Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

A good-bye note

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A good-bye note from the outgoing editor-in-chief

Preface

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A Systematic Review of Second Language Acquisition from the Perspective of Complex Dynamic System Theory

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From the Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) point of view, second language development has unpredictable and non-linear patterns that vary from learner to learner. Keeping track of such dynamic development requires longitudinal studies with sufficient data points. The present systematic literature review attempts to present an overview on the previously conducted longitudinal studies that have investigated the development of second language subsystems from the CDST perspective. Starting from 1884 publications, the systematic searching strategy led to 45 articles which were examined in order to highlight the state of the art. The observations of the reviewed studies are conclusively supportive of the CDST principles in second language development. The synthesis of the findings of the papers will be presented and, finally, a multitude of suggestions for further research will be provided which can help future studies clarify the existing gaps that exist in the literature.

Contextualising the Hyflex Model of Instruction for Language Classes

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The paper discusses a possible, practical application of the hybrid flexible (hyflex) model of content delivery in a tertiary context. The model may as well be applied in foreign language instruction. It is the author’s belief that there are convincing reasons for employing digital competences and skills acquired over the last two years to enhance teaching and learning. AnMappropriate contextualisation of the hyflex model may further encourage the retention of theMalready attained competences and skills in the new normal. It may also allow to combine
the traditional, in-class instruction with the new, online interaction both synchronously and asynchronously. The possibility of hyflexing language courses can be a challenging, however responsible, prospect because the restoration of the education we used to know might not be easy. Although theoretical, the paper provides practical guidelines as well as offers a selection of online tools to contextualise the hyflex model in language teaching. The paper may also constitute a strong claim for the practical application of the hyflex model especially when combined with an in-depth analysis and research of the model in various educational
contexts. As the future is hard to envisage, various models and approaches might be taken into account so as to appropriately respond to the challenges and requirements education is likely to be confronted with.

Challenging but Rewarding Aspects of Telecollaboration: The Case of Virtual Israeli-Polish (VIP) Project

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Starting from the premise that implementing telecollaboration can be a challenging enterprise, it is assumed that such virtual exchanges bring positive outcomes. Despite rich body of research on telecollaboration, few studies to date have explored group dynamics in the context of online exchange. The current research examined an Israeli-Polish (N = 100) telecollaborative intercultural experience. The Israeli participants were students from a BEd program in informal education and Polish students from a BA program in translation. The
main purpose of the telecollaborative project was to develop English linguistic skills and intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997) of the students. However, the present study aimed to investigate how the group dynamics influenced the telecollaboration process and the project outcomes. The students engaged in the exchange of asynchronous video recordings (Vlogs), collaborative synchronous meetings on Zoom, and completed an on-line questionnaire. This paper outlines some of the challenges related to the international telecollaboration, including technological and institutional difficulties, context-specific demands, and some individual differences of the participants. Through “thematic analysis” (TA) (Braun & Clarke, 2012) the authors of the paper explored levels of “failed communication” (O’Dowd & Ritter, 2006) and how they impacted the ongoing development of the collaboration both technically and in terms of content and development of interaction skills to uncover certain themes that referred to learners’ and instructors’ challenges. The study concludes with pedagogical implications for more effective implementation of telecollaboration in higher education.

Reading, Discussing, and Sharing: Creation of a Vibrant Transnational Online Learning Community through the International Book Club

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The present paper reports on the findings from the first four years of an ongoing, longitudinal study which examines the experiences and perceptions of Polish college participants in the International Book Club, an extension of a campus common read program at an American university. More specifically, the paper examines participants’ experiences with the book, both inside and outside the classroom, and examines their opinions about the issues discussed in each year’s book selection, their attitudes toward that issue and whether or not their attitude toward the issue was changed through this experience, their attitudes toward public discussions and whether or not their attitude toward public discussions was changed through this experience, and whether or not reading the book and participating in the club helped to improve their English-speaking abilities. Quantitative data, in the form of a nine-statement survey, and qualitative data, in the form of a nine-question open-ended questionnaire, were collected and analyzed. While a great deal of the literature on common read programs has explored the experiences of participants within the North American context, there is a dearth
of research outside of that context, including the Polish context. The present study attempts to ameliorate this situation. The main findings from the study show that, overall, participants enjoyed the experience of reading the book and that participation in the program has been beneficial for them, including getting them to read more, to engage in discussions more, to think more deeply about more diverse topics and issues, and perhaps most importantly, to improve their English language abilities.

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety in Emergency Remote Instruction

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Although language anxiety is the most widely studied emotion in second language acquisition, the extent to which emergency remote teaching (ERT) provokes anxiety is still insufficiently understood. The present research fills this gap by analyzing variables affecting anxiety in the new mode of instruction, while also exploring apprehension-relieving pedagogical approaches. This qualitative study was conducted among 218 university students and data were obtained by an online questionnaire and a focus group interview. Additionally, an
online questionnaire was used to find out how teachers adapted their approaches to ensure student wellbeing in ERT. The findings reveal several factors affecting anxiety levels as well as pedagogical approaches that students find effective for anxiety reduction. On the whole, the study extends language anxiety research by looking closely at the variables affecting FLCA increase and decrease in a new, insufficiently explored mode of instruction.

Challenges of Learning in Second Language among South African School Learners with Developmental Language Disorder

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Language in education plays a critical role in effective teaching and learning worldwide. This study aimed to explore the challenges of learning in a second language among secondary school learners with developmental language disorder (DLD). The study also unveils strategies used by professionals to support learners and learners’ attitudes towards support. The study participants were learners (n = 12), teachers (n = 5), a speech Language therapist, and an educational psychologist. A qualitative research approach was utilised employing a case study as the research design. Data generation sources included non-participatory observations, interviews, and focus group discussions. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that learning in a second language as the medium of instruction posed challenges for learners with DLD. They struggled with comprehension, reading, and word recognition of learning content. Teachers indicated that they used strategies such as remedial lessons and giving learners more reading material to enhance their vocabulary and narrative skills. They also referred learners to other professionals for further assistance. Parental involvement is also encouraged in support of learners. However, one of the factors limiting learners’ support is learners’ attitudes. Learners’ attitudes towards support may be attributed to limited awareness of DLD. Hence, there is a need to raise awareness of DLD among the learners. An in-depth course on special education in secondary teacher training programmes is necessary to further equip teachers with strategies to enhance inclusive classrooms. The promotion of local languages as a medium of instruction must be highly prioritised, even at a secondary level of education.

Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Bi-/Multilingualism

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Nowadays, many children all over the world are raised with more than one native language. The aim of the present study was to investigate how parents/caregivers evaluate the language competences of children growing up with two or more languages from birth or from very early in life. The results indicate that the language skills of young bi-/multilinguals are generally perceived to be comparable to those of their monolingual peers, though they are typically asymmetrical. Cross-linguistic influence is a common phenomenon which does not raise parents’ concern. The outcomes also point to certain factors which may shape children’s language competences.

Probabilistic Analysis of English Dative Constructions in Academic Writings of English EFL Learners

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Grammatical patterns in learner writings are among the most investigated topics in second/foreign language acquisition, gaining particular momentum thanks to corpus studies. English dative constructions are among those for which comprehensive literature is also available, consisting of different perspectives to explain the linguistic phenomenon on various theoretical grounds. However, except for rare instances, the foci of interest have constantly been on comparing learner data to native speaker data, particularly in terms of frequency of use in the second/foreign language learning environment. Different from other studies, the current study investigated English dative alternation in learner data with a probabilistic point of view, scrutinizing 27 learner corpora of learners with different L1s. Results showed that differences in learners’ native languages had little added value to variations among learners. Moreover, a tendency similar to priming the verb ‘give’ in dative constructions was observed for the other variables in the construction.

Lexical Availability and Foreign Language Teaching: Main Contributions of a Growing Field

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Teaching vocabulary presents a significant challenge in foreign language instruction. This article discusses the advantages that the results obtained in studies on lexical availability offer for foreign language teaching. The methodology of lexical availability, which involves extracting vocabulary that is closely associated with specific lexical categories, was first developed in France in the 1950s, and since then, it has been predominantly used for teaching Spanish as a first language. More recently, in the past 15 years, it has also been employed for teaching Spanish as a foreign language. This article examines the origins and methodology of lexical availability, with a particular focus on two significant applications related to teaching Spanish as a foreign language. From a cognitive standpoint, the article discusses studies analysing the configuration of the mental lexicon using available vocabulary data. From a didactic perspective, the article explores how lexical availability can be used to improve the selection of vocabulary in teaching materials for Spanish as a foreign language.

Graphemic Awareness Development of Polish Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language

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Metalinguistic orthographic awareness plays a crucial role in the development of Chinese language proficiency: writing, reading, and learning new words. However, few studies have explored the topic using qualitative methods. The aim of this work is to explore how the perception of Chinese characters of Chinese foreign language learners changes along with their proficiency. The responses were collected from 43 Polish university students of Chinese with the use of a graphemic awareness test during which participants were to decide on correctness of presented pseudo-characters. The results of this study show that beginners focus first and foremost on correctness of the strokes, the intermediate learners’ attention shifts to character elements and their correct position, and the advanced learners analyze the characters taking into consideration both character elements and structure of characters. It is suggested that the overall rapid development of graphemic awareness in the study group might be due to the explicit instruction. The conclusion can be drawn that the described shift in learners’ perception is a result of them learning to direct their attention towards the critical orthographic aspects of the characters.

Factors Causing Overpassivisation of Unaccusative Verbs by Japanese Learners of English

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It has been reported that second language (L2) learners of English including Japanese learners of English (JLEs) overpassivise unaccusative verbs although it is a kind of intransitive verbs. In order to account for the phenomenon, several assumptions have been proposed. However, so far, it is unclear which assumption is the most effective for explaining the overpassivisation of unaccusatives. Thus, this study tries to examine which of the three factors, animacy of subjects, existence of conceptualizable agents, or telicity of verbs, the most strongly affects overpassivisation of unaccusative verbs by JLEs. In this study, we conducted two experiments to examine this question. Study 1 was conducted with 100 university JLEs to compare the effect of animacy of subjects with that of the existence of conceptualizable agents. As a result, it was found that the animacy of subjects more strongly affected the overpassivisation of unaccusatives than the existence of conceptualizable agents. We conducted Study 2 with 101 university JLEs to examine which of the two factors, the existence of conceptualizable agents or the degree of telicity, is more influential. The results showed that the former was influential, but the latter was less so on the overpassivisation of unaccusatives. From the results of the two experiments, we concluded that the animacy of subject is the strongest influential factor among the three. On the other hand, the telicity of verbs hardly influences any errors.

Investigating Critical Thinking in ELT Textbooks: A Systematic Literature Review of Textbook Evaluation Studies

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The pivotal role of critical thinking and its integration in English language education are synthesised through systematic literature reviews and meta-analysis studies in the areas of pedagogical interventions, teaching methods, and assessment methods. However, there is little evidence of systematic literature review on the integration of critical thinking into English language teaching materials such as textbooks. In this study, 41 empirical textbook evaluation studies published between 2010 and 2021 were reviewed from critical thinking perspective. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of English textbook evaluations on critical thinking integration, to identify critical thinking frameworks applied, and to look for possible research gaps among the studies. An extensive literature search was conducted by applying Xiao and Watson’s (2017) eight-step systematic literature review method. From a collection of 41 empirical studies, this review focuses on such four aspects as applied critical thinking frameworks, findings, recommendations, and the language levels and content areas of the textbooks studied. The results revealed that (1) Bloom’s Taxonomy and Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy were most frequently applied critical thinking frameworks, (2) integration of higher-order thinking skills in textbooks was less common than lower-order thinking skills, (3) textbook assessment occurred primarily at the middle and high school levels more than at other levels, and (4) methodological considerations regarding the reliability and validity of the coding process in textbook content analysis received little attention. This study contributes a synthesised literature background of English textbook evaluation with recommendations for
methodological improvements in future studies.