International Journal of Applied Linguistics最新文献

The 2 × 2 model of L2 self-guides, a motivational framework, contains four components—ideal L2 self/own, ideal L2 self/other, ought-to L2 self/own, and ought-to L2 self/other—which is considered more reflective of the continuity of learning motivation than traditional models. However, it has been validated only in a few studies and primarily in relation to more general measures of motivated behavior. The present study further evaluates the applicability of the L2 self-guides model and examines how these self-guides predict two interconnected operational constructs in L2 communication: willingness to communicate (WTC) and frequency of communication (FoC). An integrated questionnaire, developed from previous studies, was administered to 442 Chinese college students who were learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Multilevel validation and structural equation modeling were employed to assess the model's reliability, validity, and predictive effects. The results demonstrated strong discriminant validity for the self-guides model. The ideal self/own was the strongest predictor of WTC and FoC, while the ought-to self/own showed no significant effect. The ought-to self/other and WTC both facilitated FoC, whereas the ideal self/other acted as an inhibitor. This study supports the generalizability of the L2 self-guides model, providing insights into motivation theory and its role in L2 communication.

This study adopts a mixed-methods design to systematically explore the impact of L1 and L2 use in prewriting discussions on L2 writing quality, cognitive feedback, and social interaction of intermediate Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners. Eighty intermediate-level CFL learners from Southeast Asia participated in two experiments, which comprehensively evaluated their written output across six dimensions: lexical complexity, syntactic complexity, accuracy, fluency, content richness, and holistic quality. The results indicated that discussions in L1 significantly improved content richness, while discussions in L2 significantly enhanced lexical complexity, fluency, and holistic quality. However, no significant effects were found in syntactic complexity and accuracy between the two language conditions. Participants' feedback further revealed that L1 discussions facilitated content generation, while L2 discussions notably promoted fluency and holistic quality improvement. Despite some discrepancies between actual writing performance and participants' perceived feedback, the overall findings suggested that L2 discussions had a more significant impact on improving writing quality for intermediate CFL learners.

This research investigates linguistic contextual cue competition in the choice of causal subordinators among Chinese EFL learners, focusing on both linguistic and cognitive dimensions. We employ multivariate analysis of corpora of learners’ argumentative essays to identify significant cues influencing their choices between “because” and “since.” Our findings indicate that, similar to native speakers, learners rely on multiple contextual cues, which have varying effects on their selection of causal subordinators. However, the number of cues they rely on is fewer (four vs. six), and two cues exhibit opposing functions compared with those used by native speakers. These patterns suggest that learners may pay less attention to linguistic correspondence with the markedness of the subordinators and may lack pragmatic awareness in using causal subordinators to strengthen their arguments. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that cognitive factors, learners’ cognitive load constraints, and their efforts at explicit expression interact synergistically and dynamically, influencing both their choices of causal subordinators and the overall semantic expression and syntactic structure. This study contributes to L2 acquisition research by elucidating the multi-component nature of learners’ cognitive mechanisms and the dynamic interactions between their pursuit of explicitness and cognitive load constraints during causal subordinator acquisition.

This study examined the relationship of university students’ English proficiency to the age at which they started learning English in mainland China. With the data collected from 4530 students in 50 universities in 24 different provinces or municipalities, we employed a multiple regression model to investigate (a) whether the tested English score in the national entrance exam was predicted by the age at which the students started learning English and (b) whether the start age of English learning influences the association between time invested and learning outcome. Our results found that students who began learning English in third grade predicted significantly lower scores than those who started in kindergarten. However, no such significance of “advantage” was observed in earlier starts from kindergarten over Grade 1. Although the main effect of total learning duration was not significant, its interaction effect suggests that students who start learning later benefit more from longer durations of English input and tend to catch up quickly and show faster growth. These findings conflict with the ‘the earlier, the better’ assumption in language learning and further raise the question to what degree foreign language education should prioritize starting early versus focusing on quality and positive affect.

This study examined how congruency and L2 proficiency influence the processing of Chinese verb-object collocations among Vietnamese learners of Chinese. Through acceptability judgment tasks comparing baseline (Experiment 1) and enhanced L1 activation (Experiment 2), three main findings were obtained: (1) Under baseline L1 activation, intermediate learners showed processing advantages in both reaction time (RT) and accuracy for L1-L2 congruent collocations but only RT advantages for L2-only collocations, while advanced learners exhibited both RT and accuracy advantages for L1-L2 congruent and L2-only collocations. Under enhanced L1 activation, intermediate learners retained processing advantages for L1-L2 congruent collocations whereas advanced learners maintained advantages for both. (2) Congruency effects emerged solely in accuracy for both groups under baseline activation but extended to RT under enhanced activation. (3) The moderating effect of L2 proficiency on the congruency effect varied between activation states, with negligible differences between intermediate and advanced learners under baseline activation, but a gradual decrease in the congruency effect as L2 proficiency increased under enhanced activation. These results reveal divergences in congruency effects across L1 activation states, providing critical evidence for a direct causal link between L1 activation and congruency effects.

Given the urgent need to explore earlier career language teachers’ identity tensions and the insufficient studies on teachers’ professional agency for learning underpinned by a learning framework, this autoethnographic study reports the identity tensions experienced by a Chinese Qingjiao (an earlier career university teacher), and her professional agency for learning to negotiate her identity tensions. Multiple sources of data, including the participant's self narratives, critical incident reflections, author meetings, and documents were collected. Drawing on the theoretical framework of dimensions of learning, the data were subjected to thematic analysis. The findings reveal that: (1) the participant mobilizes concrete problem-solving strategies to enhance her academic literacy, implement pedagogical innovations, and achieve work-life balance; (2) the participant provides and directs the mental energy necessary for the learning processes to occur; and (3) the participant actively interacts with the social, and the material environment to seek external support. This study generates insights by complementing extant scholarship on teacher identity tensions and further illustrating how an earlier career university teacher enacts her professional agency for learning to achieve professional advancement.

Interactional metadiscourse plays an important role in constructing identities, yet it receives scarce attention in corporate identity construction, especially from a cross-cultural perspective. This study explores how interactional metadiscourse is used to construct corporate identities in the US and Chinese chief executive officer (CEO) letters of corporate annual reports by employing the self-built checklist with the aid of Wmatrix tools. The results show that the US companies construct themselves as caring, cautious, and individual-oriented corporate citizens, whereas the Chinese companies build themselves as reserved, determined, and collective-oriented corporate leaders. The observed differences can be mainly attributed to the variations in national culture. This study sheds new insights into the pivotal roles played by interactional metadiscourse in building corporate identities and offers implications for applied linguists and corporate communication researchers to critically evaluate and assess companies’ tone at the top in different cultures.