Abstract
I would like to begin this issue of the Language Teaching Research with a huge thank you to my outgoing co-editor Dr Frank Boers. It has been a great pleasure to work with Frank. Having served as the co-editor of the journal for the past five years, Frank has been a wonderful colleague and an inspiring collaborator whose dedication, vision, and efficiency have contributed immensely to the success of the journal. It is sad to see him leaving as co-editor, but we are delighted to have him serve as a member of the editorial board of the journal, and will, therefore, continue to benefit from his experience and expertise in that role. I would also like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome Dr María del Pilar García Mayo as our incoming co-editor. Dr García Mayo is an outstanding researcher with many years of experience as an author and language educator. She is currently professor and the director of the language and speech research group at the University of the Basque Country, Spain. We are thrilled to have her join us.
In this issue of LTR, we present five articles, most of them addressing in one way or another the relationship between learner variables, including various personality traits, and learner success. In what follows, I will first summarize each study and then discuss briefly the implications of their findings for language learning and pedagogy. The first study by Rassaei investigates the role of first language glosses in enhancing second language (L2) vocabulary learning. The study has two specific aims: to determine whether different modes of first language (L1) glossing (textual and audio) would differentially affect students’ vocabulary learning, and whether the effectiveness of the type of glossing varies depending on the learners’ perceptual styles (auditory versus visual). The study is motivated by the idea that L1 glossing is helpful and that matching the modes of glossing with learners perceptual learning styles would enhance their learning. Two groups of students with either visual or auditory perceptual styles participated in the study, each receiving different types of glossing. The study found that audio glosses were more effective than textual glosses. Furthermore, a significant interaction effect was found for the type of learning style. Audio glosses were most effective when combined with an auditory learning style. However, no superior effect was found when textual glosses were combined with a visual learning style. These findings suggest that modes of glossing interact with learners’ learning style preferences in affecting L2 vocabulary acquisition. Important implications are that L1 glosses assist L2 vocabulary learning and that vocabulary instruction may be further enhanced if teachers make use of audio glosses.
Dewaele et al. also examine aspects of learners’ personality traits but with a focus on learners’ emotion and anxiety. Their study investigates the relationship between foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and the extent to which they are associated with various learner-related and classroom/teacher-related variables. The data were collected from 189 British high school foreign language (FL) learners who completed questionnaires that gathered information about learners’ degree of FLE and FLAC and a number of other learner variables (e.g., gender, age, degree of multilingualism, attitude towards the FL, etc.) and classroom-specific variables (e.g., frequency of teachers’ FL use, predictability of the FL class, time spent reading, writing, listening and speaking in the FL). The study found a negative relationship between FLE and FLCA, with a very small shared variance, indicating that enjoyment and anxiety are two different dimensions of emotion. As for the relationships of other variables, overall learner-related variables explained a greater variance in both FLE and FLCA than classroom and teacher-related variables. At least two implications can be drawn from these findings: (1) attempts at reducing foreign language anxiety may not necessarily lead to the enhancement of foreign language enjoyment, and (2) teachers may be more successful if they focus more on increasing learner enjoyment than decreasing their classroom anxiety as the former is more related to teacher-related variables and practices than the latter.
Kim and Nassaji examined the relationship between two personality traits (i.e. extraversion and introversion) and incidental focus on form. In particular, the study examined whether more extraverted learners engaged in a greater number of focus on form episodes in the classroom and whether this involvement would lead to greater improvement in the accuracy of the targeted structures. Participants were 28 students of English as a second language (ESL) and their teachers in an advanced and an upper-intermediate ESL class. The focus-on-form data were collected through classroom observation (audio and video recording) over seven weeks from eight classroom sessions for a total of 16 hours. Two measures were employed to determine the students’ level of extraversion, a teacher observation report, and a student self-report using a personality trait questionnaire. Both uptake and individualized posttests were used to measure the effectiveness of focus on form. The results demonstrated a significant relationship between learners’ level of extraversion and both the engagement in and the effectiveness of focus on form. These relationships were also found to vary depending on learners’ level of language proficiency. That is, more extraverted learners were more likely to engage in a greater number of focus on form episodes in the advanced level class than in the intermediate level class. As for the effectiveness of focus on form, no significant relationship was found between learners’ level of extraversion and student test scores, but more introverted learners produced more successful uptake in the intermediate level class. These findings are significant as they provide evidence for the role of learner extraversion in classroom focus on form. They also suggest that their relationship may vary depending on learners’ level of language proficiency.
Chow et al. addressed foreign language (FL) listening and reading anxiety and their relationships with three learner variables (language learning strategies, learning motivation, and English language performance). The study was motivated by the claim that attainments of high levels of EFL proficiency is related to learner anxiety and therefore it is important to identify what factors contribute to FL anxiety. The study focused on EFL reading and listening anxiety based on the assumption that these skill-specific anxieties are different from, though related to, general foreign language anxiety. Data were collected from 306 Chinese undergraduate EFL students through questionnaires and reading and listening tests. The results revealed that all the three learner variables were significantly related to both reading and listening anxiety. Students who showed greater reading and listening anxiety used fewer learning strategies and also had lower levels of motivation and reading/listening performance. However, the results of regression and path analyses revealed that of the three factors, only two of them (i.e., EFL performance and EFL motivation) uniquely predicted EFL reading and listening anxiety. Although learning strategy was a significant correlate, it did not explain any unique variance in reading and listening anxiety once the variance of the other two were controlled. This study is significant because it helps us to understand the sources of foreign language anxiety. These findings have also clear implications for teaching and learning EFL listening and reading skills. They suggest that teachers should be aware of the factors that can impact learner anxiety and should adopt strategies that reduce its effects.
The final study by Donato and Davin did not concern learner variables. Instead, they focused on teachers’ past history and experiences, or what they called history-in-person. The concept of history-in-person comes from social practice theory and is defined as what remains with a person from the past that shapes or influences his or her actions in the present. The study examines how history-in-person processes influence novice foreign language teachers’ classroom discursive practices. The research is motivated by the argument that classroom discursive practices are socially and historically situated activities that are affected and formed by the images teachers have developed of teaching from their past learning experiences. The study was conducted in a foreign language teacher preparation program with two novice teachers teaching in a methodology course designed to promote L2 meaningful classroom interaction. Data consisted of both practice-based (e.g., field notes and classroom observations) and thought-based data (e.g., narratives and life histories) as well as post-lesson reflections. Findings indicated that teachers’ history-in-person influenced their classroom discursive practices but these processes also interacted in complex ways with other external factors, including various institutional constraints. Overall, their analyses illustrate the importance of considering the role of teachers’ past history and experiences in understanding teaching practices.
All the studies in this issue of the journal have investigated topics of significant theoretical and practical relevance to the field of second and foreign language teaching and learning. Four of them address the role of important learner-related variables, including personality traits, emotion, and anxiety, the understanding of which is critical for effective language instruction. The last study addresses an underexplored area of research in language education, which is how teachers’ personal history and past experiences can shape and influence their classroom discursive practices. The study drew upon the concept of history-in-person and applied it to understanding how two novice teachers managed and conducted meaning-focused classroom interactions. The same concept and methods of analysis can also be applied in future research to examine other teachers’ discursive practices in other contexts and also in relation to other aspects of classroom teaching. Such research is scarce, and Donato and Davin’s study has the potential to stimulate further inquiry in these domains.