Most recent papers:

• The Complex Relationship Between Home and School Literacy: A Blurred Boundary Between Formal and Informal English Literacy Practices of Greek Teenagers.
  Anastasia Rothoni.
  TESOL Quarterly. October 11, 2017
  This article reports on findings of an ethnographically oriented multiple case study research study on teenagers’ everyday literacy practices in English as a foreign language in contemporary Greece. Drawing on new literacy studies, discourse analysis, and ethnography, the study extended over a period of 18 months and employed multiple data collection tools (interviews, field notes, literacy diaries, in‐home observations, documents, photographs) to provide an emic account of the literacy practices in English of 15 teenagers from varied backgrounds living in Athens, Greece. Contrary to conventional understandings of home and school as mutually exclusive domains and of teenagers’ literacy practices across these spaces as disconnected and mismatched, the findings presented in this article suggest that young people's English literacy practices are constituted by flows between formal and informal sites and thus cannot be easily disentangled into separable school and home practices. Overall, the article foregrounds a more subtle understanding of the relationship between school and out‐of‐school literacy and illustrates the need to move beyond traditional understandings of English language literacy as a static set of cognitive skills exclusively encountered and acquired in bounded contexts—predominantly educational ones.

  October 11, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.402   open full text
• “Practice What I Preach”: Exploring an Experienced EFL Teacher Educator's Modeling Practice.
  Rui Yuan.
  TESOL Quarterly. October 07, 2017
  There is no abstract available for this paper.

  October 07, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.419   open full text
• A Road and a Forest: Conceptions of In‐Class and Out‐of‐Class Learning in the Transition to Study Abroad.
  Mayumi Kashiwa, Phil Benson.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 19, 2017
  Adopting an ecological perspective on context in second language learning, this study investigated the ways in which a group of Chinese students reconceptualized and reconstructed their learning environments in the first 3 months of study abroad in Australia. Focusing on the students’ conceptions of the relationship between in‐class and out‐of‐class learning, the study identified a shift from a view that the two contexts were separated in study at home to a more integrated view in study abroad. However, this was a variable process, with some students adapting more quickly than others and some barely changing their conceptions at all. The study also found a relationship between students’ awareness of the affordances of the study abroad setting and their agency in creating opportunities for out‐of‐class learning. It is suggested that teachers can help enhance study abroad participants’ awareness and agency by allocating class time to discussion of their out‐of‐class learning experiences and by connecting classroom instruction to the world beyond the classroom.

  September 19, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.409   open full text
• Second Language Graduate Students’ Experiences at the Writing Center: A Language Socialization Perspective.
  Tomoyo Okuda, Tim Anderson.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 16, 2017
  The writing center is a common form of academic writing support in Canadian and U.S. universities (Moussu & David, ). With its nonproofreading policy, some scholars have indicated the service may be less effective for international students who require more explicit assistance on surface‐level features in their academic writing (Harris & Silva, ; Myers, ). However, these discussions often omit or insufficiently address international graduate students as a distinctive population (Phillips, ). To address this gap, this article presents results from two complementary case studies involving the use of writing centers by three second language (L2) Chinese graduate students (two doctoral and one master's) at a research‐intensive Canadian university. Drawing on a second language socialization theoretical framework (Duff, ; Zuengler & Cole, ), the researchers examine the role of the university's writing center in the participants’ enculturation into academic discourses, practices, identities, and communities. Data indicate that international graduate students spend considerable time and effort seeking out writing support to improve academic practices. Only the master's student was able to make full use of the writing center tutorials due to her strategic socialization of the tutor. Implications are provided to minimize student burden and maximize specialized writing support for L2 graduate students.

  September 16, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.406   open full text
• “I Mean I'm Kind of Discriminating My Own People:” A Chinese TESOL Graduate Student's Shifting Perceptions of China English.
  Kyle Nuske.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 15, 2017
  World Englishes has become a robust field of inquiry as scholars pursue more nuanced understandings of linguistic localization and multilinguals’ negotiations of language differences. Yet research demonstrates that teachers and learners of English as a foreign language continue, albeit in a partially conflicted way, to believe that prestigious native speaker varieties are the sole acceptable targets of instruction. Thus, there is a need for further inquiries into the factors that influence individuals’ attitudes toward localized Englishes and the efficacy of classroom interventions in modifying these. Utilizing a qualitative case study approach, the present study traces one Chinese TESOL graduate student's journey from harshly repudiating China English to vindicating its use. Drawing from semistructured interviews conducted over approximately 3 years, the study illustrates how the participant's language attitudes were bound up with her emotional understandings of significant life experiences. It also explicates how the complex ramifications of a blunt provocation from one of her instructors and a sense of alienation arising from studying alongside U.S. native speakers ultimately led her to defend China English outside the classroom. The article concludes with practical recommendations for TESOL programs that seek to instill more tolerant dispositions toward linguistic differences while avoiding superficial inscriptions of Western discourses.

  September 15, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.404   open full text
• Complementary Perspectives on Autonomy in Self‐Determination Theory and Language Learner Autonomy.
  Nigel Mantou Lou, Kathryn E. Chaffee, Dayuma I. Vargas Lascano, Ali Dincer, Kimberly A. Noels.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 31, 2017
  There is no abstract available for this paper.

  August 31, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.403   open full text
• Sociocultural Theory and Task‐Based Language Teaching: The Role of Praxis.
  Anne Feryok.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 20, 2017
  There is no abstract available for this paper.

  August 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.390   open full text
• Task‐Based Instruction for Autonomy: Connections With Contexts of Practice, Conceptions of Teaching, and Professional Development Strategies.
  Flávia Vieira.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 20, 2017
  Proposals for innovating language education at school are always affected by cultures of teaching and teacher education. This article takes an inquisitive look at task‐based language teaching (TBLT) as a learner‐centred approach, arguing in favour of a realistic understanding of possibilities for educational change. This entails confronting theoretical discourses with the realities of schooling and teacher education, as well as investigating TBLT in particular contexts. An interpretative study is presented, focusing on the use of TBLT by two student teachers (STs) during their English language teaching (ELT) practicum in an initial teacher education (ITE) programme where autonomy‐oriented action research projects are developed. Their portfolios and reports account for the feasibility of a weak approach to TBLT that transcends current practices and whose potential for promoting autonomy derives from a professional development framework where teaching and teacher education are conceived as empowering processes. Constraints and shortcomings relate to dominant cultures of teaching, STs’ condition as learners, and the practicum model itself. Understanding how language teaching is shaped by contexts and developing empowering approaches to teacher education will help us enhance educational change as an interspace between reality and ideals, where possibilities for transformation are explored.

  August 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.384   open full text
• Measuring Flow in the EFL Classroom: Learners’ Perceptions of Inter‐ and Intra‐Cultural Task‐Based Interactions.
  Scott Aubrey.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 20, 2017
  This article reports on a study that investigates the effects of inter‐cultural contact on flow experiences during the performance of five oral tasks in an English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. Using a quasi‐experimental design, Japanese EFL learners in the inter‐cultural group (n = 21) and the intra‐cultural group (n = 21) reported on their perceptions of task experiences for each performance. Under the intra‐cultural condition, learners performed tasks with Japanese peers, whereas under the inter‐cultural condition learners were paired with non‐Japanese international students. The dimensions of flow, as they emerged in the data, were identified via a content analysis of 208 diary entries. The findings revealed that inter‐cultural task interaction generated significantly more flow‐enhancing experiences and fewer flow‐inhibiting experiences than intra‐cultural task interaction. An examination of the relative strength of each dimension revealed that learners experiencing inter‐cultural task‐based interaction benefited from a sense of accomplishment, which increased in strength as learners progressed through the tasks. Results provide insights into how components of flow are interrelated and change over time during inter‐cultural interactions, and suggest a model for how tasks can be implemented in the classroom to promote certain aspects of flow.

  August 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.387   open full text
• Implementation of a Localized Task‐Based Course in an EFL Context: A Study of Students’ Evolving Perceptions.
  Youjin Kim, Yeonjoo Jung, Nicole Tracy‐Ventura.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 20, 2017
  Despite a strong pedagogical orientation, the majority of research examining the effectiveness of task‐based language teaching (TBLT) and perceptions toward TBLT has been investigated in isolation rather than embedded in larger curricular contexts (McDonough, ). The current study examines the process of developing a TBLT curriculum in South Korea and evolving perceptions toward this particular semester‐long task‐based course of students from one intact university class. Dynamic systems theory is used to investigate students’ evolving perceptions of the new task‐based course using two longitudinal data sources, surveys and portfolios. End‐of‐task unit surveys from 27 students and one focal participant's portfolio entries were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings demonstrate that students’ perceptions toward TBLT changed over time and that diverse factors affected how learners feel about task‐based instruction. Findings are discussed in light of developing localized TBLT curricula.

  August 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.381   open full text
• Contingent Needs Analysis for Task Implementation: An Activity Systems Analysis of Group Writing Conferences.
  Naoko Mochizuki.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 20, 2017
  Needs analysis (NA) plays a significant role in developing tasks that create opportunities for natural language use in classrooms. Preemptive NA, however, does not necessarily predict the contingently emerging interpersonal and social variables which influence learners and teachers’ behaviours. These unpredictable variables often lead to a gap between what has been planned for a task to achieve and what learners actually get from a task in classrooms. To narrow this gap, this study proposes an analysis of needs at the task implementation stage adopting activity systems analysis (Engeström, ). The study investigates needs in group writing conferences for PhD students, where a task, giving and receiving oral feedback on one another's writing, is implemented. The participants were seven PhD students in two groups of writing conferences led by different facilitators in a thesis writing support program at an Australian university. Data were collected through observation and audiorecordings of writing conference sessions, interviews with the students and the facilitators, and students’ written drafts. The collected data were analysed for the relationships between students’ motives, participation patterns, and rules/division of labour in the groups. The identified aspects of this activity that require pedagogical innovation concern discursive practice during the sessions, students’ motives and interests in engaging the task, the rules of writing manifested through discussion, and ascribed and self‐ascribed roles of the students. The study highlights the potential of activity systems analysis for NA in classroom task implementation and proposes a new path to investigating tasks in classroom realities.

  August 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.391   open full text
• Toward a Framework for Linking Linguistic Knowledge and Writing Expertise: Interplay Between SFL‐Based Genre Pedagogy and Task‐Based Language Teaching.
  Sachiko Yasuda.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 20, 2017
  This article attempts to apply some systemic functional linguistic (SFL) concepts to task‐based language teaching (TBLT) as a means of enriching the fields of learning, teaching, and evaluating writing in an additional language. The purposes are twofold. First, this article presents a concrete example concerning SFL‐initiated genre‐based tasks, which were designed for college‐level writers of English as a foreign language (EFL) so that they can learn genre, task, content, and language concurrently. Second, this article presents a descriptive study on how the systematically designed genre‐based tasks were experienced by the EFL writers, how their genre awareness changed as they experienced the genre‐based tasks, and how their meaning‐making choices for constructing a genre changed over time. This study's findings highlight the effectiveness of linking the conceptual framework of SFL to the methodological principles of TBLT in terms of the simultaneous development of linguistic knowledge and writing expertise.

  August 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.383   open full text
• Collaborative Planning in Process: An Ethnomethodological Perspective.
  Josephine Lee, Alfred Rue Burch.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 20, 2017
  Following Ellis's () call for more social and process‐oriented planning research, this study explores how learners approach collaborative planning tasks in the classroom as a locally contingent activity in situ. Drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, the present study focuses on a group planning stage that precedes the final task of delivering a presentation. Fine‐grained analyses of the interaction reveal that group planning is essentially a nonlinear, social, and pragmatic activity wherein the students manage participant roles, resolve disputes and misunderstandings, and collectively work toward effective task completion. These findings highlight that, although the groups begin with the same task‐as‐workplan (Breen, ; Seedhouse, ), the students’ concerns are driven by locally constructed goals and plans‐in‐process, and as they work toward a group consensus they are required to deal with a wide range of social and interactional contingencies.

  August 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.386   open full text
• Tracking Immanent Language Learning Behavior Over Time in Task‐Based Classroom Work.
  Silvia Kunitz, Klara Skogmyr Marian.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 20, 2017
  In this study, the authors explore how classroom tasks that are commonly used in task‐based language teaching (TBLT) are achieved as observable aspects of local educational order (Hester & Francis, ) through observable and immanently social classroom behaviors. They focus specifically on students’ language learning behaviors, which they track through the longitudinal conversation‐analytic methodology called learning behavior tracking (LBT) (Markee, ). From a theoretical point of view, they situate LBT within the ethnomethodological (EM) perspective on social action pioneered by Garfinkel () and relate it to socially defined ways of understanding planning (Burch, ; Markee & Kunitz, ). In the empirical part of the article, the researchers analyze TBLT work that was conducted in an English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom in a Swedish junior high school. Specifically, they track the occurrences of a learnable (the spelling of the word disgusting) that was emically oriented to as such by the students as they engaged in planning and accomplishing teacher‐assigned tasks. The authors then develop an emic, sequential account of the participants’ practical reasoning and dynamically evolving epistemic positions. They argue that this kind of basic empirical research refines our understanding of how TBLT curriculum work is achieved by participants as practical, mundane, and observable activities in language classrooms, and that these insights may feed into more applied research on teacher training, thereby fostering the design of instructional innovations.

  August 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.389   open full text
• University Faculty Beliefs About Emergent Multilinguals and Linguistically Responsive Instruction.
  Colleen E. Gallagher, Jennifer E. Haan.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 14, 2017
  Internationalization trends worldwide have brought more multilingual students into English‐medium university classrooms in the United States and elsewhere. Faculty across the disciplines increasingly have the dual challenge of developing both content and advanced academic language. Ample precedent in P–12 education suggests developing instructors’ knowledge of (a) students as language learners, (b) instructional techniques grounded in second language acquisition theory, and (c) contextual factors necessary for helping instructors implement linguistically responsive instruction (LRI). This study probes the extent to which prior work transfers to the tertiary setting, focusing on participating faculty members’ beliefs about multilingual students, LRI, and context. The authors collected survey data from 197 faculty at a mid‐size comprehensive university in the midwestern United States and analyzed written comments provided by participants. They found that, on the whole, faculty participants displayed deficit views regarding students’ linguistic and academic abilities and questioned the appropriateness and feasibility of several of the LRI techniques. Many rejected the notion that language instruction was within the scope of their responsibilities and expressed a strong preference for support provided outside of class time. The authors discuss the results in terms of the notions of rigor, college readiness, and faculty development in LRI.

  August 14, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.399   open full text
• Group Interaction Strategies and Students’ Oral Performance in Chinese EFL Classrooms.
  Jinfen Xu, Jinnan Kou.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 14, 2017
  There is no abstract available for this paper.

  August 14, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.398   open full text
• The Cognitive Validity of Child English Language Tests: What Young Language Learners and Their Native‐Speaking Peers Can Reveal.
  Paula Winke, Shinhye Lee, Jieun Irene Ahn, Ina Choi, Yaqiong Cui, Hyung‐Jo Yoon.
  TESOL Quarterly. July 20, 2017
  This study investigated the cognitive validity of two child English language tests. Some teachers maintain that these types of tests may be cognitively invalid because native‐English‐speaking children would not do well on them (Winke, 2011). So the researchers had native speakers and learners of English aged 7 to 9 take sample versions of two standardized English reading and writing tests: the Young Learners Tests of English, Bronze and Silver, administered by Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments. They videotaped the children taking the tests, had them draw pictures of how they felt during testing, and interviewed them. The tests reliably discriminated learners from native speakers. However, 3 of 25 items on the Bronze test and 5 of 40 on the Silver test proved more difficult for native speakers than for language learners. The researchers interviewed the children to uncover why; incorrect responses stemmed from lack of assessment literacy or age‐related cognitive limitations, not deficits in English. The researchers discuss whether this is a problem and conclude that standardized language tests for children, even those already psychometrically reliable and valid, can be improved upon by interviewing child test takers. They stress that parallel information from same‐age, native‐English‐speaking peers is informative in revealing construct‐irrelevant variance.

  July 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.396   open full text
• Embracing Reflexivity: The Importance of Not Hiding the Mess.
  Michael Rabbidge.
  TESOL Quarterly. July 20, 2017
  There is no abstract available for this paper.

  July 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.397   open full text
• Motivational Strategies and the Reframing of English: Activity Design and Challenges for Teachers in Contexts of Extensive Extramural Encounters.
  Alastair Henry, Helena Korp, Pia Sundqvist, Cecilia Thorsen.
  TESOL Quarterly. July 13, 2017
  Motivational strategies are underresearched, and studies so far conducted have been in sociolinguistic contexts where English is not extensively encountered outside the classroom. Given also that little is known about strategies relating to the design and content of classroom activities, the purpose of this study is to identify and critically evaluate strategies focusing on activity design and content in classroom activities that, in a setting where students have extensive extramural English encounters, teachers have found to be effective in generating motivation. Using Dörnyei's () taxonomy of motivational strategies as an analytical tool, 112 descriptions of motivational activities provided by a randomly drawn sample of secondary EFL teachers in Sweden (N = 252) were content‐analyzed with a focus on design and content. Providing support for Dörnyei's proposals, the results reveal the prominence of activities that enable students to work with authentic materials (cultural artefacts produced for a purpose other than teaching) and in ways that can be experienced as authentic. Activities involving digital technologies which provide opportunities for creativity are also prominent. Use of authentic materials places high demands on teachers’ pedagogical and linguistic skills. In contexts where students respond positively to such activities, teachers’ language awareness skills become of significant importance.

  July 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.394   open full text
• Preservice Teachers’ Developing Conceptions of Teaching English Learners.
  Laura Beth Kelly.
  TESOL Quarterly. June 02, 2017
  In this study, 12 preservice teachers in a community college English as a second language (ESL) K–12 teacher education program drew pictures and wrote descriptions of teachers teaching English language learners (ELLs) at the beginning and end of an ESL methods course. Using content analysis, the researcher analyzed the drawings and descriptions with respect to the role of the teacher, the role of the students, the teaching strategies shown, the instructional content, and how the drawings changed over the semester. Preservice teachers depicted more and varied teaching strategies in end‐of‐course drawings, but overall findings showed that preservice teachers viewed teaching ELLs as a teacher implementing direct instruction in basic literacy to passive students at both the beginning and end of the course. The article discusses the importance of impacting preservice teacher beliefs through teacher education and explores the benefits and limits of using drawings for this purpose.

  June 02, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.375   open full text
• Comparing L1 and L2 Texts and Writers in First‐Year Composition.
  Grant Eckstein, Dana Ferris.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 24, 2017
  Scholars have at various points discussed the needs of second language (L2) writers enrolled in “mainstream” composition courses where they are mixed with native (L1) English speakers. Other researchers have investigated the experiences of L2 writers in mainstream classes and the perceptions of their instructors about their abilities and needs. Little research, however, has directly compared L1 and L2 students (mostly Generation 1.5) taking composition classes together. For this article, the researchers collected writing samples from 56 L1 and 74 L2 students enrolled in a university (mainstream) first‐year composition course. Using a mixed‐methods design, they analyzed the texts for language error counts as well as measures of lexical and syntactic complexity; they juxtaposed these with insights from survey responses of both groups of writers and in‐depth interviews. They conclude that, although L1 and L2 students have much in common, the L2 students had observed and (self‐)perceived language needs that were significantly different from those of the L1 students. These included differences in linguistic accuracy, lexical diversity, and language‐related anxiety. Implications for pedagogy include recommendations for teaching L2 writers to self‐edit for common patterns of errors and sensitize students to the value of nuanced and purposeful lexical variety in their writing.

  May 24, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.376   open full text
• Flipped Learning in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom: Outcomes and Perceptions.
  Given Lee, Amanda Wallace.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 14, 2017
  Although many educators have recently discussed the positive effects of flipped learning, there is little empirical evidence about whether this approach can actually promote students’ English learning. This study was undertaken in four sections of the same College English 1 (E1) course over two consecutive semesters at a South Korean university. A total of 79 students enrolled in the E1 course participated in the study. Of the participants, 39 learned English using a communicative language teaching approach, whereas 40 studied English in a flipped learning manner. Data were gathered from the students’ achievements in three major tasks, their responses to three surveys, and the instructor's notes on the students’ engagement in the process of their English learning. Findings demonstrate that the students in the flipped classroom achieved higher average scores in their final three tasks than those in the non‐flipped classroom, but only the final examination mean score indicated statistical significance. However, surveys indicated that most students in this study seemed to enjoy learning English in a flipped learning environment. Also, the instructor found the students in the flipped classroom to be more engaged in the learning process than those in the non‐flipped classroom. Pedagogical implications for effective English teaching are discussed.

  May 14, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.372   open full text
• Constructing a Voice in English as a Foreign Language: Identity and Engagement.
  Mohammad Naseh Nasrollahi Shahri.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 10, 2017
  Situated in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context, this study navigates the intersection of language learner identity and foreign language engagement. Specifically, drawing on the concept of voice (Canagarajah, ; Johnstone, ; Kramsch, ), Bakhtin's () theory of language, and the notion of investment (Darvin & Norton, ; Norton Peirce, ), it presents two case studies of voice construction by EFL learners in Iran. Through classroom observations, biographical and sociolinguistic interviews, and learner metalinguistic commentary, the study reveals how the two participants invest in two different voices that index their efforts toward the construction of a second language–mediated identity. The two learners are shown to gravitate toward informal and formal English words and use them in their speech in ways that are illustrative of how they envision their engagement with English both in the present and in the future. The pedagogical implications of the study are then discussed.

  May 10, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.373   open full text
• Language Ideology Change Over Time: Lessons for Language Policy in the U.S. State of Arizona and Beyond.
  Shannon Fitzsimmons‐Doolan.
  TESOL Quarterly. March 27, 2017
  In the U.S. state of Arizona, language minority students who are English learners attend schools governed by a restrictive medium of instruction (MOI) language policy (LP). Educators and educational researchers widely agree that effective reforms of this policy are urgently needed (e.g., Arias & Faltis, ; Lawton, ; Lillie, ). Furthermore, several research studies (e.g., D. C. Johnson, ; Stritikus, ) have shown that the language ideologies held by policy‐influential individuals affect the development and implementation of such policies. Thus, Arizona MOI reforms need to be aligned with language ideologies of key stakeholders. To shed light on MOI reform processes in Arizona and internationally, this study resurveyed politically active voters, administrators, and teachers from Fitzsimmons‐Doolan () to identify any shifts in their language ideologies between 2010 and 2016, to ascertain how these stakeholders perceive Arizona's educational LP, and to better understand how they relate their language ideologies to their policy perceptions. Results indicate some limited ideological change, key themes of equity, pro‐assimilation, and anti‐segregation across policy perceptions, and evidence supporting an LP model that moves toward stasis among LP components. The results suggest that efforts to facilitate ideological change grounded in stakeholder experience might be considered in contexts undergoing LP reform.

  March 27, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.371   open full text
• Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback in Developmental Multilingual Writing Classes.
  Kendon Kurzer.
  TESOL Quarterly. March 13, 2017
  This study investigated the role of dynamic written corrective feedback (DWCF; Evans, Hartshorn, McCollum, & Wolfersberger, 2010; Hartshorn & Evans, 2015; Hartshorn et al., 2010), a mode of providing specific, targeted, and individualized grammar feedback in developmental English as a second language (ESL) writing classes (pre–first year composition) at a large western U.S. research university. Via a quasi‐experimental design investigating DWCF at three different levels of developmental ESL writing classes across three terms with 325 student participants, results of this study suggest that multilingual students become better at self‐editing and have more accurate timed writing paragraphs after taking classes that supplement grammar instruction using DWCF than those who take classes with only traditional grammar instruction. Specific error categories were investigated (global, local, and mechanical, per Bates, Lane, & Lange, 1993), with largely significant results across all error types at each language level, indicating that DWCF may be an effective pedagogical intervention to improve linguistic accuracy.

  March 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.366   open full text
• Making Sense of Learner Performance on Tests of Productive Vocabulary Knowledge.
  Tess Fitzpatrick, Jon Clenton.
  TESOL Quarterly. January 31, 2017
  This article offers a solution to a significant problem for teachers and researchers of language learning that confounds their interpretations and expectations of test data: The apparent simplicity of tests of vocabulary knowledge masks the complexity of the constructs they claim to measure. The authors first scrutinise task elements in two widely cited productive vocabulary measures, Lex30 (Meara & Fitzpatrick, 2000) and the Lexical Frequency Profile (LFP; Laufer & Nation, 1995), to gain a more precise understanding of the relationship between test performance and learner knowledge. Next, in three empirical studies (N = 80, 80, 100) they compare second language learners’ performance on Lex30, as the static point of reference, with LFP and with two new tests designed to investigate specific elements of the vocabulary test tasks. Correlation analyses indicate systematic differences in the tests’ capacity to capture information about the quality of learners’ word knowledge and the size of their vocabulary resource. Using the findings from this empirical work, the authors formulate a model of vocabulary capture onto which test tasks can be mapped. They demonstrate how capturing key elements of the relationship between test scores and lexical competence can guide teachers and researchers in applying and interpreting vocabulary tests.

  January 31, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.356   open full text
• Examining the Concept of Subordination in Spoken L1 and L2 English: The Case of If‐Clauses.
  María Basterrechea, Regina Weinert.
  TESOL Quarterly. January 13, 2017
  This article explores the applications of research on native spoken language into second language learning in the concept of subordination. Second language (L2) learners’ ability to integrate subordinate clauses is considered an indication of higher proficiency (e.g., Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005; Tarone & Swierzbin, 2009). However, the notion of subordination is challenged in the analysis of spoken syntax due to the potential problems in identifying clausal relationships. The study compares the production of if‐clauses of first language (L1; N = 20) and L2 (N = 20) speakers of English in informal conversations and a map task. Results show that L2 speakers exhibited a strong preference for pre‐posed if‐clauses consisting of one if‐clause; compared to L1 users, they used few multiclausal if‐clause complexes and postscript and semiformulaic post‐posed clauses in the conversations. As for the map task, L2 speakers did not use single if‐clause directives, frequently used by L1 speakers. The findings seem to indicate that L2 speakers were constrained in their structural and hence functional repertoire. The article concludes that using subordination as a measure of complexity may not be straightforward, because clausal relations typical of spoken language need to be taken into account.

  January 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/tesq.361   open full text
• Metadiscourse and Identity Construction in Teaching Philosophy Statements: A Critical Case Study of Two MATESOL Students.
  Sarut Supasiraprapa, Peter I. De costa.
  TESOL Quarterly. December 29, 2016
  Drawing on Hyland's (2005) metadiscourse framework, the researchers investigated how two English as a second or foreign language instructors constructed their identity in a teaching philosophy statement written for a master's in TESOL (MATESOL) course. Analyses revealed that both instructors employed almost all metadiscourse resources in the model to construct the identity of a competent graduate student and that of a knowledgeable and reflective teacher. In addition, their identity construction reinforced the writing conventions associated with the imagined community (Norton, 2013) of graduate student teachers while also affording them the opportunity to exercise some degree of teacher agency. Findings offer insights into how linguistic resources can be mobilized to construct a strong and unique teaching philosophy statement.

  December 29, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.360   open full text
• Word Families and Frequency Bands in Vocabulary Tests: Challenging Conventions.
  Benjamin Kremmel.
  TESOL Quarterly. December 09, 2016
  Vocabulary test development often appears to be based on the design principles of previous tests, without questioning or empirically examining the assumptions underlying those principles. Given the current proliferation of vocabulary tests, it seems timely for the field of vocabulary testing to problematize some of those traditionalised assumptions, based on more current research. This article begins this process by challenging two common assumptions key to vocabulary test development: (1) the counting unit of word families, and (2) the 1,000‐word band divisions in the use of frequency. Based on existing literature and an analysis of corpus‐based coverage figures, the article frames future research agendas by arguing that the lemma may be a more useful counting unit for vocabulary assessment and pedagogy. Further, it argues that the traditional 1,000‐item frequency bands are not optimal. Smaller 500‐item bands would be more informative at the higher frequencies, and bands larger than 1,000 items would be adequate at lower frequencies. Because most vocabulary tests are aimed at beginner to intermediate learners of English as a foreign language, these new empirically informed conventions should facilitate the development of more informative vocabulary tests.

  December 09, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.329   open full text
• To Be Autonomous or Not to Be: Issues of Subsuming Self‐Determination Theory Into Research on Language Learner Autonomy.
  Man‐Kit Lee.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 30, 2016
  There is no abstract available for this paper.

  November 30, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.343   open full text
• Vocabulary and Reading Performances of Redesignated Fluent English Proficient Students.
  Jin Kyoung Hwang, Joshua Fahey Lawrence, Catherine Snow, Penelope Collins.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 30, 2016
  In this article, the researchers examined general vocabulary, academic vocabulary, and reading comprehension growth trajectories of adolescent redesignated fluent English proficient (RFEP) students using individual growth modeling analysis. The sample included 1,226 sixth‐ to eighth‐grade RFEP students from six middle schools in an urban school district in California. Students completed up to four waves of reading‐related measures during a 2‐year time period. Findings indicate that (a) students’ scores on vocabulary and reading assessments were positively correlated with their years since redesignation and (b) students on average showed growth over time on all outcomes and the rate of growth did not differ by their years since redesignation. The results suggest that recently redesignated students may need sustained support to ensure continued progress in their English language development.

  November 30, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.346   open full text
• Teacher Cognition of Pronunciation Teaching: Teachers' Concerns and Issues.
  Graeme Couper.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 30, 2016
  This article reports on teachers’ knowledge and perceptions and the issues they are concerned about in relation to pronunciation teaching. Understanding teacher cognition helps to ensure research and pedagogical advice are appropriately directed. However, there has been only a limited amount of research in this area. The researcher collected data for this study through semistructured interviews with 19 English language teachers in New Zealand. A number of themes emerged, including a lack of initial training and knowledge of phonology, leading to uncertainty about exactly what should be taught and how. This often meant pronunciation was neglected, especially in areas such as stress and intonation. It was also found that much teaching was ad hoc and in response to errors. Concerns included how to teach pronunciation in mixed–first language classes and how to help learners with speech perception. The findings raise questions for reflective practice, teacher education, and professional development; recent research has found some answers, but these are not all represented in the knowledge base of teachers, teacher education courses, or classroom textbooks. The issues raised also underline the need for more research in a number of areas.

  November 30, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.354   open full text
• When Statues Come Alive: Teaching and Learning Academic Vocabulary Through Drama in Schools.
  Anneliese Cannon.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 19, 2016
  With the high numbers of English learners (ELs) in school and rising demands for students to become proficient in academic forms of English, it is increasingly crucial for teachers to have effective, innovative tools to make content and language accessible to students. Adolescent ELs in particular are at a critical point in their educational careers, yet often underrepresented in scholarship. In this article, the author focuses on findings on academic language instruction derived from a yearlong ethnographic study of a middle school class for newcomers taught using drama‐based techniques. The findings illustrate how this kind of work can engender communication and linguistic risk taking among ELs. Concepts from Bakhtin's (1981) analysis of language and power, along with the notion of embodied learning, serve as guiding ideas in examining the data. The qualitative data reveal both the problems of reductive approaches to teaching academic language and the efficacy and power of multimodal, embodied pedagogies wherein students are able to both learn critical forms of language and make them personally relevant.

  November 19, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.344   open full text
• Learning to Teach English Language Learners: A Study of Elementary School Teachers’ Sense‐Making in an ELL Endorsement Program.
  Shannon M. Daniel, Lisa Pray.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 17, 2016
  Using Jarvis's () framework of adult learning, this study examines how in‐service elementary school teachers make sense of instruction that is responsive to multilingual learners. Case studies of two teachers reveal their nuanced attempts to improve practice during a 1‐year, graduate‐level, add‐on certification program for teaching English language learners (ELLs). Findings show that different critical learning experiences afforded the two teachers opportunities to interrupt their assumptions and subsequently refine their instruction as they resolved to support ELLs. This study sheds light on teachers’ ongoing sense‐making throughout a yearlong ELL endorsement program. Implications for teacher education and professional development research are discussed.

  November 17, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.347   open full text
• Developing an Interpretation of Collective Beliefs in Language Teacher Cognition Research.
  Neil England.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 16, 2016
  There is no abstract available for this paper.

  September 16, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.334   open full text
• Researching Privilege in Language Teacher Identity.
  Roslyn Appleby.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 08, 2016
  There is no abstract available for this paper.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.321   open full text
• Language Teacher Identity and the Domestication of Dissent: An Exploratory Account.
  Brian Morgan.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 08, 2016
  In this article, the notion of dissent refers to a more critical, ideological orientation to advocacy for and by TESOL professionals. The notion of domestication refers to identity‐forming practices in the knowledge base of language teacher education (LTE) and in professional certification processes that potentially displace this critical orientation. After a discussion of field‐internal examples (e.g., epistemic dependencies, Kumaravadivelu, 2012; linguistics applied, Widdowson, 1980; language objectification, Reagan, 2004), the article takes up a specific context of domestication: TESL Ontario's accreditation processes and requirements for the certification of adult instructors of ESL (English as a second language). Examining organizational documents and membership survey data, the article suggests that the framing of advocacy is inadequate for the conditions of underemployment and overqualification in this jurisdiction. The article then suggests an alternative for fostering critical advocacy skills in preservice programming: an Issues Analysis Project, in which teachers identify a “gap” in the field (i.e., pedagogical, ideological) and design a blueprint for action (e.g., advocacy letter, policy statement, workshop, curricular innovation) that potentially offers a resolution. The conclusions take up the broader implications of the study for language teacher identity negotiation as well as the TESOL organization's efforts in promoting advocacy amongst its membership.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.316   open full text
• Disrupting ELL Teacher Candidates' Identities: Indigenizing Teacher Education in One Study Abroad Program.
  G. Sue Kasun, Cinthya M. Saavedra.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 08, 2016
  In this article, the researchers describe and theorize the challenges and promises of exposing preservice teachers' identities to indigenous, critical second language teaching experiences in one study abroad program in Mexico. The eight teacher candidates who participated in this 4‐week program were predominantly white, like the majority of teachers of English language learners in the United States today. By analyzing teacher candidates' self‐assessments, course work samples, class discussions, focus group sessions, and ethnographic field notes, the researchers found three main themes of identity shifts: becoming socially aware, becoming empaths, and becoming creators of loving classroom spaces. These tentative changes appear to be the result of a carefully crafted curriculum, including the extracurricular activities organized in concert with the social justice language institute with whom the researchers partnered. At the same time, the teacher candidates' identities worked in tensions with former identities already created, such as being excellent “classroom managers.” The researchers show these tensions and realistic hopes regarding the teacher candidates. This program—and other alternatives to preparing preservice teachers attempting to work with culturally and linguistically minoritized communities—can serve as examples of beginning efforts to decolonize curricula. This critical approach to teacher preparation creates cracks between worlds (Anzaldúa, 2002) that allow preservice teachers to rethink their identities as second language teachers in local and global contexts.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.319   open full text
• A Short Story Approach to Analyzing Teacher (Imagined) Identities Over Time.
  Gary Barkhuizen.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 08, 2016
  In this article the researcher reports on a longitudinal study which investigated the imagined identities of a preservice English teacher in New Zealand and compared these with the identities she negotiated in her teacher education and then teaching practice nearly nine years later. The teacher, an immigrant from the Pacific Island of Tonga, imagined herself working amongst members of her immigrant community but ended up teaching English at a privileged high school. The researcher used a short story analytical approach to analyze her narratives. Short stories are excerpts of data extracted from a larger set of data such as conversations, interviews, written narratives, and multimodal digital stories. In this case, short stories from a series of interviews were analyzed for both their content and the varying scales of context in which the short stories were constructed and interpreted. The analysis is informed theoretically by recent developments of the concept of investment (Darvin & Norton, 2015). The researcher includes reflexive personal commentary on his own positioning throughout the article, which concludes with suggestions for the use of short story analysis in teacher reflection and research.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.311   open full text
• Emotions and Language Teacher Identity: Conflicts, Vulnerability, and Transformation.
  Juyoung Song.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 08, 2016
  This study discusses how the shifting teaching context via globalization generates new demands for English language teachers, and how teachers' emotional responses to this shift affect their identity and practice. Based on interviews with five secondary English teachers in South Korea, the study presents these teachers' conflicted stories such as cover and secret stories regarding study abroad returnee students in their classrooms. These stories were analyzed in relation to teachers' emotional experiences of “vulnerability” (Lasky, 2005) to examine how vulnerability affects teachers' orientations to their ongoing professional development—contributing to or preventing their pedagogical and self‐transformation. Teachers who experienced the protective dimension evinced conflicted stories about returnee students, which is grounded in those teachers' own anxiety about their competence and the “sacred story” about the teacher as all‐knowing. The open vulnerability of other teachers, together with their confidence in personal language skills and practice, encouraged attentiveness to individual students and a curriculum of lived experience for both teachers and students. The emotional experiences described in this study allow the subjectivity of language teachers to be traced to its social and institutional contexts.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.312   open full text
• “I May Be a Native Speaker but I'm Not Monolingual”: Reimagining All Teachers' Linguistic Identities in TESOL.
  Elizabeth M. Ellis.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 08, 2016
  Teacher linguistic identity has so far mainly been researched in terms of whether a teacher identifies (or is identified by others) as a native speaker (NEST) or nonnative speaker (NNEST) (Moussu & Llurda, 2008; Reis, 2011). Native speakers are presumed to be monolingual, and nonnative speakers, although by definition bilingual, tend to be defined by their perceived deficiency in English. Despite widespread acceptance of Cook's (1999) notions of second language (L2) user and multicompetence, and despite major critiques of the concept of the native speaker (Davies, 2003; Hackert, 2012), the dichotomy lives on in the minds of teachers, learners, and directors of language programs worldwide. This article sets out to show that the linguistic identities of TESOL teachers are varied and complex, and that the dichotomy does little justice to this complexity. Findings are reported from the linguistic biographies of 29 teachers of adult TESOL in seven countries, and a detailed account is given of the rich linguistic identities of two of those teachers, one in Japan and one in Canada. The findings bear out those from Ellis (2013) undertaken in the Australian context. The article concludes with a call for recognition of the plurilingual multicompetencies of all TESOL teachers, and for these identities to be valued in the context of the TESOL classroom to assist learners who are becoming plurilingual.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.314   open full text
• (Non)native Speakered: Rethinking (Non)nativeness and Teacher Identity in TESOL Teacher Education.
  Geeta A. Aneja.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 08, 2016
  Despite its imprecision, the native–nonnative dichotomy has become the dominant paradigm for examining language teacher identity development. The nonnative English speaking teacher (NNEST) movement in particular has considered the impact of deficit framings of nonnativeness on “NNEST” preservice teachers. Although these efforts have contributed significantly towards increasing awareness of NNEST‐hood, they also risk reifying the notion that nativeness and nonnativeness are objectively distinct categories. This article adopts a poststructuralist lens to reconceptualize native and nonnative speakers as complex, negotiated social subjectivities that emerge through a discursive process that the author terms (non)native speakering. It then applies this dynamic framework to analyze “narrative portraits” of four different archetypical language teachers, two of whom seem to fit neatly into (non)native speakerist frames of language and culture and two of whom deviate from them. It then reflects on how these preservice teachers negotiate, re‐create, and resist the produced (non)native speaker subjectivities, and considers the complexity, fluidity, and heterogeneity within each archetype. In the conclusion, the author consider implications of (non)native speakering as a theoretical and analytical frame, as well as possible applications of the data for teacher education.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.315   open full text
• Genre Pedagogy: A Framework to Prepare History Teachers to Teach Language.
  Laura Schall‐Leckrone.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 30, 2016
  This qualitative research study examined how two novice secondary teachers drew on preservice preparation to teach language demands of their content area to bilingual learners in urban high schools in a city in the northeastern United States. Data sources included videotaped class observations, lesson plans and teaching materials, and semistructured interviews to elicit participants' perspectives on how they taught language. Findings suggest that participants integrated significant components of language teaching into content instruction, such as explicit vocabulary instruction and group activities organized around structured interactions with classmates and texts, but did not consistently teach language. The implication is that novice teachers need more guidance to identify and teach linguistic features of content tasks and texts. Accordingly, this article proposes a genre‐based framework to teach language illustrated with classroom scenarios that demonstrate how linguistic analysis and cognitive scaffolds can be incorporated into brief targeted activities that support both language and conceptual development. Although recommendations are based on history genres, implications of this analysis may be relevant to a broad group of researchers, teacher educators, and teachers focused on promoting disciplinary literacy in secondary content classes for bilingual learners.

  August 30, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.322   open full text
• The Mediation of Multimodal Affordances on Willingness to Communicate in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom.
  Jian‐E Peng, Li Zhang, Yumin Chen.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 27, 2016
  Willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language class has been shown to be transient and situation‐dependent. Previous studies mostly elicited data from learners' self‐reports through interviews or diaries, and the data analyses were largely confined to the medium of language, marginalizing other semiotic resources such as gesture or movement. The nature of human communication, however, is multimodal, which entails the processing of different semiotic resources. Drawing on a systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis approach, this study investigates the dynamics of WTC in the English as a foreign language classroom in China. The researchers collected data through videotaping English lessons, stimulated recall interviews, and learning journals. Their analyses involved two teaching scenarios videotaped in one class period, which were rated respectively with high WTC and low WTC by four participating students in stimulated recall interviews. These scenarios were transcribed and annotated using Multimodal Analysis Video software to identify the use of semiotic resources, including language, gesture, and gaze. The discourse semantic features of the two scenarios were analyzed and compared, and subtle differences were presented and discussed. This study's findings highlight the need for language teachers to recognize and orchestrate multimodal semiotic resources to enhance students' WTC and classroom participation.

  May 27, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.298   open full text
• The Linguistic Development of Students of English as a Second Language in Two Written Genres.
  Hyung‐Jo Yoon, Charlene Polio.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 06, 2016
  This study examined narrative and argumentative essays written over the course of a 4‐month semester by 37 students of English as a second language (ESL). The essays were analyzed for development over time and for genre differences. The goal of the study was to conceptually replicate previous studies on genre differences (e.g., Lu, 2011) and on short‐term linguistic development in the areas of syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and fluency (e.g., Connor‐Linton & Polio, ). In addition, the authors wanted to investigate whether native speakers exhibited similar genre differences in order to determine if the ESL students’ genre variations were developmental or related to functional differences between the genres. The results indicate strong genre differences in the area of linguistic complexity. There were limited changes over time on most measures and a notable lack of development in the area of accuracy. Parallel data from native speakers show genre variation on some but not as many of the measures. Although this study was motivated by research design concerns, it also has implications for theory (e.g., the source of genre differences) and pedagogy.

  May 06, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.296   open full text
• Mediated Development: A Vygotskian Approach to Transforming Second Language Learner Abilities.
  Matthew E. Poehner, Paolo Infante.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 06, 2016
  The authors point to systemic‐theoretical instruction (STI), which underscores the importance of abstract conceptual knowledge in schooling, and dynamic assessment (DA), in which mediators and learners function cooperatively, as examples of the theory–practice relation envisioned by Vygotsky (). This article proposes an interactional framework to bridge STI and DA. Mediated development (MD) emphasizes mediator–learner dialogic interaction in which the aim is not to assess emerging capabilities but rather to guide learner appropriation of concept‐based instructional materials as symbolic tools for thinking. The researchers situate MD in relation to the broader Vygotskian second language research tradition, while also acknowledging the contributions of Israeli researcher Reuven Feuerstein (Feuerstein, Feuerstein, & Falik, 2010). Feuerstein's work to promote general cognitive abilities among learners with special needs closely parallels Vygotsky's research and was influential in developing this proposal of MD. The authors discuss principles of the framework and illustrate them through close analysis of excerpts of mediator–learner interactions from an STI program to teach the English tense‐aspect system in a university‐level ESL academic writing program. Analysis reveals the value of mediator guidance in helping learners to recognize the relevance of instructional materials and to begin to use them as tools during communicative activity.

  May 06, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.308   open full text
• Native and Nonnative Teachers of L2 Pronunciation: Effects on Learner Performance.
  John M. Levis, Sinem Sonsaat, Stephanie Link, Taylor Anne Barriuso.
  TESOL Quarterly. February 15, 2016
  Both native and nonnative language teachers often find pronunciation a difficult skill to teach because of inadequate training or uncertainty about the effectiveness of instruction. But nonnative language teachers may also see themselves as inadequate models for pronunciation, leading to increased uncertainty about whether they should teach pronunciation (Golombek & Jordan, 2005). Although studies have regularly shown that instruction is effective in promoting pronunciation improvement (Saito, 2012), it is not known if improvement depends on the native language of the instructor, nor if learners improve differently depending on whether their teacher is native or nonnative. This study investigated the effect of teachers' first language on ratings of change in accentedness and comprehensibility. Learners in intact English classes were taught one class by a nonnative‐ and one by a native‐English‐speaking teacher. Each teacher taught the same pronunciation lessons over the course of 7 weeks. Results show that native listeners' ratings of the students' comprehensibility were similar for both teachers, despite many learners' stated preference for native teachers. The results offer encouragement to nonnative teachers in teaching pronunciation, suggesting that, like other language skills, instruction on pronunciation skills is more dependent on knowledgeable teaching practices than on native pronunciation of the teacher.

  February 15, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.272   open full text
• Mainstream Teacher Candidates' Perspectives on ESL Writing: The Effects of Writer Identity and Rater Background.
  Hyun‐Sook Kang, Hillary Veitch.
  TESOL Quarterly. February 05, 2016
  This study explored the extent to which the ethnic identity of a writer and the background (gender and area of teaching) of a rater can influence mainstream teacher candidates' evaluation of English as a second language (ESL) writing, using a matched‐guise method. A one‐page essay was elicited from an ESL learner enrolled in an intensive English program and was manipulated to incorporate error patterns often observed among Chinese‐ and Spanish‐speaking learners. Teacher candidates were led to believe it was produced by an ESL learner whose first language was either Chinese or Spanish. One‐hundred‐sixty‐three undergraduate students enrolled in a teacher education program at a U.S. university were asked to score the ESL essay holistically, provide qualitative comments, identify the three most troublesome errors in order of seriousness, and offer advice on how to improve ESL writing. No significant effects of writer identity on the holistic scoring were detected, but the teacher candidates revealed different categories of rater responses depending on the writer's identity. Conversely, although the raters' backgrounds (gender and area of teaching) had significant effects on global scoring, they did not have any significant impact on the qualitative nature of rater responses.

  February 05, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.289   open full text
• The Effectiveness of Drama as an Instructional Approach for the Development of Second Language Oral Fluency, Comprehensibility, and Accentedness.
  Angelica Galante, Ron I. Thomson.
  TESOL Quarterly. February 05, 2016
  Although the development of second language (L2) oral fluency has been widely investigated over the past several decades, there remains a paucity of research examining language instruction specifically aimed at improving this cognitive skill. In this study, the researchers investigate how instructional techniques adapted from drama can positively impact L2 fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness—three frequently discussed dimensions of L2 speech. Following a pretest–posttest design, the researchers obtained speech samples from 24 adolescent Brazilian EFL learners before and after their participation in a 4‐month drama‐based English language program. The development of oral skills by this group was compared with that of a parallel group of learners who received 4 months of instruction in a traditional communicative EFL classroom. Thirty untrained Canadian native English speaker raters evaluated randomized recorded L2 speech samples and provided impressionistic scalar judgments of fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness. Results indicate that drama‐based instruction can lead to significantly larger gains in L2 English oral fluency relative to more traditional communicative EFL instruction; comprehensibility scores also appear to be impacted, but with a much smaller effect; accentedness scores do not seem to benefit from one type of instruction over the other. The authors discuss implications for teaching practice.

  February 05, 2016   doi: 10.1002/tesq.290   open full text
• Making Pronunciation Visible: Gesture In Teaching Pronunciation.
  Tetyana Smotrova.
  TESOL Quarterly. December 29, 2015
  The study examines the teacher and student gesture employed in teaching and learning suprasegmental features of second language (L2) pronunciation such as syllabification, word stress, and rhythm. It presents microanalysis of video‐recorded classroom interactions occurring in a beginner‐level reading class in an intensive English program at a U.S. university. Results indicate that the teacher employed gesture as an instructional tool to facilitate the students' identification and production of syllables, word stress, and the rhythm of speech. This was accomplished through reiterative gestures, or catchments, which enabled the students to visualize and experience the intangible pronunciation phenomena. The students appropriated the teacher's gestures through creative imitation and employed them as a learning tool in the process of gaining control over the suprasegmental features of L2 pronunciation. The study has implications for L2 pedagogy, suggesting that teachers need to be made aware of the pedagogical uses of gesture as a mediational tool for teaching L2 pronunciation and be sensitized to attending to student gestures.

  December 29, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.276   open full text
• Climate Change and TESOL: Language, Literacies, and the Creation of Eco‐Ethical Consciousness.
  Jason Goulah.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 16, 2015
  This article calls on the field of TESOL to respond to the planet's growing climatic and ecological crisis, conceptualizing climate change beyond just standards‐based language and content curriculum. Climate change is also cultural and religious, and thus warrants broader consideration in TESOL. Drawing on theories of value creation and creative coexistence, the author considers climate change socioculturally, epistemologically, and ontologically toward the development of a value‐creative eco‐ethical consciousness. The author concludes with a critical instrumental case study that used ethnographic and discourse analytic methods to examine the effects of a standards‐based climate change unit among adolescent religious refugee English language learners (ELLs) from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Findings suggest these ELLs’ curricular engagement developed their language, literacies, and content knowledge relative to climate science. It also fostered transformed perspectives and value creation toward an eco‐ethical consciousness consonant with their cultural religious identity expression. Intersecting multiple subareas of TESOL, including FSU learners, digital literacies, religion and spirituality, and standards‐based approaches, the case study findings have potentially broader transferability implications beyond climate change and language learning and instruction.

  November 16, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.277   open full text
• Effects of Corpus‐Aided Language Learning in the EFL Grammar Classroom: A Case Study of Students' Learning Attitudes and Teachers' Perceptions in Taiwan.
  Ming Huei Lin.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 02, 2015
  This study employed a blended approach to form an extensive assessment of the pedagogical suitability of data‐driven learning (DDL) in Taiwan's EFL grammar classrooms. On the one hand, the study quantitatively investigated the effects of DDL compared with that of a traditional deductive approach on the learning motivation and self‐efficacy of first‐year college students majoring in English. On the other, it qualitatively examined a group of early‐career teachers' (ECTs') hands‐on experience of teaching DDL to these students. The research results via t‐tests show that only those who received DDL treatment have enhanced learning attitudes in general. No significant differences, however, were found between the effects of these treatments in a multivariate analysis test of covariance. In contrast, qualitative inquiry shows that, despite facing technical difficulties and increased workload, the ECTs found their DDL teaching experience innovative and interesting, believed in its effectiveness in grammar learning, and judged it to transform Taiwanese students' grammar learning patterns from passivity to active engagement. This article concludes with suggestions for future DDL applications and investigation in the EFL grammar classrooms of Taiwan.

  November 02, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.250   open full text
• Perception of Native English Reduced Forms in Chinese Learners: Its Role in Listening Comprehension and Its Phonological Correlates.
  Simpson W. L. Wong, Peggy P. K. Mok, Kevin Kien‐Hoa Chung, Vina W. H. Leung, Dorothy V. M. Bishop, Bonnie Wing‐Yin Chow.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 02, 2015
  Previous research has shown that learners of English as a second language have difficulties in understanding connected speech spoken by native English speakers. This study examines the role of the perception of reduced forms (e.g., contraction, elision, assimilation) of English words in connected speech comprehension and the phonological skills underpinning reduced forms perception. Sixty Chinese‐speaking undergraduate students were tested with a battery of listening and phonological tasks in English. Results of regression analyses show that receptive vocabulary and perception of reduced forms contributed unique variance to listening comprehension for native English. Moreover, results further show that part‐word recognition in a speech gating task and receptive vocabulary predicted perception of reduced forms via a direct pathway, whereas phonemic awareness and phonological memory predicted perception of reduced forms via an indirect pathway (through part‐word recognition). These results have implications for the phonological skills that are fundamental to the acquisition of reduced pronunciation variants and the importance of systematic training of reduced forms perception in second language education.

  November 02, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.273   open full text
• Images as a Resource for Supporting Vocabulary Learning: A Multimodal Analysis of Thai EFL Tablet Apps for Primary School Children.
  Sompatu Vungthong, Emilia Djonov, Jane Torr.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 02, 2015
  In 2011, the Thai government introduced a national project, One Tablet per Child (OTPC), with the aim of supporting students' learning in the digital world. The project commenced with Grade 1 in 2012 and Grade 2 in 2013. The applications embedded in the OTPC tablet given to each child feature multimedia teaching applications (apps) on various subjects, including English as a foreign language (EFL). Using the Grade 1 and 2 English apps as a case study, this article investigates how one section of the apps (song videos) uses images and language to create meaning and considers the potential of visual‐verbal relations to support vocabulary teaching and learning. The article concludes with a discussion of related pedagogical implications for the use and design of EFL materials integrated into multimedia technologies: the critical role of teachers in guiding EFL learners' use of such materials, the need for an increased awareness of the potential and limitations of images and visual‐verbal relations to support EFL teaching and learning, and understanding the relationship between the multimodal design of EFL materials and related learning outcomes at different stages of EFL learning.

  November 02, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.274   open full text
• Negotiation of Meaning Strategies in Child EFL Mainstream and CLIL Settings.
  Agurtzane Azkarai, Ainara Imaz Agirre.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 31, 2015
  Research on child English as a second language (ESL) learners has shown the benefits of task‐based interaction for the use of different negotiation of meaning (NoM) strategies, which have been claimed to lead to second language learning. However, research on child interaction in foreign language settings is scarce, specifically research on a new prevalent methodology in Europe, content and language integrated learning (CLIL). The present study focuses on mainstream and CLIL English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' oral interaction while they completed a guessing game and a picture placement task. The researchers analysed the oral production of seventy‐two 9‐ to 12‐year‐old children (in age‐ and proficiency‐matched dyads) to examine the conversational strategies that were employed in both tasks. Findings indicated that younger learners negotiated for meaning more, and mainstream learners resorted to more conversational strategies than CLIL learners. Furthermore, task‐based differences in the NoM strategies seemed to depend on age and instructional setting. The results seem to indicate that age, instructional setting, and the tasks in which these EFL learners were engaged had an impact on the NoM strategies they employed in task‐based interaction.

  August 31, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.249   open full text
• Functional Language Instruction and the Writing Growth of English Language Learners in the Middle Years.
  Sally Humphrey, Lucy Macnaught.
  TESOL Quarterly. July 29, 2015
  In this article the authors report on the use of a scaffolding pedagogy (Gibbons, 2009), informed by systemic functional linguistics, to support the writing of English language learners in middle years curriculum learning. They focus on the work of one teacher and her English class across the first 18 months of a longitudinal design‐based literacy research project, Embedding Literacies in the Key Learning Areas (ELK). This 3‐year project was conducted in an Australian urban secondary school with 97.5% of students from language backgrounds other than English. A core aspect of the pedagogy implemented through the ELK project is the use of a shared metalanguage to make visible the patterns of language valued for discipline learning. Analysis of instructional materials, classroom discourse, and data on students’ achievement on standardized external and formative internal assessments of writing over 18 months indicates that growth in writing is related to pedagogical practices that include consistent use of a functional metalanguage in classroom modeling of exemplar texts and in feedback on students’ writing.

  July 29, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.247   open full text
• Do Native Speakers of North American and Singapore English Differentially Perceive Comprehensibility in Second Language Speech?
  Kazuya Saito, Natsuko Shintani.
  TESOL Quarterly. July 24, 2015
  The current study examined the extent to which native speakers of North American and Singapore English differentially perceive the comprehensibility (ease of understanding) of second language (L2) speech. Spontaneous speech samples elicited from 50 Japanese learners of English with various proficiency levels were first rated by 10 Canadian and 10 Singaporean raters for overall comprehensibility and then submitted to pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, and grammar analyses. Whereas the raters’ comprehensibility judgements were generally influenced by phonological and temporal qualities as primary cues, and, to a lesser degree, lexical and grammatical qualities of L2 speech as secondary cues, their linguistic backgrounds did make some impact on their L2 speech assessment patterns. The Singaporean raters, who not only used various models of English but also spoke a few L2s on a daily basis in a multilingual environment, tended to assign more lenient comprehensibility scores due to their relatively high sensitivity to, in particular, lexicogrammatical information. On the other hand, the comprehensibility judgements of the Canadian raters, who used only North American English in a monolingual environment, were mainly determined by the phonological accuracy and fluency of the L2 speech.

  July 24, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.234   open full text
• An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol as an Evaluation Tool to Measure Teaching Effectiveness.
  Nihat Polat, Saban Cepik.
  TESOL Quarterly. July 19, 2015
  To narrow the achievement gap between English language learners (ELLs) and their native‐speaking peers in K–12 settings in the United States, effective instructional models must be identified. However, identifying valid observation protocols that can measure the effectiveness of specially designed instructional practices is not an easy task. This study examines the factorial validity of the widely used sheltered instruction observation protocol (SIOP), which proposes a systematic framework for planning, delivering, assessing, and evaluating instructional practices that can help ELLs attain English proficiency and achieve academically in content areas (Echevarría, Vogt, & Short, 2013). In a large city in the eastern United States, 102 SIOP‐trained in‐service teachers used SIOP as the performance evaluation instrument to rate the effectiveness of a video‐recorded SIOP lesson taught by a science teacher. Results of four exploratory factor analyses suggest that SIOP seems to measure four distinguishably stable performance evaluation factors in determining teaching effectiveness that is specifically characterized as sheltered instruction. Discrepancies between the current structure of the protocol and the latent structures identified here point to a need for more fine‐grained theoretical and operational foundations. Some suggestions are made about the restructuring of the model.

  July 19, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.248   open full text
• Development of Speech Fluency Over a Short Period of Time: Effects of Pedagogic Intervention.
  Parvaneh Tavakoli, Colin Campbell, Joan McCormack.
  TESOL Quarterly. July 14, 2015
  This study investigates the effects of a short‐term pedagogic intervention on development of second language (L2) fluency among learners studying English for academic purposes at a UK university. It also examines the interaction between development of fluency and complexity and accuracy. Through a pretest and posttest design, data were collected over a period of 4 weeks from learners performing monologic tasks. While the control group (CG) focused on developing general speaking and listening skills, the experimental group (EG) received awareness‐raising activities and fluency strategy training in addition to general speaking and listening practice. The data, coded in terms of a range of measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity, were subjected to repeated‐measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), t‐tests, and correlations. The results indicate that after the intervention, although some fluency gains were achieved by the CG, the EG produced statistically more fluent language, demonstrating a faster speech and articulation rate, longer runs, and higher phonation time ratios. The significant correlations obtained between measures of accuracy and learners’ pauses in the CG suggest that pausing opportunities may have been linked to accuracy. The findings have significant implications for L2 pedagogy, highlighting the effective impact of instruction on development of fluency.

  July 14, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.244   open full text
• Second Language Listening Instruction: Comparing a Strategies‐Based Approach With an Interactive, Strategies/Bottom‐Up Skills Approach.
  Michael Yeldham.
  TESOL Quarterly. April 07, 2015
  This quasi‐experimental study compared a strategies approach to second language listening instruction with an interactive approach, one combining a roughly equal balance of strategies and bottom‐up skills. The participants were lower‐intermediate‐level Taiwanese university EFL learners, who were taught for 22 hours over one and a half semesters. Their progress through the respective courses was charted via multiple instruments designed to assess growth in their listening proficiency, strategy use, bottom‐up skills, and affect‐related learner characteristics. Pretest and posttest one‐way ANOVAs showed no significant differences between the two groups on any of the dimensions tested. However, a repeated‐measures ANOVA showed significant gains by the strategies group in listening comprehension, but not by the interactive group. On this longitudinal within‐group comparison, the strategies group also demonstrated larger effect sizes than the interactive group for listening instruction, one measure of strategies growth, and the learner characteristics of confidence and motivation, whereas the interactive group showed larger effect sizes than the strategies group for all measures of bottom‐up skills involved. The outcome between the groups in terms of listening proficiency suggests that for lower‐intermediate‐level listeners, it is better to focus more on developing their listening strategies than to provide them with a balanced interactive approach.

  April 07, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.233   open full text
• Repeating a Monologue Under Increasing Time Pressure: Effects on Fluency, Complexity, and Accuracy.
  Chau Thai, Frank Boers.
  TESOL Quarterly. April 07, 2015
  Studies have shown that learners' task performance improves when they have the opportunity to repeat the task. Conditions for task repetition vary, however. In the 4/3/2 activity, learners repeat a monologue under increasing time pressure. The purpose is to foster fluency, but it has been suggested in the literature that it also benefits other performance aspects, such as syntactic complexity and accuracy. The present study examines the plausibility of that suggestion. Twenty Vietnamese EFL students were asked to give the same talk three times, with or without increasing time pressure. Fluency was enhanced most markedly in the shrinking‐time condition, but no significant changes regarding complexity or accuracy were attested in that condition. Although the increase in fluency was less pronounced in the constant‐time condition, this increase coincided with modest gains in complexity and accuracy. The learners, especially those in the time‐pressured condition, resorted to a high amount of verbatim duplication from one delivery of their narratives to the next, which explains why relatively few changes were attested in performance aspects other than fluency. The findings suggest that, if teachers wish to implement repeated‐narrative activities in order to enhance output qualities beyond fluency, the 4/3/2 implementation is not the most judicious choice, and opportunities for language adjustment need to be incorporated early in the task sequence.

  April 07, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.232   open full text
• Aiming for Equity: Preparing Mainstream Teachers for Inclusion or Inclusive Classrooms?
  Maria R. Coady, Candace Harper, Ester J. de Jong.
  TESOL Quarterly. February 05, 2015
  Mainstream teachers throughout the world are increasingly expected to differentiate instruction for primary‐grade students with diverse learning needs, including second or English language learners (ELLs). Does teacher preparation translate into instructional practices for English language development? What do graduates of those programs do differently, if anything, for ELLs in their classrooms? This mixed‐methods study examined the beliefs and practices of two focal teacher graduates of a teacher preparation program that included second language training. Findings show that teacher graduates working with ELLs in primary classrooms with low numbers of ELLs used some generic accommodation strategies and just‐in‐time scaffolding techniques, but they rarely instituted specific ELL practices to facilitate the English language development of ELLs. The authors discuss implications for second language educators.

  February 05, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.223   open full text
• Is There a Better Time to Focus on Form? Teacher and Learner Views.
  Antonella Valeo, Nina Spada.
  TESOL Quarterly. January 29, 2015
  This study investigated the views of teachers and learners regarding the timing of grammatical instruction, conceptualized as a distinction between isolated and integrated form‐focused instruction (FFI) proposed by Spada and Lightbown (2008). Both types of FFI are described as taking place in primarily meaning‐based communicative classrooms. They differ in that isolated FFI occurs separately from communicative activities, whereas integrated FFI occurs during communicative activities. Using this theoretical distinction, the researchers developed teacher and learner questionnaires and validated them as measures of both constructs supported by factor analysis. The questionnaires were administered to explore the views of teachers and learners in two contexts, ESL in Canada and EFL in Brazil. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the questionnaire data indicate a distinct preference for integrated FFI across groups (i.e., teachers and learners) and contexts (i.e., EFL and ESL). At the same time teachers and learners also acknowledged the value of isolated FFI. These views recognizing the important roles played by both integrated and isolated FFI are consistent with those discussed in the instructed second language acquisition literature. Teachers and learners also drew attention to contextual and individual differences that may have an impact on decisions about the timing of grammatical instruction.

  January 29, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.222   open full text
• A Multi‐perspective Investigation of Attitudes Towards English Accents in Hong Kong: Implications for Pronunciation Teaching.
  Jim Y. H. Chan.
  TESOL Quarterly. January 29, 2015
  The study reported in this article examined Hong Kong students' attitudes towards English accents from three interrelated perspectives: (1) their awareness of accents, (2) their perception of accents in relation to the dimensions of status and solidarity, and (3) their choice of accents in various local language‐using contexts. By means of the verbal‐guise technique, it explored the issue from multiple perspectives by comparing the attitudes among English learners at differing stages of study (i.e., junior secondary, senior secondary, and university students). These participants had different perceptions of English based on their prior knowledge, learning experience, and exposure to English. The findings indicate that the university students perceived the local accent more negatively than their secondary counterparts in the dimensions of both status and solidarity, despite their greater awareness of accents. Nevertheless, all the participants showed fewer reservations about the use of second language English accents in more casual and interactive English‐speaking situations. The article concludes by discussing the potential for the design of language awareness tasks in TESOL materials and assessments for secondary school as a crucial step to initiate attitudinal changes.

  January 29, 2015   doi: 10.1002/tesq.218   open full text
• Voices Without Words: Doing Critical Literate Talk in English as a Second Language.
  Jasmine Luk, Angel Lin.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 29, 2014
  Critical thinking is believed to be an essential skill for 21st century survival and therefore has been widely promoted in education. In Hong Kong, critical thinking is one of nine generic skills to be developed across all subjects, including English. How students do critical thinking in ESL, which is seldom used outside school and yet holds high social value, has, however, been underresearched. This article is concerned with how some low‐English‐proficiency senior secondary students in Hong Kong conducted critical talk in English. The study specifically investigates how the students used English to express ideas that were first developed in Cantonese (the students' first language). Based on a discourse analysis of the criticality and elaborateness of the Cantonese and English utterances of one group of students, the authors discuss findings that reveal a significant contrast between the students' more elaborated discourse in Cantonese and a restricted discourse in English characterised by reduced content and limited lexicogrammatical structures. The findings call for more attention to the impacts of linguistic proficiencies on critical thinking performance of ESL learners and to how the communicative gaps in critical literate talk revealed in ESL learners' first and second languages can be gradually reduced.

  May 29, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.161   open full text
• Analyzing Storytelling In TESOL Interview Research.
  Gabriele Kasper, Matthew T. Prior.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 26, 2014
  Autobiographic research interviews have become an accepted and valued method of qualitative inquiry in TESOL and applied linguistics more broadly. In recent discussions surrounding the epistemological treatment of autobiographic stories, TESOL researchers have increasingly called for more attention to the ways in which stories are embedded in interaction and thus are bound up with the social contexts of their production. This paper advances these efforts by demonstrating an empirically grounded approach to storytelling as interaction. Drawing on the research tradition on storytelling in conversation analysis, the article offers a sample analysis of a story produced in an L2 English interview with an adult immigrant in the United States. By engaging sequential conversation analysis, membership categorization analysis, and occasioned semantics, it examines the interactional practices through which the storyteller and story recipient launch, produce, and end the telling of a story that furthers the purpose of the autobiographic interview. By following closely the participants' coordinated actions as they unfold in time, we trace how the parties accomplish the storytelling as an intelligible and meaningful activity through sequence organization and turn design. We conclude with recommendations for extending storytelling research in TESOL to meet the evolving needs and interests of the field.

  May 26, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.169   open full text
• The Incidental Grammar Acquisition in Focus on Form and Focus on Forms Instruction for Young Beginner Learners.
  Natsuko Shintani.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 24, 2014
  Incidental grammar acquisition involves learners “picking up” a grammatical feature while their primary focus is on some other aspect of language—either message content or another language feature that is taught directly. This article reports a study of children's incidental grammar acquisition of two grammatical features—plural ‐s and copula be—in two types of instruction—focus on form (FonF) and focus on forms (FonFs). The two features were not directly taught, but opportunities for learning them occurred in classroom interactions. Thirty young beginner Japanese learners were divided into two groups (FonF and FonFs) and received nine repeated lessons over 5 weeks. The study examined learners' acquisition of the two structures as measured by tests and sought explanations for the results in terms of the differences in interactions that arose in the two instructional contexts and, in particular, opportunities for attending to the two grammatical features in these interactions. The children in the FonF classroom demonstrated acquisition of plural ‐s but not of copula be. Neither structure was acquired by the children in the FonFs classroom. Analysis of the classroom interactions show that there was a functional need to attend to plural ‐s (but not copula be) only in the FonF classroom.

  May 24, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.166   open full text
• Making Ethical Decisions in an Ethnographic Study.
  Peter I. De Costa.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 22, 2014
  There is no abstract available for this paper.

  May 22, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.163   open full text
• The Role of Task and Listener Characteristics in Second Language Listening.
  Tineke Brunfaut, Andrea Révész.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 19, 2014
  This study investigated the relationship between second language (L2) listening and a range of task and listener characteristics. More specifically, for a group of 93 nonnative English speakers, the researchers examined the extent to which linguistic complexity of the listening task input and response, and speed and explicitness of the input, were associated with task difficulty. In addition, the study explored the relationship between L2 listening and listeners' working memory and listening anxiety. The participants responded to 30 multiple‐choice listening items and took an English proficiency test. They also completed two working memory tasks and a listening anxiety questionnaire. The researchers analysed listening input and responses in terms of a variety of measures, using Cohmetrix, WebVocabProfiler, Praat, and the PHRASE list, in combination with expert analysis. Task difficulty and participant ability were determined by means of Rasch analysis, and correlational analyses were run to investigate the task and listener variables' association with L2 listening. The study found that L2 listening task difficulty correlated significantly with indicators of phonological, discourse, and lexical complexity and with referential cohesion. Better L2 listening performances were delivered by less anxious listeners and, depending on L2 listening measure, by those with a higher working memory capacity.

  May 19, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.168   open full text
• The Effects of Different Lengths of Pretask Planning Time on L2 Learners' Oral Test Performance.
  Lanlan Li, Jiliang Chen, Lan Sun.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 12, 2014
  The effect of planning on second language (L2) learners' oral performance is a hotly debated topic in the field of second language acquisition. However, studies on the effect of different amounts of planning time have been quite limited, especially in a testing context. The present study investigated the effects of different lengths of pretask planning time (nil, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes) on L2 learners' oral test performance in terms of both the quantity and quality of the test‐takers' linguistic output using discourse analytical measures. The findings suggest that the provision of planning time positively influenced both the quantity and quality of oral production; of the three aspects of quality (fluency, accuracy, and complexity), accuracy improved the most, with 1‐minute planning time being the threshold that led to significant improvement. Concerning different planning lengths, a positive effect of planning was not always observed in line with the increase of time: too short a time (e.g., 30 seconds) was inadequate for improvement, whereas too long a time (e.g., 5 minutes) engendered a diminishing effect.

  May 12, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.159   open full text
• Leadership Practices to Support Teaching and Learning for English Language Learners.
  Alyson McGee, Penny Haworth, Lesieli MacIntyre.
  TESOL Quarterly. April 29, 2014
  With a substantial increase in the numbers of English language learners in schools, particularly in countries where English is the primary use first language, it is vital that educators are able to meet the needs of ethnically and linguistically changing and challenging classrooms. However, despite the recognition of the importance of effective leadership for successful teaching and learning, there is a lack of research into leadership of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). This article reports on a research project investigating leadership practices which support ESOL teaching and learning in two New Zealand schools, where English language learners are a minority in the classroom. A number of successful leadership practices for ESOL emerged, including establishing clear goals, enabling leaders to be role models, providing ESOL professional learning, and empowering teaching and learning for ESOL. A number of challenges to successful leadership were also revealed, such as the marginalisation of ESOL and a business as usual approach, with English language learners expected to fit into existing practices. This article concludes that as numbers of English language learners continue to grow in schools, a strong focus on developing leadership practices and capacity to support ESOL teaching and learning is essential.

  April 29, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.162   open full text
• A Meta‐Analysis of Extensive Reading Research.
  Takayuki Nakanishi.
  TESOL Quarterly. March 10, 2014
  The purposes of this study were to investigate the overall effectiveness of extensive reading, whether learners' age impacts learning, and whether the length of time second language learners engage in extensive reading influences test scores. The author conducted a meta‐analysis to answer research questions and to identify future research directions. He included two types of empirical studies—those including group contrasts based on a comparison of a control group and experimental groups, and pre–post contrasts that only include experimental groups—in the analysis. After a thorough literature search with numerous search engines and manual and electronic examination of related journals, the meta‐analysis included 34 studies (two PhD dissertations and 32 research articles) that provided 43 different effect sizes and a total sample size of 3,942 participants. Findings show a medium effect size (d = 0.46) for group contrasts and a larger one (d = 0.71) for pre–post contrasts for students who received extensive reading instruction compared to those who did not. In sum, the available research to date suggests that extensive reading improves students' reading proficiency and should be a part of language learning curricula.

  March 10, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.157   open full text
• A Sociocognitive Perspective on Second Language Classroom Willingness to Communicate.
  Yiqian (Katherine) Cao.
  TESOL Quarterly. January 17, 2014
  This article reports on a multiple case study that investigated the dynamic and situated nature of learners' willingness to communicate (WTC) in second language (L2) classrooms. Framed within a sociocognitive perspective on L2 learning which draws together social, environmental, and individual factors, this study traced WTC among six learners of English as a second language enrolled in an English for academic purposes programme in New Zealand for 5 months. Data were collected through classroom observations, stimulated‐recall interviews, and reflective journals. Analysis of the data suggests that the classroom WTC construct is best described as a dynamic situational variable rather than a trait disposition. This article argues that situational WTC in class results from the interdependence among individual characteristics, classroom environmental conditions, and linguistic factors. These three strands of factors interdependently exert either facilitative or inhibitive effects on an individual student's WTC in class at any point in time. The effect of the combinations of factors differs between individuals, and the interrelationship is too complex to be predicted.

  January 17, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.155   open full text
• Interactive Alignment of Multisyllabic Stress Patterns in a Second Language Classroom.
  Pavel Trofimovich, Kim McDonough, Jennifer A. Foote.
  TESOL Quarterly. January 04, 2014
  The current study explored the occurrence of stress pattern alignment during peer interaction in a second language (L2) classroom. Interactive alignment is a sociocognitive phenomenon in which interlocutors reuse each other's expressions, structures, and pronunciation patterns during conversation. Students (N = 41) enrolled in a university‐level English for academic purposes class completed four collaborative tasks during a 13‐week semester. The collaborative tasks were information‐exchange quizzes that were seeded with multisyllabic words containing 3‐2 (e.g., consístent) and 4‐2 (e.g., intélligent) stress patterns (i.e., three‐ and four‐syllable words with the stress on the second syllable). Transcripts were analyzed for alignment, which was operationalized as higher accuracy rates in discourse contexts where an interlocutor previously produced an accurate target stress. The results indicate that alignment occurred when students carried out all four collaborative tasks. Implications are discussed in terms of the potential role of alignment activities in helping L2 speakers practice pronunciation.

  January 04, 2014   doi: 10.1002/tesq.156   open full text
• Challenges in Teaching English to Young Learners: Global Perspectives and Local Realities.
  Fiona Copland, Sue Garton, Anne Burns.
  TESOL Quarterly. December 27, 2013
  Drawing on data from a recent research international research project, this article focuses on the challenges faced by teachers of English to young learners against the backdrop of the global rise of English. A mixed‐methods approach was used to obtain the data, including a survey, which was completed by 4,459 teachers worldwide, and case studies, including observations and interviews with teachers, in five different primary schools in five different countries. A number of challenges emerged as affecting large numbers of teachers in different educational contexts, namely, teaching speaking, motivation, differentiating learning, teaching large classes, discipline, teaching writing, and teaching grammar. Importantly, some of these challenges have not been highlighted in the literature on young learner teaching to date. Other challenges are more localised, such as developing teachers' English competence. The article argues that teacher education should focus less on introducing teachers to general approaches to English language teaching and more on supporting teachers to meet the challenges that they have identified.

  December 27, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.148   open full text
• Tracing Developmental Changes Through Conversation Analysis: Cross‐Sectional and Longitudinal Analysis.
  Yo‐An Lee, John Hellermann.
  TESOL Quarterly. December 04, 2013
  The descriptive focus of conversation analysis (CA) has not been considered optimal for second language (L2) acquisition research. Recently, however, some CA researchers have addressed the developmental agenda by examining longitudinal data (e.g., Brouwer & Wagner, ; Ishida, ; Markee, ; Pekarek‐Doehler, ). The present article offers conceptual rationale and analytic demonstrations as to how CA's descriptive analyses contribute to L2 acquisition research with particular focus on English spoken discourse. While a great deal of prior L2 acquisition studies center on changes in L2 forms and functions, CA's emphasis on the sequential organization of spoken language can specify the process by which such developmental changes are occasioned in situated context of L2 use. What matters here is not just the presence of linguistic changes, but the contingent methods L2 speakers deploy in contextually occasioned language use. We present two sets of analyses in order to illustrate the case in point: cross‐sectional data for story‐prefacing work in an ESL setting, and longitudinal data on topic‐shift in an EFL setting.

  December 04, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.149   open full text
• How Conception of Task Influences Approaches to Reading: A Study of Korean College Students Recalling an English Text.
  Jeongsoon Joh, Diane l. Schallert.
  TESOL Quarterly. October 27, 2013
  This study examined how language learners' preconceptions about a task influence their approaches to second language reading and the sociocultural basis for such preconceptions. Participants were 30 students learning English at a Korean university. The researchers told half of the participants that they would do a recall task after reading an English text; the rest were not told what the postreading task would involve. Several reader variables were measured to control for preexisting differences between groups. The researchers used free recall and interviews to determine whether conceptions of the task were associated with strategy choice while reading and recalling. Results indicate that the two groups did not differ in recall performance but did in strategy use. The sociocultural context to which the participants had been exposed seemed associated with both their conception of task and strategy use, with a suggestion that strategy use was predicated on conception of task.

  October 27, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.147   open full text
• Social Positioning, Participation, and Second Language Learning: Talkative Students in an Academic ESL Classroom.
  Hayriye Kayi‐Aydar.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 04, 2013
  Guided by positioning theory and poststructural views of second language learning, the two descriptive case studies presented in this article explored the links between social positioning and the language learning experiences of two talkative students in an academic ESL classroom. Focusing on the macro‐ and micro‐level contexts of communication, the article describes how one of the two talkative students became an accepted member of the class whereas the other one was excluded. Qualitative data and classroom talk were analyzed recursively. The findings suggest that social positioning has implications for developing useful classroom interactions that benefit all learners.

  September 04, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.139   open full text
• Embedding Digital Literacies in English Language Teaching: Students' Digital Video Projects as Multimodal Ensembles.
  Christoph A. Hafner.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 04, 2013
  As a result of recent developments in digital technologies, new genres as well as new contexts for communication are emerging. In view of these developments, this article argues that the scope of English language teaching be expanded beyond the traditional focus on speech and writing to the production of multimodal ensembles, drawing on a range of other semiotic modes. The article describes an undergraduate course in English for science at a university in Hong Kong, which incorporated elements of digital literacies. Students were engaged in a project to conduct a simple scientific experiment, reporting their findings (1) as a multimodal scientific documentary, shared through YouTube with a general audience of nonspecialists, and (2) as a written lab report aimed at a specialist audience. This article focuses on the multimodal scientific documentaries created by students and evaluates their potential in terms of language learning by drawing on data from student interviews, student comments on a course blog, and the students' documentaries themselves. The analysis shows that students met the challenge of writing for an authentic audience by combining a range of modes (with language playing an important role) to develop an effective rhetorical “hook” and appropriate discoursal identity in their efforts to appeal to their audience.

  September 04, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.138   open full text
• Plurilingual Pedagogical Practices in a Policy‐Constrained Context: A Northern Ugandan Case Study.
  Doris Maandebo Abiria, Margaret Early, Maureen Kendrick.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 16, 2013
  Uganda is a linguistically diverse nation where plurilingualism is common. Its language education policy dictates that, except in large urban areas, one local language be selected as the medium of instruction (MoI), to Primary 3, transitioning to English MoI, in Primary 4. Yet, as Ramanathan and Morgan () argue, “the practice of policy encourages us, as researchers and teachers, to read between and behind the lines (cf. Cooke, ), to interpret the ambiguities and gaps … that open up moments and spaces for transformative pedagogical interventions” (p. 448). The purpose of this study, conducted in Uganda with five Primary 4 teachers and their coordinator, was to explore such possibilities. It asks: How do subject‐area primary teachers in northern Uganda use local linguistic and multimodal cultural resources as plurilingual pedagogical tools to enhance students' learning in English MoI/TESOL classrooms? What are the challenges and constraints in employing locally available linguistic and multimodal cultural resources to become plurilingual pedagogical tools in English MoI/TESOL primary school classrooms? Three themes emerged: the teachers' exploratory plurilingual practices, students as plurilingual peer tutors, and integrated multimodal and plurilingual instruction. Challenges related to the larger educational cultural context and to local school and classroom conditions are also discussed.

  August 16, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.119   open full text
• The Engineering of Plurilingualism Following a Blueprint for Multilingualism: The Case of Vanuatu's Education Language Policy.
  Fiona Willans.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 16, 2013
  This article examines recent proposals in Vanuatu for a new, plurilingual education system. The article discusses these proposals with reference to three principles of plurilingualism upon which the proposals are ostensibly based: the need to value the linguistic repertoires with which children start school, the development of further linguistic resources to enhance individual potential, and the holistic integration of these resources within linguistic repertoires. The author argues that the proposals are driven not by concerns for the fostering of individual plurilingualism, but rather by an agenda of an imagined societal multilingualism within which certain languages are prioritised over all others. The result is an attempt to engineer plurilingual competence by following a blueprint for multilingualism, thus working against the needs of individuals. The article proposes a more flexible model of plurilingualism, within which teachers and learners have the freedom to negotiate meaning through whichever linguistic resources are available to them, rather than stipulating which languages should be used at any given time.

  August 16, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.112   open full text
• Toward Paradigmatic Change in TESOL Methodologies: Building Plurilingual Pedagogies From the Ground Up.
  Angel Lin.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 16, 2013
  Contemporary TESOL methodologies have been characterized by compartmentalization of languages in the classroom. However, recent years have seen the beginning signs of paradigmatic change in TESOL methodologies that indicate a move toward plurilingualism. In this article, the author draws on the case of Hong Kong to illustrate how, in the past four decades, deep‐rooted ideologies of linguistic purism combined with dominant TESOL knowledge claims have made it difficult to develop locally appropriate methodologies. She outlines the innovative work of some teachers who build up plurilingual pedagogies in content classrooms despite these difficulties, and on this basis proposes suggestions for future work.

  August 16, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.113   open full text
• The Unexamined Relationship Between Neoliberalism and Plurilingualism: A Cautionary Tale.
  Nelson Flores.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 16, 2013
  In recent years, TESOL scholars have offered both explicit and implicit critiques of language ideologies developed within nationalist frameworks that positioned monolingualism in a standardized national language as the desired outcome for all citizens. These scholars have used insights from both the social and the natural sciences to call into question static conceptualizations of language and have reconceptualized language pedagogy in ways that place the fluid and dynamic language practices of bilingual students at the center of instruction. This dynamic turn in TESOL has informed the emergence of plurilingualism as a policy ideal among language education scholars in the European Union. This article argues that this shift in the field of TESOL parallels the characteristics of the ideal neoliberal subject that fits the political and economic context of the current sociohistorical period—in particular, the desire for flexible workers and lifelong learners to perform service‐oriented and technological jobs as part of a post‐Fordist political economy. These parallels indicate a need for a more critical treatment of the concept of plurilingualism to avoid complicity with the promotion of a covert neoliberal agenda. The article ends with a framework for TESOL that works against the grain of neoliberal governance.

  August 16, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.114   open full text
• 2B or Not 2B Plurilingual? Navigating Languages Literacies, and Plurilingual Competence in Postsecondary Education in Canada.
  Steve Marshall, Danièle Moore.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 16, 2013
  In this article, the researchers employ the framework of plurilingualism and plurilingual competence in a field that has traditionally been dominated by reified conceptualizations of multilingualism that view bi/multilingualism as balanced and complete competence in discrete codes. They present data from a qualitative, longitudinal study of the interplays between the social, cultural, and linguistic in the multiple languages and literacy practices of transnational students at a university in Vancouver, Canada. Their findings question the role of academic English as the sole conduit to success for participants in higher education. They suggest that this relates back to how plurilingualism is defined and integrates the key idea that learning skills, multilingual literacies, (inter)cultural experiences, and different forms of knowledge are transferable and thus constitute assets and tools for better learning (Castellotti & Moore, 2010; Coste, Moore, & Zarate, 1997). Participants revealed a considerable degree of fluidity in their languages and literacy practices as well as shifts in perceptions and practice that change according to context. They proved to be highly plurilingual, reflexively and knowledgeably (Giddens, 1984) moving from contexts in which they mixed different languages and scripts freely to contexts in which they adhered to more normative senses of discrete monolingual practices in English and community languages.

  August 16, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.111   open full text
• The ESL Teacher as Plurilingual: An Australian Perspective.
  Elizabeth Ellis.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 16, 2013
  This article reports a study on a little‐researched area: the linguistic repertoires of teachers of English as a second language (ESL) to adults. It proposes that, to heed recent calls to recognise learners' plurilingualism and to incorporate learners' languages in the ESL classroom, teachers' plurilingualism must be acknowledged and valued. This study investigated the language biographies of plurilingual and monolingual teachers of ESL in Australia and found them to be characterised by a wide range of circumstantial and elective language learning experiences. The effect of different experiences on teachers' knowledge and beliefs about language learning and teaching are presented and discussed, drawing upon literature from language teacher cognition. Plurilingual teachers were found to see language learning as challenging but possible, whereas monolingual teachers associated language learning with their own unsuccessful experiences and saw it as difficult and potentially humiliating. Circumstantial plurilinguals were found to have a wide range of language experiences which contribute to their understanding of familial language use and issues arising from child and adult migration. All the plurilinguals were found to have gained useful insights about language teaching from their own experiences, and the article argues that these should be seen as a resource for systematic reflection in teacher education.

  August 16, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.120   open full text
• Building a Career in English: Users of English as an Additional Language in Academia in the Arabian Gulf.
  Louisa Buckingham.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 02, 2013
  This study investigates how a group of 30 multilingual academics, all users of English as an additional language (EAL) working at a private university in Oman, acquired discourse community membership in their disciplines through publishing in English, and the strategies they use to sustain the level of literacy needed to disseminate their research in refereed journals while working on the periphery. The participants, from the natural sciences, information technology, and economics, originate from countries in the surrounding region and, although many did not study in one of the traditional Anglophone countries, their academic literacy skills in English have been the cornerstones of their peripatetic academic careers. Participants describe their experience publishing from the periphery and perceptions of reviewer bias, and identify strategies used to overcome material shortcomings and linguistic challenges. The practice of language reuse to support the drafting of particular sections of an article is a recurring theme in many interviews. The article discusses the importance of conventional language in the sciences and the differing understandings of plagiarism among academics from the humanities and sciences. An implication from this study is the need for greater institutional support for the writing process in environments where most faculty members are EAL users.

  August 02, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.124   open full text
• The Impact of Experience Abroad and Language Proficiency on Language Learning Anxiety.
  Amy S. Thompson, Junkyu Lee.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 02, 2013
  This study aims to investigate the effect of experience abroad and second language proficiency on foreign language classroom anxiety. Particularly, this study is an attempt to fill the gap in the literature about the affective outcomes after experiences abroad through the anxiety profiles of Korean learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) while taking second language (L2) proficiency into account. Of particular interest was the analysis of an emerging theme in the second language acquisition literature: tolerance of ambiguity (e.g., Dewaele & Wei, 2012). On a computerized online survey, 148 Korean EFL participants answered the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS; Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) and completed a background questionnaire to collect information regarding amount of experience abroad and English proficiency. Regression analyses show that experience abroad and L2 proficiency were jointly related to the subfactors of the anxiety scores, which had been previously calculated by a factor analysis. Additionally, the follow‐up effect size analyses indicate differentiated practical significance in terms of the relationship between time spent abroad and anxiety scores. This study brings to the forefront crucial issues involving experience abroad, language learning anxiety, and English proficiency, especially with regard to the crucial concept of tolerance of ambiguity.

  August 02, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.125   open full text
• “Non‐coercive Rearrangements”: Theorizing Desire in TESOL.
  Suhanthie Motha, Angel Lin.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 01, 2013
  In this article, the authors argue that at the center of every English language learning moment lies desire: desire for the language; for the identities that English represents; for capital, power, and images that are associated with English; for what is believed to lie beyond the doors that English unlocks. However, despite its centrality within TESOL practice, the construct of desire has been largely undertheorized by English language educators. The authors propose (1) that educators in the TESOL field would benefit from a greater recognition of desire as situated and co‐constructed, acknowledging that our desires are not solely our own but are intersubjectively constituted and shaped by our social, historical, political, institutional, and economic contexts; (2) that the difference between conscious and unconscious desire is significant in language learning; and (3) that whereas desire can be manipulated in exploitative or unethical ways, it can also, given the right circumstances, serve as a tool for compassionate and liberatory pedagogy. This article explores the interconnectedness of desire with motivation and investment, the commodification of English, akogare desire, racial identities, globalizing forces, colonialism, and communicative language teaching. The authors propose a revisioning of TESOL that recognizes the centrality of desire in the acquisition of English.

  August 01, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.126   open full text
• The Interaction of Motivation, Self‐Regulatory Strategies, and Autonomous Learning Behavior in Different Learner Groups.
  Judit Kormos, Kata Csizér.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 01, 2013
  Autonomous learning and effective self‐regulatory strategies are increasingly important in foreign language learning; without these, students might not be able to exploit learning opportunities outside language classrooms. This study investigated the influence of motivational factors and self‐regulatory strategies on autonomous learning behavior. The researchers developed a new questionnaire for Hungarian learners and administered it to secondary school students, university students, and adult language learners. Their structural equation models show that strong instrumental goals and international posture, together with positive future self‐guides, are prerequisites for use of effective self‐regulatory strategies, which in turn play an important role in influencing autonomous use of traditional and computer‐assisted learning resources. Findings reveal no major structural differences between the groups, which suggests that the model is applicable to the most important language learner populations in the context investigated. Efficient management of time and boredom, as well as proactivity in seeking learning opportunities, were found to be necessary to promote autonomous use of traditional learning resources. In contrast, satiation control and time management were not important determiners of independent use of modern learning technology. Results indicate that in order to exploit the affordances of learning technology, a proactive approach to locating and using these learning resources is necessary.

  August 01, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.129   open full text
• Statistical Literacy Among Applied Linguists and Second Language Acquisition Researchers.
  Shawn Loewen, Elizabeth Lavolette, Le Anne Spino, Mostafa Papi, Jens Schmidtke, Scott Sterling, Dominik Wolff.
  TESOL Quarterly. August 01, 2013
  The importance of statistical knowledge in applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA) research has been emphasized in recent publications. However, the last investigation of the statistical literacy of applied linguists occurred more than 25 years ago (Lazaraton, Riggenbach, & Ediger, 1987). The current study undertook a partial replication of this older work by investigating (a) applied linguists’ general experiences with statistics, (b) underlying factors that constitute applied linguists’ knowledge about and attitudes toward statistics, and (c) variables that predict attitudes toward statistics and statistical self‐efficacy. Three hundred thirty‐one scholars of applied linguistics and SLA completed a questionnaire. Eighty percent had taken a statistics class; however, only 14% of doctoral students and 30% of professors felt that their statistical training was adequate. A factor analysis of participants’ knowledge of statistical terms revealed three factors: common inferential statistics knowledge, advanced statistics knowledge, and basic descriptive statistics knowledge. An analysis of participants’ attitudes toward statistics revealed two factors: statistics are important and lack of statistical confidence. Regression analyses found that a quantitative research orientation was the strongest predictor of positive attitudes toward statistics; nevertheless, participants also expressed support for qualitative research. Recommendations for improving quantitative methods in our field are made based on our findings.

  August 01, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.128   open full text
• Motivation and Test Anxiety in Test Performance Across Three Testing Contexts: The CAEL, CET, and GEPT.
  Liying Cheng, Don Klinger, Janna Fox, Christine Doe, Yan Jin, Jessica Wu.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 30, 2013
  This study examined test‐takers' motivation, test anxiety, and test performance across a range of social and educational contexts in three high‐stakes language tests: the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment in Canada, the College English Test (CET) in the People's Republic of China, and the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) in Taiwan. The researchers issued a questionnaire exploring motivation, test anxiety, and perceptions of test importance and purpose to test‐takers in each of the three contexts. A total of 1,281 valid questionnaire responses were obtained: 255 from CAEL, 493 from CET, and 533 from GEPT. Questionnaire responses were linked to each test‐taker's respective test performance. The results illustrate complex interrelationships of test‐takers' motivation and test anxiety in their test performance. Differences in motivation and test anxiety emerged with regard to social variables (i.e., test importance to stakeholders and test purposes). Further, motivation and test anxiety, along with personal variables (i.e., gender and age), were associated with test performance. Given that motivation and test anxiety have typically been examined separately and in relation to a single testing context, this study addresses an important research gap.

  May 30, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.105   open full text
• Do They Make a Difference? The Impact of English Language Programs on Second Language Students in Canadian Universities.
  Janna Fox, Liying Cheng, Bruno D. Zumbo.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 15, 2013
  Few studies have investigated the impact of English language programs on second language (L2) students studying in Canadian universities (Cheng & Fox, 2008; Fox, 2005, 2009). This article reports on questionnaire responses of 641 L2 students studying in 36 English language programs in 26 Canadian universities. The researchers identified programs by their activity emphasis as either English as a second language (ESL) or English for academic purposes (EAP). Activity emphasizing speaking, social interaction, and general language development was viewed as ESL, whereas activity that emphasized academic reading, writing, and language development was considered EAP. The researchers used structural equation modeling procedures to examine the network of relationships between language program emphasis and participants' background characteristics in influencing academic and social engagement. A model of moderated mediation (Wu & Zumbo, 2008) was confirmed; that is, language program activities were found to account for variation in strategies which mediated academic and social engagement. However, the impact was moderated (lessened or strengthened) by three personal background factors: anxiety, stress, and motivation. This study refines our understanding of the positive impact of ESL and EAP programs on L2 university students' academic and social engagement.

  May 15, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.103   open full text
• Learners' Beliefs as Mediators of What Is Noticed and Learned in the Language Classroom.
  Eva Kartchava, Ahlem Ammar.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 15, 2013
  The goal of this study was to determine whether learner beliefs regarding corrective feedback mediate what is noticed and learned in the language classroom. The participants were four groups of high‐beginner college‐level francophone English as a second language learners and their teachers. Each teacher was assigned to a treatment condition that fit his corrective feedback style, and each provided feedback in response to errors with the past tense and questions in the past. Participants (N = 197) completed a beliefs questionnaire, and half (n = 99) took part in the intervention that followed. Beliefs were probed using a 40‐item questionnaire, and average belief scores were calculated for each learner. These were then correlated both with the noticing reported on an immediate recall measure and with the test scores on picture description and spot‐the‐differences tasks. The results reveal four common beliefs, two of which mediated the noticeability of the supplied feedback, but none of which impacted the learning outcomes.

  May 15, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.101   open full text
• Avoiding the Target Language with the Help of Google: Managing Language Choices in Gathering Information for EFL Project Work.
  Nigel Musk.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 15, 2013
  The integration of translation tools into the Google search engine has led to a huge increase in the visibility and accessibility of such tools, with potentially far‐reaching implications for the English language classroom. Although these translation tools are the focus of this study, using them is in fact only one way in which English language learners can exercise their language preferences, especially when working more autonomously. By acting upon these preferences and opting to read in their first language, learners effectively adopt an avoidance strategy—that of avoiding the target language. This qualitative study highlights several ways in which pupils can and do exercise their language choices in their computer‐assisted project work using (Swedish) Google. More specifically, after mapping out the trajectories of pupils' Internet searches and their gathering of resources, conversation analysis is used to zoom in on key moves that are jointly negotiated at the interface with Google, where different language options are made available and even flagged. By making incremental choices that avoid English (or favour Swedish), the visibility of English can diminish radically, if not altogether. The negative implications of avoidance are discussed as well as the practicalities of solutions using Google itself.

  May 15, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.102   open full text
• Culture from the Bottom Up.
  Dwight Atkinson, Jija Sohn.
  TESOL Quarterly. May 13, 2013
  The culture concept has been severely criticized for its top‐down nature in TESOL, leading arguably to its falling out of favor in the field. But what of the fact that people do live culturally (Ingold, 1994)? This article describes a case study of culture from the bottom up—culture as understood and enacted by its individual users. Findings suggest that culture is an emergent phenomenon for the research participant, who actively interprets, resists, and strategically appropriates the cultural materials at her disposal to fashion a cultural identity—actions reflecting both the individual nature of culture and the cultural nature of the individual. The researchers briefly discuss the implications of this bottom‐up approach to culture for TESOL research and teaching and offer the approach as one solution to the dilemma of being either “for” or “against” culture in TESOL.

  May 13, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.104   open full text
• The I Don't Know Option in the Vocabulary Size Test.
  Xian Zhang.
  TESOL Quarterly. April 15, 2013
  The current study evaluates guessing behaviors in a vocabulary size test (VST) and examines whether including an I don't know in a VST may have an impact on the results of the test. One‐hundred‐fifty first‐year students at a university in China took part in the study. They were randomly assigned to three groups. Each group took a different version of the VST: the original VST, the VST with an I don't know option, and the VST with an I don't know option and a penalty instruction. After the VST, a reading comprehension test (used as a distraction) and a meaning recall task were administered to all participants. Comparing the results of the VST and the recall task, it was found that guessing behaviors can be influenced by factors such as vocabulary frequency level, partial knowledge, and the multiple‐choice options. Results also indicate that the I don't know option not only reduced the number of guesses but also discouraged partial knowledge. Whether to include the I don't know option and the penalty instruction depends on how the test is to be used.

  April 15, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.98   open full text
• “But Before I Go to My Next Step”: A Longitudinal Study of Adolescent English Language Learners' Transitional Devices in Oral Presentations.
  Amanda K. Kibler, April S. Salerno, Natalia Palacios.
  TESOL Quarterly. April 15, 2013
  This multiple case study examines patterns in the oral second language use of three Spanish‐speaking English language learners in rehearsed presentations produced annually over 4 years (Grades 9–12) in a U.S. high school. Analysis focuses on students' changing use of transitional devices called frame markers (Hyland, 2005) as a lens for understanding language used by school‐aged immigrant students in academic settings, the nature of classroom presentations, and the role of a range of contextual factors from a longitudinal perspective. Students produced relatively complex structures to mark transitions, even at early proficiency levels, likely due to opportunities for rehearsal and use of supporting written texts. Despite notable commonalities, students took varied paths in language use, responding individually to presentational environments. Such findings provide evidence that both context and individual variation contribute to oral second language use in school settings and provide a rationale for research that attends to academic and presentational settings in which students produce oral language.

  April 15, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.96   open full text
• Exploring Teachers' Knowledge of Second Language Pronunciation Techniques: Teacher Cognitions, Observed Classroom Practices, and Student Perceptions.
  Amanda Baker.
  TESOL Quarterly. April 15, 2013
  This study explored some of the intricate connections between the cognitions (beliefs, knowledge, perceptions, attitudes) and pedagogical practices of five English language teachers, specifically in relation to pronunciation‐oriented techniques. Integral to the study was the use of semistructured interviews, classroom observations, and stimulated recall interviews with the teachers and questionnaires with students. Findings reveal that the teachers' knowledge base of pronunciation techniques consisted mainly of controlled techniques—techniques strongly manipulated by the teachers and typically considered less communicative than other techniques. Of all techniques, guided techniques (semistructured) were the least frequently used, suggesting in part that the teachers' knowledge of how to incorporate guided techniques on a consistent basis with oral communication curricula may be limited. This article also includes discussion of three sets of beliefs held by some of the teachers: (1) listening perception is essential for producing comprehensible speech, (2) kinesthetic/tactile practice is integral to phonological improvement, and (3) pronunciation instruction can be boring.

  April 15, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.99   open full text
• Narratives of Participation, Identity, and Positionality: Two Cases of Saudi Learners of English in the United States.
  Shannon Giroir.
  TESOL Quarterly. April 05, 2013
  This article reports a study that investigated how two Saudi Arabian men negotiated their positionality vis‐à‐vis a host community in the United States and how they engaged in different discursive practices in order to achieve fuller participation in the various worlds that became important to them. The study takes data from a larger research project that looked at the narrated experiences of nine adult learners enrolled in an intensive English program in the United States. Data were collected over a 6‐month period using ethnographic data collection tools such as classroom observations, individual interviews, and student‐designed second language (L2) photo narratives. The article focuses on the processes by which two language learners of a particularly politicized and racialized cultural group (Muslims of Arab descent) were able to renegotiate their peripherality through their ongoing interactions as “novices” in new L2 “expert” communities (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Although the two cases diverge in critical ways, the findings show not only how post‐9/11 discourses served as powerfully marginalizing structures, but also how the learners actively managed those structures in their bids for fuller participation in L2 communities.

  April 05, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.95   open full text
• The Effects of Explicit Instruction on the Reading Performance of Adolescent English Language Learners With Intellectual Disabilities.
  Deborah K. Reed.
  TESOL Quarterly. March 19, 2013
  This study sought to determine the effects of explicit phonics instruction and sight word instruction on the letter‐sound identification and word reading of 13‐ to 15‐year‐old English language learners in the eighth grade who were identified as having intellectual disabilities (ID). Using a randomized single‐subject design, four Hispanic students with mild ID who were native Spanish speakers and receiving free or reduced‐price lunch were assigned to receive either phonics or sight word instruction. Both treatments were taught explicitly to the pair of students in the condition and included scaffolding and multiple practice opportunities. Sessions took place every other day for 20 minutes over 8 weeks, totaling 400 minutes of intervention. All students demonstrated increased rates of improvement in identifying letter‐sounds and untaught words on the Basic Phonics Skills Test III. Although students in the sight word condition were not explicitly taught letter‐sound correspondences, they correctly identified the sounds of all 26 letters by posttest. All students progressed in their ability to read untaught words of increasing complexity. Results suggest that adolescents with mild cognitive impairments attending schools taught in a nonnative language can still profit from explicit instruction in foundational reading skills.

  March 19, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.94   open full text
• Culture in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Textbooks: A Semiotic Approach.
  Csilla Weninger, Tamas Kiss.
  TESOL Quarterly. January 17, 2013
  This article problematizes current, quantitative approaches to the analysis of culture in foreign language textbooks as objectifying culture, and offers an alternative, semiotic framework that examines texts, images, and tasks as merely engendering particular meanings in the act of semiosis. The authors take as a point of departure developments within the social sciences that have questioned monolithic conceptualizations of culture as well as recent arguments that stress intercultural citizenship and global cultural consciousness as key goals of (foreign) language learning. The authors argue that such transformative pedagogic agendas require a more dynamic understanding of how culture figures in teaching materials and of the processes through which learners engage with those materials. Through excerpts from two English as a foreign language textbooks written by and for Hungarians, the authors illustrate a semiotic analytic approach that underscores two key insights: (1) that learners' meaning making in the classroom tends to be heavily guided and (2) that images and texts, even those with supposed cultural meaning or focus, seem to foster mainly linguistic competence. The article makes the case that images and texts should be harnessed more explicitly to develop a critical and reflexive understanding of culture, self, and other.

  January 17, 2013   doi: 10.1002/tesq.87   open full text
• Foreign Language Anxiety: Understanding Its Status and Insiders' Awareness and Attitudes.
  Tran Thi Thu Trang, Richard B. Baldauf, Karen Moni.
  TESOL Quarterly. December 21, 2012
  Foreign language anxiety (FLA) has been found to exist in all of the cultures where it has been studied, yet the literature provides limited empirical evidence to indicate whether foreign language students and teachers, as the direct stakeholders in the phenomenon, are aware of it. This study investigated the extent to which foreign language students and teachers are aware of the existence of the phenomenon of FLA and their attitudes towards it. Some 419 non‐English‐major students, who were undertaking various majors in a university in Vietnam, and eight teachers of English as a foreign language participated in the study. Methodological triangulation, which involved collecting data using questionnaires, interviews, and student autobiographies, was adopted. The findings indicate that approximately two thirds of the students suffered from FLA to some degree, yet the teachers did not attribute adequate importance to it. The study suggests that FLA has an impact on the majority of students and that teachers should take this into account in their teaching.

  December 21, 2012   doi: 10.1002/tesq.85   open full text
• Teacher Language Background, Codeswitching, and English‐Only Instruction: Does Age Make a Difference to Learners' Attitudes?
  Ernesto Macaro, Jang Ho Lee.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 22, 2012
  Using research data on teacher codeswitching in South Korea, this article investigates the attitudes and perceptions among Korean learners of English as a foreign language towards English‐only instruction as opposed to instruction which contains some switching to the learners' first language. The study was in part operationalized by exploring learners' attitudes towards teachers who were native or nonnative speakers of English. The authors explored a number of variables to these attitudes and perceptions, of which the most important was the students' age. From a total sample of 798 students, 311 were adults at university and 487 were children in the last year of primary school. The researchers collected data via questionnaire and, using a subsample, via interviews. Findings suggest that although both groups of learners had no clear preferences for either teacher type, neither group favoured the total exclusion of the first language from the classroom interaction. Adults were more likely to be comfortable with English‐only instruction, possibly due to their greater experience in language learning, although the possibility that their acceptance was also due to higher proficiency cannot be excluded.

  November 22, 2012   doi: 10.1002/tesq.74   open full text
• The Influence of Second Language Experience and Accent Familiarity on Oral Proficiency Rating: A Qualitative Investigation.
  Paula Winke, Susan Gass.
  TESOL Quarterly. November 06, 2012
  This study investigates whether raters' knowledge of test takers' first language (L1) affects how the raters orient themselves to the task of rating oral speech. The authors qualitatively investigated the effects of accent familiarity on raters' score assignment processes. Twenty‐six trained raters with a second language of Mandarin Chinese, Korean, or Spanish rated English speech samples from 72 English language learners from three L1 backgrounds (Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Spanish). Afterward, raters watched videos of themselves rating and discussed their rating processes. Analyses of data, assisted by the qualitative analysis software package QSR NVivo 8, revealed that some raters attended to and were influenced by test‐taker accent and L1. Raters who were heritage language learners discussed how their personal heritage status influenced how they thought about the speech samples from speakers whose L1 matched their heritage language. Although sensitivity to test‐taker accents seemed to occur naturally in the rating process, findings suggest that when raters have learned or know, to varying degrees, the test takers' L1, they tend to orient themselves to the speech in a biased way, compromising test reliability.

  November 06, 2012   doi: 10.1002/tesq.73   open full text
• Contributions of Individual Differences and Contextual Variables to Reading Achievement of English Language Learners: An Empirical Investigation Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling.
  Yuliya Ardasheva, Thomas R. Tretter.
  TESOL Quarterly. October 24, 2012
  This nonexperimental study explored the relationships among individual differences, contextual variables, and reading achievement of English language learners (ELLs) in one large urban school district in the United States. The sample comprised 840 students in Grades 3–8 and 10 nested within 37 schools. Hierarchical linear modeling results indicate that English proficiency, metacognitive strategies, native language literacy, and school‐quality indicators—four variables potentially under the control of the educational system—positively contributed to student reading achievement. The final model explained 36% of the within‐school and 79% of the between‐school variance in reading achievement. Controlling for other variables, ELLs with disadvantaged educational backgrounds appeared to perform on par with their more educationally advantaged counterparts. These results suggest that schools may play a greater role in supporting ELLs with disadvantaged educational backgrounds.

  October 24, 2012   doi: 10.1002/tesq.72   open full text
• Is Text Written for Children Useful for L2 Extensive Reading?
  Stuart Webb, John Macalister.
  TESOL Quarterly. October 12, 2012
  The researchers completed a corpus‐driven analysis of 688 texts written for children, language learners, and older readers to determine the vocabulary size necessary for comprehension and the potential to incidentally learn vocabulary through reading each text type. The comparison between texts written for different audiences may indicate their relative value for use in extensive reading programs. The results indicate that a vocabulary size of 10,000 words plus knowledge of the proper nouns and marginal words was required to know 98% of the words in both text written for children and text written for older readers. In contrast, a vocabulary size of 3,000 word families plus knowledge of the proper nouns and marginal words was necessary to know 98% of the words in text written for language learners. Repetition of words in Nation's (2006) 3rd to 14th 1,000‐word lists was higher in the text written for language learners, followed by children's literature and then text written for adults. The findings indicate that the lexical load of text written for children is similar to that of text written for older readers, and that neither of these text types is as well suited as graded readers for second language extensive reading.

  October 12, 2012   doi: 10.1002/tesq.70   open full text
• Comparing the Effects of Test Anxiety on Independent and Integrated Speaking Test Performance.
  Heng‐Tsung Danny Huang, Shao‐Ting Alan Hung.
  TESOL Quarterly. October 12, 2012
  Integrated speaking test tasks (integrated tasks) offer textual and/or aural input for test takers on which to base their subsequent oral responses. This path‐analytic study modeled the relationship between test anxiety and the performance of such tasks and explored whether test anxiety would differentially affect the performance of independent speaking test tasks (independent tasks) and the performance of integrated tasks. A total of 352 students studying English as a foreign language took two independent tasks for which they spoke without input support, performed two integrated tasks for which they orally summarized the reading and listening input, and completed the state anxiety inventory twice. To avoid topic effects, half of them took the tasks on one topic combination, and the other half took the tasks on another combination. Path analyses of the data reveal that (1) test anxiety significantly affected integrated performance, (2) test anxiety impacted independent performance and integrated performance in a statistically equivalent way, and (3) topic effects were absent. These findings suggest that the advantage of integrated tasks over independent tasks might not relate to the reduction of test anxiety or its impact on test performance and that integrated tasks suffer the construct validity threat posed by test anxiety as much as independent tasks.

  October 12, 2012   doi: 10.1002/tesq.69   open full text
• An Investigation of Working Memory Effects on Oral Grammatical Accuracy and Fluency in Producing Questions in English.
  Clare Wright.
  TESOL Quarterly. October 05, 2012
  This article addresses the question of how far working memory may affect second language (L2) learners' improvement in spoken language during a period of immersion. Research is presented testing the hypothesis that individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity are associated with individual variation in improvements in oral production of questions in English. Thirty‐two Chinese adult speakers of English were tested, before and after a year's postgraduate study in the United Kingdom, to measure grammatical accuracy and fluency using a question elicitation task, and to measure WM using a battery of first language (L1) and L2 WM tests. Story recall in L1 (Mandarin) was significantly associated with individuals' improvement in oral grammatical measures (p < .05). However, there was no significant mean improvement across the cohort in grammatical accuracy, although there was for fluency. The findings suggest that WM may aid certain aspects of individuals' L2 oral proficiency during academic immersion through postgraduate study. They also indicate that academic immersion in itself can lead to improvements in oral proficiency, independent of WM capacity, but there is no general guarantee of significant grammatical change. Further research to clarify the opportunities for input and interaction available in academic immersion settings is called for.

  October 05, 2012   doi: 10.1002/tesq.68   open full text
• Chinese College English Teachers' Research Engagement.
  Simon Borg, Yi (Daphne) Liu.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 21, 2012
  This mixed methods study adds to a growing international literature on the nature of language teachers' engagement with and in research by examining such engagement in the context of college English teaching in China. Questionnaire responses from 725 college English teachers and interviews with 20 of these teachers indicate that, although they were expected to be research‐active, their reported levels of reading and doing research were moderate. An analysis of the factors behind this level of engagement reveals unproductive linear and instrumental conceptions among teachers of the relationship between research knowledge and classroom practice. A perceived discrepancy was also found between teachers' views about the research activity expected of them and the support they received from their institutions to facilitate such work. The uncertainty teachers experienced in relation to research engagement was also shaped by tensions between their views of research and its purpose and the criteria for recognizing research employed by their institutions. This study problematizes the notion of teacher as researcher by highlighting many interactive personal, interpersonal, and institutional factors which shape the extent to which teachers can be research‐engaged. The article concludes by suggesting key questions that language teaching organizations wanting to promote teacher research engagement must ask.

  September 21, 2012   doi: 10.1002/tesq.56   open full text
• Effects of the Manipulation of Cognitive Processes on EFL Writers' Text Quality.
  Justina Ong, Lawrence Jun Zhang.
  TESOL Quarterly. September 13, 2012
  Little is known about the effects of various planning and revising conditions on composition quality in experimental or TESOL education research. This study examined the effects of planning conditions (planning, prolonged planning, free writing, and control), subplanning conditions (task‐given, task‐content‐given, and task‐content‐organization‐given), and revising conditions (initial‐essay‐accessible and initial‐essay‐removed) on the text quality of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' argumentative writing. Participants were 108 19‐year‐old Chinese EFL learners. The researchers assigned the participants to the experimental and control conditions through stratified random sampling. Results show that the free‐writing condition enhanced the quality of the learners' writing; the task‐content‐given condition and the task‐content‐organization‐given condition produced significantly better quality texts than the task‐given condition; and no significant difference in the text quality between the initial‐essay‐accessible and initial‐essay‐removed conditions was found. Free writing facilitated content retrieval, which enhanced the overall text quality. The task‐content‐given condition and the task‐content‐organization‐given condition successfully reduced the cognitive load of the task on the EFL writers' working memory resources. The initial‐essay‐removed condition resulted in better quality final drafts, albeit with no statistically significant difference. Implications for further research are discussed.

  September 13, 2012   doi: 10.1002/tesq.55   open full text