Language Learning最新文献

Using computational Social Network Analysis (SNA), this longitudinal study investigates the development of the interaction network and its influence on the second language (L2) gains of a complete cohort of 41 U.S. sojourners enrolled in a 3-month intensive study-abroad Arabic program in Jordan. Unlike extant research, our study focuses on students’ interactions with alma mater classmates, reconstructing their complete network, tracing the impact of individual students’ positions in the social graph using centrality metrics, and incorporating a developmental perspective with three measurement points. Objective proficiency gains were influenced by predeparture proficiency (negatively), multilingualism, perceived integration of the peer learner group (negatively), and the number of fellow learners speaking to the student. Analyses reveal relatively stable same-gender cliques, but with changes in the patterns and strength of interaction. We also discuss interesting divergent trajectories of centrality metrics, L2 use, and progress; predictors of self-perceived progress across skills; and the interplay of context and gender.

Exploring the underinvestigated area of instruction during study abroad, this article offers a quantitative study of linguistic development among second language university learners of Chinese during a semester in China. A comparison is made between learners following task-based language teaching and a comparison group following a traditional approach at two proficiency levels. Spoken task data are analyzed within the framework of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Quantitative findings point to enhanced linguistic development on the various measures used over the course of instruction abroad across the groups irrespective of instructional treatment and proficiency level. However, relative differences between the two groups point to an advantage of task-based learning in a study-abroad context. The findings are discussed in relation to the insights they allow into the role of different instructional treatments during study abroad, along with some directions for future research.

Research on second language (L2) pronunciation self-assessment reports a general misalignment between self- and other-assessment. This has been attributed to the object of self-assessment, the self-assessment task, the measures to which self-assessment is compared, and speakers’ characteristics. Here, we examined self-assessment of a discrete phonological feature—sentence stress—by L2 English speakers as compared to the assessment of first language English listeners through a timed, forced-choice judgment task with low-pass filtered stimuli, which contained only suprasegmental cues. Additionally, we explored how individual differences among speakers predict self-assessment. Speakers generally overestimated their accuracy in sentence stress assignment in a pattern resembling the Dunning-Kruger effect despite the controlled nature of the task. Speakers with larger vocabulary size judged their sentence stress assignment as correct more often and showed greater overconfidence and miscalibration. Finally, the assessments of speakers with a background in applied linguistics and/or language teaching were more aligned with listeners’ assessments.

A handful of second language (L2) studies have explored bidirectional pragmatic transfer: forward pragmatic transfer—the influence of learners' first language (L1) on their L2—and reverse pragmatic transfer—the impact of learners' L2 on their L1. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study investigated how L2 proficiency influenced the bidirectionality of pragmatic transfer in compliment responses. Thirty-four intermediate English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners and 34 advanced EFL learners were recruited from a university in China. The results of computer-mediated communication via WeChat showed that, similar to L1 Chinese speakers, the intermediate learners tended to deny compliments in English, indicating forward pragmatic transfer. Like L1 English speakers, the advanced learners frequently accepted compliments in Chinese, suggesting reverse pragmatic transfer. Furthermore, when responding to compliments in Chinese or English, some advanced learners preferred to accept compliments first and then deny them. Findings from interviews revealed that identity and language prestige might affect bidirectional pragmatic transfer.

The conceptual review article by Bulté, Housen, and Pallotti constitutes a much-needed effort to disentangle the conceptual and methodological messiness surrounding complexity and difficulty, two key constructs in second language (L2) acquisition research. Seeking clear conceptual distinction between these constructs, Bulté et al. interpret complexity as structural properties of linguistic items and difficulty as the cognitive costs associated with acquiring and using such items. They further propose a small set of core measures for researchers to routinely use so as to promote replicability and knowledge accumulation. In this commentary, I offer some thoughts on their discussion of the definitions and measurements of these constructs.

The inclusion and exclusion of “sophistication” in different definitions of “complexity” (e.g., Kyle et al., 2021; Ortega, 2003), along with the introduction of the terms “absolute complexity” and “relative complexity” (e.g., Housen & Simoens, 2016), contributed to the terminological confusion surrounding complexity. I concur with Bulté et al.’s narrow interpretation of complexity as equivalent to absolute complexity that excludes sophistication. Meanwhile, an explicit discussion of (a) the precise relationship among the terms “difficulty,” “sophistication,” and “relative complexity” and (b) the future status of the terms “absolute complexity” and “relative complexity” would provide greater terminological clarity for the field.

Bulté et al. touch upon two important debates on the definition and measurement of complexity. First, they define complexity independently from notions of register-/genre-based adequacy. Register/genre variation research has yielded valuable insights into the linguistic characteristics of different registers/genres. However, the relative frequencies of linguistic items in different registers/genres should not form the basis for including or excluding them in analyzing the complexity of texts of a specific register/genre. This is because while a linguistic item may be less frequent in one register/genre than in others, it may nevertheless play an indispensable role in that register/genre, and this specific role should be analyzed register- or genre-internally. Second, they believe that the fine-grained approach to complexity analysis is complementary with a more holistic approach. In my view, all complexity measures are on a scale of granularity, and the criticism that holistic measures (e.g., dependent clauses per clause) lack specificity and interpretability, which is sometimes cited without thorough consideration, similarly applies to most fine-grained measures (e.g., relative clauses per 1,000 words). For example, just as there are different types of dependent clauses, there are also different types of relative clauses, each of which may in turn have subtypes. In fact, granularity could go all the way down to lexicalization. Holist

This study investigated changes in motivation, self-efficacy beliefs, and a range of emotions, including enjoyment, hope, pride, curiosity, anxiety, boredom, apathy, confusion, and shame, from a complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) perspective over a 2-year period in the Hungarian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. Using the same questionnaire, we collected data four times throughout 4 semesters from 101 participants studying English in two Hungarian high schools. For data analysis, we used latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) to detect the group-level changes in learners’ motivation, self-efficacy, and emotions. We also employed dynamic cluster analysis to identify trends in learners’ trajectories regarding these variables. In our panel data, linear models described the data well concerning the ought-to second language (L2) self, language learning experience, boredom, apathy, and confusion, and for enjoyment, curiosity, anxiety, and shame, nonlinear models had the best fit. We could also identify trajectories depicting attractor states and learner paths that featured influences of perturbations.