Towards sustainable language learning in higher education – engagement through multimodal approaches

This project was conducted in a five credit course in English as a Foreign Language, which was a compulsory module in first year business administration studies. The data includes students’ learning diaries and a post-course online questionnaire (N=21). The data were analysed using a content analysis method. The results indicate that the students perceived the multimodal task design as enjoyable and students’ engagement was fostered by course design, teacher’s activity, student’s activity, and collaboration.

Assemblage theory: coping with complexity in technology enhanced language learning

Language classrooms are complex systems, but theory often simplifies these processes making researching effectiveness difficult. Assemblage theory – a theory of complexity in the social sciences – allows us to examine complexity in the language classroom. In this paper, I present an account of the language classroom that captures the complexity, subjectivity, and temporality of technology enhanced language learning.

Learners as teachers? An evaluation of peer interaction and correction in a German Language MOOC

The benefits of peer interaction, support, and feedback in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for Languages (LMOOCs) are well documented, but there has been little research on peer correction in MOOCs. Classroom-based research suggests that peer corrective feedback has significant potential for language development, but it also identifies a number of conditions for the feedback to be effective, notably a ‘positive classroom atmosphere’; this may be hard to achieve on a MOOC, with its diverse cohort and large number of participants. Our mixed-method study reveals participants’ conflicting expectations of learning from their peers on the one hand and actively contributing to their peers’ learning on the other. Most participants believe they are not competent to provide helpful corrective feedback, and some think that the expectation to correct creates unwanted pressure and hinders communication. This paper encourages MOOC educators to address the challenge of creating a culture of learning through meaningful interaction whilst also finding ways of exploiting the opportunities offered by constructive peer correction.

Affordances for cultural adjustment of international students learning Chinese as a second language in a mobile-assisted learning environment

The purpose of the study is to understand the mobile-assisted learning situation of international students in China from the perspective of cultural adjustment and explore the affordances for cultural adjustment of these students in this specific situation. This study investigated eight students learning Chinese as a second language in a university in Beijing and using mainly WeChat, a mobile technology. Qualitative methods were employed in this study. The researchers followed the students for three months (from September to November 2018) and collected all the online messages in the WeChat online group. Moreover, eight one-hour in-depth interviews with participants were conducted. Results showed that the characteristics of the international students’ cultural adjustment in the mobile learning environment are universality, consciousness and unconsciousness, and interactivity. In addition, three affordances were identified: resources on Chinese linguistic and cultural knowledge, ways to obtain social support, and ways to relieve stress. Finally, two suggestions for international students are proposed.

SimpleApprenant: a platform to improve French L2 learners’ knowledge of multiword expressions

We present SimpleApprenant, a platform aiming to improve French L2 learners’ knowledge of Multi Word Expressions (MWEs). SimpleApprenant integrates an MWE database annotated with the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) level and several Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools: a spelling checker, a parser, and a set of transformation rules. NLP tools and resources are used to build training and writing exercises to improve MWE knowledge and writing skills of French L2 learners. We present the user scenarios, the platform’s architecture, as well as the preliminary evaluation of its NLP tools.

Students’ perceptions about the use of digital badges in an online English terminology course: a three-year study

In e-learning environments, ‘digital badges’, often referred to as ‘micro-credentials’, are expected to function not only as valid indicators of learner’s accomplishments but also as useful tools for motivational and reward purposes (Clayton, 2012). In this study, we investigated students’ perceptions about the use of digital badges in an online terminology course we had developed (Iwata et al., 2017). We hypothesized that the badges which students earned for the course would not only function as an indicator of their achievement but also help enhance their learner autonomy. Through a three-year survey on students’ perceptions of their course of study in this course, we found that a large majority of students (88.3%) were satisfied with their study through this course and that most of the students (69.7%) found the use of badges helpful in confirming their course achievements. The results also showed that two-thirds of them (64.3%) found that earning badges helped motivate them toward further autonomous study. These findings indicate that the use of digital badges can provide students with opportunities to enhance their learner autonomy.

Asynchronous online peer judgments of intelligibility: simple task, complex factors

Pronunciation learners can benefit from peer feedback in a Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) environment that allows them to notice segmentals and suprasegmentals. This paper explores the intelligibility judgments of same-L1 peers using P-Check (Version2, https://ver2.jp), a Learning Management System (LMS) plug-in that aggregates peer feedback on local intelligibility (Munro & Derwing, 2015). P-Check randomly delivers written prompts for learners to record. Recordings are randomly delivered to peers who choose from a drop-down menu which utterance was perceived. Aggregated judgments from peers and from the instructor are displayed to learners as feedback on intelligibility. This study used eight segmental contrasts: /b-v/, /s-θ/, /l-ɹ/, /l-ɹ/-clusters, /æ-ʌ/, /ɑ-ʌ/, /ɑ-oʊ/, and /i-ɪ/. Participants (N=38) made 3,451 intelligibility judgments on 1,203 recordings. The effects of rater listening discrimination proficiency and of utterance intelligibility were examined in six contrasts using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE). Results showed that intelligibility was generally a significant predictor of judgment accuracy, but rater listening discrimination proficiency was not.

How EFL learners react to a learning framework integrating learning records on multiple systems

This paper reports on the learning framework integrating a web e-portfolio and two mobile applications. It also reports on a preliminary study on how learners used different systems or materials to study for vocabulary tests in a particular general English course at a Japanese university, and how they recognized the usefulness of each system and material. Participants were 66 Japanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students from two intact classes who completed a questionnaire survey at the end of the course. The results of the survey revealed that, although the participants generally evaluated the usefulness of the different systems and materials in a similar way, one of the mobile applications was most often used to prepare for the in-class vocabulary tests followed by the e-portfolio and the wordlist.

ReDesigning intercultural exchanges through the use of augmented reality

While the debate on breakthrough technologies has focused on inept, dexterous, and socially transforming technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants and robot dexterity, in second/foreign language learning, particular emphasis is placed on AI, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). This study takes a closer look at the role of three newly developed AR applications in promoting a better understanding of complex concepts such as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), strategies in dealing with disruptive students, and an immigrant’s perspective in moving to a foreign country with no knowledge of the language(s) spoken in that country. The AR applications were developed and implemented during intercultural exchanges among students enrolled in academic institutions in the UK and Cyprus. The aim was to develop AR applications that were geared toward the learning needs of future language teachers and examine what students could achieve through the use of these applications during goal-driven tasks and activities.

Second language learning in knowledge forums: an analysis of L2 acquisition of students participating in the knowledge building international project

This study presents the results of an experiment designed to determine whether knowledge building can facilitate foreign language acquisition. We examined how groups of Catalan students in secondary schools worked together on collaborative writing tasks in English, their foreign language. The students were participating in the Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP), which is based on the concept that students can learn while working together in computer-assisted learning environments. The quantitative data was collected through a pre-test and post-test. The pre- and post-tests were divided into four sections, which were grammar, vocabulary, long answer, and multiple-choice. The results show an increase overall in the performance of the foreign language, English. In particular, the analysis determined that the comprehension of the subject matter and writing abilities in the L2 showed an increase at high confidence levels, however, there are challenges in determining whether the students have acquired new vocabulary or developed a better understanding of grammatical rules, since it is difficult to predict which words and sentence structures they will use when participating in this project.