International Journal of Applied Linguistics最新文献

The importance of “willingness to communicate” (WTC) in foreign language learning has been widely discussed. However, the current research on WTC mainly focuses on traditional classrooms, and there is insufficient attention to WTC in L3 online learning. This study explored the psychological process among motivation, WTC, foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), and perceived positive language interaction (PPLI). Based on data collected from 492 college students who were taking the online L3 course, results showed that: (1) L3 learners were somewhat willing to use L3 for communicating in online classes; (2) motivation was positively related to WTC; (3) FLE and FLCA mediated the relationship between motivation and WTC differently; (4) PPLI had moderating effects on both the relationship between FLE and WTC and between FLCA and WTC. Implications of online foreign language learning were discussed.

With the rise of English as a global academic lingua franca, the implementation of English medium instruction (EMI) in South Korea's higher education system has grown substantially. This mixed-methods study contributes to the scholarship on EMI policy and practice by drawing on data from the training experiences and self-assessment of 327 pre-service English teachers (PSETs) regarding their preparation to serve as secondary English teachers, the latter being key to high school students’ achievement in higher education. We examine teachers’ English competencies and explore their challenges and associated needs in implementing EMI for their professional success. Our quantitative analysis shows that, for PSETs, English-speaking skills are the most challenging aspect of learning and teaching English. Moreover, current opportunities to improve their English proficiency through EMI courses appear to be inadequate. Subsequent analysis shows that English proficiency serves as a significant mediator of the association between EMI satisfaction and self-efficacy about teaching English through English. Our qualitative analysis further confirms that PSETs have less exposure than expected to language-related resources in their educational context, and they express a need for greater knowledge of student well-being and linguistic and cultural diversity. We provide a set of recommendations to enhance the quality of EMI policies and curricula, including offering tailored language modules to develop well-qualified secondary English teachers.

The topic of language learners’ engagement, which has enjoyed immense popularity in recent years, emerged more than 20 years ago from the explorations of individual and social variables in task performance. In the domain of second/foreign language acquisition, what has attracted much attention is the relationship between engagement and other approximate concepts, such as motivation, interest, or investment, but little is known about the connection between self-regulation and engagement. Hence, the present study was undertaken to explore the connection between L2 learners’ engagement and their self-regulated strategy use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two students, labeled by their teachers as highly engaged, and another two, described as disengaged. The results suggest that the two frameworks are interconnected but not fully analogous, with the main difference lying in the conceptualization of the role motivation.

This study investigated the differences in linguistic complexity between different types of English users, including native speakers (NS), English as a foreign language (EFL) learners, and English as a second language (ESL) learners in terms of Kolmogorov complexity. Furthermore, we explored how first language backgrounds affect linguistic complexity. Our dataset contains 2272 argumentative essays produced by English NSs and upper-intermediate learners from four ESL and six EFL countries/regions. Results showed that significant differences existed between the writings of NS, EFL, and ESL regarding overall and syntactic complexity. Specifically, the rank of overall complexity (NS > ESL > EFL) indicates that learners from countries/regions with higher exposure to English tend to produce overall more complex writings. Concerning syntactic complexity, EFL learners produce the most complex writings, while NS produces the least complex, indicating that essays written by EFL learners contain the most fixed word order patterns. In contrast, no significant difference was detected in morphological complexity among the NS, ESL, and EFL groups, suggesting that native and upper-intermediate non-NSs exhibit a similar range of morphological forms in their writings. Additionally, our results showed a larger effect of first language backgrounds over English speaker types on linguistic complexity, thus informing teachers to implement targeted writing instructions for learners from different countries.

Recent psycholinguistic research underscores the significance of multiword units in language processing and acquisition, aligning with the Chunk-and-Pass framework. In this study, 55 low-proficiency Japanese English learners and 27 native English speakers undertook a phrasal decision task featuring two trigram types: syntactically and semantically complete (send me letters) and fragmental (send me two) across four construction types (phrasal verb, simple transitive verb, caused-motion verb, and ditransitive verb constructions). Results revealed that while native speakers distinguished between the trigram types, Japanese learners did less so. Additionally, Japanese learners struggled more with the ditransitive construction compared to other types, a challenge not faced by native speakers. This indicates that Japanese English learners may lack native-like multiword chunking skills and that the learners’ processing efficiency differs by construction.

This study investigated the knowledge of English phrasal verbs (PVs) among Japanese university students. PVs have been described by learners as ambiguous and difficult, often resulting in their avoidance, and much of the literature has focused on how they can be taught effectively. However, it is relatively unknown as to what knowledge learners typically develop on their own without undergoing classroom interventions that focus specifically on PVs. To investigate this issue, a survey on PVs was distributed to eight different departments at universities across Japan resulting in 221 participants, with six students participating in follow-up interviews. The data from the PV survey provided qualitative data for analysis, the interviews were transcribed, and axial coding was utilized to formulate a holistic examination of the participants’ knowledge of PVs. The results revealed that the participants had an awareness of PVs but had acquired most of them as chunks of language without much knowledge of their individual parts, which was found to lower their confidence and increase their perceived difficulty. Additionally, directional PVs, particularly with go and come, were the easiest for the participants due to L1–L2 similarities. However, their understanding of idiomatic and aspectual PVs appeared to be superficial and lacking.

This qualitative study examined the role of different languages used in the country in the lives of 12 participants from the four main ethnic groups of Sri Lanka (i.e., Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, and Burgher). It sought to understand how monolingual language policies have impacted upon the country's plurilingual language ecology. The study examined the language ideologies of participants to understand how structures of social power have worked through monolingual language policies to influence and shape their language behaviors and practices. While the impact that language policies have had on different Sri Lankan languages has been examined, no study has analyzed it through the point of view of language ideologies of actual speakers of different languages. The observations made by the participants show that the monolingual ideologies of the language policies of 1832 and 1956, by assigning sole official language status to English and Sinhala respectively, have caused them to gain dominance and diminished the status of other languages, thereby altering the plurilingual language ecology of Sri Lanka. Their observations also showed how the 1956 policy's establishment of Sinhala as the dominant language within the language ecology of the country had elevated the position of the majority community—the Sinhalese, and strengthened the power of the then government which had ridden into power through the Sinhalese majority vote. The analysis of data also indicated that, although the 1956 policy was implemented with the aim of dismantling the structures of power introduced during colonial rule, both policies have served to support and reinforce a social hierarchy based on a Western model. What the data revealed about the role that the two monolingual language policies of 1832 and 1956 seem to have played in establishing and reinforcing the dominance of Sinhala and English respectively, suggest that although political subjugation of the country by European powers has officially ended, Sri Lanka continues to operate within the structures of power established during colonial times.