Previous studies on lexical focus on form (FonF) have mostly centred on FonF in reading with a few pre-selected lexical items. This study investigated the contribution of oral incidental FonF to developing learners’ lexical knowledge in a free discussion EFL class. Incidental FonF was provided to 15 upper-intermediate learners who participated in 10 sessions of a meaning-oriented class. To gauge the retention rate of the lexical focus on form episodes (FFEs), two individualized multiple-choice achievement tests based on the lexical FFEs the learners reported to have no previous knowledge of in their uptake sheets were administered every five sessions, and two delayed posttests were given five weeks following each immediate posttest. Moreover, the participants were asked to compose two prompt-based writings on topics selected out of the covered themes in the posttests. Thematically relevant lexical FFEs extracted from each learner’s uptake sheets made up the tailored prompts per learner. Results indicated rather high effectiveness of oral incidental FonF in developing learners’ receptive and productive lexical knowledge in both short and long terms. The findings also revealed that learners fail to develop knowledge of the grammatical aspects of some lexical FFEs if their attention is merely drawn to their meaning aspects.
{"title":"The Effects of Oral Incidental Focus on Form on Developing Vocabulary Knowledge","authors":"Amin Pouresmaeil, Javad Gholam","doi":"10.55593/ej.26104a1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26104a1","url":null,"abstract":"Previous studies on lexical focus on form (FonF) have mostly centred on FonF in reading with a few pre-selected lexical items. This study investigated the contribution of oral incidental FonF to developing learners’ lexical knowledge in a free discussion EFL class. Incidental FonF was provided to 15 upper-intermediate learners who participated in 10 sessions of a meaning-oriented class. To gauge the retention rate of the lexical focus on form episodes (FFEs), two individualized multiple-choice achievement tests based on the lexical FFEs the learners reported to have no previous knowledge of in their uptake sheets were administered every five sessions, and two delayed posttests were given five weeks following each immediate posttest. Moreover, the participants were asked to compose two prompt-based writings on topics selected out of the covered themes in the posttests. Thematically relevant lexical FFEs extracted from each learner’s uptake sheets made up the tailored prompts per learner. Results indicated rather high effectiveness of oral incidental FonF in developing learners’ receptive and productive lexical knowledge in both short and long terms. The findings also revealed that learners fail to develop knowledge of the grammatical aspects of some lexical FFEs if their attention is merely drawn to their meaning aspects.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73222726","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 research investigated six established areas for quality (Ortega-Martín et al., 2018) in the implementation of CLIL programmes in a Spanish monolingual autonomous community from the perspective of its teachers, in particular focusing on possible differences of opinion between content and English language teachers, an understudied area. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 36 teachers at four secondary schools in urban Extremadura so as to assess the perceptions of the execution and the effectiveness of current CLIL education programmes, identifying specifically their potential challenges. Significant differences between content teachers and English teachers’ perceptions in six areas under study are examined, from programme management to academic results. Data results indicate that although programmes are viewed quite positively by both groups of teachers, some important areas of difference exist, including the amount of time the L2 is used in a content class and the language skills that are worked in a CLIL environment. To address this gap, suggestions are made to establish more widely accepted standards for CLIL programme objectives.
{"title":"CLIL realities through the lens of English and content teachers","authors":"L. V. Fielden Burns, Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo","doi":"10.55593/ej.26104a10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26104a10","url":null,"abstract":"This research investigated six established areas for quality (Ortega-Martín et al., 2018) in the implementation of CLIL programmes in a Spanish monolingual autonomous community from the perspective of its teachers, in particular focusing on possible differences of opinion between content and English language teachers, an understudied area. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 36 teachers at four secondary schools in urban Extremadura so as to assess the perceptions of the execution and the effectiveness of current CLIL education programmes, identifying specifically their potential challenges. Significant differences between content teachers and English teachers’ perceptions in six areas under study are examined, from programme management to academic results. Data results indicate that although programmes are viewed quite positively by both groups of teachers, some important areas of difference exist, including the amount of time the L2 is used in a content class and the language skills that are worked in a CLIL environment. To address this gap, suggestions are made to establish more widely accepted standards for CLIL programme objectives.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81750471","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}
The hasty adoption of remote teaching (RT) by educational institutes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted teaching, learning, and assessment. With most institutes unprepared for sudden lockdowns, and many educators lacking online teaching and assessment experience, old methods of assessment continued to be used, at least initially. When concerns about academic integrity soon followed, new pedagogical concepts and modes were trialed in the hopes of addressing perceived inadequacies. This study, using a mixed-method design, investigates teacher-participants’ perceptions of online assessment and academic integrity. It explores the challenges they believed had a detrimental effect on the latter – technical difficulties, problems due to lack of physical presence, student behavioral issues, and concerns about assessment design and process. This study also discusses teacher-participants’ suggested approaches to safeguarding against dishonesty, including modifications in design, conduct, and evaluation of quizzes and exams. Finally, it ends with teacher-participants’ recommendations and suggestions for policy-level changes to help minimize the adverse effects of prolonged RT.
{"title":"Promoting Academic Integrity in Remote/Online Assessment – EFL Teachers’ Perspectives","authors":"Surya Subrahmanyam Vellanki, S. Mond, Z. Khan","doi":"10.55593/ej.26104a7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26104a7","url":null,"abstract":"The hasty adoption of remote teaching (RT) by educational institutes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted teaching, learning, and assessment. With most institutes unprepared for sudden lockdowns, and many educators lacking online teaching and assessment experience, old methods of assessment continued to be used, at least initially. When concerns about academic integrity soon followed, new pedagogical concepts and modes were trialed in the hopes of addressing perceived inadequacies. This study, using a mixed-method design, investigates teacher-participants’ perceptions of online assessment and academic integrity. It explores the challenges they believed had a detrimental effect on the latter – technical difficulties, problems due to lack of physical presence, student behavioral issues, and concerns about assessment design and process. This study also discusses teacher-participants’ suggested approaches to safeguarding against dishonesty, including modifications in design, conduct, and evaluation of quizzes and exams. Finally, it ends with teacher-participants’ recommendations and suggestions for policy-level changes to help minimize the adverse effects of prolonged RT.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"220 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75091429","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}
Developing intercultural communicative competence has become an inevitable need within 21st-century demands, mobilizing global efforts to promote unity through diversity. However, within the Colombian context and supported by an economic interest in bilingualism, most English language teaching programs still advocate educational practices that reaffirm cultural homogenization and legitimation. This presupposes a challenge for pre-service language teachers, who may not be interculturally prepared to overcome their ethnocentrism, and yet have to face a language classroom. The study explored the intercultural sensitivity level of a group of 50 pre-service English language teachers from a Colombian private university, its influencing factors, and explained its relationship with the representation of the Other. A two-stage explanatory sequential mixed-method design was employed, involving, in the first stage, quantitative data from a self-awareness intercultural sensitivity questionnaire and in the second stage, qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and two in-class observations. Findings indicated that the participants demonstrated ethnocentric intercultural sensitivity arising from a traditionalist culture teaching approach, misleading artificial means to culture learning, and limited overseas cultural experience, which led them to perpetuate Cultural Othering, a social representation materialized through mechanisms of overgeneralization, cultural pride, and cultural underestimation. The conclusions and implications are further discussed.
{"title":"Intercultural Sensitivity and Cultural Othering in English Language Pre-Service Teachers","authors":"Sthephanny Moncada Linares","doi":"10.55593/ej.26104a5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26104a5","url":null,"abstract":"Developing intercultural communicative competence has become an inevitable need within 21st-century demands, mobilizing global efforts to promote unity through diversity. However, within the Colombian context and supported by an economic interest in bilingualism, most English language teaching programs still advocate educational practices that reaffirm cultural homogenization and legitimation. This presupposes a challenge for pre-service language teachers, who may not be interculturally prepared to overcome their ethnocentrism, and yet have to face a language classroom. The study explored the intercultural sensitivity level of a group of 50 pre-service English language teachers from a Colombian private university, its influencing factors, and explained its relationship with the representation of the Other. A two-stage explanatory sequential mixed-method design was employed, involving, in the first stage, quantitative data from a self-awareness intercultural sensitivity questionnaire and in the second stage, qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and two in-class observations. Findings indicated that the participants demonstrated ethnocentric intercultural sensitivity arising from a traditionalist culture teaching approach, misleading artificial means to culture learning, and limited overseas cultural experience, which led them to perpetuate Cultural Othering, a social representation materialized through mechanisms of overgeneralization, cultural pride, and cultural underestimation. The conclusions and implications are further discussed.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82032414","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}
As students’ achievement is correlated with self-regulation, finding interventions promoting self-regulated learning (SRL) in online courses is a current focus of research. However, few studies have explored the potential of contract learning in scaffolding and developing SRL in non-traditional learners who have work and family and are at risk of dropout. Here, we investigate the utility of contract learning using a qualitative approach. Using a qualitative approach, we collected data from the experience of one teacher and seven non-traditional learners in an online English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. The data were collected from teacher logs over eight months and semi-structured interviews with the students. The results of deductive thematic analysis of the data indicate that contract learning positively affected the forethought, performance, and self-reflection phases. Further, despite the cognitive, emotional, external, motivational, and behavioral challenges aggravated by the pandemic, the teacher’s efforts to implement contract learning affected the persistence and effort, goal setting, strategic planning, and time management of most learners (N = 4). Possible reasons for the learners’ success and failure and the implications for developing SRL skills in students at risk of dropout in online English courses are discussed.
{"title":"Scaffolding Self-Regulation in an Online English Language Course: Utility of Contract Learning","authors":"Sima Mohammadi, H. Zandi","doi":"10.55593/ej.26104a11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26104a11","url":null,"abstract":"As students’ achievement is correlated with self-regulation, finding interventions promoting self-regulated learning (SRL) in online courses is a current focus of research. However, few studies have explored the potential of contract learning in scaffolding and developing SRL in non-traditional learners who have work and family and are at risk of dropout. Here, we investigate the utility of contract learning using a qualitative approach. Using a qualitative approach, we collected data from the experience of one teacher and seven non-traditional learners in an online English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. The data were collected from teacher logs over eight months and semi-structured interviews with the students. The results of deductive thematic analysis of the data indicate that contract learning positively affected the forethought, performance, and self-reflection phases. Further, despite the cognitive, emotional, external, motivational, and behavioral challenges aggravated by the pandemic, the teacher’s efforts to implement contract learning affected the persistence and effort, goal setting, strategic planning, and time management of most learners (N = 4). Possible reasons for the learners’ success and failure and the implications for developing SRL skills in students at risk of dropout in online English courses are discussed.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75910956","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}
Developing second/foreign language (L2) comprehension skills can represent a challenging endeavor for learners with autism spectrum condition (ASC) because their social and verbal cognition may be impaired in terms of abstract reasoning, organizing, and retelling events, inferring intentions, and identifying emotions contained in a text. Thus, it becomes relevant to explore how these learners experience metacognitive strategies when reading in a foreign language. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore how Chilean elementary Learners with ASC perceive their metacognitive awareness and how they strategize their L2 reading. To this end, 27 elementary Learners with ASC were asked to report on their perceptions of metacognition in L2 reading by means of a metacognitive awareness reading strategy inventory and semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that participants displayed a medium level of awareness toward metacognition, with problem-solving strategies being the most frequently reported. The difficulties faced by these learners were related to an excessive focus on details rather than general ideas, concentration issues, avoidance of multitasking processes in reading, and not seeking help to ensure comprehension. Implications are discussed in terms of cognitive approaches to reading comprehension and the pedagogical need for nurturing a strategic approach to metacognition in L2 reading to increase autonomy and automaticity.
{"title":"English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Reading Metacognition Awareness in Chilean Learners with Autism Spectrum Condition: An Exploratory Study","authors":"Marco Cancino, Nedjelka Tomicic","doi":"10.55593/ej.26104a12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26104a12","url":null,"abstract":"Developing second/foreign language (L2) comprehension skills can represent a challenging endeavor for learners with autism spectrum condition (ASC) because their social and verbal cognition may be impaired in terms of abstract reasoning, organizing, and retelling events, inferring intentions, and identifying emotions contained in a text. Thus, it becomes relevant to explore how these learners experience metacognitive strategies when reading in a foreign language. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore how Chilean elementary Learners with ASC perceive their metacognitive awareness and how they strategize their L2 reading. To this end, 27 elementary Learners with ASC were asked to report on their perceptions of metacognition in L2 reading by means of a metacognitive awareness reading strategy inventory and semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that participants displayed a medium level of awareness toward metacognition, with problem-solving strategies being the most frequently reported. The difficulties faced by these learners were related to an excessive focus on details rather than general ideas, concentration issues, avoidance of multitasking processes in reading, and not seeking help to ensure comprehension. Implications are discussed in terms of cognitive approaches to reading comprehension and the pedagogical need for nurturing a strategic approach to metacognition in L2 reading to increase autonomy and automaticity.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87337382","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}
The spirit of today’s time is that much needs fixing in the world. From the climate crisis to children being deprived of a quality education, international organizations often seek to develop ways to improve life for global citizens. This is also true within applied linguistics, as special interest groups in teachers’ organizations such as IATEFL and TESOL International have sought to establish more accessible and equitable access to language education. One such barrier to equity in language pedagogy is an overly single-minded focus on language proficiency, which many are resisting in favor of a holistic stance that instead seeks to ask questions about what works well in our communities and how society can be improved. From this position, Starting Points in Critical Language Pedagogy is a timely book, introducing beginning and experienced teachers to the concept of critical language pedagogy and inviting readers to evaluate the status quo.
{"title":"Starting Points in Critical Pedagogy (Review)","authors":"G. Jacobs","doi":"10.55593/ej.26103r1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26103r1","url":null,"abstract":"The spirit of today’s time is that much needs fixing in the world. From the climate crisis to children being deprived of a quality education, international organizations often seek to develop ways to improve life for global citizens. This is also true within applied linguistics, as special interest groups in teachers’ organizations such as IATEFL and TESOL International have sought to establish more accessible and equitable access to language education. One such barrier to equity in language pedagogy is an overly single-minded focus on language proficiency, which many are resisting in favor of a holistic stance that instead seeks to ask questions about what works well in our communities and how society can be improved. From this position, Starting Points in Critical Language Pedagogy is a timely book, introducing beginning and experienced teachers to the concept of critical language pedagogy and inviting readers to evaluate the status quo.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79033474","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 paper compares the speaking scores generated by two online systems that are designed to automatically grade student speech and provide personalized speaking feedback in an EFL context. The first system, Speech Assessment for Moodle (SAM), is an open-source solution developed by the author that makes use of Google’s speech recognition engine to transcribe speech into text which is then automatically scored using a phoneme-based algorithm. SAM is designed as a custom quiz type for Moodle, a widely adopted open-source course management system. The second auto-scoring system, EnglishCentral, is a popular proprietary language learning solution which utilizes a trained intelligibility model to automatically score speech. Results of this study indicated a positive correlation between the speaking scores generated by both systems, meaning students who scored higher on the SAM speaking tasks also tended to score higher on the EnglishCentral speaking tasks and vice versa. In addition to comparing the scores generated from these two systems against each other, students’ computer-scored speaking scores were compared to human-generated scores from small-group face-to-face speaking tasks. The results indicated that students who received higher scores with the online computer-graded speaking tasks tended to score higher on the human-graded small-group speaking tasks and vice versa.
{"title":"Auto-scoring of Student Speech: Proprietary vs. Open-source Solutions","authors":"Paul Daniels","doi":"10.55593/ej.26103int","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26103int","url":null,"abstract":"This paper compares the speaking scores generated by two online systems that are designed to automatically grade student speech and provide personalized speaking feedback in an EFL context. The first system, Speech Assessment for Moodle (SAM), is an open-source solution developed by the author that makes use of Google’s speech recognition engine to transcribe speech into text which is then automatically scored using a phoneme-based algorithm. SAM is designed as a custom quiz type for Moodle, a widely adopted open-source course management system. The second auto-scoring system, EnglishCentral, is a popular proprietary language learning solution which utilizes a trained intelligibility model to automatically score speech. Results of this study indicated a positive correlation between the speaking scores generated by both systems, meaning students who scored higher on the SAM speaking tasks also tended to score higher on the EnglishCentral speaking tasks and vice versa. In addition to comparing the scores generated from these two systems against each other, students’ computer-scored speaking scores were compared to human-generated scores from small-group face-to-face speaking tasks. The results indicated that students who received higher scores with the online computer-graded speaking tasks tended to score higher on the human-graded small-group speaking tasks and vice versa.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"142 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78485108","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}
Deficiency-oriented attitudes are still common occurrences despite growing emphasis on linguistic and cultural diversity. Promoting inclusivity in learning, Herrera (2016) proposed “biography-driven instruction” emphasizing the power of students’ assets. Though her work was intended for young learners’ biliteracy, I argue that the tenets can be used as a framework for more equitable adult ESL instruction to build on learners’ “funds of knowledge” (Moll et al., 1992) and “cultural wealth” (Yosso, 2016). In this article, I theorize an “autobiography- driven instruction” approach where L2 writing instruction can foster inclusivity through life writing by acknowledging diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds as assets, drawing from rich lived experiences, and tapping into multi-competencies. Drawing from the work in translanguaging and life writing, this article problematizes the deficiency-based assumptions, argues for life writing practices, and provides a practical look into the theorized autobiography-driven instruction. I detail how this approach can help students take a more active role in their learning and inevitably leads to amplifying diverse voices and inclusivity in ESL by learners (1) choosing the content they write about, (2) practicing a variety of the life writing genres, and (3) sharing their personal stories to create empathy and build rapport.
{"title":"Translanguaging Life Writing: Autobiography-Driven Writing Instruction","authors":"Demet Yigitbilek","doi":"10.55593/ej.26103a7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26103a7","url":null,"abstract":"Deficiency-oriented attitudes are still common occurrences despite growing emphasis on linguistic and cultural diversity. Promoting inclusivity in learning, Herrera (2016) proposed “biography-driven instruction” emphasizing the power of students’ assets. Though her work was intended for young learners’ biliteracy, I argue that the tenets can be used as a framework for more equitable adult ESL instruction to build on learners’ “funds of knowledge” (Moll et al., 1992) and “cultural wealth” (Yosso, 2016). In this article, I theorize an “autobiography- driven instruction” approach where L2 writing instruction can foster inclusivity through life writing by acknowledging diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds as assets, drawing from rich lived experiences, and tapping into multi-competencies. Drawing from the work in translanguaging and life writing, this article problematizes the deficiency-based assumptions, argues for life writing practices, and provides a practical look into the theorized autobiography-driven instruction. I detail how this approach can help students take a more active role in their learning and inevitably leads to amplifying diverse voices and inclusivity in ESL by learners (1) choosing the content they write about, (2) practicing a variety of the life writing genres, and (3) sharing their personal stories to create empathy and build rapport.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"228 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74986672","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}
Although an accurate measure of vocabulary size is integral to understanding the proficiency of language learners, the validity of multiple-choice (M/C) vocabulary tests to determine this has been questioned due to users guessing correct answers which inflates scores. In this paper the nature of guessing and partial knowledge used when taking the Vocabulary Size Test (VST) is examined. The analysis evaluates the thought processes of test takers through think-aloud protocols and self-reports. This provides a taxonomy of seven types of guesses used by learners while taking the VST and measures the frequency of their occurrence. Based on qualitative coding, guesses are investigated to determine if they exhibit partial word knowledge which is relevant to the test construct. The findings suggest that both guesses resulting from the use of partial knowledge and random guesses are included in estimates and this has a detrimental effect on test accuracy. The paper concludes that the VST does not provide an accurate measure of the vocabulary necessary for reading due to guessing and the meaning-recognition format. It also suggests that the role of partial knowledge should be considered when producing more sophisticated vocabulary tests in the future.
{"title":"An Investigation into the Roles of Guessing and Partial Knowledge in the Vocabulary Size Test","authors":"S. Asquith","doi":"10.55593/ej.26103a15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26103a15","url":null,"abstract":"Although an accurate measure of vocabulary size is integral to understanding the proficiency of language learners, the validity of multiple-choice (M/C) vocabulary tests to determine this has been questioned due to users guessing correct answers which inflates scores. In this paper the nature of guessing and partial knowledge used when taking the Vocabulary Size Test (VST) is examined. The analysis evaluates the thought processes of test takers through think-aloud protocols and self-reports. This provides a taxonomy of seven types of guesses used by learners while taking the VST and measures the frequency of their occurrence. Based on qualitative coding, guesses are investigated to determine if they exhibit partial word knowledge which is relevant to the test construct. The findings suggest that both guesses resulting from the use of partial knowledge and random guesses are included in estimates and this has a detrimental effect on test accuracy. The paper concludes that the VST does not provide an accurate measure of the vocabulary necessary for reading due to guessing and the meaning-recognition format. It also suggests that the role of partial knowledge should be considered when producing more sophisticated vocabulary tests in the future.","PeriodicalId":66774,"journal":{"name":"对外汉语教学与研究","volume":"264 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77774665","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}