Teaching English as a Second Language

Given that reformulation is an integral component of scientific texts in which the explanation of terms and ideas is prevalent (Candel, 1984; Thoiron & Bejoint, 1991), this study aims at examining the form, frequency, and function of reformulation markers in three sub-corpora, namely, L1 English, L2 English, and L1 Persian research articles of psychology. The study is based on a corpus of 60 research articles amounting to a total size of 1,105,433 words. Drawing on the list of reformulation markers provided in Hyland (2005) in the case of English sub-corpora and a list of Persian reformulation markers prepared by three experts in the Persian language, we searched the corpus automatically for all the instances of reformulation markers. In the next step, all the instances were examined in their textual context in order to identify their function. The results indicated that L1 English sub-corpus contains the highest frequency of reformulation markers followed by L2 English and finally L1 Persian. There were also differences with regard to forms and functions, as well as parenthetical uses of reformulation markers across the three sub-corpora, specifically between L1 English and L1 Persian, suggesting the existence of intercultural variation in the use of reformulation. Besides, Iranian researchers writing in L2 English tend to adapt their writing style to the norms and conventions of English at least as far as reformulation is concerned. The study concludes with some implications for EAP writing and teaching.

It is widely acknowledged that collocations play a crucial role in second or foreign language learning by enabling learners to know more about language chunks and lexical strings. Although many studies have examined L2 learners’ collocational competence, comparatively less research has been carried out to probe into the effective instruction and exercises for enhancing the acquisition, retention, and production of lexical (e.g. make a mistake ) vs. grammatical ( on purpose ) collocations. Therefore, the present study attempted to explore the effect of L2 definitions, fill-in-the-blanks, and sentence writing exercises on the acquisition, retention, and production of lexical vs. grammatical collocations. The data were collected from 66 EFL participants who were studying English at a private language institute. First, an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was given to homogenize the learners. Then, the participants were divided into three groups, each receiving one of the three different types of exercises including definitions, fill-in-the-blanks, and sentence writing exercises. Data analysis using multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) indicated that learners who received the sentence writing treatment significantly outperformed those learners who received definition and fill-in-the-blank exercises in the acquisition, retention, and production of lexical vs. grammatical collocations. Moreover, fill-in-the-blanks could help the participants learn, retain, and remember both types of collocations significantly better than the L2 definitions. These findings have some pedagogical implications for learning and teaching lexical and grammatical collocations.

Television can be considered a rich, helpful, and valuable source to expose L2 learners to huge amounts of comprehensible input so that they can improve their L2 knowledge and, in particular, their L2 vocabulary knowledge. This study aimed to discover how effective sustainable and extensive TV viewing can be in L2 vocabulary learning, considering the language of the on-screen text (L1 or L2) and instruction type (preteaching L2 items or not). Eighty L2 learners (58 female and 22 male), who had an intermediate English proficiency and were divided into four groups, participated in the intervention over an academic term in a language institute. Participants viewed 14 episodes of a TV series under four experimental conditions: (1) captions and preteaching, (2) captions without preteaching, (3) subtitles and preteaching, and (4) subtitles without preteaching. A pre/posttest design to examine the gains regarding both L2 vocabulary meaning and form was adopted. Results suggested that extensive exposure to TV series positively affected the participants’ L2 vocabulary learning, both in terms of meaning and form. Participants exposed to L2 captions outperformed those who had received L1 subtitles, concerning both L2 vocabulary meaning and form. Finally, the analyses showed that, overall, the groups that had undergone preteaching performed better, regardless of the language of the on-screen texts.

One of the most important needs in learning a second or foreign language is vocabulary acquisition. Certainly, failure to keep vocabulary in mind is a problem for both typically-developing learners as well as those with a learning disability (LD). This language demand requires teachers to use techniques in order to reinforce vocabulary recall. The current study is an attempt to investigate the effect of two post-teaching vocabulary learning techniques of diglot-weave and cooperative learning on vocabulary knowledge of LD students and to compare them with the common instruction of picture-word definition. To this end, 90 Iranian female LD students from 10 intact classes in two Junior Exceptional Schools in Shiraz were randomly assigned to one of the three groups. After the intensive teaching sessions, the test was administered to examine their vocabulary recall performance in each group and after a two-week interval, the same test was used to examine their vocabulary retention. The results by conducting the one-way ANOVA indicated that both experimental groups of diglot-weave and cooperative learning techniques outperformed the control group of picture-definition in the vocabulary recall and retention tests. However, there was no significant difference between the performance of diglot-weave and cooperative learning groups. Therefore, the findings of the present study could provide useful implications for foreign language teaching programs particularly in Special Education and students with LD.

Corrective feedback (CF) as a multifaceted practice needs to be explored from different perspectives. Achieving relative consensus among language teachers and experts in a particular context on the most effective CF strategy for monolingual and bilingual language learners appears to be understudied. As such, a fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) model was applied to accommodate varied and conflicting opinions in ranking the effect of three corrective feedback strategies including mid-focused oral metalinguistic CF, written metalinguistic CF, and oral/written metalinguistic CF. To this end, 79 monolingual Persians and 79 bilingual Turkmens aged between 13 and 18 from two language institutes in Golestan Province of Iran participated in the study comprising three experimental and one control group each. The experimental groups were provided with CF strategies on their most recurrent grammatical errors detected through pretests while the control groups received none. The results of the fuzzy TOPSIS approach ranked oral/written metalinguistic CF and oral metalinguistic CF as the best strategies for monolingual Persians and bilingual Turkmens respectively. The fuzzy TOPSIS approach provided experts with the opportunity to include their opinions on the weight of criteria and the impact of CF strategies towards enhancing the experts’ agreement on the issue. It was shown that a single CF strategy might not be appropriate for all EFL learners in different contexts. The approach also provided a framework for soliciting wider participation of the experts when conditions favor the application of multi-criteria decision-making methods, or speedier assessments are required.

What is “the best method” of language teaching? It has been one of the oldest questions of language teaching and learning during the last century. However, no comprehensive quantitative study has tackled the issue. In order to answer this question, the researchers meta-analyzed 56 studies with 7960 participants from many contexts. A coding scheme of 46 variables, in the form of four major moderator sets, including design characteristics, language characteristics, participant characteristics, and teaching characteristics, was developed. The overall effect size (g= 1.00) was found to be positive, strong, and significant for all language teaching methods. The findings showed that all language teaching methods, irrespective of various contexts, were positively effective. The results of moderator analysis showed that most of the moderators, excluding language skills and place of the study, had no significant effect on language teaching methods. Implications for current theory and practice, for both method and postmethod, are discussed.