Introduction: Although extensive studies have been carried out on the effectiveness of corpora on teaching vocabulary, the exploration of whether learners can benefit from a pedagogical corpus, particularly regarding hands-on engagement by lower-level learners, has received little attention.
Purpose: To address this gap in the literature, this study sets out to explore the effectiveness of Data-Driven Learning (DDL) in enhancing the vocabulary acquisition of EFL students at a state university in Turkey through a pedagogical corpus.
Method: The quasi-experimental study employed a mixed-method research design, in which both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through vocabulary tests, student questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. Fifty-eight low-level students with an average age of 19 served as participants. The experimental group made use of hands-on concordancing while the control group received conventional course book-based instruction to learn the target words.
Results: The results indicate that pedagogical corpora have significant potential in facilitating vocabulary learning of low-level learners. The vocabulary tests revealed that the students who practiced with DDL outperformed the students who received traditional vocabulary instruction in both the post-test and the delayed post-test. The findings from student questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews also denoted that the participants held positive attitudes towards using concordancing to expand their vocabulary and grow aware of some aspects of words such as part of speech information, different meanings and usages, lexico-grammatical structures, and collocations.
Conclusion: The present study provides useful implications for collection and use of a pedagogical corpus for classroom use.
{"title":"The Effectiveness Data-Driven Vocabulary Learning: Hands-on Concordancing through a Pedagogical Corpus","authors":"Sibel Tosun, Hatice Sofu","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.12426","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.12426","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction: Although extensive studies have been carried out on the effectiveness of corpora on teaching vocabulary, the exploration of whether learners can benefit from a pedagogical corpus, particularly regarding hands-on engagement by lower-level learners, has received little attention.
 Purpose: To address this gap in the literature, this study sets out to explore the effectiveness of Data-Driven Learning (DDL) in enhancing the vocabulary acquisition of EFL students at a state university in Turkey through a pedagogical corpus.
 Method: The quasi-experimental study employed a mixed-method research design, in which both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through vocabulary tests, student questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. Fifty-eight low-level students with an average age of 19 served as participants. The experimental group made use of hands-on concordancing while the control group received conventional course book-based instruction to learn the target words.
 Results: The results indicate that pedagogical corpora have significant potential in facilitating vocabulary learning of low-level learners. The vocabulary tests revealed that the students who practiced with DDL outperformed the students who received traditional vocabulary instruction in both the post-test and the delayed post-test. The findings from student questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews also denoted that the participants held positive attitudes towards using concordancing to expand their vocabulary and grow aware of some aspects of words such as part of speech information, different meanings and usages, lexico-grammatical structures, and collocations.
 Conclusion: The present study provides useful implications for collection and use of a pedagogical corpus for classroom use.","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135131655","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}
Background: In English-medium instruction (EMI) classrooms, goal orientations, strategies, and communication play pivotal roles in facilitating effective learning. Achievement goal orientations (AGOs) guide and control learner competence-relevant behavior in academic performance. Communication strategies (CSs) are communication aids for learners to cope with problems or breakdowns while speaking the target language. Strategic competence is an indispensable affective-cognitive factor that promotes learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in a target language.
Purpose: This study aims to investigate the role of AGOs and CSs in predicting WTC and the effect of English proficiency on AGOs and CSs in EMI classrooms.
Methods: An online questionnaire survey regarding the perception of AGOs, CSs, and WTC was conducted with 595 university students taking one EMI course in social science and humanity domains in Taiwan. The items were on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. Hierarchical multiple regression was adopted to predict WTC in EMI classrooms. One-way between-group MANOVAs were adopted to examine the individual and joint effect of English proficiency on the AGOs and CSs.
Results: The hierarchical multiple regression model showed that task goal orientations and social affective strategies strongly and positively predicted the university students’ WTC in the EMI classroom. Performance-avoidance goal orientations and message reduction and alteration strategies were found to negatively predict WTC in EMI settings. Students’ English proficiency neither predicted their WTC nor affected their AGOs in the EMI classroom. High-proficiency students adopted accuracy-oriented, fluency-oriented, and negotiation for meaning while speaking strategies more frequently than low-proficiency students.
Conclusion: It is suggested that a supportive and dynamic classroom environment with higher-order learning tasks involving cooperation, reflection, and objective assessment criteria can be incorporated into EMI programs. Besides, instruction in CSs and the use of multimedia teaching aids can facilitate EFL learners’ comprehension of subject-specific materials and encourage them to engage more in EMI classrooms.
{"title":"The Role of Goal Orientations and Communication Strategies in Willingness to Communicate in EMI Classrooms","authors":"Mu-Hsuan Chou","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.17207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.17207","url":null,"abstract":"Background: In English-medium instruction (EMI) classrooms, goal orientations, strategies, and communication play pivotal roles in facilitating effective learning. Achievement goal orientations (AGOs) guide and control learner competence-relevant behavior in academic performance. Communication strategies (CSs) are communication aids for learners to cope with problems or breakdowns while speaking the target language. Strategic competence is an indispensable affective-cognitive factor that promotes learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in a target language.
 Purpose: This study aims to investigate the role of AGOs and CSs in predicting WTC and the effect of English proficiency on AGOs and CSs in EMI classrooms.
 Methods: An online questionnaire survey regarding the perception of AGOs, CSs, and WTC was conducted with 595 university students taking one EMI course in social science and humanity domains in Taiwan. The items were on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. Hierarchical multiple regression was adopted to predict WTC in EMI classrooms. One-way between-group MANOVAs were adopted to examine the individual and joint effect of English proficiency on the AGOs and CSs.
 Results: The hierarchical multiple regression model showed that task goal orientations and social affective strategies strongly and positively predicted the university students’ WTC in the EMI classroom. Performance-avoidance goal orientations and message reduction and alteration strategies were found to negatively predict WTC in EMI settings. Students’ English proficiency neither predicted their WTC nor affected their AGOs in the EMI classroom. High-proficiency students adopted accuracy-oriented, fluency-oriented, and negotiation for meaning while speaking strategies more frequently than low-proficiency students.
 Conclusion: It is suggested that a supportive and dynamic classroom environment with higher-order learning tasks involving cooperation, reflection, and objective assessment criteria can be incorporated into EMI programs. Besides, instruction in CSs and the use of multimedia teaching aids can facilitate EFL learners’ comprehension of subject-specific materials and encourage them to engage more in EMI classrooms.","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135131656","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}
Background and Purpose: The issue of what can count as “critical” in relation to academic literacy education has not been discussed in detail in relative review studies. Therefore, this opinion article aims to contribute to this issue by exploring the question whether a field of academic literacy education can be underpinned.
Approach: First, I revisit some models of academic literacy education (rhetorical models of critical consciousness, models of critical language awareness, genre-based models, multiliteracies, ethnographic-based academic literacies) which have been considered as “critical” in taxonomies of these review studies. Then, I compare these models showing their similarities and differences regarding what is “critical” and how it is situated within academic literacy education.
Conclusion: Finally, I argue that since there are contrasting conceptualisations among these models in relation to what is “critical” and how it can be associated with academic literacy education, critical academic literacy education can count as a relativist and not a unified field.
{"title":"What Can Count As Critical Academic Literacy Education?","authors":"Filippos Tentolouris","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.16211","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.16211","url":null,"abstract":"Background and Purpose: The issue of what can count as “critical” in relation to academic literacy education has not been discussed in detail in relative review studies. Therefore, this opinion article aims to contribute to this issue by exploring the question whether a field of academic literacy education can be underpinned.
 Approach: First, I revisit some models of academic literacy education (rhetorical models of critical consciousness, models of critical language awareness, genre-based models, multiliteracies, ethnographic-based academic literacies) which have been considered as “critical” in taxonomies of these review studies. Then, I compare these models showing their similarities and differences regarding what is “critical” and how it is situated within academic literacy education.
 Conclusion: Finally, I argue that since there are contrasting conceptualisations among these models in relation to what is “critical” and how it can be associated with academic literacy education, critical academic literacy education can count as a relativist and not a unified field.","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":"2014 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135131652","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}
Introduction. Research on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) emerged in the 1960s. A few researchers conducted reviews on ESP literature. However, there is currently a lack of up-to-date and comprehensive bibliometric analysis covering the last decade from an international perspective, particularly covering the last decade's developments in ESP research.
Purpose. Combining bibliometric analysis and systematic review of the literature on English for Specific Purposes, this study serves to objectively maps the knowledge area, and aims to identify the current status, major research themes, evolution, and the emerging trends in this field.
Method. To maintain the objectivity and transparency, the review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Based on literature retrieved from the Web of Science core collection, a total of 1657 bibliometric records published from 2011 to 2023 were visualized and analyzed via Citespace.
Results. The current research status through publication distribution and co-country network shows that the research is undergoing a steady increase and international authorship. Clusters and systematic review of citing articles indicate four themes, i.e., “linguistic inquires”, “teaching pedagogy”, “student learning”, and “teacher development”. Through the timezone view of keyword co-occurrence network, four features, such as the predominance of genre, corpus and pedagogy, varied pedagogies, varied research methodologies, and technology-assisted teaching, were identified. The keyword and citation burst detection, as well as systematic review of citing articles, were conducted to identify the research trends. It is found that EAP, teacher development, needs analysis in under-researched settings, as well as EMI and Corpus-based teaching pedagogies are the new frontiers in this field.
Conclusions. The field of English for Specific Purposes continues to experience exponential growth and development, indicating an ongoing expansion and advancement of research in this area. This paper provides references for researchers to understand the status, hidden structure, evolution, and emerging trends of research on English for Specific Purposes.
介绍。专门用途英语的研究兴起于20世纪60年代。一些研究者对ESP文献进行了回顾。然而，目前缺乏最新的、全面的、从国际角度覆盖过去十年的文献计量分析，特别是覆盖过去十年ESP研究的发展。
目的。本研究结合文献计量学分析和系统回顾的方法，客观地描绘了专用英语的知识领域，旨在确定该领域的现状、主要研究主题、演变和新兴趋势。
方法。为了保持客观性和透明度，评价遵循了系统评价和荟萃分析方案的首选报告项目。基于Web of Science核心馆藏检索文献，通过Citespace.
对2011 - 2023年间发表的1657篇文献计量学记录进行可视化分析。结果。通过出版物发行和合作国家网络的研究现状表明，研究正在稳步增长，作者国际化。对引用文章的聚类和系统回顾显示了四个主题，即“语言探究”、“教学教育学”、“学生学习”和“教师发展”。通过关键词共现网络的时区视角，发现了关键词共现网络具有体裁、语料库和教学法为主、教学法多样、研究方法多样、技术辅助教学等四个特征。通过关键词检测和引文爆发检测，以及对被引文章的系统综述，识别研究趋势。研究发现，EAP、教师发展、需求分析以及EMI和基于语料库的教学法是这一领域的新前沿。
结论。特殊用途英语领域继续经历着指数级的增长和发展，这表明该领域的研究正在不断扩大和进步。本文为研究者了解专用英语研究的现状、隐含结构、演变和新趋势提供了参考。
{"title":"A Bibliometric Analysis of English for Specific Purposes from 2011 to 2023 Using Citespace: Visualizing Status, Themes, Evolution, and Emerging Trends","authors":"Sining Tan, Madhubala Bava Harji, Xiaogang Hu","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.17632","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.17632","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction. Research on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) emerged in the 1960s. A few researchers conducted reviews on ESP literature. However, there is currently a lack of up-to-date and comprehensive bibliometric analysis covering the last decade from an international perspective, particularly covering the last decade's developments in ESP research.
 Purpose. Combining bibliometric analysis and systematic review of the literature on English for Specific Purposes, this study serves to objectively maps the knowledge area, and aims to identify the current status, major research themes, evolution, and the emerging trends in this field.
 Method. To maintain the objectivity and transparency, the review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Based on literature retrieved from the Web of Science core collection, a total of 1657 bibliometric records published from 2011 to 2023 were visualized and analyzed via Citespace.
 Results. The current research status through publication distribution and co-country network shows that the research is undergoing a steady increase and international authorship. Clusters and systematic review of citing articles indicate four themes, i.e., “linguistic inquires”, “teaching pedagogy”, “student learning”, and “teacher development”. Through the timezone view of keyword co-occurrence network, four features, such as the predominance of genre, corpus and pedagogy, varied pedagogies, varied research methodologies, and technology-assisted teaching, were identified. The keyword and citation burst detection, as well as systematic review of citing articles, were conducted to identify the research trends. It is found that EAP, teacher development, needs analysis in under-researched settings, as well as EMI and Corpus-based teaching pedagogies are the new frontiers in this field.
 Conclusions. The field of English for Specific Purposes continues to experience exponential growth and development, indicating an ongoing expansion and advancement of research in this area. This paper provides references for researchers to understand the status, hidden structure, evolution, and emerging trends of research on English for Specific Purposes.","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135131654","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}
Introduction: the JLE editors analyse the scope and depth of the subject area of ChatGPT and related topics based on the Scopus database. The Scopus statistics prove a skyrocketing rise in the number of publications in the field in question during 2023. The major alarming themes cover authorship and integrity related to AI-assisted writing, threats to educational practices, medicine, and malevolent uses of ChatGPT.
Keywords Explained: the key terminology is defined, including generative pre-trained transformers (GPT); ChatGPT; artificial intelligence (AI); AI chatbots; natural language processing (NLP); large language models; Open AI; large language model (LLM).
International Research on ChatGPT: as of September 24 2023, the Scopus database has indexed 1,935 publications, with “ChatGPT” in the title, abstract, or keywords. A skyrocketing rise in the number of research has been reported since the early days of 2023. 1,925 indexed publications out of 1,935 were published in 2023. Most of them came from the USA, India, the UK, and China. The number of documents indexed in the Scopus database as well as PubMed, arXiv and others are exponentially rising.
ChatGPT in Education: the academic community has been actively discussing the challenges education will face in the era of ChatGPT in the context of the fundamental threats posed to the educational system. The latter include assessment procedures, information accuracy, and skill devaluation. As many complex technologies, generative pre-trained transformers are ambivalent in nature, providing a great potential for learning and education at large, including new approaches based on critical thinking and awareness of the pros and cons of AI.
ChatGPT in Science: great prospects for text generation and improvements in language quality adjoin to dubious authorship and potentially inconsistent and erroneous parts in the AI-produced texts. Publishers and journals are working out new publishing policies, including publishing ethics towards AI-assisted or AI-improved submissions.
Conclusion: JLE is planning to revise its editorial policy to address the new challenges from AI technologies. JLE editors welcome new submissions of research articles and reviews as well as special issues on ChatGPT and related themes, with potential applications of chatbots in education, innovative approaches to writing assignments, facilitating personalized learning, academic integrity issues related to AI-supported writing, etc. in focus.
{"title":"ChatGPT: Where Is a Silver Lining? Exploring the realm of GPT and large language models.","authors":"Elena Tikhonova, Lilia Raitskaya","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.18119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.18119","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction: the JLE editors analyse the scope and depth of the subject area of ChatGPT and related topics based on the Scopus database. The Scopus statistics prove a skyrocketing rise in the number of publications in the field in question during 2023. The major alarming themes cover authorship and integrity related to AI-assisted writing, threats to educational practices, medicine, and malevolent uses of ChatGPT.
 Keywords Explained: the key terminology is defined, including generative pre-trained transformers (GPT); ChatGPT; artificial intelligence (AI); AI chatbots; natural language processing (NLP); large language models; Open AI; large language model (LLM).
 International Research on ChatGPT: as of September 24 2023, the Scopus database has indexed 1,935 publications, with “ChatGPT” in the title, abstract, or keywords. A skyrocketing rise in the number of research has been reported since the early days of 2023. 1,925 indexed publications out of 1,935 were published in 2023. Most of them came from the USA, India, the UK, and China. The number of documents indexed in the Scopus database as well as PubMed, arXiv and others are exponentially rising.
 ChatGPT in Education: the academic community has been actively discussing the challenges education will face in the era of ChatGPT in the context of the fundamental threats posed to the educational system. The latter include assessment procedures, information accuracy, and skill devaluation. As many complex technologies, generative pre-trained transformers are ambivalent in nature, providing a great potential for learning and education at large, including new approaches based on critical thinking and awareness of the pros and cons of AI.
 ChatGPT in Science: great prospects for text generation and improvements in language quality adjoin to dubious authorship and potentially inconsistent and erroneous parts in the AI-produced texts. Publishers and journals are working out new publishing policies, including publishing ethics towards AI-assisted or AI-improved submissions.
 Conclusion: JLE is planning to revise its editorial policy to address the new challenges from AI technologies. JLE editors welcome new submissions of research articles and reviews as well as special issues on ChatGPT and related themes, with potential applications of chatbots in education, innovative approaches to writing assignments, facilitating personalized learning, academic integrity issues related to AI-supported writing, etc. in focus.","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135131522","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}
Background: Context plays a significant role in effective communication. Among various aspects of context, culture is particularly important since it necessitates that language be used effectively so that a specific purpose can be achieved successfully. One key element of such communication is the effective use of speech acts including compliment and compliment responses (CR).
Aim: This research aimed to identify the CR strategies produced by Emirati users of English in a university setting, as a response to a compliment received from an international professor on their academic performance and the psychological effect such a compliment is likely to have on them. It also investigated the influence of gender on CR strategies.
Methodology: The data were collected using a discourse completion task. Fifty-eight students (33 male and 25 female) participated in the study. The CR strategies were analyzed using Holmes' (1988) classification scheme.
Results: The results showed that a compliment from a professor, irrespective of his/her gender, would make the students happy, with positive effects on their motivation, self-confidence, and feeling of closeness to the professor. The students also thought a CR was necessary for politeness purposes. The most commonly used CR strategy was that of acceptance. The male and the female students produced similar CR strategies in responding to the professor, irrespective of his/her gender. Yet they were more likely to use micro-level strategies (e.g., appreciation token, comment, and promise) with the male professor. The students also used downgrading and disagreeing but only while responding to the male professor. In their conversation with the female professor, they used the strategies of shifting credit and requesting reassurance.
Significance: These results provide evidence for the face-enhancing nature of CR strategies as utilized by Emirati users of English with international faculty in a university setting.
{"title":"Compliment Response Strategies in Institutional Discourse within an Emirati Context: Focus on Power and Gender Differences in University Student-Professor Exchanges in English","authors":"Tanju Deveci","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.12008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.12008","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Context plays a significant role in effective communication. Among various aspects of context, culture is particularly important since it necessitates that language be used effectively so that a specific purpose can be achieved successfully. One key element of such communication is the effective use of speech acts including compliment and compliment responses (CR).
 Aim: This research aimed to identify the CR strategies produced by Emirati users of English in a university setting, as a response to a compliment received from an international professor on their academic performance and the psychological effect such a compliment is likely to have on them. It also investigated the influence of gender on CR strategies.
 Methodology: The data were collected using a discourse completion task. Fifty-eight students (33 male and 25 female) participated in the study. The CR strategies were analyzed using Holmes' (1988) classification scheme.
 Results: The results showed that a compliment from a professor, irrespective of his/her gender, would make the students happy, with positive effects on their motivation, self-confidence, and feeling of closeness to the professor. The students also thought a CR was necessary for politeness purposes. The most commonly used CR strategy was that of acceptance. The male and the female students produced similar CR strategies in responding to the professor, irrespective of his/her gender. Yet they were more likely to use micro-level strategies (e.g., appreciation token, comment, and promise) with the male professor. The students also used downgrading and disagreeing but only while responding to the male professor. In their conversation with the female professor, they used the strategies of shifting credit and requesting reassurance.
 Significance: These results provide evidence for the face-enhancing nature of CR strategies as utilized by Emirati users of English with international faculty in a university setting.","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135131521","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}
Valery Solovyev, Marina Solnyshkina, Elena Tutubalina
Background: Automatic assessment of text complexity levels is viewed as an important task, primarily in education. The existing methods of computing text complexity employ simple surface text properties neglecting complexity of text content and structure. The current paradigm of complexity studies can no longer keep up with the challenges of automatic evaluation of text structure.
Purpose: The aim of the paper is twofold: (1) it introduces a new notion, i.e. complexity of a text topical structure which we define as a quantifiable measure and combination of four parameters, i.e. number of topics, topic coherence, topic distribution, and topic weight. We hypothesize that these parameters are dependent variables of text complexity and aligned with the grade level; (2) the paper is also aimed at justifying applicability of the recently developed methods of topic modeling to measuring complexity of a text topical structure.
Method: To test this hypothesis, we use Russian Academic Corpus comprising school textbooks, texts of Russian as a foreign language and fiction texts recommended for reading in different grades, and employ it in three versions: (i) Full Texts Corpus, (ii) Corpus of Segments, (iii) Corpus of Paragraphs. The software tools we implement include LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), OnlineLDA and Additive Regularization Of Topic Models with Word2vec-based metric and Normalized Pairwise Mutual Information.
Results: Our findings include the following: the optimal number of topics in educational texts varies around 20; topic coherence and topic distribution are identified to be functions of grade level complexity; text complexity is suggested to be estimated with structural organization parameters and viewed as a new algorithm complementing the classical approach of text complexity assessment based on linguistic features.
Conclusion: The results reported and discussed in the article strongly suggest that the theoretical framework and the analytic algorithms used in the study might be fruitfully applied in education and provide a basis for assessing complexity of academic texts.
{"title":"Topic Modeling for Text Structure Assessment: The case of Russian Academic Texts","authors":"Valery Solovyev, Marina Solnyshkina, Elena Tutubalina","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.16604","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.16604","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Automatic assessment of text complexity levels is viewed as an important task, primarily in education. The existing methods of computing text complexity employ simple surface text properties neglecting complexity of text content and structure. The current paradigm of complexity studies can no longer keep up with the challenges of automatic evaluation of text structure.
 Purpose: The aim of the paper is twofold: (1) it introduces a new notion, i.e. complexity of a text topical structure which we define as a quantifiable measure and combination of four parameters, i.e. number of topics, topic coherence, topic distribution, and topic weight. We hypothesize that these parameters are dependent variables of text complexity and aligned with the grade level; (2) the paper is also aimed at justifying applicability of the recently developed methods of topic modeling to measuring complexity of a text topical structure.
 Method: To test this hypothesis, we use Russian Academic Corpus comprising school textbooks, texts of Russian as a foreign language and fiction texts recommended for reading in different grades, and employ it in three versions: (i) Full Texts Corpus, (ii) Corpus of Segments, (iii) Corpus of Paragraphs. The software tools we implement include LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), OnlineLDA and Additive Regularization Of Topic Models with Word2vec-based metric and Normalized Pairwise Mutual Information.
 Results: Our findings include the following: the optimal number of topics in educational texts varies around 20; topic coherence and topic distribution are identified to be functions of grade level complexity; text complexity is suggested to be estimated with structural organization parameters and viewed as a new algorithm complementing the classical approach of text complexity assessment based on linguistic features.
 Conclusion: The results reported and discussed in the article strongly suggest that the theoretical framework and the analytic algorithms used in the study might be fruitfully applied in education and provide a basis for assessing complexity of academic texts.","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135131524","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}
Background. Academic vocabulary is considered an essential component in the English language courses in higher education establishments. A number of studies have illustrated that the use of academic words in students’ work alone cannot always promise high grades, since students’ opinion about the importance of academic words can also have an influence on their knowledge and use. Purpose. The research aims to determine the relationship between the vocabulary level of learners and their beliefs about the importance of academic words at the tertiary level. Methods. For this study, the first and third-year students (N=440) in two Uzbek universities completed a beliefs questionnaire to rate their perceptions of the significance of academic words in improving reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in academia. The participants were also administered a vocabulary knowledge test to estimate their receptive dimension. Results. The findings demonstrate that EMI students scored higher on the vocabulary test than EFL students and show that students’ perceptions of the significance of academic words changed in all four skills from the first to third year of study. Conclusion. The article explores trends that emerged in the data and raises awareness for EAP teachers concerning the assumptions about students’ needs for vocabulary development based on learners’ perceptions and knowledge.
{"title":"The relationship between the perception and knowledge of academic vocabulary among EFL and EMI university students","authors":"L. Makovskaya, Ijobat Juraeva","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.16113","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.16113","url":null,"abstract":"Background. Academic vocabulary is considered an essential component in the English language courses in higher education establishments. A number of studies have illustrated that the use of academic words in students’ work alone cannot always promise high grades, since students’ opinion about the importance of academic words can also have an influence on their knowledge and use. \u0000Purpose. The research aims to determine the relationship between the vocabulary level of learners and their beliefs about the importance of academic words at the tertiary level. \u0000Methods. For this study, the first and third-year students (N=440) in two Uzbek universities completed a beliefs questionnaire to rate their perceptions of the significance of academic words in improving reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in academia. The participants were also administered a vocabulary knowledge test to estimate their receptive dimension. \u0000Results. The findings demonstrate that EMI students scored higher on the vocabulary test than EFL students and show that students’ perceptions of the significance of academic words changed in all four skills from the first to third year of study. \u0000Conclusion. The article explores trends that emerged in the data and raises awareness for EAP teachers concerning the assumptions about students’ needs for vocabulary development based on learners’ perceptions and knowledge.","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48679657","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}
Priyatno Ardi, Yacinta Dinda Oktafiani, Nugraheni Widianingtyas, O. V. Dekhnich, Utami Widiati
Background. Lexical bundles in textbooks are of paramount importance in foreign language learning. They provide a framework for new vocabulary acquisition and help to build fluency. Despite many studies on lexical bundles, investigations into their usage in EFL textbooks in the Indonesian context are still rare. Purpose. This corpus-based study examines the patterns and structural classifications of lexical bundles in EFL course textbooks for Indonesian senior high school students. As such, it could yield ready-made chunks of English which could be incorporated into students’ spoken and written communication. Method. The AntConc software version 3.5.9 was used to extract lexical bundles from five Indonesian Senior High School English textbooks. These books were endorsed by the government to be used across the country. The corpus revealed that the textbooks had 54,009 lexical bundles. In addition, the bundles were categorized into patterns and structural classifications based on Biber et al. (1999). Results. The results showed the patterns included three-word lexical bundles with 32,527 occurrences, four-word with 11,620, five-word with 6,073, and six-word with 3,789. Furthermore, eleven structural classifications of lexical bundles were found in the textbooks: “noun phrase + of phrase fragment” with 173 occurrences; “noun phrase + other post modifier fragment” with 44; “other noun phrases fragment” with 157; “prepositional phrase + of” with 13; “other prepositional phrases” with 243; “anticipatory it + verb phrase/adjective phrase” with 13; “passive verb + prepositional phrase” with 19; “copula be + noun phrase/ adjective phrase” with 30; “(verb phrase +) that- clause” with 59; and “(verb/adjective +) to- clause” with 239. Conclusion. Three-word lexical bundles were the most frequent in the senior high English textbooks. High frequency implies repetition of the bundles. Also, the other prepositional phrase fragment was the most frequent structural classification. Short bundles may have been intended to help students to retain vocabulary and recall the bundles in the usage. This study, therefore, provides valuable insights into the most common groups of words used in the Indonesian EFL textbooks. Pedagogically speaking, repeated bundles in English textbooks can familiarize EFL students with the patterns, and they can use them in spoken and written communication.
{"title":"Lexical Bundles in Indonesian EFL Textbooks: A Corpus Analysis","authors":"Priyatno Ardi, Yacinta Dinda Oktafiani, Nugraheni Widianingtyas, O. V. Dekhnich, Utami Widiati","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.16305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.16305","url":null,"abstract":"Background. Lexical bundles in textbooks are of paramount importance in foreign language learning. They provide a framework for new vocabulary acquisition and help to build fluency. Despite many studies on lexical bundles, investigations into their usage in EFL textbooks in the Indonesian context are still rare. \u0000Purpose. This corpus-based study examines the patterns and structural classifications of lexical bundles in EFL course textbooks for Indonesian senior high school students. As such, it could yield ready-made chunks of English which could be incorporated into students’ spoken and written communication. \u0000Method. The AntConc software version 3.5.9 was used to extract lexical bundles from five Indonesian Senior High School English textbooks. These books were endorsed by the government to be used across the country. The corpus revealed that the textbooks had 54,009 lexical bundles. In addition, the bundles were categorized into patterns and structural classifications based on Biber et al. (1999). \u0000Results. The results showed the patterns included three-word lexical bundles with 32,527 occurrences, four-word with 11,620, five-word with 6,073, and six-word with 3,789. Furthermore, eleven structural classifications of lexical bundles were found in the textbooks: “noun phrase + of phrase fragment” with 173 occurrences; “noun phrase + other post modifier fragment” with 44; “other noun phrases fragment” with 157; “prepositional phrase + of” with 13; “other prepositional phrases” with 243; “anticipatory it + verb phrase/adjective phrase” with 13; “passive verb + prepositional phrase” with 19; “copula be + noun phrase/ adjective phrase” with 30; “(verb phrase +) that- clause” with 59; and “(verb/adjective +) to- clause” with 239. \u0000Conclusion. Three-word lexical bundles were the most frequent in the senior high English textbooks. High frequency implies repetition of the bundles. Also, the other prepositional phrase fragment was the most frequent structural classification. Short bundles may have been intended to help students to retain vocabulary and recall the bundles in the usage. This study, therefore, provides valuable insights into the most common groups of words used in the Indonesian EFL textbooks. Pedagogically speaking, repeated bundles in English textbooks can familiarize EFL students with the patterns, and they can use them in spoken and written communication.","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45803762","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}
Introduction: Although extensive studies have been carried out on the rhetorical structure of research article introduction (RAI), centrality as a promotional strategy has received very little attention. Purpose: To address this lacuna in research literature, this study investigates centrality claims and how the appeals are realized strategically and linguistically. Materials and Methods: 60 RAIs from three-corpora, i.e., 20 English L1 corpus (written by native authors in English), 20 English FL Corpus (written by Indonesian authors in English), and 20 Indonesian L1 corpus (written by Indonesian authors in Indonesian Language), in the field of applied linguistics (AL) were analyzed. The analysis started from the step of claiming centrality found in the authors’ RAIs using the Swales’ (1990) framework. Wang and Yang’s (2015) framework was used to identify the types of appeals in the claiming centrality. Results: This study indicates that the three groups of authors use four types of appeals, namely the appeal to salience, magnitude, topicality, and problematicity. The appeals appear in varied ways, i.e., referring to the research world and the real world. Although application of each appeal in the step of claiming centrality is relatively different in the three groups, some share similarities in using the appeals in terms of referring to the research world and the real world. Conclusion: This study provides pedagogical implications for teaching academic writing, particularly in writing research articles for publication.
{"title":"Research Article Introductions in Applied Linguistics: A Comparative Study on the Use of Appeals","authors":"M. A. Arianto, Maulluddul Haq, Jufrizal Jufrizal","doi":"10.17323/jle.2023.16163","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2023.16163","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction: Although extensive studies have been carried out on the rhetorical structure of research article introduction (RAI), centrality as a promotional strategy has received very little attention. \u0000Purpose: To address this lacuna in research literature, this study investigates centrality claims and how the appeals are realized strategically and linguistically. \u0000Materials and Methods: 60 RAIs from three-corpora, i.e., 20 English L1 corpus (written by native authors in English), 20 English FL Corpus (written by Indonesian authors in English), and 20 Indonesian L1 corpus (written by Indonesian authors in Indonesian Language), in the field of applied linguistics (AL) were analyzed. The analysis started from the step of claiming centrality found in the authors’ RAIs using the Swales’ (1990) framework. Wang and Yang’s (2015) framework was used to identify the types of appeals in the claiming centrality. \u0000Results: This study indicates that the three groups of authors use four types of appeals, namely the appeal to salience, magnitude, topicality, and problematicity. The appeals appear in varied ways, i.e., referring to the research world and the real world. Although application of each appeal in the step of claiming centrality is relatively different in the three groups, some share similarities in using the appeals in terms of referring to the research world and the real world. \u0000Conclusion: This study provides pedagogical implications for teaching academic writing, particularly in writing research articles for publication. ","PeriodicalId":37020,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45043999","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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