variety of research in the literature over the past two decades on the role of the environment in second language acquisition, serving as an effective entry point to approach the study of the SLA process. Concerning the role of context, Larsen-Freeman’s chaos theory indicates that internal and external elements interact with learning; this emphasizes the intricacy of spatial, contextual, interdisciplinary, and intra-disciplinary factors and the effect they exert on language learning, thus laying the basis for SLA. The general underlying concept of the book is to clarify the move from the state of being to one of how complex spatial and environmental elements affect the whole body of SLA. It is a readable 165 pages filled with rich academic insights. I would like to elaborate on the main tenets of various chapters and outline the benefits that may be gained from reading the book.","PeriodicalId":220888,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131801879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The COVID-19 pandemic has engendered frightening momentum in education. Each day has dawned with new records of cases, infections, and insecurity regarding the virus, leading to confusion and uncertainty across the globe, including teaching and learning in educational contexts worldwide. Meanwhile, many educators, professionals, and researchers have strived to overcome these challenges and the COVID-19 debacle by sharing how they cope with it in their educational contexts.
{"title":"Review of Radical Solutions for Education in a Crisis Context: COVID-19 as an Opportunity for Global Learning","authors":"Eunjeong Park","doi":"10.29140/ajal.v4n3.576","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v4n3.576","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has engendered frightening momentum in education. Each day has dawned with new records of cases, infections, and insecurity regarding the virus, leading to confusion and uncertainty across the globe, including teaching and learning in educational contexts worldwide. Meanwhile, many educators, professionals, and researchers have strived to overcome these challenges and the COVID-19 debacle by sharing how they cope with it in their educational contexts.","PeriodicalId":220888,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130424786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Constraints imposed on the creative cover letter writing by digital online job advertisements","authors":"D. Ho, Alex Henry","doi":"10.29140/ajal.v4n3.513","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v4n3.513","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":220888,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123876008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Irish language self-efficacy beliefs: Mediators of performance and resources","authors":"S. Barry","doi":"10.29140/ajal.v4n3.526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v4n3.526","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":220888,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130659069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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