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New perspectives on the development of communicative and related competence in foreign language education
\"This book offers insights from current research on the development of knowledge, skills and competencies in language teaching and learning and in second/foreign language acquisition. It presents theoretical frameworks and new perspectives by leading scholars that bear important implications for language education. It also discusses innovative and practical approaches for the teaching and learning of languages\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Effect of Perception of Teacher Characteristics on Spanish EFL Learners' Anxiety and Enjoyment
The present study explores the relationship between Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) and a number of teacher-centered variables within the Spanish classroom context. Participants were 210 former and current learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from all over Spain who filled out an online questionnaire with Likert scale items. A moderate negative relationship emerged between FLE and FLCA. Participants who had an L1 English speaker as a teacher reported more FLE and less FLCA than those with a foreign language user of English. Teacher characteristics predicted close to 20% of variance in FLE but only 8% of variance in FLCA. The strongest positive predictor of FLE was a teacher's friendliness while a teacher's foreign accent was a weaker negative predictor. Teacher-centered variables predicted much less variance for FLCA. Participants experienced more FLCA with younger teachers, very strict teachers, and teachers who did not use the foreign language much in class. The findings confirm earlier research that FLE seems to be more dependent on the teachers' pedagogical skills than FLCA. (Verlag).
Journal Article
Unpacking Chinese EFL Students’ Academic Engagement and Psychological Well-Being: The Roles of Language Teachers’ Affective Scaffolding
Over the past decade, there has appeared a surge of research interest in language learners’ academic engagement and psychological well-being as important factors in improving the quality of education. However, research on the roles of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ affective scaffolding in enhancing the academic engagement and psychological well-being of their students is relatively scant. Inspired by this gap, the current study aimed to investigate the impact of Chinese EFL teachers’ affective scaffolding on their learners’ academic engagement and psychological well-being. To this end, a total number of 1968 Chinese EFL learners participated in this questionnaire survey. The results of the study showed that EFL teachers’ affective scaffolding positively and significantly predicted students’ academic engagement and psychological well-being. More specifically, it was found that teachers’ affective scaffolding explained about 73% and 65% of variances in EFL students’ academic engagement and psychological well-being. Moreover, it was found that psychological well-being and academic engagement were positively correlated and predicted 56% of each other’s variances. In accordance with these findings, educators are recommended to build up a harmonious teacher-student relationship to foster students’ psych-emotional development.
Journal Article
To resist it or to embrace it? Examining ChatGPT’s potential to support teacher feedback in EFL writing
ChatGPT, the newest pre-trained large language model, has recently attracted unprecedented worldwide attention. Its exceptional performance in understanding human language and completing a variety of tasks in a conversational way has led to heated discussions about its implications for and use in education. This exploratory study represents one of the first attempts to examine the possible role of ChatGPT in facilitating the teaching and learning of writing English as a Foreign Language (EFL). We examined ChatGPT’s potential to support EFL teachers’ feedback on students’ writing. To reach this goal, we first investigated ChatGPT’s performance in generating feedback on EFL students’ argumentative writing. Fifty English argumentative essays composed by Chinese undergraduate students were collected and used as feedback targets. ChatGPT and five Chinese EFL teachers offered feedback on the content, organisation, and language aspects of the essays. We compared ChatGPT- and teacher-generated feedback in terms of their amount and type. The results showed that ChatGPT produced a significantly larger amount of feedback than teachers and that compared with teacher feedback, which mainly focused on content-related and language-related issues, ChatGPT distributed its attention relatively equally among the three feedback foci (i.e., content, organisation, and language). Our results also indicated that ChatGPT and teachers displayed tendencies towards using different feedback types when evaluating different aspects of students’ writing. Additionally, we examined EFL teachers’ perceptions of using ChatGPT-generated feedback to support their own feedback. The five teachers reported both positive and negative perceptions of the features of ChatGPT feedback and the relation between ChatGPT and teacher feedback. To foster EFL students’ writing skills, we suggest that teachers collaborate with ChatGPT in generating feedback on student writing.
Journal Article
The Effect of Imagery and On-Screen Text on Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning From Audiovisual Input
In recent years, an increasing number of studies have focused on learning vocabulary from audiovisual input. They have shown that learners can pick up new words incidentally when watching TV (Peters & Webb, 2018; Rodgers & Webb, 2019). Research has also shown that on-screen text (first language or foreign language subtitles) might increase learning gains (Montero Perez, Peters, Clarebout, & Desmet, 2014; Winke, Gass, & Sydorenko, 2010). Learning is sometimes explained in terms of the beneficial role of on-screen imagery in audiovisual input (Rodgers, 2018). However, little is known about imagery's effect on word learning and how it interacts with L1 subtitles and captions. This study investigates the effect of imagery in three TV viewing conditions: with L1 subtitles, with captions, and without subtitles. Data were collected with 142 Dutch-speaking learners of English as a foreign language. A pretest-posttest design was adopted in which learners watched a 12-minute excerpt from a documentary. The findings show that the captions group made the most vocabulary learning gains. Moreover, imagery was positively related to word learning. This means that words that were shown in close proximity to the aural occurrence of the words were more likely to be learned.
Journal Article
Key topics in second language acquisition
This textbook offers an introductory overview of eight hotly-debated topics in second language acquisition research. It offers a glimpse of how SLA researchers have tried to answer common questions about second language acquisition rather than being a comprehensive introduction to SLA research.
Book
Exploring the potential of an AI-based Chatbot (ChatGPT) in enhancing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching: perceptions of EFL Faculty Members
The aim of this survey study was to investigate the perceptions of ten English as a Foreign Language (EFL) faculty members at Northern Border University regarding the effectiveness of ChatGPT in supporting their students’ English language learning. The study utilized in-depth interviews with the faculty members as the primary data collection method. The results of the interviews demonstrated that the faculty members held varying opinions about the efficacy of ChatGPT. Some faculty members acknowledged its usefulness in providing rapid and accurate responses to a wide range of questions, while others expressed concerns that ChatGPT might hinder students’ development of critical thinking and research skills, and potentially reinforce biases or misinformation. The study sample perceives ChatGPT as a valuable tool for complementing and enhancing traditional EFL teaching methods. Nonetheless, the faculty members recognized ChatGPT’s value as a teaching and learning aid and recommended further experimental research to evaluate its effectiveness. The study emphasizes the potential of ChatGPT as a tool for enhancing EFL students’ English language proficiency.
Journal Article