Exploring reader responses to young adult literature in the Malaysian English language classroom

This article presents the results of a study exploring the reader-responses of Malaysian young adults (YAs) to the literature texts used in Malaysian secondary schools, Dear Mr. Kilmer by Anne Schraff, Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford, and Sing to the Dawn by Minfong Ho. The study aimed to determine the extent to which the YAs found these texts engaging and relevant, and how they identified aspects of their own young adulthood in the novels. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods through questionnaires completed by 30 Malaysian YAs, semi-structured qualitative interviews with a sub-group of six participants, and their journal reflections. Using reader-response literary theory as the guiding framework, the data were analysed quantitatively through descriptive statistical analyses, and qualitatively through inductive thematic analysis, in order to examine the extent to which Malaysian YAs could identify with the main characters, themes, issues, or events in the novels and determine the relevance of the novels to their lives. The findings showed that the participants identified with the characters’ conflict between being true to one’s self and conforming to societal and gender expectations. The themes of standing up for one’s beliefs and right to education, combating social inequities, and family relationships were also relevant aspects that surfaced in responses towards the novels. This study provides recommendations for the selection of literary texts for the English language classroom that connect to the developmental phase of young adults and allow learners to see themselves reflected in what they read.

The Causes of Anxiety in Highly Anxious Students in Japanese Communicative EFL Classes

The purpose of this study was to identify the causes of speaking anxiety in highly anxious students, of which their teachers might not have been aware, and solutions to alleviate the problem. Sixteen students from a Japanese language-oriented university participated in an interview survey. The participants’ anxiety levels were measured using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire that included five items related to foreign language classroom anxiety. The results were compared to the results of interviews with their teachers, and interesting responses from the student interviews that their teachers did not raise were highlighted. The main causes of anxiety were an unpleasant classroom environment, peer pressure, and non-ideal class types. Students argued for several strategies to reduce the anxiety associated with speaking practice, increase their use of English, and improve their proficiency. To achieve these strategies, teachers need to take into account the opinions of students they did not previously focus on.

‘May I do something for you?’: The effects of audio-visual material (captioned and non-captioned) on EFL pragmatic learning

The present study deals with the effect of audio-visual material for second language (L2) pragmatic learning in the foreign language classroom. More specifically, it analyzes whether being exposed to captioned and non-captioned input in an experimental condition entailing no instruction on pragmatics might have any influence on the learners’ pragmatic performance. To this aim, two intact classes ( N = 31) of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a B1 level were exposed to videos with captions and without captions, respectively. Before and after watching the videos, all the students were asked to carry out a role-play task with situations like those in the videos. A mixed-methods approach was used to analyze the learners’ performance in terms of types and number of strategies to perform speech acts (quantitative) and in terms of pragmatic appropriateness (qualitative). Findings show that both groups used more polite strategies after watching the videos, regardless of the captioned/non-captioned condition, which seems to confirm the contribution of audio-visual material for the learning of the L2 pragmatics in an incidental way. Concerning pragmatic appropriateness, we found that learners in the captioned condition produced more pragmalinguistically appropriate role-plays than learners in the non-captioned condition, thus suggesting a positive effect of captioned material on the learning of the L2 pragmatics. Such results are discussed in relation to the few previous similar studies in the field.

Motivations to enrol in EMI programmes in China: an exploratory study

A recent interest in English Medium Instruction (EMI) has led to the flourishing of studies that examine motivation in EMI classrooms. Some of these studies tend to compare language learning motivation of students who are and are not enrolled in EMI programmes (see e.g. Doiz, Aintzane, David Lasagabaster & Juan Manuel Sierra. 2014. CLIL and motivation: The effect of individual and contextual variables. The Language Learning Journal 42(2). 209–224; Sylvén, Liss Kerstin & Amy S. Thompson. 2015. Language learning motivation and CLIL: Is there a connection? Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education 3(1). 28–50), showing that EMI learners are typically more motivated than their peers in non-EMI contexts. This has led to the common perception that learners enrol in EMI primarily to improve their English. Yet, there is a dearth of comprehensive studies exploring learners’ reasons behind their enrolment in EMI programmes and how these change throughout their studies. To address this gap, 247 university students from a range of universities across China filled in the questionnaire, which included scales pertaining to reasons for choosing an EMI programme. The data were analysed in SPSS. The results show that enhanced future job opportunities, opportunities for contact with an international community as well as potential gains in learning content and language specific vocabulary are the most strongly endorsed drivers that motivate EMI students to undertake their studies in English. They also tend to pursue their ideal visions of themselves as bilingual professionals and derive pleasure from EMI classes. To a lesser extent, students are motivated by what is expected of them and the actual pedagogy in the language classroom. Their motivation tends to stay stable over their years of study. However, the survey also revealed that not all students are equally motivated and resolved to continue with EMI studies. The findings highlight that, whereas students tend to be strongly motivated, there is a potential to improve the delivery of EMI courses.

“This Is the End.” A Case Study of a Japanese Learner’s Experience and Regulation of Anxiety

This study investigates the role of emotions in second language learning, in particular, that of anxiety. Research has shown that positive and negative emotions are interrelated and that negative emotions are negatively correlated with motivation. It is, therefore, important to investigate how learners regulate their emotions. In this case study, one learner was closely observed over a period of 13 years. This learner claims that he has been feeling strong anxiety while learning English, but also that his negative emotion was the source of motivation to proactively study the language. The research used three types of data: (a) language learning historical records, (b) in-depth interviews, and (c) two questionnaires: the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning questionnaire. The results reveal the intense experience of the learner’s emotions, as well as the significant shifts therein. It also unearths some of the sources of his emotional experiences and how he regulated these experiences. An important observation was the positive contribution that negative emotions had on some aspects of the participant’s learning.

Foreign Language Enjoyment and Classroom Anxiety of Chinese EFL Learners With Intermediate and Low English Proficiency

Driven by Positive Psychology, research on emotions in second language acquisition has moved from The Anxiety-Prevailing Phase to Positive and Negative Emotions Phase (Dewaele & Li, 2020). A growing number of scholars begin to study learners’ emotions from a more holistic perspective. The present study investigated the levels and sources of foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) of 231 Chinese EFL undergraduates with intermediate and low English proficiency. The study found moderate levels of both FLE and FLCA among participants. However, the level of FLE was much lower than the international and domestic samples, while the level of FLCA showed the opposite pattern. There was no significant gender difference emerged for FLE, while female participants reported more FLCA than their male counterparts. Moreover, no significant difference was found in the levels of both FLE and FLCA between intermediate and low English proficiency students. Qualitative data analysis confirmed that FLE was closely related to teacher factors while FLCA was more related to learners themselves. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications were provided for EFL teaching in China.

Saudi EFL Learners’ FLA: Levels, Causes, Gender, and Impact on Academic Performance

As a common psycholinguistic barrier that hinders EFL learning, Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) has become an important study area in EFL learning and teaching. This study investigated the level and causes of FLA among 69 first-year EFL learners at Bisha University in Saudi Arabia. The influence of gender on the level of FLA was also examined. Moreover, the study examined the impact of FLA on the participants' language achievement. The researchers utilized a modified version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel were used to analyse the data. The results showed that most learners typically had a moderate level of FLA caused by communication apprehension and fears related to negative feedback and language tests. The results also revealed that gender does not affect the level of FLA. In addition, the results indicated that high levels of FLA among learners had a significant impact on their performance. Based on these findings, this study provided recommendations for teachers to mitigate the causes of FLA.

Investigating Creativity in Online K-12 World Language Classrooms

This chapter outlines creativity in the world language classroom through the results of a mixed-methods study during the COVID-19 pandemic. While there has been a growing interest in creativity within education, little has been researched related to creative and uncreative factors in the language classroom, specifically in an online teaching context. For this reason, this research study explores creativity in the online world language K-12 classroom by examining teaching artifacts self-selected by K-12 language teachers, as well as interviews with interested participants. Findings suggest that creativity is multidimensional with creative factors overlapping within artifacts. Additionally, teachers have persisted throughout the pandemic to integrate creativity in order to engage students with the content in various ways, harness student attention, and give students choice. In addition, teachers have used various technologies to provide opportunities for students to work asynchronously and synchronously.

Foreign Language Anxiety and Individualism-Collectivism Culture: A Top-Down Approach for a Country/Regional-Level Analysis

This study explored how foreign language anxiety in class relates to individualism-collectivism culture. Additionally, to serve as a guideline for foreign language anxiety assessment, the study determined a normative score of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), which is well known and frequently applied for foreign language anxiety examination. After conducting a literature search identifying 106 studies in 35 countries/regions, a top-down approach was used to analyze aggregate FLCAS mean scores by country/region and examine relationships between the FLCAS score and the rating of individualism-collectivism cultural dimension from Hofstede’s cultural index. This relationship was significant for higher education institutions but insignificant for all institutions and for elementary to high schools. The FLCAS normative score was 94.82, slightly lower than the theoretical midpoint of 99. The findings have implications for educators, since university/college/graduate students in countries/regions with stronger collectivism had higher foreign language anxiety.