Automatically Augmenting Academic Text for Language Learning

2018 ◽  
pp. 512-537
Author(s):  
Shaoqun Wu ◽  
Alannah Fitzgerald ◽  
Ian H. Witten ◽  
Alex Yu
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
British Library ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Design Considerations

This chapter describes the automated FLAX language system (flax.nzdl.org) that extracts salient linguistic features from academic text and presents them in an interface designed for L2 students who are learning academic writing. Typical lexico-grammatical features of any word or phrase, collocations, and lexical bundles are automatically identified and extracted in a corpus; learners can explore them by searching and browsing, and inspect them along with contextual information. This chapter uses a single running example, the PhD abstracts corpus of 9.8 million words derived from the open access Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) at the British Library, but the approach is fully automated and can be applied to any collection of English writing. Implications for reusing open access publications for non-commercial educational and research purposes are presented for discussion. Design considerations for developing teaching and learning applications that focus on the rhetorical and lexico-grammatical patterns found in the abstract genre are also discussed.

Transcending Concordance

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoqun Wu ◽  
Ian Witten
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Extraction Method ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
English Writing

This paper describes an automated scheme that extracts salient linguistic features from academic text and presents them in an interface designed for L2 students who are learning academic writing. The system is guided by several common ways of utilizing corpus technology in L2 writing. The authors have developed and tested an extraction method that identifies typical lexico-grammatical features of any word or phrase in a corpus. Collocations and lexical bundles are automatically extracted; students can explore them by searching and browsing, and inspect them along with contextual information. They also present learners with common words, and academic words, hyperlinked to their usage and collocates in authentic contexts. This article uses a single running example, the British Academic Written English corpus, but the approach is fully automated and can be applied to any collection of English writing.

The Use of Multimedia and its Impact on Bangladeshi EFL Learners at Tertiary Level

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Farzana Sharmin Pamela Islam
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

As 21st century is the era of modern technologies with different aspects, it offers us to make the best use of them. After tape recorder and overhead projector (OHP), multimedia has become an important part of language classroom facilities for its unique and effective application in delivering and learning lesson. Although in many parts of Bangladesh, a South Asian developing country, where English enjoys the status of a foreign language, the use of multimedia in teaching and learning is viewed as a matter of luxury. However, nowadays the usefulness and the necessity of it are well recognized by the academics as well as the government. The study aims to focus on the difference between a traditional classroom void of multimedia and multimedia equipped classrooms at university level by explaining how multimedia support the students with enhanced opportunity to interact with diverse texts that give them more in-depth comprehension of the subject. It also focuses on audio-visual advantage of multimedia on the students’ English language learning. The study has followed a qualitative method to get an in-depth understanding of the impact of using multimedia in an English language classroom at tertiary level. For this purpose, the data have been collected from two different sources. Firstly, from students’ written response to  an open ended question as to their comparative experience of learning  lessons with and without multimedia facilities; and secondly, through  observation of English language classes at a private university of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The discussion of the study is limited to  the use of multimedia in English language classroom using cartoons, images and music with a view to enhance students’ skills in academic writing, critical analysis of image and critical appreciation of music. For this purpose, cartoons in English language, images from Google and music from You Tube have got focused discussion in this paper.

Research on language teaching and learning in Austria (2004–2009)

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Dalton-Puffer ◽  
Renate Faistauer ◽  
Eva Vetter
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Foreign Language Instruction ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
National Education ◽  
Learning And Teaching

This overview of six years of research on language learning and teaching in Austria covers a period of dynamic development in the field. While all the studies reviewed here illustrate research driven by a combination of local and global concerns and theoretical frameworks, some specific clusters of research interest emerge. The first of these focuses on issues connected with multilingualism in present-day society in terms of language policy, theory development and, importantly, the critical scrutiny of dominant discursive practices in connection with minority and migrant languages. In combination with this focus, there is a concern with German as a second or foreign language in a number of contexts. A second cluster concerns the area of language testing and assessment, which has gained political import due to changes in national education policy and the introduction of standardized tests. Finally, a third cluster of research concerns the diverse types of specialized language instruction, including the introduction of foreign language instruction from age six onwards, the rise of academic writing instruction, English-medium education and, as a final more general issue, the role of English as a dominant language in the canon of all foreign and second languages in Austria.

scholarly journals Online Open-Source Writing Aid as a Pedagogical Tool

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Beata Lewis Sevcikova
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
College Level ◽  
Writing Evaluation ◽  
Automated Writing Evaluation ◽  
Online Tools ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Automated Feedback

The present research offers an assessment of the online open source tools used in the L2 academic writing, teaching, and learning environment. As fairly little research has been conducted on how to best use online automated proofreaders for educational purposes, the objective of this study is to examine the potential of such online tools. Unlike most studies focusing on Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE), this research concentrates only on the online, open-source writing aide, grammar, spelling and writing style improvement tools available either for free or as paid versions. The accessibility and ability to check language mistakes in academic writings such as college-level essays in real time motivates both, teachers and students. The findings of this empirical-based study indicate that despite some bias, computerized feedback facilitates language learning, assists in improving the quality of writing, and increases student confidence and motivation. The current study can help with the understanding of students’ needs in writing, as well as in their perception of automated feedback.

scholarly journals Advancing Academic Writing in a Mobile Skype-Based Blended Model

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Jafar Asgari Arani
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
Past Experience ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Course Delivery ◽  
Academic English ◽  
English Writing ◽  
The Media ◽  
Supporting Tool

<p class="Default"><strong>Background</strong>: Web media like Skype, Twitter, WhatsApp, and SMS not only make it viable to deliver, receive and share educational information, but to simplify communication with other people in various skills such as writing, link sharing, and voice or video files. There are three areas addressed to direct the plan and implementation of this survey as main objectives:</p><p>the faculty members' feelings and impression on applying Skype site as a media to teaching and learning academic writing process, the weak and strong points of the Skype site application during the teaching and learning academic writing, and the faculty members' perceptions toward using Skype site as a supporting tool for course delivery based on selected variables: year of teaching, past experience with Skype, and their specialization.</p><p align="left"> </p><p><strong>Method &amp;Material:</strong> The sample consisted of 70 faculty members of Kashan University of Medical sciences, all having problems writing English well by using selective sampling. The study was a descriptive quantitative-qualitative research which a general survey model was used in. The survey questionnaires consist of 30 statements, which were devised in five categories based on Premise Base and Conducive Assumptions to clarify the Skype-based educational utilities and application. The interview item was also applied to explore if the participants affirmed the media-based approach augments their learning of academic English writing process or not.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Finding:</strong> Results related faculty members' perceptions toward using Skype site as a supporting tool for course delivery based on selected variables: their specialization, year of teaching, and past experience with Skype explored that there were no statistically significant differences at (α = 0.05) in the use of Skype units due to faculty members majors. There are statistically significant differences at (α = 0.05) in the use of Skype units due to the year of teaching variable, in favors of, the third and fourth year faculty members. The result also, revealed that there are statistically significant differences at (α = 0.05) in the use of Skype units due to the past experience with Skype variable, in favors of faculty members with no Skype use experience. Also, the calculated mean and Standard Deviations in six areas each having five statements arranged from the highest to the lowest ranking indicate the participants' impressions to Skype-based blended model in teaching academic writing.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Skype media as an educational media is a beneficial medium to be applied to deliver academic writing materials and support learning. Faculty members not having enough time to participate in classes feel comfortable with the use of the Skype-based methodology in academic writing. They participating in the course expressed their acceptance of this media in learning academic writing.  Skype-based teaching could become a very effective educational medium for learning academic English writing.</p>

scholarly journals Unveiling the Scoring Validity of Two Chinese Automated Writing Evaluation Systems: A Quantitative Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Jian Wang ◽  
Lifang Bai
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
College English ◽  
Writing Evaluation ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Automated Writing Evaluation ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
English Writing Instruction

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has been a burgeoning industry in China, one case in point being the extensive employment of Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) systems in college English writing instruction to reduce teachers’ workload. Nonetheless, what warrants a special mention is that most teachers include automatic scores in the formative evaluation of relevant courses with scant attention to the scoring efficacy of these systems (Bai & Wang, 2018; Wang & Zhang, 2020). To have a clearer picture of the scoring validity of two commercially available Chinese AWE systems (Pigai and iWrite), the present study sampled 486 timed CET-4 (College English Test Band-4) essays produced by second-year non-English majors from 8 intact classes. Data comprising the maximum score difference, agreement rate, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Cohen’s Kappa were collected to showcase human-machine and machine-machine congruence. Quantitative linguistic features of the sample essays, including accuracy, lexical and syntactic complexity, and discourse features, were also gleaned to investigate the differences (or similarities) in construct representation valued by both systems and human raters. Results show that (1) Pigai and iWrite largely agreed with each other but differed a lot from human raters in essay scoring; (2) high-human-score essays were prone to be assigned low machine scores; (3) machines relied heavily on the quantifiable features, which, however, had limited impacts on human raters.

scholarly journals EFL Learners’ Development of Voice In Academic Writing: Lexical bundles, Boosters/Hedges and Stance-taking Strategies

2018 ◽  
pp. 96-124
Author(s):  
Christian Christian Fallas Escobar ◽  
Lindsay Chaves Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Composition Courses ◽  
Student Surveys ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Efl Composition ◽  
Authorial Voice

In EFL composition courses, teaching and learning normally orbit around norms of unity, coherence, support, and sentence skills that L2 learners are expected to comply with, at the expense of opportunities to develop voice. Against this backdrop, we resolved to examine the extent to which students’ exposure to and practice with lexical bundles, boosters/hedges and stance-taking strategies allows them to build a stronger discoursal and authorial voice as future academic writers. Evaluation of the students’ works revealed their level of success in this endeavor and analysis of student surveys unveiled the tensions and struggles they faced along the way. At the end of this paper, we advocate for academic writing courses to be transformed into spaces where students not only come to terms with the basic norms they have to conform to, but also build a discoursal and authorial voice as L2 writers.

scholarly journals Contando estórias para pesquisar: autoetnografia e implicações para o estudo de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (15) ◽  
pp. 326
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Calatrone Paiva
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Social ◽  
Crisis Of Representation ◽  
Qualitative Nature

Resumo: O presente artigo apresenta uma reflexão a respeito da abordagem metodológica de pesquisa denominada autoetnografia, descrevendo o local em que se insere no que diz respeito à sua natureza qualitativa e paradigma interpretativista, sua origem na crise de representação nas ciências sociais, suas denominações e definições, sua aplicabilidade para a investigação na área de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas, além de suas críticas e divergências. Além de expor tal trajetória e particularidades, o artigo apresenta em certos pontos de sua construção, a fim de familiarizar os leitores, características da abordagem em questão, como aspectos de escrita literária, redação em primeira pessoa e divisão de seções distintas daquelas esperadas em trabalhos acadêmicos tradicionais.Palavras-chave: Autoetnografia; Crise de Representação; Pós-Estruturalismo; Ensino-Aprendizagem de Línguas. Telling stories in order to research: autoethnography and its implications to the study of language learning and teachingAbstract: A reflection about the methodological research approach named autoethnography is presented in this paper, which describes its place in what refers to its qualitative nature and interpretivist paradigm, its origin in the crisis of representation in the social sciences, its different names and definitions, its applicability in the research area of language teaching and learning, and its criticisms and disagreements. Besides dealing with such trajectory and particularities, the paper features in its own construction some characteristics of the research approach such as literary writing aspects, first person writing, and sections separation uncommon to traditional academic writing aiming at familiarizing the reader with the approach.Keywords: Autoethnography; Crisis of Representation; Post-Structuralism; Language Learning and Teaching. 

A Survey Study of Chinese College Engineering Students’ Use of Metacognitive Strategies in English Writing

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Chen ◽  
Gengsheng Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Metacognitive Strategies ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Classroom Activities

Metacognitive strategy has been recognised as a crucial factor in language learning, and its role in English writing for Chinese learners still remains unknown. The present study investigates 215 Chinese college engineering students’ use of metacognitive strategies through employing research methods of questionnaire survey and writing proficiency test. According to the results, it is found that selective attention and self-monitoring are used in writing quite often, while planning and self-evaluation are seldom used. Besides, the differences in the use of metacognitive strategies between freshmen and sophomores are not statistically significant. It is also found that engineering students of higher writing proficiency tend to employ metacognitive strategies in academic writing more frequently and effectively than those with poor writing skills. It is eventually suggested that metacognitive strategies should be imparted to the students, and that the training of metacognitive strategies should be integrated into classroom activities of English writing teaching.

scholarly journals Exploring Writing Individually and Collaboratively Using Google Docs in EFL Contexts

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jawaher Alsubaie ◽  
Ali Ashuraidah
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Learning Tools ◽  
Google Docs ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
English Writing

Online teaching and learning became popular with the evolution of the World Wide Web now days. Implementing online learning tools within EFL contexts will help better address the multitude of teaching and learning styles. Difficulty in academic writing can be considered one of the common problems that students face in and outside their classrooms. Moreover, because the young learners today are digital native, integrating online learning tool with their learning is needed. This research was conducted to analyze students’ achievements by submitted tasks using both face-to-face setting for the pre individual and collaborative tasks, and online learning environment for the post individual and collaborative tasks. The participants in this study were a class of Arabic major from a college in Saudi Arabia. The research was searching for the differences between the students’ individual and collaborative work using Google Docs, and discerning the students’ perspectives toward collaborative work with Google Docs on English writing tasks. To explore the integration effectiveness; pre and post-questionnaires, pre and post written tasks, students’ portfolio, a customized rubric for test scores, and post interviews were conducted to test and analyze the outcomes. Results show significant increase in the students’ scores using Google Docs. Further, the results were consistent as that students perceived Google Docs as a useful tool for both individual and group work.

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