International Journal of Applied Linguistics最新文献

Adopting a retrodictive qualitative modeling approach, this study explored the signature dynamics of Chinese college EFL students’ L2 motivation in AI-enhanced learning contexts. From an initial pool of 118 non-English major students in one Chinese university, three distinct motivational archetypes were identified based on the result of hierarchical clustering analysis of the questionnaire regarding their motivational conglomerate. Two prototypical students from each archetype were then selected to take part in retrodictive interviews exploring the developmental trajectories of their motivational intensity across the past three semesters and the effects of AI on their motivational states in different phases. Aligned with Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, students’ motivational dynamics exhibited the inherent characteristics of complexity and nonlinearity. Contrary to prevailing techno-optimism in the literature, the findings demonstrated the dual-function of AI in shaping various motivational states of students. The results yield important pedagogical implications for effectively integrating AI tools in college English curriculum.

Teachers’ perceptions of translanguaging have been garnering incremental scholarship in recent years. However, little attention has been paid to the perceptions of translanguaging among teachers of Chinese as an additional language (CAL). To address this gap, the present study, theoretically enlightened by activity theory, investigated the perceptions of translanguaging of CAL teachers. Data were collected via a questionnaire survey of 174 CAL teachers, followed by semi-structured interviews with nine CAL teachers. Results revealed that the CAL teachers were ambivalent in their attitudes toward translanguaging as a pedagogy, with both positive and negative attitudes. They were mainly motivated to draw on translanguaging in CAL classes for the purpose of facilitating their lectures, explaining language points, and assisting classroom interactions. Additionally, their translanguaging appeared to emerge from the ongoing interplay of subject-mediated, tool-mediated, rule-mediated, community-mediated, and labor-of-division-mediated factors. These findings imply that CAL teachers need to embrace translanguaging for the sustainable teaching of Chinese to speakers of other languages.

The study reported here examined in detail postgraduate students’ experiences and perceptions of two inquiry-based learning (IBL) modules (i.e., open and guided) over two consecutive years. It bridges a research gap by investigating the learning effectiveness of IBL in a content-based language instruction context, where the second language is the medium rather than the goal of instruction. Following the research-led approach of research-teaching nexus model, IBL was operationalized in this study by implementing guided IBL (where students regularly and systematically reviewed a pre-selected package of research articles as the main source) and open IBL (where students were encouraged to review self-selected research articles as a supplementary activity) programs. Four entire classes, including two guided and two open IBL groups, were recruited to participate in the study. A semi-structured checklist, retrospective task, and respondent validation (informant feedback) were the research instruments. The results disclosed that guided IBL promoted the students’ disciplinary, research, and language skills more noticeably than the open IBL module did. An important implication is that with teacher intervention and scaffolding, particularly at the beginning stages of the inquiry cycle and with inexperienced students, IBL may be more effective and appealing.

English medium instruction (EMI) programs have been introduced across higher education institutions worldwide, with the decision-making process behind implementing EMI often lacking empirical evidence. Poland has likewise followed this trend without any prior incentive in research. To contribute to a better global understanding of EMI, this study provides insights from 48 instructors teaching EMI in 22 programs in the underresearched geographical context of Poland. To explore the instructors' perceptions of challenges in EMI, data was collected through an online questionnaire within a mixed-methods approach. The main challenges that emerged encompassed the lack of support and resources available for instructors, mixed abilities among students within a given group, and hampered content comprehension in EMI classes. The solutions that instructors offered involve increasing the resources necessary to teach in EMI, offering methodological and language training for the staff, as well as standardization of requirements during the admission of students. Contrary to recent trends in EMI, translanguaging practices were not seen as a solution to the communicative challenges caused by students' insufficient English skills. Instead, more rigorous entry tests were proposed. Despite the identified challenges, a majority of instructors recognize the value of EMI in higher education, acknowledging English's role as a global language of science.

As intercultural communication becomes central to globalization, sociopragmatic competence is increasingly vital for Chinese EFL learners. However, existing Western-centric models often overlook EFL learners' sociocultural positioning, artificially separate linguistic and intercultural dimensions, and lack methodological triangulation. This study addresses these gaps by developing and validating an assessment framework integrating Communicative Language Competence and Intercultural Communicative Competence theories in the Chinese EFL context. Guided by three research questions on indicators, structure, and weightings, a three-phase sequential mixed-methods design was employed: expert interviews and thematic analysis to construct a preliminary framework, a two-round Delphi study for refinement, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process to determine empirical weightings. The final framework includes 5 primary, 11 secondary, and 21 tertiary indicators across cognitive, applicative, and regulatory dimensions. Notably, Applicative (0.408) and Regulatory (0.394) dimensions were weighted higher than Cognitive (0.197), empirically supporting a performance-oriented assessment approach. This study contributes threefold: theoretically, by localizing sociopragmatic competence within Chinese EFL contexts through a Confucian-informed hierarchical model that integrates linguistic and intercultural dimensions and empirically validates its performance-based orientation; practically, by offering culturally calibrated indicators for instructional practice, curriculum design, and adaptable assessment; and internationally, by demonstrating cross-cultural adaptability with evidence supporting global transferability.

English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has become a cornerstone of academic communication in English-medium instruction (EMI) programs across universities in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Despite the increasing prevalence of ELF interactions, limited research has examined how students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds in EMI programs across ASEAN employ communication strategies (CSs) to ensure mutual intelligibility and sustain academic exchanges. This study investigates the core ELF CSs used by 16 undergraduate students from seven countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, and China) enrolled in EMI programs at three universities in Thailand. Utilizing conversation analysis, naturally occurring spoken interactions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed to identify recurring strategies that facilitate effective ELF communication. Findings reveal that participants used a variety of CSs, which were organized into eight communicative functions: (1) maintaining communication flow, (2) clarification and understanding, (3) engaging in conversation, (4) error management, (5) confirmation and feedback, (6) negotiation and co-construction of meaning, (7) clarifying misunderstandings, and (8) expressing uncertainty or lack of knowledge. These strategies enhanced intelligibility, ensured message clarity, and sustained conversational coherence, often prioritizing pragmatic effectiveness over native-speaker norms. The results demonstrate the adaptive and interactive nature of ELF communication, challenging traditional Second Language Acquisition (SLA) models that portray non-native English speakers as linguistically deficient. This study contributes to ELF research by providing empirical data on the communicative strategies of undergraduate students in ASEAN EMI programs, with implications for pedagogy, curriculum development, and language policy in multilingual educational settings.

The present paper explores the notion of language teacher pride (LTP), as advanced by Mairitsch et al. (2024), as a significant construct for EFL/ESL teachers given its ties to social, systemic, and economic factors. Since the study undertakes an in-depth analysis of LTP and attempts to identify LTP archetypes, we employed qualitative retrodictive modeling (QRM) to identify specific characteristics of each LTP archetype. The participants were 35 Turkish EFL teachers of various ages with varying experience levels from various schools and educational backgrounds so that we could capture the variety in terms of experience, working conditions, and educational backgrounds. The reason is that all these factors could impact LTP. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews. As a second step, we conducted in-depth interviews with teachers representing each archetype we identified, including intrinsic, extrinsic, tech-savvy, projector, and desperate LTP archetypes. The findings indicated that LTP is a highly fragile construct affected by several social, systemic, and economic factors. The results also demonstrated that LTP is a significant part of EFL teachers’ psychology with strong ties to teacher motivation, self-efficacy, self-esteem, well-being, self-confidence, and desire to participate in professional development activities.