Analysis of a Japan-Philippines telecollaboration from a social realist perspective

This study applies social realist theory to the analysis of an ongoing online telecollaboration between Japanese undergraduate students in a classroom setting in Japan and Filipino teachers in an English conversation school in Cebu, the Philippines. The accepted goals of telecollaboration in an international context are the development of intercultural communication and linguistic skills. Analysis showed that, without guidance, the influence of Japanese educational policies on students, including a version of internationalisation known as kokusaika, can result in intracultural – rather than intercultural – communication. It is suggested that a focus on “small” – rather than “large” – culture may help address this issue in Japan, and improve intercultural and linguistic awareness.

Beyond frequency: evaluating the lexical demands of reading materials with open-access corpus tools

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the appropriateness of open-access reading materials for an intensive English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course, and to provide teachers with a set of criteria to select online texts systematically and efficiently. The Corpus for Veterinarians (VetCorpus) was compiled and analyzed using Lextutor corpus tools. Taking into account students’ vocabulary size, background knowledge, word frequency, proper nouns, compound words, and cognates, the VetCorpus was considered useful and appropriate for intermediate level students, but too difficult for elementary level students. Further lexical analysis showed that the VetCorpus also provides learners with opportunities to encounter technical and academic vocabulary.

The development of an online game-based simulation for the training of English language teachers in virtual environments

Virtual simulation training has gained in usage in various educational fields and offers the potential to support and reinforce learning goals when practical experience is not possible. Teaching practice experience in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom is critical, yet frequently unobtainable for students in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)/English Language Teaching (ELT) Masters programmes. This paper describes the design, development, and evaluation of a gamified simulation prototype, Virtual EFL Classroom, that was built to offer teaching practice opportunities to students in such programmes. Eleven Masters students enrolled in the ELT programme at Trinity College Dublin took part in this study. Findings indicate that participants enjoyed active experimentation in Virtual EFL Classroom and that it has the potential to enhance student-teachers’ decision-making skills, flexibility, and adaptability in planning and teaching learner-centred lessons.

Implementing online discussion forums based on principled approaches

For three months, Japanese university learners (N=40) utilized the YoTeach! application by Pedagogic and Active Learning Mobile Solutions (PALMS) Project, PolyU as a part of their English discussion class. Researchers re-purposed the application, which originally was designed to be an online classroom backchannel, as an asynchronous, pre-task activity so that learners could exchange ideas about homework topics (e.g. university life, foreign customs) for their discussion. Researchers chose a backchannel chat room rather than a discussion forum to accommodate the learners’ spoken interactions rather than formal discussion. To foster interactions, researchers implemented the YoTeach! application based on principles in the field of second language (L2) development and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) from Doughty and Long (2003) and Stockwell and Hubbard (2013). Using learners’ and researchers’ reflection journals, we consider ways we can connect and adapt the principles to our teaching context.

Individual versus collective digital storytelling in EFL education in terms of student perceptions

The purpose of this study was to explore students’ perceptions of individual and collective Digital Storytelling (DS). All participants were non-English major students in Japan. The study goal of the course was to acquire skills and knowledge to present ideas and messages effectively in English with the use of information communications and technology. Students in this study completed a single DS assignment under one of two different conditions; students adhering to the first condition created a digital story individually, whereas students who adhered to the second condition created a digital story collectively, in pairs or groups of three. While the analysis of the post assignment questionnaire showed that more than 90% of students under both conditions perceived the assignment positively, there are also some implications to consider for improving each approach.

The impact of using AI and VR with blended learning on English as a foreign language teaching

This study focuses on the use of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) smart speakers and smartphone applications for improving the English language skills of L1 Japanese undergraduates. An empirical investigation was carried out with 82 Japanese students. Participants were required to study a variety of online English programmes using AI speakers over an eight-month period. The results showed that students using AI speakers outperformed on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) a group of non-AI users, who instead exclusively used online materials. This research suggests integrating blended learning, including AI and Virtual Reality (VR), may be an effective way to improve the English proficiency of native Japanese.

Intelligent speaker is watching you: alleviation of L2 learners’ social anxiety

This study investigates the effectiveness of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) speaker as a device used for interactions in a foreign language (L2), and a tracking eye installed on the speaker to reduce L2 anxiety. L2 anxiety is an urgent issue since the anxiety derived from a fear of being judged, being negatively evaluated, or being rejected by others is hindering active L2 use. Our study hypothesizes that the question–response functions of the AI speakers would encourage L2 learners to input and output a considerable amount of L2 without the feeling of anxiety toward the speakers. We then asked eight Japanese undergraduates to conduct daily L2 interactions with the speakers in their homes for one month. The findings from pre-and post-listening tests, questionnaire surveys, and interviews revealed that intelligence speakers – Google Home (GH) – could enhance the learners’ L2 motivations, gave them positive impressions, and helped eradicate their anxiety toward L2 interactions.

Enhancing primary students’ vocabulary learning motivation and outcomes using the mobile user-generated-content tool

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a mobile User-Generated-Content (m-UGC) tool on enhancing primary students’ vocabulary learning motivation and learning outcomes. A total of 40 primary students in Hong Kong participated in this study. The results showed using the m-UGC tool could increase primary students’ learning motivation and significantly improve their vocabulary learning.

Crowdsourcing for widening participation and learning opportunities: a view from language learners’ window

Online crowdsourcing sites/platforms have become popular in recent years. This study aims to uncover when, where, and how language learners in Turkey (TUR), Poland (POL), Macedonia (MAC), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) make use of the available crowdsourcing websites/games to learn foreign languages. To ensure parallelism among the data collected in the four countries, a cross-culturally appropriate online questionnaire in English comprised of two parts was designed for this study. Part one gathered information about the use of crowdsourcing sites, tools, and games, while part two elicited background information related to the participants (N=211). The data were analysed considering country- and context-specific variables. The results show that there are more similarities than differences in the ways informants in the studied countries perceive, and employ crowdsourcing resources to learn languages. Therefore, the findings might provide insights for experts, material developers and teacher trainers striving to create cross-culturally valid crowdsourcing platforms/games.

Providing quantitative data with AI Mobile COLT to support the reflection process in language teaching and pre-service teacher training: a discussion

Mobile COLT is a portable platform for analysis of activities in the second language classroom, and is based on the well-known Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching (COLT) scheme (Spada & Fröhlich, 1995). It has been developed to facilitate real-time class analysis using a Windows tablet. This paper first describes the COLT analysis scheme, and expounds on the functions of Mobile COLT, its application in classroom practices, and the development of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) version (AI Mobile COLT). It also briefly reports on two studies carried out in Japan to examine how the use of Mobile COLT can further promote language teaching development. Then, the paper briefly describes a collaborative project initiated by the authors to explore how the AI Mobile COLT system can be combined with an ePortfolio platform in Moodle to provide quantitative data built on an evidence-based framework.