Collocations are of great importance for second language learners, and a learner’s knowledge of them plays a key role in producing language fluently (Nation, 2001: 323). In this article we describe and evaluate an innovative system that uses a Web-derived corpus and digital library software to produce a vast concordance and present it in a way that helps students use collocations more effectively in their writing. Instead of live search we use an off-line corpus of short sequences of words, along with their frequencies. They are preprocessed, filtered, and organized into a searchable digital library collection containing 380 million five-word sequences drawn from a vocabulary of 145,000 words. Although the phrases are short, learners can browse more extended contexts because the system automatically locates sample sentences that contain them, either on the Web or in the British National Corpus. Two evaluations were conducted: an expert user tested the system to see if it could generate suitable alternatives for given text fragments, and students used it for a particular exercise. Both suggest that, even within the constraints of a limited study, the system could and did help students improve their writing.

This paper critically examines the integration of online fanfiction practices into an advanced university English language classroom. The fanfiction project, The Blogging Hobbit, was carried out as part of a course in the teacher education program at a Swedish university for students who were specializing in teaching English at the secondary school level. Participants were 122 students who completed the course in 2013 and 2014. In both classes, students were organized into groups of three to six to write collaborative blog-based role-play fanfiction of a missing moment from JRR Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Hobbit. The 31 resulting pieces of collaborative fanfiction, the online formats they were published in, the 122 reflective essays produced by the two classes, and interviews with a focal group of participants were used to explore how technology and learners’ experience with this technology may have mediated the resulting stories. In addition, the classroom fanfiction texts were compared with comparable online writing published in the fanfiction site Archive of Our Own (Ao3) to identify thematic and stylistic differences. The results showed that students’ lack of familiarity with publishing in blogs often posed a challenge that some groups were able to overcome or exploit to facilitate or enhance the readability of their completed stories. Compared to online fanfiction, the classroom fanfiction was less innovative with respect to focal characters yet more collective in its focus, with stories being told from multiple characters’ perspectives.

A great deal of research has been carried out over the past two decades related to the effectiveness of computer-assisted teaching and learning. This large body of work, however, has not produced unequivocal findings, especially in the area of CALL. Our study takes a systematic look at what dedicated meta-research since 1991 might have contributed to this controversial field. Data was gathered from several hundred studies including ca 20,000 subjects. The paper highlights the benefits and limitations associated with this type of research, synthesizes findings and recommends models and strategies for future research in the context of an agreed research agenda. Our synthesis suggests consistent positive findings related to L1 spelling, writing and reading. While there is some support for this related to CALL per se, much work needs to be done before we might reach the levels of confidence enjoyed by some of the findings reported here.

In recent years, a considerably high number of research studies have looked into the use of virtual worlds (VWs) for language learning. A number of authors have hypothesised about the effects of anonymity when foreign language interactions are conducted via VWs. This study addresses the effect that the anonymity experienced in VW interaction may have on participants that present different affective profiles. The participants are 18 students (five male, 13 female) aged between 19 and 20 years old and registered in a Spanish undergraduate degree at the University of Roehampton (London). They were involved in four tandem oral interaction activities in the VW Second Life with a group of native Spanish students from the Universidad de Cádiz (Spain). A mixed-methods research design with quantitative and qualitative data was applied. Data were collected about the participants’ foreign language anxiety (FLA) levels, self-efficacy beliefs, and psychological profile (introvert/extrovert). Participants were also asked to answer three open-ended questions about how they felt during the interaction in the VW. The results obtained reveal a strong relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and the anonymity effect experienced by students, although no correlation was found between the participants’ FLA levels or personality profiles and their experience of the anonymity afforded by the VW.

In a poll (ReImagineEdu, 2016) looking at the digital profile of nearly 1,000 learners, it was reported that 78% of students worry about digital technologies distracting them from study. In attempting to contribute to this emerging debate (Aaron & Lipton, 2018), this article investigates the experiences, perceptions and awareness of undergraduate language learners (n = 215, over a 3-year period) of the distractive nature of technology and the discerned impact upon their own student language learning and performance. The study is based on data gathered from university language students engaged in a specific language technology module. The module, interalia, sought to develop awareness of the time spent online by participants while using a number of resources. A mixed-methods approach was employed to conduct this research where qualitative and quantitative data emerged respectively from individual student blogs, reflective reports of their blogging experiences, group interviews and questionnaires. Our outcomes reveal a severe lack of student awareness on the final amount of time they spent online, this being due to a number of factors. However, there is some awareness and perception on their part of how heavily disruptive technology can be for their language learning. Our final conclusions include several recommendations and propose a deictic critical digital literacy for dealing with such distractions – we are calling this a strategic agentive literacy.

This paper reports on one specific aspect of a study which investigated the learners’ use of the help facilities available within a program called ImPRESSions. Among those facilities, feedback was central to the design of the program and an important aspect of the research study. Little is known about how learners interact with feedback in CALL. This paper explains the design and implementation of the feedback features of the program, and tries to portray insights into how learners used these in four different sessions using ImPRESSions. Learners’ screen movements, observation and retrospection questions about the use of help facilities were recorded for later description and analysis. The results about the use of the feedback facility are presented and discussed from a qualitative perspective.

This study employed a narrative review and a meta-analysis to synthesize the literature on mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). Following a systematic retrieval of literature from 2008 to 2017, 17 studies with 22 effect sizes were included based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. By categorizing the characteristics of the studies retrieved, the narrative review revealed a detailed picture of MALL research in terms of the language aspects targeted, theoretical frameworks addressed, mobile technologies adopted, and multimedia components used. The qualitative review helped to contextualize and interpret the results found in the meta-analysis, which revealed a large effect for mobile technologies in language learning, identified three variables (i.e. type of activities, modality of delivery, and duration of treatment) that might influence the effectiveness of mobile technologies, and confirmed the existence of a redundancy effect and a novelty effect in MALL practice. Implications for future research and pedagogy are discussed.

Presenting a persuasive authorial stance is a major challenge for second language (L2) writers in writing academic research. Failure to present an effective authorial stance often results in poor evaluation, which compromises a writer's research potential. This study proposes a “textlinguistic” approach to advanced academic writing to complement a typical corpus approach that is oriented toward exploring lexico-grammatical patterns at the sentence level. A web-based stance corpus was developed which allowed the users to study both the linguistic realizations of stance at clause/sentence level and how stance meanings are made at the rhetorical move level. The assumptions the study tested included: (1) whether a textlinguistic approach assists L2 writers to polish their research argument particularly as a result of improved stance deployment, and (2) whether the web-based corpus tool affords a constructivist environment which prompts the learners to infer linguistic patterns to attain deeper understanding. Seven L2 doctoral students in the social sciences were recruited. The results indicate a positive relationship between writing performance and more accurate use of stance. However, the application of higher order cognitive skills (e.g., inferring and verifying) was infrequent in the corpus environment. Instead, the writers used more lower-level cognitive skills (e.g., making sense and exploring) to learn. The participants accessed the integrated “context examples” most frequently to guide their learning, followed by rhetorical “move examples” and clause-based “stance examples”. This suggests that the learning of stance is critically contingent on the surrounding contexts. Overall, the study reveals that effective authorial stance-taking plays a critical role in effective academic argument. To better assist L2 academic writers, incorporating more (con)textual examples in computer corpora tools is recommended.

This study adopts a case study approach to investigate the impacts of synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) learning environments on learners’ perception of social presence. The participants were twelve French as a foreign language (FFL) beginners in a Taiwanese university. Divided into three groups, they conducted some tasks in three different learning environments (video/audio, audio and face-to-face) during an academic semester. Before each oral task, all the participants had to conduct the same task in synchronous text chat. The participants’ interview transcriptions, learning journals and the instructor's observation journal provided information about the impacts of each environment on their perception of social presence. The results of the study suggested that the differences in the environments are reflected in the learners’ perception of social presence.

The basic tenet of constructivism is that learners construct their knowledge on their own by associating new with prior information. The significance of the learner’s interaction with his/her social and physical environment is here of great importance; the learner is at the center of the learning process while the tutor is seen as a facilitator, a guide. Considering the paradigm shift in education and language learning, the assumptions of the constructivist philosophy encourage the use of computers in second language acquisition. Computer technology is capable of providing the context for collaboration and social interaction in which learners will construct the knowledge of the target language on their own by being engaged in meaningful activities. Moreover, computers allow learners to interact not only with the learning materials but also with other people. The combination of the social and individual aspect is best expressed by social constructivism. Placing language learning in a socio-cognitive context, we will approach second language acquisition from a social constructivist perspective and indicate the value of such an approach for the design and evaluation of Computer Applications in Second Language Acquisition (CASLA). Firstly, an overview of constructivism as a theory of learning is required in order to make clear the basic assumptions of the constructivist theory. Secondly, the focus is placed on social constructivism which is examined in relation to second language acquisition. This in tandem exploration will lead us to provide a framework which integrates all four language skills in a general theoretical framework of social interaction and shows how social constructivism can promote second language acquisition. Finally, one type of on-line application such as WebQuest, which is best developed in project-driven language learning, will be provided as a potential example of good practice in approaching Computer Applications in Second Language Learning through a social constructivist perspective.

This case study explores how a Chinese-American novice teacher acted as mediator in a telecollaboration with student teacher (ST) peers in the USA who designed tasks for his English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in China. The novice teacher was instrumental in mediating the student teachers’ task design process by providing feedback regarding technological and institutional constraints, and the nuances of his target student population. He appropriated and adapted the tasks to make them relevant for his EFL learners. Against the backdrop of the three dimensions of professional capital – human, social, and decisional – the research questions explored how the novice teacher used the different types of knowledge of context (pedagogical, institutional, technical) in relation to task design, and his perception of his role as mediator. Within a sociocultural framework for telecollaboration studies, this exploratory case study shares characteristics of ethnography, action research, and narrative inquiry. Data triangulation included text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) data (Google Groups, emails), a narrative written by the novice teacher, and a semi-structured, reflective Skype interview with him. The findings indicate that he demonstrated high commitment, thorough preparation, continuous reflection, and development while navigating between his different roles of mediator, assessor, implementer, and field observer.

Rapid changes in language form and function occurring in digital environments present teachers and students of second languages alike with conundrums as to language and discourse standards. Factors affecting the changes that are emerging in digital English include the spatial and temporal possibilities and constraints of the medium, digital facilitation of case-creativity and iconic incorporation, and new social network configurations. This paper analyzes evolving changes in orthographic, syntactic, discourse and sociocultural conventions occurring in English and Chinese in digital environments, based on a small scale study conducted at York University in 2002–2003, noting trends across these languages as well as more limited, culturally and linguistically specific evolutions. The converging conventional changes occurring in these two major world languages suggest that similar transitions are happening generally in languages used for online communication, which has serious implications for second language instruction.

This paper reports on the impact of computer-mediated input, output and feedback on the development of second language (L2) word recognition from speech (WRS). A quasi-experimental pre-test/treatment/post-test research design was used involving three intact tertiary level English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Classes were either assigned to a control group (n=31) or to one of two alternative treatment levels which used a web-based computer application enabling self-determined opportunities to repeatedly listen to and reconstruct spoken target text into its written form. Treatment group one (n=30) received text feedback after each of their efforts at target text reconstruction, whereas treatment group two (n=35) did not. Results indicated that word recognition gain scores of those who used the application, regardless of treatment level, were significantly higher than those of the control group. The relationship between the quantity of self-determined exposure to input and word recognition improvements was moderate but not linear, with those choosing moderate levels of speech input deriving the greatest measurable improvement. Neither increased levels of modified output nor the provision of text feedback were associated with significant improvements in word recognition gain scores. Implications for computer-mediated approaches for the development of L2 WRS are described and areas for future empirical research are suggested.

Creating collaborative working and learning experiences has long been at the forefront of computer-assisted language learning research. It is in this context that, in recent years, the integration of social networking sites and Web 2.0 in learning settings has surged, generating new opportunities to establish and explore virtual communities of practice (VCoPs). However, despite the number of studies on the concept, research remains inconclusive on how learners develop a sense of community in a VCoP, and what effect this may have on interaction and learning. This research project proposes to use social network analysis, part of graph theory, to explore the configuration of a set of VCoPs, and presents an empirical approach to determine how interaction in such communities takes shape. The present paper studies the concept of “community” in two VCoPs on Facebook. Participants (Group 1: N = 123, Group 2: N = 34) in both VCoPs are enrolled in English as a foreign language courses at two Belgian institutions of higher education. Social network analysis is used to show how both learner groups establish and develop a network of peers, and how different participants in those groups adopt different roles. Participation matrices reveal that interaction mainly revolves around a number of active key figures and that certain factors such as the incorporation of online and offline assignments and the inclusion of a teacher online result in varying levels of success when establishing collaborative dialogue within the VCoPs. Recommendations are formulated to inform and improve future practice.

In light of the growing popularity of the use of computer management systems (CMSs) in higher education today, this study critically evaluates CMS adoption through a content-specific lens. By employing a mixed-method approach, the study examines college teachers’ and students’ experiences and perceptions of CMS adoption for language learning and teaching purposes. The findings show that despite the users’ perceived advantages of using CMSs in language courses, the systems’ lack of content-area specificity undermines many of the potential benefits. The study calls for better-rounded professional training to assist language teachers in integrating CMS functions strategically into their disciplinary pedagogy and incorporating multimedia language resources selectively to maximize the benefit of CMSs. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate the importance of developing content-specific CMSs with functions tailored toward pedagogical needs in different contexts.

This paper focuses on quality assurance in language massive open online courses (LMOOCs). It is a qualitative study that adopts the grounded theory method and analyses evaluative comments on the quality of LMOOCs from learners’ perspectives. With the data collected from 1,000 evaluations from English as a second language (ESL) learners on China’s biggest MOOC platform “iCourse”, this study examines what has influenced learners’ perceptions of LMOOCs and identifies the specific quality criteria of five types of them, including ESL courses for speaking, reading, writing, cultural studies, and integrated skills. The results of the study will lay a foundation for the establishment of a quality criteria framework for LMOOCs and provide insights into design principles for effective online language courses tailored to the diverse needs of a massive number of language learners.

This meta-analysis examines the effectiveness of technology-assisted second language (L2) vocabulary learning as well as identifies factors that may play a role in their effectiveness. We found 34 studies with 2,511 participants yielding 49 separate effect sizes. Following the procedure developed by Hunter and Schmidt (2004), we corrected for sample size bias and measurement error. The overall effect size for using technology to learn L2 vocabulary was d = 0.64, which is a moderate effect size. The Q statistic indicated a significant variability in effect size, so we followed up with a theory-driven moderator analysis. The results of the moderator analysis revealed that learners benefited more from technology-assisted L2 vocabulary learning with incidental instruction than with intentional instruction; types of assessment were not significant moderators of the effect on technology-assisted L2 vocabulary learning; technology-assisted L2 vocabulary learning is more effective when the target language is close to the learner’s first language; college students benefited more from technology-assisted L2 vocabulary learning than K–12 students; and, finally, mobile-assisted L2 vocabulary learning was more effective than computer-assisted L2 vocabulary learning.

Success and failure in language learning are partly determined by the learners’ ability to regulate their emotions. Negative feelings are more likely to frustrate progress, while positive ones make the task of learning a second language (L2) a more effective experience. To date no significant body of research has been carried out into the role of anxiety in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The present study adopts discursive psychology (DP) as its methodological approach to examine anxiety not as a psychological state, but as a social construct in the context of an audiographic conferencing tool. After interviewing a sample of learners of Spanish at the Open University (OU), our findings reveal a strong connection between emotion and learner beliefs.

Prior research on pre-task planning examines its effects on the quality of second language (L2) learners’ planned output. Planning mitigates the cognitive overload placed upon L2 learners’ oral performance, thus improving language production. Despite the pedagogical benefits, studies on pre-task planning on L2 learners’ oral output are conducted mostly in a lab or class setting. Whether or not similar effects of pre-task planning can be evidenced in three-dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), such as Second Life (SL), is still less explored. Hence, this study investigates whether pre-task planning could enhance the quality and quantity of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ task-oriented, voice-based outcomes in SL. Nine EFL learners worldwide participated in this 10-session virtual class. Data were collected through students’ oral presentations in performing real-life simulated tasks related to their home cultures and interests. Yuan and Ellis’s (2003) framework of T-units measures was adopted to analyze their linguistic performance measured by complexity and accuracy. Results indicated that EFL learners showed statistically significant improvement on grammatical complexity on the levels of syntactic complexity and variety (but not on lexical variety) and on linguistic accuracy across all measured levels (error-free clauses/T-units/verb forms). It is suggested that pre-task planning can be seeded in task-based instruction either in a classroom-based or 3D MUVE setting to optimize the quality of learners’ linguistic performance. Tasks that are real-world oriented and targeting learners’ cultural repertoires and world knowledge also positively impact their virtual learning experiences. These significant implications add new research and pedagogical dimensions to the field of computer-assisted language learning.

The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of elementary-level English language learners towards web-based, multimedia-annotated grammar learning. WEBGRAM, a system designed to provide supplementary web-based grammar revision material, uses audio-visual aids to enrich the contextual presentation of grammar and allows learners to revise target grammatical structures using interactive exercises such as gap-filling, combo-box and drag-and-drop exercises. This study gathered quantitative data on learner satisfaction, attention and participation and qualitative data with regard to the material’s content, visual and instructional design, usability, practicality and effectiveness. The findings indicate that learners enjoyed using the material and developed a positive attitude towards the system.