Volume 14, Number 1, June 2017
Annelies Roskvist, Sharon Harvey, Deborah Corder & Karen Stacey
The benefits of study abroad for language teachers have received little attention in the research literature and yet such sojourns are potentially valuable professional learning opportunities. This article presents results of a study examining the reported impact of a short-term study abroad on teachers’ teaching practice, on their confidence in language teaching, and understanding of student language learning. Whereas teacher study abroad studies have tended to focus on groups of teachers traveling to common destinations for a uniform period to study the same language, this paper contributes by examining the potential of study abroad experiences for improving language teacher practice from the perspective of a diverse range of teachers, travelling to different countries, and teaching different languages. Teachers reported that the sojourns resulted in gains in aspects of teaching practice, and in teacher confidence. However, there was also a sense of missed opportunities, in particular as regards developing an increased understanding of student language learning.
Luis Fernando Gomez R.
Learning by Teaching: Training EFL Pre-service Teachers through Inquiry-based Learning (pp. 21–36)
This research study examined how a group of EFL pre-service teachers were engaged in inquiry-based learning to do literary research in order to teach lessons on short story analysis in an EFL literature class. Inquiry-based learning was articulated with the theory on Learning by Teaching so that pre-service teachers were aware of the importance of subject matter knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in their professional development to teach English. Teacher candidates’ opinions about their experience and their decision-making in the inquiry process to teach a class served as the main data collected through field notes of their teaching and a questionnaire. Findings show that pre-service teachers constructed literary knowledge supported by research, generated critical analysis on short story content, and implemented pedagogical strategies when teaching classes on short stories in the target language.
Danya Ramírez Gómez & Arturo Escandón
Validating Learning Profiles as an Alternative Approach to the Study of the Effects of Learning Experiences (pp. 37–52)
Learning experiences are deemed relevant for foreign language (FL) learning. Related research, however, has often circumnavigated the influence of one important characteristic of learning experiences: variability. This work addresses this characteristic by discussing two constructs proposed by Escandón (2012a) within the sociocultural framework: trajectory, the traits of an individual’s relevant learning events, and orientation, the learner’s level of recognition of instructional discourse. These constructs influence FL accomplishment in formal educational settings (Escandón, 2012a), and jointly – a combination of denominated learning profiles (Ramírez Gómez, 2015, 2016b) – they help determine some potential effects of learning experiences in the classroom. Nonetheless, due to the recency of this proposal, it is still unclear whether or how these theoretical constructs are reflected in the reality of learners. By administering three questionnaires to a group of older Japanese learners (60 years old and over) of Spanish, a cohort rarely addressed in FL education research, this study shows that learning profiles are indeed reflected in some aspects of older adults’ FL learning. Also, it proposes a convenient tool for measuring trajectories and confirms that understanding these constructs may considerably enhance the learning process.
Lucía Osa-Melero
The Impact of the Inductive Approach on the Learning of Spanish Pronouns in Writing Courses: A Pilot Study (pp. 53–69)
The inductive approach is a teaching technique that allows students to discover grammatical rules from examples, leading to enhanced grammatical rule retention. This study is a preliminary investigation of the effectiveness of the inductive approach on the usage of Spanish pronouns in an advanced Spanish grammar and composition class. Four different types of pronouns – direct object, indirect object, relative, and reflexive pronouns – were taught to 27 students using the inductive approach. Early in the semester, students completed a pre-treatment creative writing assignment, and in the last week of the semester, immediately after the inductive treatment, students completed a post-treatment writing assignment. The frequency of errors regarding the selection of the pronoun and its placement in the pre-treatment assignment was calculated and compared to the frequency of pronoun errors found in the post-treatment assignment. Results show that (a) the frequency of errors concerning direct object, indirect object, and relative pronouns decreased considerably after the inductive instruction; and (b) the frequency of errors concerning reflexive pronouns did not decrease. Although the rate of errors regarding reflexive pronouns did not decrease noticeably, a minor improvement in the use and placement of this particular pronoun was evident.
David Wijaya & Cindy Carla Djasmeini
Input-Based Processing Instruction vs. Output-Based Traditional Instruction in Learning Plural -s (pp. 70–83)
This paper reports the results of a quasi-experimental study investigating the relative effects of input-based processing instruction and output-based traditional instruction on Indonesian EFL learners’ ability to interpret and produce sentences containing the English plural marker -s. Subjects involved in this study were 20 secondary school learners (initially 97 learners) who sat in four intact classes. The classes were assigned into two groups randomly, namely, with processing instruction and traditional instruction. The processing instructional treatment consisted of grammar explanation, explicit information on a correct processing strategy, and structured input activities aimed at altering learners’ default input processing strategy and thus enhancing form-meaning mappings. On the one hand, the traditional instructional treatment included explanation of grammar rules and output-based activities directed at improving the learners’ ability to produce the form. On the other hand, the pre-test and post-test comprised an interpretation task and a production task. The results show that both types of instruction are equally effective in assisting learners to correctly interpret the target feature, and traditional instruction is more effective in enabling subjects to produce plural -s, although it does not differ significantly from processing instruction. Additionally, the results indicate that the subjects’ productive knowledge was still somewhat problematic despite having developed good interpretative knowledge of the form. Pedagogical implications are discussed at the end of this study.
Joseph Ramanair, Souba Rethinasamy & Jecky Misieng
Collaborative Writing Using Wiki: Tertiary Students’ Perspectives (pp. 84–101)
Technology offers much potential to language pedagogy. In particular, the use of Wiki, which is part of Web 2.0 technology, is often recommended as a tool to support students’ writing activities. This study explored undergraduate students’ reactions to the use of Wiki for a group academic writing assignment. It involved 50 undergraduate students at a public university in Malaysia. Students’ views were obtained through a questionnaire, which consisted of a set of closed-ended questions and open-ended questions. The questionnaire items focused on four aspects, which are Interaction, Ease of Use, Satisfaction, and Motivation. The findings revealed that the use of Wiki enabled the group members to interact and there was a sense of satisfaction with the use of the Wiki in supporting their academic writing. The students’ experience in using Wiki motivated them to explore its use and also to recommend it to their friends. However, several issues related to the ease of use impeded the effective use of the Wiki. The analysis of the data from the open-ended questions shed some light on the challenges these students experienced in using Wiki for academic writing.
Olga Vitchenko
Introducing CLIL in Kazakhstan: Researching Beliefs and Perceptions of University Stakeholders (pp. 102–116)
This article argues for the importance of taking into account stakeholders’ beliefs and perceptions about teaching and learning foreign languages and CLIL, as they can be regarded as a pre-condition for the implementation of CLIL as a new pedagogical approach and finally for determining the success of teaching and learning through CLIL in the given context. The research was placed within a mixed research paradigm and relied on data obtained through the application of the QUAL-QUAN model, employing semi-structured interviews with administrators and surveys among 15 teachers and 207 students. Qualitative data underwent a two-step coding process: open coding and axial coding. Quantitative data from questionnaires were processed through two applications: SurveyMonkey and SPSS. Descriptive statistics were calculated. SPSS was used to identify the degree of association between different variables by cross-tabulating the results. Overall, the findings conclude that both teachers and students showed a high awareness of successful EFL teaching and learning practices, which provided them with more confidence and motivation for the application of CLIL as a new approach.
Reviews
Review of "First and Second Language Use in Asian EFL" (pp. 117–118)
reviewed by Singhanat Nomnian