RELC Journal

Situated in the domain of Global Englishes research, this study explores a question of how far the issue of the English model for Japanese learners is complicated by the hierarchical coexistence of regular English courses taught by Anglophone English teachers and extracurricular online English lessons taught by non-Anglophone instructors. A questionnaire survey was administered to 100 Japanese English learners aged 18–34 who have taken such lessons. This study provides both hopeful and challenging suggestions for Global Englishes research and practice, that is, Japanese English learners’ favourable perceptions of Filipino teachers’ affordable and flexible lessons that, they believe, would not interfere with their subsequent or concurrent study of ‘real’ English taught by native Anglophone teachers. This study indicates future directions of research and practice regarding the legitimate positioning of in-class or online English classes taught by Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other non-native English-speaking teachers in East Asian English classrooms that remain bound by native English norms.

As English as a lingua franca (ELF) continues its global expansion, the need to deal with related pedagogical questions becomes more urgent. Although there have been some studies on ELF-aware students, there is also a need for inspiring ELF-aware teachers, especially at the pre-service stage so that they begin their professional lives with an ELF-aware mindset. The study reported here aimed to explore the views of a group of pre-service teachers (N = 24) after exposure to a variety of awareness-raising tasks. Data gathered by interviews and a questionnaire suggested that good ELF-aware teachers have seven main characteristics: they give less value to error correction and more to intelligibility, they respect linguistic and cultural identity, and they are open-minded, tolerant, willing to allow choice, and realistic about language use in the real world. These characteristics are exemplified and discussed, and recommendations are made for on-going development of the ELF-aware teacher.

In conventional written corrective feedback (WCF) practice, teachers spend an inordinate amount of time identifying every error in student writing. Research evidence suggests that such a comprehensive WCF approach is both undesirable and ineffective. Recent research has shown that focused WCF, where teachers respond to errors selectively, is a good practice since it is more manageable and less discouraging for students. Much of existing WCF research on focused WCF, however, has adopted the experimental or quasi-experimental design, involving a very small number of error categories, without paying attention to the real-life classroom conditions in which WCF takes place. To fill the research gap, the present study investigates how two secondary teachers select target language features for focused WCF and the issues that arise from their WCF practice. The paper provides pedagogical implications that contribute to our understanding of how teachers can go about selecting errors for focused WCF in authentic second language writing classrooms, as contrasted with experimental classrooms.

First-year composition courses must balance a range of writing instruction priorities including genre and audience awareness with language instruction, particularly for second-language writers. Despite the attested efficacy of dynamic written corrective feedback for language gains in intensive English programs, little research has investigated dynamic written corrective feedback in supporting language and discourse development among L2 first-year composition students. In the present study, pre- and post-test writing from 63 second-language first-year composition writers was analyzed for grammatical accuracy as well as lexical and syntactic complexity. Writers with dynamic written corrective feedback intervention (n = 30) failed to outperform a control group on nearly all measures, and in fact made significantly more verb errors and demonstrated significantly less syntactic complexity over time compared to the control group. Results suggest that while dynamic written corrective feedback is efficacious in some settings, it may be at cross purposes with other first-year composition discourse-based goals such as genre and audience awareness.

Although cooperative learning is a well-researched framework with many reports on its effective implementation in education, successful cooperative learning practice remains elusive in the classroom. The literature suggests certain elements of cooperative learning are key, but few studies have addressed their importance with respect to the dynamics of the learning activity and differences in individual learners’ attitudes. The objective of this study is to examine (1) whether learners’ perception of cooperative learning changes throughout a project, and (2) how differently individual learners perceive their activities with reference to the five elements (i.e. positive interdependence; face-to-face promotive interaction; individual accountability; social skills; group processing), and thereby to explore measures for successful implementation of cooperative learning. Analyses of a questionnaire survey and weekly journal entries revealed that there were dynamic changes in learners’ perception of cooperative learning in accordance with the shifts in phases of the project. The results also showed that there were significant differences in individual learners’ perceptions and that their engagement in cooperative learning could be affected by certain factors that were not weighed by the five elements. The results of this study can provide hints for better pedagogical interventions for teachers introducing cooperative learning into the classroom.

This study explores changes in willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) inside multilingual classrooms among short-term exchange students. Data were collected from eight Chinese exchange students studying in three universities in Canada and two instructors teaching in one of these universities through in-depth interviews. Qualitative content analysis was conducted and three patterns of WTC changes were found: positive, negative, and no apparent changes. Three main factors underlying these changes were identified, which include students’ perceptions of values in speaking up, sense of fitting in, and classroom environment. The two instructors from the host university provided positive comments and supportive suggestions regarding international students’ L2 WTC and oral participation in multilingual classrooms. This study highlights the importance of sustaining short-term exchange students’ L2 WTC through concerted efforts from students and teachers for maximizing the effectiveness of study abroad programs.

As an emerging technology, virtual reality (VR) is now being used in education, particularly with STEM-related learning. However, as with all pedagogical innovation, there is a lack of empirical research on the application of VR in situations where students are using it with their second language (L2) and existing studies generally rely on the use of non-immersive VR tools. This paper is one step in a process of understanding the affordances and constraints of a fully immersive VR system in facilitating language learning for English as a foreign language (EFL) nurses. The results of a small-scale study suggested that learners appreciated the different features of VR, which enhanced the integration of virtuality, reality, and mentality. In addition, mediating factors of this VR learning experience were discussed based on the data set. Informed by the current findings, the paper puts forward suggestions for designing VR-supported language learning, which hopefully sheds some light on the complex nature of the effective use of VR in learning.

To maximize the advantages of virtual learning, the present study highlights the potential for Internet meme design and creation in English language learning (ELL) courses as an innovative activity that raises student agency, increases multimodal literacy, inculcates intercultural communication, and teaches idiomatic expression. Memes resonate a multimodal feedback loop of popular culture. In the context of language education, multimodal literacy is a necessity for 21st-century education because the affordances of digital learning platforms present the world told alongside the world shown. While some studies feature the usefulness of memes in English as a foreign language (EFL) learning, none have underscored meme creation as a learning activity. To demonstrate the activity in situ, a vignette at two Korean universities features two instructors who ask their respective students (N = 49) to design one meme using an idiom discovered in their ELL materials from a prescribed list, then asks: 1) What common power relations and ideologies emerge in the multimodal discourse of the collected pool of student “idiomemes”? 2) What do the findings tell us about student attitudes and engagement with the activity? 3) What do the findings tell us about the importance of multimodal discourse in EFL learning? Using a multimodal critical discourse analysis of the student-created Internet memes, the findings reveal that students chose culturally familiar images to complete the assignment, suggesting that their engagement and understanding of multimodal, English discourse increases commensurately with content intuitive to their culture. The implications suggest that empowering students with a measure of agency in expressing culturally relevant, multimodal discourse in ELL course content increases their engagement in virtual classrooms. Designing idiomemes, as a virtual learning activity, is further explored as a curricular augmentation that increases the value of a student's language-learning investment.

The ‘multimodal turn’ has led many education systems around the world to incorporate aspects of multimodality into their language curriculum as a response to the contemporary communication environment and new literacy practices of students. In this article, we present and examine findings from a study of the enactment of multimodal pedagogies by two primary level English language teachers in Singapore. Classroom data were collected, transcribed, and analysed in this case study research. We observed eight lessons by two teachers where viewing and representing skills were taught and interviewed the teachers for their reflections on their experience. The lessons were coded in terms of the classroom practices, the knowledge focus, the types of knowledge representations present (conventional or constructed), as well as the source of the knowledge representation (i.e. whether the knowledge was teacher-constructed, student-constructed or jointly constructed by both). Our findings indicate that there was a good balance between teacher and student construction of knowledge. However, most of the knowledge represented in the lessons was factual and procedural rather than conceptual. This suggests that students had few opportunities to critically explore and challenge the knowledge taught and were not guided sufficiently to interrogate the knowledge represented. Representing skills also received less emphasis than viewing skills in the lessons. We discuss the implications of our observations on teachers’ professional learning and advance the argument on the need to pay more attention to multimodal pedagogies in literacy instruction given the incorporation of multimodality in the curricula.

This qualitative case study explores the interaction between Chinese college student writers’ voices and their teacher’s use of online materials during one semester-long writing course. It shows that, when acted upon selectively and critically, students’ voices can potentially improve their teacher’s use of online materials. This practice, in turn, can help students gain effective and necessary knowledge of writing. This study also shows that students’ interactions with their teacher seem to lead to bolder and enhanced narration of their voices on how to teach optimally through online materials.

The present study explores Moroccan science teachers’ perceptions of teaching science subjects through foreign languages, mainly French, in Moroccan secondary schools. Seventeen science and technology teachers have been interviewed and data were analysed following the grounded theory methodology. The researcher constructs hypotheses based on data collection and analysis following axial coding. The findings of the study reveal that although science teachers hold positive attitudes towards the change in the language of instruction, they do not agree with the way this new initiative is being implemented. According to them, neither teachers nor students have been prepared to cope with a foreign language as a medium of instruction. They think students’ low French proficiency is the major challenge in this new initiative. Hence, they admit to resorting to the mother tongue to facilitate students’ content learning. Also, they have expressed their dissatisfaction with the prioritization of French as a foreign language and as a language of instruction. Instead, they suggest preparing young generations to switch to English as a medium of instruction through introducing English as a first foreign language at the primary and middle schools instead of French. The study ends up with some implications to overcome the challenges of the new policy.

Over the years, we have been witnessing the burgeoning of interdisciplinary interest in the use of ideological discourses and enactment of representations through linguistic and semiotic choices in positioning, (re)constructing and expressing identities. In this picture, there is an evident paucity of research investigating the kinds of representations (e.g. discourses of identity and the notions of inclusivity and exclusivity) in domains other than academic writing and instructional materials (e.g. second language testing materials). Responding to this need, the current study investigates the representations of ideologies and discourses in the Yabancı Dil Sınavı (Foreign Language Exam, abbreviated as YDS) developed and administered by the Ölçme, Seçme ve Yerleştirme Merkezi (The Measuring, Selection, and Placement Centre, abbreviated as ÖSYM) in Turkey. The data set used in this study consists of a total of 880 multiple-choice questions that appeared in 11 YDS tests administered between 2014 and 2018. The analysis of our data set helped us acknowledge the complex and multi-layered nature of ideological discourses and representations of inclusivity/exclusivity embedded in language constructions and choices (the first-person plural pronoun we) and their manifestations (referents). Even though surface-level analyses indicated a seemingly artificial sense of inclusivity, deeper-level analyses portrayed a ‘safe zone’ demarcated by conceptual decisions (emotional topic effect) broader policy implications (tests as sociocultural artifacts). In conclusion, the findings indicated that informed by the ongoing sociocultural and sociopolitical context, the test and examination bodies (e.g. ÖSYM) have a defining role in establishing a local culture of testing.

This paper examines English teacher identity of Japanese “non-native” English-speaking teachers through a multi-layered analysis of discourses and identity. Informed by poststructuralist views of identity, it explores dominant discourses surrounding “non-native” English-speaking teachers by analyzing their portrayal in national English education policy in Japan. This analysis is combined with qualitative data analysis of interview accounts of five Japanese high school “non-native” English-speaking teachers, which allows for examination of the interrelation between dominant discourses and their teacher identities. The data analysis demonstrates how the policy documents portray “non-native” English-speaking teachers, framing them within two competing discourses: the discourse of teaching professionals vis-à-vis students and the discourse of “nonnative” teachers vis-à-vis imagined “native” speakers of English. This discursive portrayal corresponds to the “non-native” English-speaking teacher identity illuminated by narrative accounts from the participant teachers, manifesting the paradoxical and conflicting nature of teacher identity. The discussion concludes with implications and recommendations for English education policy design and teacher education with a heightened sensitivity to identity.

Many scholars and teachers in EFL education should agree that compared with reading and writing, listening has received much less attention. This brief article discusses important gaps existing in EFL listening and overall proficiency development. It presents the case for a greater focus on sounds and actual listening in the classroom and spoken input (SI) beyond the classroom. To facilitate the discussion, two modalities of listening, namely learning to listen and listening to learn are introduced. It is hoped that by shedding light on these substantive issues, EFL stakeholders will work towards fine-tuning listening pedagogical practices and facilitating learners' reception of more SI beyond the classroom, both of which will highly likely improve learners' listening skills, enhance their overall English proficiency, and lead to more positive EFL learning experiences.

This article explores the potential for using a modified dictogloss task to improve ESL learners' use of genre-appropriate conventions and genre-appropriate style in the context of genre-based instruction for writing. Dictogloss has been traditionally used to enhance learners' focus on lexical and grammatical features through discussions during the joint reconstruction of a text. The innovation of the current practice lies in its application to teach generic aspects specific to a particular text type, such as formatting, register, and organization. This practice is potentially important as it is a meaningful, productive task that raises learners' awareness of genre-related features of writing - an often-neglected but important aspect of learning to write. This practice was carried out in a secondary ESL classroom in Hong Kong, and the evaluation was based on an analysis of improvements in learners' genre-specific conventions and genre-specific style. Implications of this practice are discussed in terms of the possibilities for using model texts in dictogloss tasks within a genre-based approach to writing.

This innovations in practice article introduces a chatbot that was developed to support and motivate second language learners during the COVID-19 pandemic. The chatbot was designed to facilitate active, out-of-class language learning to supplement in-class input. It can adapt to learners’ abilities and pace by chatting with them, thus providing differentiated instruction. I describe the rationale for the development and implementation of the chatbot and its pedagogical implications. My aim is to motivate and assist chatbot developers and second language teachers in designing and implementing chatbots that will enhance motivation and independent learning in language students.

Developing learners’ intercultural communicative competence is considered to be one of the responsibilities of English language teaching professionals. This responsibility has become ever more challenging in today's globalized world, in which most intercultural communication occurs in English as a lingua franca (ELF) contexts, where a target culture often does not exist. To address this challenge, the current paper showcases an innovation that utilized practitioner-produced materials to teach intercultural communication in ELF settings as part of a General English course at a Taiwanese university. The project sought to achieve the dual purpose of raising the learners’ intercultural and ELF awareness by engaging them in a sequence of activities that involved experienced ELF users from various countries, from video-viewing and online forum discussions to face-to-face interactions. The effectiveness of the innovation was evaluated through questionnaires and participants’ written reflections on the activities, which indicated that the project was generally successful in both cultural and language attitude domains.

This paper provides a research synthesis of intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) – that is, cloud-based virtual assistants such as Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri – for second language (L2) learning. The article also offers a theoretical justification for the use of IPAs in language learning and outlines the affordances and constraints of the technology. Finally, the article proposes directions for future research on the topic of IPAs based on the aforementioned review of L2 literature. While research indicates that IPAs increase opportunities for meaningful communication in the target language, enhance speaking ability, and provide indirect pronunciation feedback, they also present some challenges for L2 learners – namely, IPAs struggle to reliably understand L2 speech, which may limit the usability of virtual assistants among heavily accented learners.

Decades of research have established that most English Language Teaching (ELT) contexts rely on textbooks and corresponding materials to drive the education process. Textbook analysis as a vital quality control check of these products has also become a popular trend in applied linguistics and second language (L2) research. In the main, ELT textbooks have been conceptualized in past literature as supporting target language proficiency attainment while also giving the teacher everything required to conduct a lesson. Textbook analysis has subsequently checked products’ utility and quality in relation to such proficiency development. Over time, the scope of textbook analyses has expanded to include issues such as cultural representations in these products to address how the products help students become better at English in a multicultural and globalized world. While teachers and researchers can reference numerous well-known books on these phenomena, a concise summary of how textbooks function within ELT contexts and the defining features of textbook analysis research appears to be lacking. This brief report meets this need and is useful to stakeholders in the ELT community, such as teachers and program managers, who might not have the time nor the resources to consult such extensive sources of information.

A growing empirical research base has contributed substantially to our understanding of pronunciation instruction. A contemporary perspective entails a balanced approach featuring both the teaching of segmentals (vowels and consonants) and suprasegmentals (stress, rhythm, and intonation) while favoring intelligible (i.e. clear) pronunciation as the pedagogical goal rather than the attainment of native-like pronunciation. Yet, the connection between neuroscience and pronunciation instruction has not been explored in depth so far. Thus, the aim of this article is to further the process of bringing insights from neuroscience into pronunciation teaching and learning. I first explore several interconnected neuroscientific principles that are relevant to pronunciation, including the social brain, emotions, movement, and touch, and then conclude the article by describing a ‘brain-friendly’ approach that reflects a number of those principles: haptic pronunciation instruction.

The spread of English as a global language has led to discussions and debates about English language teaching and whether language teacher education should prepare pre- and in-service teachers to teach English from the global Englishes (GE) perspective. This thematic review first addresses the need to move from traditional assumptions about native speakerism in language teaching and then links it to individual cognition in GE-informed teacher education. The review then presents cases of GE teacher education in various contexts and addresses challenges in and future directions for GE-aware teacher education. The implications for GE language teacher education from the perspectives of “looking inward,” “looking around,” and “looking forward” are discussed at the end of this review.

This report reviews studies on language teachers as materials developers in language education, particularly focusing on how language teachers act as materials users, materials analysts, and materials designers when engaging with language learning and teaching materials. We contend that the three dimensions of materials development – that is, materials use, materials analysis, and materials design – intersect with one another, and that language teachers play a critical role in all three. Therefore, this review concludes with a research agenda that centres on language teachers as materials developers to expand our understanding of their roles in materials development.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have contributed significantly to the advancement of society. In recent years, AI-powered writing assistants have received increasing attention among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) communities. However, most of these digital writing tools focus on the revision and editing stages. Few digital tools are developed to help users during the writing process, such as assisting users in formulating or translating their ideas into writing. Wordtune is an AI-powered writing assistant that understands the writer’s ideas and suggests options for rewriting them using different tones (e.g. casual, formal) and lengths (e.g. shorten, expand). This tool can help EFL writers maintain a continuous flow and learn useful ways to express their ideas in written English. This tech review aims to provide an overview of Wordtune and its affordance in English writing for EFL writers, while also addressing the benefits and limitations of this technology.