By utilizing a massive corpus of textual data, large language models can generate unique human-like outputs to questions and interact with users in a natural conversational way. ChatGPT is one such platform, and since it emerged into the public consciousness in November 2022, it has generated both excitement and concern among educators. A growing body of scholarship has considered the pedagogical use of ChatGPT and its ability to enhance teachers’ roles (e.g., Kohnke et al., 2023; Rudolph et al., 2023). Scholars have also raised concerns about ChatGPT’s impact on academic integrity and scholarly publishing (Teng, 2023). Nonetheless, AI has existed for some time (Holmes & Tuomi, 2022) and, rather than a beginning of the end of education, it may guide educators into an era of pedagogical innovation (Heaven, 2023). In this paper, we explore the role of ChatGPT in English Language Teaching (ELT). We first provide background information about ChatGPT and its functions. We then draw from literature to describe current thinking on its benefits and challenges then describe how we have experimented with ChatGPT at our own university. We conclude by discussing implications for using ChatGPT in ELT and offering recommendations for future directions in teaching and research.
通过利用大量的文本数据语料库,大型语言模型可以生成独特的类似人类的问题输出,并以自然的会话方式与用户交互。ChatGPT就是这样一个平台,自2022年11月进入公众视野以来,它在教育工作者中引起了兴奋和担忧。越来越多的学者考虑了ChatGPT的教学使用及其增强教师角色的能力(例如,Kohnke等人,2023;Rudolph et al., 2023)。学者们也对ChatGPT对学术诚信和学术出版的影响表示担忧(Teng, 2023)。尽管如此,人工智能已经存在了一段时间(Holmes & Tuomi, 2022),它可能会引导教育工作者进入一个教学创新的时代,而不是教育结束的开始(Heaven, 2023)。本文探讨了聊天语言在英语教学中的作用。我们首先介绍ChatGPT及其功能的背景信息。然后,我们从文献中描述当前对其好处和挑战的思考,然后描述我们如何在我们自己的大学试验ChatGPT。最后,我们讨论了在英语教学中使用ChatGPT的意义,并对未来的教学和研究方向提出了建议。
{"title":"Exploring Applications of ChatGPT to English Language Teaching: Opportunities, Challenges, and Recommendations","authors":"Ilka Kostka, R. Toncelli","doi":"10.55593/ej.27107int","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.27107int","url":null,"abstract":"By utilizing a massive corpus of textual data, large language models can generate unique human-like outputs to questions and interact with users in a natural conversational way. ChatGPT is one such platform, and since it emerged into the public consciousness in November 2022, it has generated both excitement and concern among educators. A growing body of scholarship has considered the pedagogical use of ChatGPT and its ability to enhance teachers’ roles (e.g., Kohnke et al., 2023; Rudolph et al., 2023). Scholars have also raised concerns about ChatGPT’s impact on academic integrity and scholarly publishing (Teng, 2023). Nonetheless, AI has existed for some time (Holmes & Tuomi, 2022) and, rather than a beginning of the end of education, it may guide educators into an era of pedagogical innovation (Heaven, 2023). In this paper, we explore the role of ChatGPT in English Language Teaching (ELT). We first provide background information about ChatGPT and its functions. We then draw from literature to describe current thinking on its benefits and challenges then describe how we have experimented with ChatGPT at our own university. We conclude by discussing implications for using ChatGPT in ELT and offering recommendations for future directions in teaching and research.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85063564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Situated in the context of migration trends toward superdiversity in Anglophone countries, this study conceptualizes Chinese heritage language (CHL) learners as complex social beings with increasingly diverse language repertories, migration histories, and socioeconomic statuses. Failing to understand such diversity in language maintenance and language shift may lead to oversimplifying the process of Chinese language maintenance and consequently perpetuating educational inequities in overseas Chinese education. The study analysed questionnaire data from 56 CHL learners who identified as dialect speakers in a New Zealand university. Findings show that CHL learners are indeed a linguistically and socioculturally diverse group. There is a clear shift towards English among participants as they approached adulthood, with some also speaking non-Chinese languages like Khmer. While Chinese dialects remain prevalent within their homes, younger generations exhibit a decrease in the number of Chinese dialects spoken. Surprisingly, Mandarin, despite being the primary language resource for Chinese education, is underutilized and tends to remain at a low proficiency level. This study concludes by offering implications to policymakers and Chinese curriculum developers to provide genuine support for maintaining and learning the Chinese language within the increasingly diverse Chinese diaspora.
{"title":"Chinese Heritage Language Maintenance in the Context of Superdiversity","authors":"Lin Chen, Danping Wang","doi":"10.1558/rtcfl.26170","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rtcfl.26170","url":null,"abstract":"Situated in the context of migration trends toward superdiversity in Anglophone countries, this study conceptualizes Chinese heritage language (CHL) learners as complex social beings with increasingly diverse language repertories, migration histories, and socioeconomic statuses. Failing to understand such diversity in language maintenance and language shift may lead to oversimplifying the process of Chinese language maintenance and consequently perpetuating educational inequities in overseas Chinese education. The study analysed questionnaire data from 56 CHL learners who identified as dialect speakers in a New Zealand university. Findings show that CHL learners are indeed a linguistically and socioculturally diverse group. There is a clear shift towards English among participants as they approached adulthood, with some also speaking non-Chinese languages like Khmer. While Chinese dialects remain prevalent within their homes, younger generations exhibit a decrease in the number of Chinese dialects spoken. Surprisingly, Mandarin, despite being the primary language resource for Chinese education, is underutilized and tends to remain at a low proficiency level. This study concludes by offering implications to policymakers and Chinese curriculum developers to provide genuine support for maintaining and learning the Chinese language within the increasingly diverse Chinese diaspora.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89533081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article attempts to challenge the model in which a universal wh-thought as represented in LF/SEM is derived from grammatical wh-expressions, and further proposes a model with a prelinguistic Conceptual-Intensional Interface, where wh-thoughts are generated in-language a priori to their externalization into grammatical or ungrammatical wh-expressions, in conformity with Chomsky’s proposal of separating thought from expressions and his dictum of ‘meaning with sound’ rather than ‘sound with meaning’. The article also highlights how the saltation from animal cognition to human cognition makes Merge workable to yield Conceptual Hierarchic Structure for internal wh-thought.
{"title":"Internal 'Wh'-Thought and External 'Wh'-Expressions","authors":"Chunyan Ning","doi":"10.1558/rtcfl.25968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rtcfl.25968","url":null,"abstract":"This article attempts to challenge the model in which a universal wh-thought as represented in LF/SEM is derived from grammatical wh-expressions, and further proposes a model with a prelinguistic Conceptual-Intensional Interface, where wh-thoughts are generated in-language a priori to their externalization into grammatical or ungrammatical wh-expressions, in conformity with Chomsky’s proposal of separating thought from expressions and his dictum of ‘meaning with sound’ rather than ‘sound with meaning’. The article also highlights how the saltation from animal cognition to human cognition makes Merge workable to yield Conceptual Hierarchic Structure for internal wh-thought.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73125210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Home language and literacy input (HLLI) is critical for linguistic and literacy development in bilingual children. This exploratory study investigated home oral, and print input for Chinese heritage language learners between four and six years old in the United States and aimed to identify salient types of input associated with speaking and reading abilities in the heritage language (Chinese) and the societal language (English). Fifty-three parents completed a HLLI questionnaire and rated the speaking and reading competencies in Chinese and English of their children. The relationships between HLLI and bilingual abilities were examined via principal component analysis and regression. There were two major findings: first, Chinese speaking ability mainly depended on oral language exchange between parents and their children, as well as print exposure to Chinese; Chinese reading ability was associated with oral language exchange between parents and their children, as well as pinyin/bopomofo practice at home. Second, both speaking and reading abilities in English were significantly and positively related to children’s interest in reading English only. Evidence-based recommendations are provided regarding home language and literacy practices for young Chinese heritage language learners in the United States.
{"title":"What Really Matters in Early Bilingual and Biliteracy Acquisition?","authors":"S. Ke, Yuyan Xia, Jing Zhang","doi":"10.1558/rtcfl.24922","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rtcfl.24922","url":null,"abstract":"Home language and literacy input (HLLI) is critical for linguistic and literacy development in bilingual children. This exploratory study investigated home oral, and print input for Chinese heritage language learners between four and six years old in the United States and aimed to identify salient types of input associated with speaking and reading abilities in the heritage language (Chinese) and the societal language (English). Fifty-three parents completed a HLLI questionnaire and rated the speaking and reading competencies in Chinese and English of their children. The relationships between HLLI and bilingual abilities were examined via principal component analysis and regression. There were two major findings: first, Chinese speaking ability mainly depended on oral language exchange between parents and their children, as well as print exposure to Chinese; Chinese reading ability was associated with oral language exchange between parents and their children, as well as pinyin/bopomofo practice at home. Second, both speaking and reading abilities in English were significantly and positively related to children’s interest in reading English only. Evidence-based recommendations are provided regarding home language and literacy practices for young Chinese heritage language learners in the United States.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80313041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research on Chinese heritage-language maintenance has predominantly focused on Mandarin as the default mother tongue and has largely ignored learners’ dialects or language varieties. As a result, we know little about dialect speakers’ beliefs and practices of maintaining their language varieties other than Mandarin, particularly in the home domain. Using family language policy (FLP) as the theoretical framework, this multiple case study examined six Chinese families’ beliefs and practices in early bidialectal (Mandarin and dialect) maintenance over three years when their children moved through kindergarten to Grade 3. Findings indicated that parents subscribed to the dominant language ideologies and placed their dialects at the bottom of the language hierarchy. However, the parents differed in their beliefs in the value of their dialects; and families who celebrated bidialectalism actively maintained their dialects while those who did not gradually gave up on passing their dialects to their children, even when grandparents were involved in the maintenance efforts. The findings have important implications for supporting and achieving bidialectalism in immigrant countries.
{"title":"Early Bidialectal Maintenance among Chinese Heritage Learners in Canada","authors":"Guofang Li, Senyao Shen","doi":"10.1558/rtcfl.25190","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rtcfl.25190","url":null,"abstract":"Research on Chinese heritage-language maintenance has predominantly focused on Mandarin as the default mother tongue and has largely ignored learners’ dialects or language varieties. As a result, we know little about dialect speakers’ beliefs and practices of maintaining their language varieties other than Mandarin, particularly in the home domain. Using family language policy (FLP) as the theoretical framework, this multiple case study examined six Chinese families’ beliefs and practices in early bidialectal (Mandarin and dialect) maintenance over three years when their children moved through kindergarten to Grade 3. Findings indicated that parents subscribed to the dominant language ideologies and placed their dialects at the bottom of the language hierarchy. However, the parents differed in their beliefs in the value of their dialects; and families who celebrated bidialectalism actively maintained their dialects while those who did not gradually gave up on passing their dialects to their children, even when grandparents were involved in the maintenance efforts. The findings have important implications for supporting and achieving bidialectalism in immigrant countries.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90401226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Since Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini’s coining of the term biolinguistics in 1974, biolinguistics research has attracted numerous attentions from the linguistic circle and its neighbouring fields, triggering various ways of pursuing it. The current paper makes clear the origin, significance, and implications of biolinguistics, especially, the reason why the biolinguistics enterprise realizes the miracle creed firstly assumed by Albert Einstein. In this way, the controversies and mis-conceptualization of biolinguistics in current linguistic literature can be clarified, paving the solid foundation for future biolinguistics research.
{"title":"Language and the Miracle Creed","authors":"Noam Chomsky","doi":"10.1558/rtcfl.25349","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rtcfl.25349","url":null,"abstract":"Since Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini’s coining of the term biolinguistics in 1974, biolinguistics research has attracted numerous attentions from the linguistic circle and its neighbouring fields, triggering various ways of pursuing it. The current paper makes clear the origin, significance, and implications of biolinguistics, especially, the reason why the biolinguistics enterprise realizes the miracle creed firstly assumed by Albert Einstein. In this way, the controversies and mis-conceptualization of biolinguistics in current linguistic literature can be clarified, paving the solid foundation for future biolinguistics research.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"65 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77756709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
While children’s acquisition of recursion has drawn extensive attention in the field, there is less research offering proper evidence for the uniform developmental path of linguistic recursion. To address this issue cross-linguistically, this study examines how 84 Mandarin-speaking children aged between three and six comprehend two to four-level DeP recursion through a pointing task. The results reveal that two and three-level DeP recursion is successfully generated by four-year-old children first, and then five-year-old children fully master four-level DeP recursion. The findings are consistent with the developmental route-map of Japanese children’s acquisition of recursive possessives. Meanwhile, the analysis shows that the biological maturation of the recursive mechanism and the enhancement of computational efficiency of the linguistic mechanism mainly account for the step-by-step development.
{"title":"Uniform Acquisitional Path for Linguistic Recursion","authors":"Tiaoyuan Mao, Xiangyu Chang","doi":"10.1558/rtcfl.26394","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rtcfl.26394","url":null,"abstract":"While children’s acquisition of recursion has drawn extensive attention in the field, there is less research offering proper evidence for the uniform developmental path of linguistic recursion. To address this issue cross-linguistically, this study examines how 84 Mandarin-speaking children aged between three and six comprehend two to four-level DeP recursion through a pointing task. The results reveal that two and three-level DeP recursion is successfully generated by four-year-old children first, and then five-year-old children fully master four-level DeP recursion. The findings are consistent with the developmental route-map of Japanese children’s acquisition of recursive possessives. Meanwhile, the analysis shows that the biological maturation of the recursive mechanism and the enhancement of computational efficiency of the linguistic mechanism mainly account for the step-by-step development.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"1995 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89845839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Takaaki Hiratsuka, Matthew Nall, Joachim Castellano
Native-speakerism is an ideology that endows those classified as native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) the owners of the English language, the ideal models of its use, and the pedagogical experts in language teaching. These endowments, in turn, intrinsically devalue those classified as non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) (Holliday, 2006, 2017). In this study, a trioethnographic approach was adopted to investigate native-speakerism as it related to the lived experiences of two NESTs (Matt and Joachim) and one NNEST (Takaaki) in an EFL context of Japan. Counterintuitively, this exploration found that, in our Japanese context, native-speakerism had adverse effects on the academic lives and professional trajectories not for the NNEST, but rather for the two NESTs, linguistically, culturally, and institutionally speaking. Based on the findings, we explain and compare what we term classical, inversed, and nuanced native-speakerism, and introduce a new empowering concept—trans-speakerism—an ideological stance committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion for all language teachers, irrespective of their first languages or cultures. The article ends with a call for research that encompasses a variety of contexts and approaches on trans-speakerism in language education.
{"title":"Shifting from Native-Speakerism to Trans-Speakerism: A Trioethnography of Language Teachers in Japan","authors":"Takaaki Hiratsuka, Matthew Nall, Joachim Castellano","doi":"10.55593/ej.27105a9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.27105a9","url":null,"abstract":"Native-speakerism is an ideology that endows those classified as native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) the owners of the English language, the ideal models of its use, and the pedagogical experts in language teaching. These endowments, in turn, intrinsically devalue those classified as non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) (Holliday, 2006, 2017). In this study, a trioethnographic approach was adopted to investigate native-speakerism as it related to the lived experiences of two NESTs (Matt and Joachim) and one NNEST (Takaaki) in an EFL context of Japan. Counterintuitively, this exploration found that, in our Japanese context, native-speakerism had adverse effects on the academic lives and professional trajectories not for the NNEST, but rather for the two NESTs, linguistically, culturally, and institutionally speaking. Based on the findings, we explain and compare what we term classical, inversed, and nuanced native-speakerism, and introduce a new empowering concept—trans-speakerism—an ideological stance committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion for all language teachers, irrespective of their first languages or cultures. The article ends with a call for research that encompasses a variety of contexts and approaches on trans-speakerism in language education.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"165 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77559025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Since written assignments often constitute the main form of assessment in tertiary education, academic writing skills are of paramount importance to university students. The role of academic writing in turn emphasises two aspects vital for successful written production at universities: genre awareness as students are assessed on the production of relevant genres and the use of academic vocabulary regarded as a key element of academic writing style. This study employs a corpus-based approach to explore the usage of academic vocabulary in four genres of assessed academic writing produced by multilingual foundation-level students (N=193) at a UK university. The findings show that in all writing genres there was a small set of core academic vocabulary used by the majority of students in their written assignments, accounting on average for approximately 3.6% - 9% of academic vocabulary types across the genres under investigation. In addition, differences were found in the distribution and function of the core academic vocabulary items across genres. These findings have potentially important pedagogical implications for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) contexts catering for novice student writers.
{"title":"Core Academic Vocabulary in Four Genres of Novice Student Writing","authors":"Dana Therova","doi":"10.55593/ej.27105a8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.27105a8","url":null,"abstract":"Since written assignments often constitute the main form of assessment in tertiary education, academic writing skills are of paramount importance to university students. The role of academic writing in turn emphasises two aspects vital for successful written production at universities: genre awareness as students are assessed on the production of relevant genres and the use of academic vocabulary regarded as a key element of academic writing style. This study employs a corpus-based approach to explore the usage of academic vocabulary in four genres of assessed academic writing produced by multilingual foundation-level students (N=193) at a UK university. The findings show that in all writing genres there was a small set of core academic vocabulary used by the majority of students in their written assignments, accounting on average for approximately 3.6% - 9% of academic vocabulary types across the genres under investigation. In addition, differences were found in the distribution and function of the core academic vocabulary items across genres. These findings have potentially important pedagogical implications for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) contexts catering for novice student writers.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"111 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80975743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}