Recasts versus clarification requests: The relevance of linguistic target, proficiency, and communicative ability

AbstractThis paper compares the effects of recasts and clarification requests as two implicit types of corrective feedback (CF) on learning two linguistic structures denoting past aspectual distinction in French, the passé composé and the imparfait. The participants in this classroom-based study are 52 high-school learners of French FL at a pre-intermediate level of proficiency (level B1 of CEFR). A distinctive feature of this study is the use of focused, context constrained communicative tasks in both treatment and tests. The paper specifically highlights the advantages of feedback using recasts for the acquisition of morpho-syntactically complex grammatical structures such as is the French passé composé. The study points to the participants’ communicative ability as an essential aspect of language proficiency, which seems to be crucial to bringing about the benefits of recasts. Oral communicative skill in a foreign language classroom is seen as a prerequisite for an appropriate interpretation and recognition of the corrective nature of recasts.

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EFL Students' Preferences for Written Corrective Feedback: Do Error Types, Language Proficiency, and Foreign Language Enjoyment Matter?

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.660564 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Tiefu Zhang ◽

Xuemei Chen ◽

Jiehui Hu ◽

Pattarapon Ketwan

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Corrective Feedback ◽

Target Language ◽

Linguistic Features ◽

Context Analysis ◽

Written Corrective Feedback ◽

Proficiency Level ◽

Qualitative Approaches ◽

Error Types

Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, this study investigated the preference of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) for four types of written corrective feedback (WCF), which are often discussed in the literature, on grammatical, lexical, orthographic, and pragmatic errors. In particular, it concerned whether such preference is influenced by two learner variables, namely, foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and proficiency level. The preference for selective vs. comprehensive WCF was also examined. The participants in the study were 117 University students in a Thai EFL context. Analysis of questionnaire data revealed a tendency for learners to prefer more explicit types of WCF (i.e., metalinguistic explanation and overt correction) for most error types, irrespective of their proficiency and FLE level. High proficiency level learners rated less explicit WCF types (i.e., underlining and error code) as useful to some degree, whereas their low proficiency level counterparts did not. Similar results were found for the two FLE groups. Besides, the FLE level seemed to play a role in perceiving the value of WCF in terms of scope. The results of follow-up interviews showed that the linguistic features of learners' first language, existing knowledge of the target language, affective feelings, and teacher's role were the main factors contributing to variation in learners' preferences. Possible pedagogical implications are discussed.

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University Students’ Attitudes towards the Use of YouTube in the EFL Classroom

HOW ◽

10.19183/how.28.2.624 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 141-158

Author(s):

María Victoria Fernández-Carballo

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Quantitative Methods ◽

English Language ◽

Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽

Proficiency Level ◽

Language Classroom ◽

Education Degree ◽

Students Attitudes ◽

Method Approach

Noticing the generally lower-than-desirable English language proficiency level with which Spanish students start university, I considered trying a different approach in which the use of a familiar application would be introduced in the classroom. The main objective of this work is to explore Primary Education degree programme students’ attitudes towards the integration of YouTube in the English language classroom. To this end, 46 third-year intermediate-level students participated in the study. It adopted a mixed-method approach, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The results show that, although participants mentioned some drawbacks, they reacted positively to the use of the platform. Given these results and the benefits offered, the integration of YouTube in the foreign language classroom is highly recommended.

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Sources and Levels of Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety of English as a Foreign Language University Students with regard to Language Proficiency and Gender

International Journal of English Language Education ◽

10.5296/ijele.v4i1.8715 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 49 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Emre Debreli ◽

Seren Demirkan

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Foreign Language Anxiety ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Speaking Anxiety ◽

Proficiency Level ◽

Language Classroom ◽

Efl Students ◽

And Gender ◽

Turkish Cypriot

Although foreign language anxiety is a widely explored subject in the area of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), studies that focus on the speaking anxiety in EFL, as well as the gender and language proficiency level–anxiety relationship, are rare. The present study investigates the phenomenon in an EFL context and analyzes the levels of EFL students’ speaking anxiety and the sources that make them anxious. It also explores whether there is any relationship between anxiety and students’ language proficiency level and gender. Data were gathered from 196 Turkish and Turkish Cypriot students through questionnaires (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale), as well as through semi-structured interviews with 10 students who participated in the questionnaires. The findings indicated that the students generally had low level of speaking anxiety, although students with a higher level of language proficiency had a higher level of anxiety compared with that for students with a lower level of language proficiency. No statistically meaningful difference was observed with regard to students’ gender and anxiety levels. Factors that caused anxiety—such as difficulty in pronunciation, being asked immediate questions by the teacher, not understanding the question asked by the teacher—not found in the current literature also emerged from the present study. Implications for teacher education are also discussed.

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Teacher Beliefs and Practices in Advanced Spanish Classrooms

Heritage Language Journal ◽

10.46538/hlj.3.1.4 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 83-107

Author(s):

Manel Lacorte ◽

Evelyn Canabal

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Classroom Environment ◽

Latino Students ◽

Advanced Level ◽

Beliefs And Practices ◽

Teacher Beliefs And Practices ◽

Proficiency Level ◽

Language Classroom ◽

University Instructors ◽

Large Research

The growing presence of Latino students in U.S. colleges and universities is evident in foreign language (FL) classrooms. Latino students with a high proficiency level in Spanish are usually placed in advanced language or content-based courses along with other non-Latino students. This paper examines university instructors’ beliefs and practices concerning interaction in advanced Spanish courses with heritage and nonheritage students. The participants were 15 instructors of diverse academic and professional backgrounds teaching advanced Spanish courses at a large research-oriented public university. Following a process of selection, verification, and generalization of linguistic metaphors used to talk about the topic, this qualitative study analyzes data collected through a questionnaire, interviews, and non-participant observations. The discussion addresses the instructors’ beliefs and perceptions with regard to: (1) the classroom environment; (2) their role as teachers of advanced-level courses; (3) the students enrolled in these courses; and (4) the contrast between what teachers consider to be the desired interaction in an advanced language classroom, and what actually happens.

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Factors predicting classroom WTC in English and French as foreign languages among adult learners in Spain

Language Teaching Research ◽

10.1177/13621688211054046 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136216882110540

Author(s):

Elvira Barrios ◽

Irene Acosta-Manzano

Keyword(s):

Adult Learners ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Language Use ◽

Willingness To Communicate ◽

French Language ◽

Study Results ◽

Language Classroom ◽

Relative Standing

This study aimed to identify associations and predictors of willingness to communicate (WTC) of adult foreign language (FL) learners and whether they are contingent upon the FL being learned. To this end, our research investigated learner variables associated with WTC in adult FL learners of English and of French in an under-researched field of WTC studies in Spain. More specifically, the following variables were studied: gender, age, level of multilingualism, perceived relative standing in the class, language proficiency, teacher’s use of the FL in class, out-of-class foreign language use (OCFLU) and the two emotions of foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA). Of the 9 independent variables examined, FLCA and language proficiency were found to be predictors of the WTC of both English and French language learners; additionally, enjoyment was found to be a predictor of WTC of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and OCFLU, of learners of French as a foreign language (FFL). Our findings indicate that the construct of WTC needs to be further studied as research may produce dissimilar results depending on the instructional setting, population and foreign language. Pedagogical implications for language teaching practices seeking to enhance adult FL learners’ WTC were also drawn from the study results.

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DEVELOPING COLLOCATIONAL AND PHONOLOGICAL COMPETENCES OF EMERGING TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE THROUGH COGNITIVE APPROACH TO PROCESSING MULTI-WORD UNITS

SOCIETY INTEGRATION EDUCATION Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference ◽

10.17770/sie2014vol1.741 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 42

Author(s):

Irisa Berga

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Natural Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Native Language ◽

Instructional Approach ◽

Cognitive Approach ◽

Proficiency Level ◽

Formal Instruction ◽

Analytic Processing ◽

Informal Settings

This paper addresses unresolved issues in the acquisition, processing and use of multi-word units which account for the learner’s idiomatic, natural language. The aim of the study is to argue for an analytic instructional approach to developing the trainee teacher’s collocational and phonological competences through the medium of the native language employing a set of didactic and linguistic techniques like etymological, phonological, structural, lexical and semantic dissection of multi-word units. Research results imply that analytic processing of multi-word units relate moderately to the enhancement of the learner’s collocational and phonological competences though relations between formal instruction and the language proficiency level may be partly obscured by the probable exposure of the learner to multi-word units in informal settings.

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A contextualised examination of target language use in the primary school foreign language classroom

Australian Review of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1075/aral.27.1.08car ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 104-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

David R. Carless

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Primary School ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Language Use ◽

Study Data ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Target Language ◽

Foreign Language Learners ◽

Language Classroom ◽

Classroom Language

Abstract This article discusses an issue which is of longstanding and central importance to foreign language teachers in a variety of contexts, namely teacher use of classroom language. It uses detailed qualitative case study data to explore how and why an expert practitioner uses English in her Hong Kong Primary school language classroom. Through the interplay between teacher beliefs, experiences and classroom transcript data, the paper develops a contextualised picture of classroom language use with young foreign language learners. The paper suggests that it is not necessarily the language proficiency of the learners which plays a major role in the quantity of target language use, but the teachers’ own proficiency, experience and beliefs.

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Effectiveness of implicit negative feedback in a foreign language classroom

EUROSLA Yearbook ◽

10.1075/eurosla.14.05mif ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

pp. 111-142 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nadia Mifka-Profozic

Keyword(s):

High School Students ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Early Stage ◽

Past Tense ◽

Control Group ◽

Language Classroom ◽

Foreign Language Classroom ◽

Post Test ◽

Passe Compose

This paper reports on a study that investigated the effectiveness of recasts and clarification requests in a French as a foreign language classroom. The target structures were French past tense structures the passé composé and the imparfait. The study was carried out with three intact classes of high school students in New Zealand, comprising in total 52 participants. A quasi-experimental design was employed, with a pre-test, treatment, immediate post-test and a delayed post-test. The treatment tasks were picture-based, designed to encourage communication and to elicit the use of past tense. The tests were also picture-based, written narrative tasks. The control group did not receive any treatment. Mixed design Repeated measures ANOVAs, followed by ANCOVAs, were computed to examine the effects of the treatment. Overall, results indicate that recasts were more effective for acquisition of the passé composé whereas both recasts and clarification requests proved beneficial for acquisition of the imparfait at this early stage of learning. However, non-parametric tests comparing more advanced and less advanced learners suggest that only the ‘low proficiency’ learners benefited from clarification requests.

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Foreign Language Anxiety and Communicative Performance

Koya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences ◽

10.14500/kujhss.v3n1y2020.pp199-207 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 199-207

Author(s):

Atta M. Hamamorad

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Target Population ◽

Language Anxiety ◽

Foreign Language Anxiety ◽

Face To Face ◽

Communicative Performance ◽

Language Classroom ◽

Efl Students

The current study investigates foreign language anxiety among Kurdish EFL students and its consequences on their communicative performance. An investigative quantitative approach was used to conduct this study. A Total number of two hundred (200) EFL learners with different language proficiency levels from three different universities; University of Halabja and Sulaimani university in Iraqi Kurdistan Region, and University of Kurdistan in Iran, were selected to participate in this study. For the purpose of obtaining necessary information and data, a face-to-face assessment, in small groups of 4 was conducted during students’ class time in which their communicative performance based on accuracy, fluency, vocabulary, and pronunciation was evaluated and recorded. Additionally, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) questionnaire was adapted and the target population were requested to respond to the statements presented in the questionnaire. The findings of the research taken from a structural equation modelling (SEM) indicated that all components of Communicative Performance were in a negative and significant correlation with anxiety.

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COMPUTER ADAPTIVE LANGUAGE TESTING ACCORDING TO NATO STANAG 6001 REQUIREMENTS

Advanced Education ◽

10.20535/2410-8286.225018 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (18) ◽

pp. 19-26

Author(s):

Piotr Gawliczek ◽

Viktoriia Krykun ◽

Nataliya Tarasenko ◽

Maksym Tyshchenko ◽

Oleksandr Shapran

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Objective Assessment ◽

Language Testing ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Proficiency Level ◽

Starting Point ◽

Special Value ◽

Results Management ◽

Adaptive Ability

The article deals with the innovative, cutting age solution within the language testing realm, namely computer adaptive language testing (CALT) in accordance with the NATO Standardization Agreement 6001 (NATO STANAG 6001) requirements for further implementation in foreign language training of personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AF of Ukraine) in order to increase the quality of foreign language testing. The research provides the CALT method developed according to NATO STANAG 6001 requirements and the CALT algorithm that contains three blocks: “Starting point”, “Item selection algorithm”, “Scoring algorithm” and “Termination criterion”. The CALT algorithm has an adaptive ability, changing a complexity level, sequence and the number of items according to the answers of a test taker. The comparative analysis of the results of the CALT method piloting and the paper-and-pencil testing (PPT) in reading and listening according to the NATO STANAG 6001 requirements justifies the effectiveness of the three-level CALT method. It allows us to determine the following important benefits of CALT: test length reduction, control of measurement accuracy, objective assessment, improved test security, generation of a unique set of items, adaptive ability of the CALT algorithm, high motivation of the test takers, immediate score reporting and test results management. CALT is a qualitative and effective tool to determine test takers’ foreign language proficiency level in accordance with NATO STANAG 6001 requirements within the NATO Defence Educational Enhancement Programme. CALT acquires a special value and relevance in the context of the global COVID 19 pandemic.

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