Language Teaching Research

There is an increasing recognition that effective deployment of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies is essential for the development of second/foreign language learners’ abilities to accomplish learning goals. Within models of SRL, a prerequisite for the active employment of SRL strategies is learners’ self-efficacy, which interacts with strategy use in all phases. In the domain of second language (L2) writing, previous research mainly adopted a variable-centred approach to investigate the relationship between SRL strategy use and self-efficacy whereas person-centred questions have largely been neglected. Performing latent profile analysis (LPA) with undergraduate students of English as a foreign language (EFL), we identified three SRL profiles that differed quantitatively concerning levels of self-efficacy. The efficacious self-regulators with the highest levels of cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational components of SRL reported the highest levels of self-efficacy, followed by the moderate strategists; EFL learners with the lowest levels on the main SRL components reported the lowest writing self-efficacy score. Learners of different profiles differed significantly in a writing performance test with the efficacious self-regulators outperforming the other two profiles. Implications for self-regulated language learning and L2 writing instruction are discussed.

The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated how ubiquitous and pervasive technology to support communication and collaboration has become in people’s lives. This article seeks to provide an overview of the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). The authors systematically reviewed 68 empirical research articles and 3 review articles published between 2008 and 2022 (early April). This in-depth review aims to investigate: (1) the characteristics of CMC-facilitated CFL learning in the worldwide context; (2) common theoretical foundations and methodological approaches; (3) CFL learners’ linguistic and intercultural communicative competence development through CMC; (4) affordances and limitations of CMC in the field of CFL research. Findings from this review suggest that the majority of studies were in formal education contexts within Anglosphere countries. The most commonly acknowledged theoretical foundations in CFL were well aligned with the wider second language acquisition (SLA) domain. A mixed-methods approach was the predominant methodological approach undertaken in the selected papers, with a small number of experimental or quasi-experimental studies between 2008 and 2022. The analysis also identified a clear research gap in relation to young CFL learners in the literature. The predominance of studies at ab initio level would suggest that more research is needed on younger CFL learners and on intermediate and advanced CFL learners using CMC. Additionally, the synthesized affordances of applying CMC technologies in CFL practice from this review were: (1) active engagement; (2) authentic communication; (3) learner centeredness; and (4) opportunities for practice and discovery. By addressing technological and individual CMC implementation limitations in a CFL context, suggestions and recommendations about further research and teaching practice are highlighted in the conclusion section.

The present study investigates language learners’ perceptions of what types of language learning activities they carry out in the Spanish second language (L2) classroom and what activities are the most common ones. A further aim is to investigate how the activities align with a model based on task-based language teaching. The group studied are Swedish learners of Spanish as L2 in a Swedish setting, where out of class exposure to first language (L1) Spanish is generally limited. The activities carried out in class are therefore expected to have a high impact on learners’ L2 acquisition in Spanish. The participants were tested after finishing secondary school. The reported learning activities, which in the long run should lead to goal attainment according to the national curriculum, were ranked and classified. The activity types were then graded along the scale explicit/analytic – implicit/experiential, according to a model based on task-based language teaching, an approach that is closely related to the action-oriented view of language, central to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the Swedish syllabus. Ninety-nine learners were included in the study, which is based on quantitative data consisting in self-report questionnaires in which participants estimate what activities they have typically been involved in. Results show a dominance of activity types based on a structural view of language with focus-on-form rather than on meaningful communication, and a dominance of writing-based activities. The study also has direct implications for the classroom, where it points to the importance of including more communicative oral activities without the support from writing in the teaching.

This study examined changes in undergraduate students’ language mindsets and academic writing competence as a result of taking a one-semester English for academic purposes (EAP) writing course with a pre–post intervention on mindset. A total of 319 students participated in the study and completed a 10-week EAP course. The participants were administered the mindset questionnaire and the writing test at two different time-points. The results showed that the participants’ level in one component of growth language mindset (general language intelligence beliefs), and scores on the writing test increased significantly. The results of the latent profile analysis revealed three distinctive profiles among the participants at both time-points: Growth profile, Mixed profile, and Fixed profile. The Growth and Mixed profiles were found to perform significantly better than the Fixed profile on the writing tests. Finally, the result of a latent transition analysis revealed that dynamic shifts in the profile membership could occur through the mindset intervention.

Many students begin post-secondary studies with inadequate reading comprehension and expository writing skills. Strong skills in these areas are necessary for interpreting source material, integrating multiple ideas, and formulating clear and coherent arguments to complete integrated reading and writing tasks typical of most post-secondary assignments. This article reports on college students’ perspectives on an intervention study exploring how integrated reading and writing instruction can be combined with collaborative writing using a cloud-based tool to develop students’ expository writing skills. A 10-week intervention was designed to introduce 70 students to discrete expository writing skills such as paraphrasing, summarizing, and synthesizing source material. The intervention aimed to enhance students’ awareness of the connection between the individual skills and the final product: expository essays. This study was conducted at a large urban community college in Ontario, Canada, with culturally diverse first-year students across disciplines. Individual interviews were conducted with 14 students. Results of thematic and content analyses showed that participants were largely positive about their online collaborative writing experiences with their peers, and many found that the instructional design supported their learning through knowledge construction, social support, and easily accessible information.

Listening is regarded as an essential skill for language learning, and metacognitive intervention has been utilized widely to facilitate this skill for learners in recent years. Besides metacognitive factors, the impact of personality traits such as introversion/extroversion has been emphasized in the field of language teaching. This study investigated the effect of the metacognitive intervention on upper-intermediate introvert English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ listening comprehension and metacognitive awareness. Upper-intermediate introvert EFL learners (N = 59) were randomly assigned to an experimental (N = 29) and a control group (N = 30). The experimental group received metacognitive intervention through a pedagogical cycle for eight sessions, while the control group followed their conventional approach without a pedagogical cycle. Participants in both groups took International English Language Testing System (IELTS) listening tests and completed a Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) before and after the intervention. Subsequently, 20 learners from the experimental group were randomly chosen and interviewed to decode their attitudes toward the intervention. Results suggested that metacognitive intervention led to a significant improvement in introvert EFL learners’ listening comprehension and metacognitive awareness. The results of the qualitative data analysis also revealed that the learners benefited from the metacognitive intervention in various areas, such as improvement in listening comprehension, becoming able to identify their strengths and weaknesses, decreasing anxiety, and increasing concentration, self-confidence, and motivation.

The present study investigated whether a distinct link exists between attention-shift, foreign language anxiety (FLA) and both a subjective and an objective measure of oral fluency. Participants were 34 French first language (L1) English second language (L2) speakers. Oral production data were collected through a picture-cued narration task and analysed using both oral fluency measures. We used a measure of attention-shift capacity and a measure of FLA. Results first show strong correlations between both fluency measures. Additionally, both measures of fluency were negatively correlated with FLA and attention-shift. However, multiple regression analyses indicated that only the subjective measure was explained by both attention-shift capacity and FLA, the objective one only being explained by FLA. The results suggest that subjective measures, while highly correlated with objective ones, may detect qualities of oral fluency not detected by objective measures.

Few mobile-assisted vocabulary learning approaches fully correspond to the authenticity principle of the situated learning theory (SLT). A novel practice of changing the smartphone system language to second language (L2), which intends to better implement SLT in a real smartphone context, is the focus of this study. To explore the potential of using this under-researched approach to facilitate L2 vocabulary learning, a mixed-method design was adopted to investigate its impact on vocabulary acquisition, global language learning motivation, and vocabulary learning motivation. Participants’ pre- and post-test scores on the vocabulary knowledge test and motivation questionnaires were compared between the experimental and control groups. Interviews were also conducted to understand learners’ perceptions of this novel approach. Both quantitative and qualitative results indicated that the approach of changing smartphone system language to L2 was effective in increasing learners’ vocabulary knowledge gains and improving their global and vocabulary learning motivation. These findings contribute to the literature on L2 vocabulary learning and provide significant pedagogical implications.

This study, a follow-up to the research reported by Erlam, investigated K-12 content teachers’ ability to design tasks for content instruction in U.S. schools. Thirty-nine K-12 teachers who were enrolled in an English as a second language (ESL) teaching methods course participated in the study and each designed two language learning tasks. Two researchers rated the tasks following Ellis and Shintani’s four task criteria, as in Erlam. The study addressed the questions: (1) How successful are content teachers in designing tasks that satisfy Ellis and Shintani’s criteria? (2) Which of the criteria do teachers find easiest and most difficult to satisfy? and (3) Do the teachers improve in meeting the criteria in a second round of task designs? Ninety-two percent and 95% of the tasks satisfied three of the four criteria in task designs 1 and 2, respectively. The teachers excelled most at creating contexts for meaningful communication (92%) and including an information gap (92%) in their first tasks. Incorporating a clearly defined outcome was the most difficult criterion (66%) for teachers to achieve. There was no significant improvement from Task 1 to Task 2 in successfully incorporating the four criteria. The content teachers incorporated more of the task features than the foreign language teachers in Erlam. Over 90% met the majority of the criteria, compared to 82% in Erlam’s study. Another important difference was that participants in Erlam’s study found the easiest criteria to address was including an outcome, and they struggled most to allow learners to use their own linguistic resources and incorporate a gap. The content teachers in the follow-up study struggled most to include an outcome, but consistently incorporated communication gaps and grew in their ability to ensure that learners use their own linguistic resources. This suggests that language teachers may focus more readily on language forms, while content teachers focus more on meaningful content than on language, providing support for learners to focus on meaning.

The present multiple case study is situated within the growing wave of research on the role of emotions in second language learning. It focuses more specifically on the relationship between emotion, motivation, willingness to communicate and the second language context. The participants were two adult learners of English as a second or other language (ESOL) in the United Kingdom: Aurora and Emilie (pseudonyms). Semi-structured interviews with the learners and their tutors, conducted face to face, were complemented with lesson observations over an academic term to achieve an in-depth understanding of the relationship between emotion, motivation, willingness to communicate and the learning context. Enjoyment and anxiety were the most salient emotions that emerged; however, the sources of these emotions were slightly different for the learners and were linked to the type of classroom activity and interlocutors. Both participants were highly motivated language learners because of their enjoyable learning experiences rather than by a vision of future English-using selves. While enjoyment appeared to strongly shape willingness to communicate in the classroom for both learners, anxiety hindered out-of-class communication in one of the students. The results suggest that the relationship between language learning emotions, motivation and willingness to communicate is linked to the learning context but that the interaction between different variables is unique to each learner. Implications for research and pedagogy are presented.

Focusing on multiple intelligence (MI) and critical thinking (CT), which are often thought to be the important factors in improving second language (L2) learners’ skills, has been the major concern of researchers in recent decades. This study investigated the (possible) relationship among MI, CT, and Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ speaking skill. Seventy intermediate participants were chosen from Shahrekord University, Iran, and a language institute in Yazd, Iran. To identify the participants’ MI profiles, the Persian translation of McKenzie’s MI Inventory Questionnaire was administered to the participants. Also, to determine the participants’ CT, the Persian translation of California CT Skill Test was used. Thereafter, the participants’ speaking skill was measured by the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) speaking test. Results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was not any significant relationship between the participants’ MI and the speaking skill, whereas there was a significant relationship between their CT and speaking skill. In addition, the results revealed that, first, MI and the speaking skill did not correlate significantly and, second, the findings showed that the higher the participants were critical thinkers, the better and more fluent they were in their L2 speaking. Findings have some implications for L2 practitioners, students, administrators, and researchers in English language teaching, suggesting the incorporation of and CT skills in L2 learners’ class activities and their textbooks.

This study used Pekrun’s control-value theory (CVT) as a framework to validate the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire – Second Language Learning (AEQ-L2L) for assessing eight student emotions in second language (L2) learning. We tested and validated the instrument in two samples using three waves of data, with a total number of 1,021 Chinese university students. Item and scale statistics indicate the AEQ-L2L is reliable. Moreover, single- and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported the hierarchical four-factor component structure of L2 emotions in and across the two student groups. Furthermore, multi-model comparison indicated that language emotions are best represented by considering both the distinctiveness of the eight examined emotions and their component structure. Finally, latent correlation analysis demonstrated the external validity of the AEQ-L2L in terms of linkages with appraisals, motivation and language achievement. Findings are discussed by highlighting the unique value of the AEQ-L2L for investigating a broad range of emotions in language education.

Emotional research in foreign language learning has bloomed recently, and yet there has been a call for attention to a broader spectrum of emotions experienced by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Whilst emotions and self-regulated learning (SRL) are both believed to play important roles in EFL learning, little is known about their interplay. To fill the void, the study intends to map out an overall status quo of Chinese university EFL students’ academic emotions and SRL strategy use and sophisticated interrelationships between them using structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings showed that the Chinese participants demonstrated a medium level of positive emotions, a low level of anger, a medium level of shame and anxiety, and a low to medium frequency use of SRL strategies in English learning. ANOVA results detected gender differences in SRL strategy use, with females outperforming males in using self-evaluation and persistence strategy types, together with grade level influences in anxiety level with seniors feeling less anxious than juniors and sophomores. Furthermore, SEM results suggested that enjoyment had positive relationships with SRL strategy use; anger and shame had negative relationships while anxiety had ambivalent relationships with SRL strategy use. Important implications are discussed.

According to positive psychology (PP), positive emotions contribute to language learning by helping learners recognize their strengths and overcome obstacles. One form of PP is altruism (altruistic teaching), which requires teaching without self-focus. The present study aimed to investigate how altruism affects the emotions and second language (L2) summary writing skills of Iranian L2 learners, drawing on an experimental (comparison group, pretest–posttest) design within a sequential explanatory design. The participants of the study were 130 Iranian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) with B1 general English language proficiency who were assigned to one intervention and one comparison group, and underwent the intervention and control intervention, respectively. Both the intervention and control intervention involved an instructional program of 12 sessions on summary writing with one teacher. What distinguished the intervention from the control intervention was that each student in the intervention group was supposed to teach for one hour one peer what they learned about English summary writing out of altruism. Analysis of the data showed that altruism has a positive instructional influence on the L2 summary writing skills of L2 learners by promoting their self-esteem, gratitude, connectedness and community, happiness, and compassion. The article ends with implications for research and practice in second language acquisition (SLA) and PP.

This study investigated the influence of practice distribution (i.e. spacing between practice sessions) on successful vocabulary learning by examining two different time distributions, i.e. 1-day spacing (1-DS) vs. 7-day spacing (7-DS) using a freely available computer-assisted language learning programme (Quizlet). The study achieved high ecological validity through a classroom-based study with low proficiency second language (L2) English language learners at an Omani college of technology. The sample consisted of 96 participants in control (n = 33), 1-DS (n = 34) and 7-DS (n = 29) groups. The control group was a test-only group with no explicit practice activities for the target words (34 nouns). Meanwhile, the 1-DS group (one day spacing between each practice session) and 7-DS group (seven day spacing between each practice session) received four 20-minute practice sessions using Quizlet to learn the target words. The participants completed baseline tests, including vocabulary level tests (VLTs), and working memory tests (WMTs), alongside performance tests at three time points (pre-test, immediate post-test, delayed post-test). The results revealed that the two experimental groups (1-DS, 7-DS) both scored significantly and equally higher than the control group at post-test, indicating that the spacing of practice sessions did not mediate learning success through this computer-based vocabulary practice. The technique feature analysis (TFA) model by Nation and Webb was applied to identify the key features of Quizlet activities, which may contribute to its effectiveness for vocabulary learning. The results revealed that the activities met a high percentage of the TFA criteria, which may account for the significant learning gains achieved by both the 1-DS and 7-DS groups.

Willingness to communicate (WTC) plays a key role in foreign language learning. However, little research has been devoted to the role of achievement goals and achievement emotions in understanding WTC. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between achievement goals (i.e. mastery goals, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals) and WTC via achievement emotions, specifically enjoyment and anxiety. Chinese secondary school students (N = 408) participated in this study. Both variable- and person-centered approaches were used to analyse the data. Study 1 used a variable-centered approach to investigate the relationship between achievement goals and WTC. Results indicated that mastery and performance-approach goals were positively associated with WTC via higher levels of enjoyment. However, anxiety was not significantly associated with WTC. Study 2 adopted a person-centered approach to identify students’ achievement goal profiles and how these profiles were associated with achievement emotions and WTC. Results indicated that students could be categorized into four groups: mastery-oriented, high-all, average-all, and low-all. Students from these different groups showed varying levels of achievement emotions and WTC. Specifically, the mastery-oriented group had the most adaptive outcomes, while the low-all group had the least desirable outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

While computer-mediated communication and online exchanges between students in second language (L2) pedagogy and research has long been established, recent technological advances have seen a growth in the number of projects undertaken and consequently studies published. This study utilized a mixed-methods approach to measure the effects on specific aspects of motivation for students learning English following a 10-week, multicultural virtual exchange project. Participants interacted both synchronously and asynchronously with other non-native English speakers from 10 different countries to make friends, share cultural interests, and practice English in a real-world, non-classroom setting. At the end of the project, participants were asked to complete a survey based on Dörnyei’s concept of the L2 motivational self system and Yashima’s theories on international posture about how their motivations for learning English had changed. The study suggests that extended interactions in a virtual exchange improve participants’ view of themselves as capable speakers, their motivation to become better speakers for their ideal future, and give them a broader perspective on their view of their place in the wider world. In contrast, motivations for learning English as a responsibility towards others were decreased.

A growing body of literature examined the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in second/foreign language learning (L2) achievement. Though positive relationships have been reported, negative or non-significant relationships were also found. To date no study has quantitatively synthesized the overall effect size between EI and L2 achievement or the potential moderators influencing their relationship. The current meta-analysis fills this research gap by examining 39 independent studies with a cumulative sample size of 6,571 participants. Random-effects model yielded moderate-to-large coefficients (r = .43, 95% CI: .32−.53 with actual language performance as the outcome; r = .43, 95% CI: .19−.61 with perceived language proficiency as the outcome). Moderation analyses showed that the effect was stronger for female, collectivistic culture, and final grades as language measures (as opposed to standardized tests) but not influenced by educational level, major, specificity of L2 achievement, skills of language learning or publication year. Reasons for the effect, possible explanations for moderating effects, and pedagogical implications are discussed.