International Journal of Applied Linguistics最新文献

Drawing on 444 English narrative continuation essays composed by 111 Chinese high school English learners at four time points during an academic year, in this study we delved into the changing patterns of five measures of fiction trigrams and six usage-based indices of fiction verb-argument constructions (VACs) and examined their impacts on essay scores. The results showed that both the sophistication of verb lemmas and the usage of simple and common VACs increased over time. Additionally, higher-rated narrative continuation essays contained more common and strongly associated trigrams containing sophisticated words, as well as more sophisticated VACs containing less frequent verb lemmas. Overall, the findings support the usage-based theory of language development, enrich current limited understanding of the longitudinal effects of writing narrative integrated essays on the development of English phraseology and VACs among high school EFL learners, and unravel their relationships to holistic scores in narrative writings.

Despite garnering increasing scholarly attention in educational research, metacognitive training remains an underexplored topic in interpreting studies. This study aimed to investigate the impact of standards-based self-assessment on student interpreters’ metacognitive strategy use and interpreting performance. Their perceptions of the metacognitive self-assessment practice were also explored. A total of 43 Chinese undergraduate interpreting students participated in the study. Of these, 22 were assigned to the experimental group, which received metacognitive intervention [i.e., self-assessment based on the China's Standards of English Language Ability (CSE) metacognitive interpreting descriptors], while the control group (n = 21) did not receive such intervention. A pretest-posttest design was adopted, and both quantitative and qualitative data from the metacognitive questionnaire, interpreting test, and written reports were analyzed. The results showed that the metacognitive intervention exerted a positive effect on students’ metacognitive strategy use and interpreting performance. Furthermore, students generally expressed positive perceptions of the intervention, although they also suggested that further adjustments to the self-assessment tool were needed. The study concluded that the standards-based self-assessment was an effective pedagogical technique for metacognitive interpreter training.

The present study aims to explore the effects of chatbot-assisted dynamic assessment (CA-DA) and chatbot-assisted non-dynamic assessment (CA-NDA) on learners’ argumentative writing performance. Forty-nine Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduate students participated in the study and were assigned to three groups, including CA-DA, CA-NDA, and a comparison group. Using data collected from an argumentative essay writing test, questionnaire, and interview, the results showed that (1) the CA-DA group achieved comparable writing performance to both the CA-NDA and the comparison group. However, the CA-DA approach yielded additional benefits in helping learners generate their ideas, developing their “maturing” ideas, and emulating an authentic communication environment; (2) learners demonstrated diverse perceptions of chatbot-assisted argumentative writing, shaped by their metacognitive awareness of DA, scaffolding needs, and a shared emphasis on authentic dialogic interaction as essential to meaningful mediation. The chatbots were perceived to be easy to use, useful, and enjoyable. Together, these findings indicate the great potential of chatbot use for developing learners’ argumentative writing ability. Study implications for implementing chatbot-assisted learning in the classroom and refining chatbot design for chatbot development are also discussed.

This study examines the integration of culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP) and social justice language education (SJLE) in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) methods course at a leading Chinese university. Using a qualitative case study approach, it analyzes participant interviews, reflective journals, lesson plans, classroom observations, and course evaluations to explore how preservice teachers navigate linguistic and cultural complexity, adopt a translanguaging stance, and confront sociopolitical constraints. Thematic analysis reveals that mentorship, reflective inquiry, and curricular flexibility help counter institutional barriers, fostering socially just pedagogical practice. Findings demonstrate the potential of CSP to reframe EFL teacher education around inclusivity, cultural relevance, and linguistic equity, challenging monolingual norms and standardized assessment pressure. The study calls for curricular reform, collaborative learning communities, and sustained professional development to support equity-driven, multilingual education in restrictive policy contexts.

This study investigated two outstanding empirical questions related to the perception of foreign accent in Korean. First, how is the perception of foreign accent affected by acoustic properties of the stimuli? Second, do listeners rate speech differently depending on whether they are asked to rate “foreign accent” versus “non-nativeness”? Thirty L1 Korean listeners rated the foreign accent and non-nativeness of isolated word productions of 24 L2 Korean speakers from four different L1 backgrounds. Acoustic differences between L2 and L1 Korean word productions were measured, finding that the f0 and F1 of the stimuli were most predictive of listeners’ foreign accent ratings. Ratings of foreign accent and non-nativeness were highly correlated within individual talkers, but less correlated within individual listeners. The findings corroborate earlier conclusions that segmental errors play an important role in Korean foreign accent perception, and suggest that while the interpretations of terms such as “foreign” and “non-native” may vary in Korean, these differences may wash out when averaged across listeners.

Individual differences (IDs) factors have been found to affect listening comprehension, yet the interplay and relative contributions of these factors remain underexplored. The study examined three ID factors, i.e., receptive and productive aural vocabulary knowledge as core factors and foreign language listening anxiety as a peripheral factor, in relation to listening comprehension. Data collected from 157 Chinese university students were analyzed to elucidate the relationships among these variables. The results revealed that (1) receptive and productive aural vocabulary knowledge, both individually and combined, significantly predicted L2 listening comprehension; (2) foreign language listening anxiety exhibited a significant correlation with L2 listening comprehension; and (3) receptive and productive aural vocabulary knowledge mediated the effect of listening anxiety on listening comprehension. These findings highlight the different roles of ID factors and their interplay in determining listening success, providing implications for listening instruction and testing.