Mentored online intercultural interaction offers foreign language learners the opportunity to develop different competences, including intercultural, linguistic, and digital competence (O’Dowd, 2021). Such virtual exchange (VE) projects typically involve computer-mediated communication via, for example, Zoom. However, the use of high-immersion virtual reality (VR) for synchronous online collaboration in VE projects has received little attention. This study investigated the effect of VR on students’ levels of presence and engagement, on students’ communication and on students’ views on using VR for intercultural encounters compared to traditional videoconferencing tools. Twenty-seven university students from the Netherlands and Germany utilised VR to carry out intercultural learning tasks using English as a lingua franca during a four-week implementation period. Participants responded to pre- and post-intervention questionnaires, completed reflection journals, audio- or video-recorded their VR meetings and participated in interviews. Results showed that the levels of presence and engagement and preferences of social VR compared to videoconferencing for intercultural encounters depended on students individually. A VR immersion experience and comfortability scale was created based on the data which showed mixed experiences. VR influenced participants’ interactions, topics of conversation and communication strategies when they explored their spaces together. The results showed that students’ attitudes towards VR and their subjective experience of VR seem to play an important role in the VE-VR setting. VR provided a safe space for many participants. Positive attitudes towards communicating in the VR environment are highly correlated with positive attitudes towards meeting students from other countries in VR. Implications for language education are provided.

In spite of researchers’ and practitioners’ increasing attention to data-driven learning (DDL) and increasing numbers of DDL studies, a multi-item scale to measure learners’ attitude toward DDL has not been developed thus far. In the present study, we developed and validated a psychometric scale to measure learners’ perceived preferences and benefits of DDL for research and pedagogical purposes. First, we created an item pool by referring to open-ended responses from learners; second, the items were pilot tested with target-level learners of English as a foreign language; and third, with item analyses and exploratory factor analysis, the revised version of the questionnaire was prepared. Finally, the questionnaire was administered, and its psychometric properties were examined with confirmatory factor analysis and fit indices. The final phase also included a measure of task values to explore the convergent evidence of the construct validity of the proposed scale. The results suggest that the scale is a valid measure of learners’ attitudes toward DDL, with the hypothesized model providing a good fit with the data. We propose that the scale can be used in future studies that utilize the same type of questionnaire research to facilitate further investigation of DDL. Suggestions for further research are also provided.

Although annotation is a widely-researched topic in Corpus Linguistics (CL), its potential role in Data Driven Learning (DDL) has not been addressed in depth by Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) practitioners. Furthermore, most of the research in the use of DDL methods pays little attention to annotation in the design and implementation of corpus-based/driven language teaching.

In this paper, we set out to examine the process of development of SACODEYL Annotator, an application that seeks to assist SACODEYL system users in annotating XML multilingual corpora. First, we discuss the role of annotation in DDL and the dominating paradigm in general corpus applications. In the context of the language classroom, we argue that it is essential that corpora should be pedagogically motivated (Braun, 2005 and 2007a). Then, we move on to deal with the analysis and design stages of our annotation solution by illustrating its main features. Some of these include a user friendly hierarchical and extensible taxonomy tree to facilitate the learner-oriented annotation of the corpora; real-time graphics representation of the annotated corpus matching the XML TEI-compliant (Text Encoding Initiative) standard, as well as an intuitive management of the different data sections and associated metadata.

SACODEYL (System Aided Compilation and Open Distribution of European Youth Language) is an EU funded MINERVA project which aims to develop an ICT-based system for the assisted compilation and open distribution of multimedia European teen talk in the context of language education. This research lays emphasis on the functionalities of the application within the SACODEYL context. However, our paper addresses similarly the needs of potential multimedia language corpus administrators in general on the lookout for powerful annotation assisting software. SACODEYL Annotator is free to use and can be downloaded from our website.

This paper demonstrates how, via email exchange, a learner's German improved over a period of almost six months. The circumstances leading to the experience reported in this paper were purely accidental. The activity described below worked well with a learner of German at intermediate level; however, it could be carried out with any language at any level. Because email is essentially text-based, albeit conversational, the paper focuses on written German.

The study of multimodality in communication has attracted the attention of researchers studying online multimodal environments such as virtual worlds. Specifically, 3D virtual worlds have especially attracted the interest of educators and academics due to the multiplicity of verbal channels, which are often comprised of text and voice channels, as well as their 3D graphical interface, allowing for the study of non-verbal modes. This study offers a multilayered transcription method called the Multi-Modal MUVE Method or 3M Method (Palomeque, 2016; Pujolà & Palomeque, 2010) to account for the different modes present in the 3D virtual world of Second Life. This method works at two levels: the macro and the micro level. The macro level is a bird’s-eye view representation of the whole session as it fits into one page. This enables the researcher to grasp the essence of the class and to identify interesting sequences for analysis. The micro level consists of three transcripts to account for the different communication modes as well as the interface activity that occurs in the virtual world of Second Life. This paper will review the challenges when dealing with multimodal analysis in virtual worlds and how the multimodal data were analyzed and interpreted by using a multilayered multimodal method of analysis (3M transcription). Examples will be provided in the study to show how different modes of communication were used by participants in the virtual world of Second Life to create meaning or to avoid communication breakdowns.

This study sought to determine the difference in text-based negotiated interaction between non-native speakers of English (NNS-NNS) and between non-native and natives (NNS-NS) in terms of the frequency of negotiated instances, successfully resolved instances, and interactional strategy use when the dyads collaborated on Facebook. It involved 10 native English speakers and 30 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). NNS-NNS dyads consisted of five H-H pairs and five L-L pairs (H and L representing high- and low-proficiency learners). Similarly, NNS-NS dyads comprised five H-N pairs and five L-N pairs (N being native speakers). All dyads were required to use text chats to complete the given reading tasks synchronously in chatrooms on Facebook. The results suggested that negotiated instances, successfully resolved instances, and interactional strategy use occurred more frequently in H-H pairs than in L-N, L-L, or H-N pairs. In terms of strategy use, H-H, H-N, and L-N dyads were likely to engage in negotiated interaction by employing strategies such as clarifying unclear expressions or checking their comprehension, while L-L used interactional mechanisms infrequently and tended to use strategies such as continuers and asking for assistance. The research concludes with the pedagogical implications of the results.

Improving the feedback quality of a computer-based system for pronunciation training requires rather detailed and precise knowledge about the place and the nature of actual mispronunciations in a student’s utterance. To be able to provide this kind of information, components for the automatic localisation and correction of pronunciation errors have been developed. This work was part of a project aimed at integrating state-of-the-art speech recognition technology into a pronunciation training environment for adult, intermediate level learners. Although the technologies described here are in principle valid for any language pairs, the current system focuses on Italian and German learners of English.

In this process-based study, we introduced a collocation tool with a new interface and advanced search features and examined how a class of EFL college students interacted with it. To elicit their tool consultation behaviors, a vocabulary test with collocation questions was designed. The students’ use of the tool to answer the vocabulary questions was screen-recorded for further analysis, serving as the major data source. One-on-one interviews with selected students were then conducted to clarify issues related to the study and their experience in using the tool. The findings indicated that the pattern-based tool was efficient in helping students solve collocation problems. This paper concludes with some pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research.

This study investigated three look-up conditions for language learners to learn unknown target words and comprehend a reading passage when their attention is transferred away to an on-line dictionary. The research questions focused on how each look-up condition impacted the recall and recognition of word forms, word meanings, and passage comprehension. The participants were 84 first-year Japanese medical university students. The recall and recognition of word forms and word meanings, and passage comprehension data were analysed using the Rasch model. Probabilities of p<.05 were considered measurably different for the sample population used in this study, and probabilities of p<.003 were considered statistically significant and generalizable to a larger population. Overall, the results suggest three findings with regard to the on-line dictionary study. First, if only the results that were statistically significant are considered, there might be two conditions to learn words and comprehend reading passages: the spell condition seems to be best for learning the forms and meanings of words, and the control condition for promoting passage comprehension. Second, if the results that were both statistically significant and measurably different are considered, the spell, click, and control conditions might promote the learning of word forms, word meanings, and passage comprehension, respectively. Third, however, the click condition might promote both the learning of word meanings and passage comprehension because its effects were measurably higher to the spell condition on these measures. The results are consistent with the type of processing-resource allocation model for learning the forms and meanings of words and cognitive load theory for comprehending reading passages.

Intelligent feedback on learners’ full written sentence productions requires the use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools and, in particular, of a diagnosis system. Most syntactic parsers, on which grammar checkers are based, are designed to parse grammatical sentences and/or native speaker productions. They are therefore not necessarily suitable for language learners. In this paper, we concentrate on the transformation of a French syntactic parser into a grammar checker geared towards intermediate to advanced learners of French. Several techniques are envisaged to allow the parser to handle ill-formed input, including constraint relaxation. By the very nature of this technique, parsers can generate complete analyses for ungrammatical sentences. Proper labelling of where the analysis has been able to proceed thanks to a specific constraint relaxation forms the basis of the error diagnosis. Parsers with relaxed constraints tend to produce more complete, although incorrect, analyses for grammatical sentences, and several complete analyses for ungrammatical sentences. This increased number of analyses per sentence has one major drawback: it slows down the system and requires more memory. An experiment was conducted to observe the behaviour of our parser in the context of constraint relaxation. Three specific constraints, agreement in number, gender, and person, were selected and relaxed in different combinations. A learner corpus was parsed with each combination. The evolution of the number of correct diagnoses and of parsing speed, among other factors, were monitored. We then evaluated, by comparing the results, whether large scale constraint relaxation is a viable option to transform our syntactic parser into an efficient grammar checker for CALL.

This paper outlines the ongoing construction of a speech corpus for use by applied linguists and advanced EFL/ESL students. In the first part, sections 1–4, the need for improvements in the teaching of listening skills and pronunciation practice for EFL/ESL students is noted. It is argued that the use of authentic native-to-native speech is imperative in the teaching/learning process so as to promote social inclusion. The arguments for authentic language learning material and the use of a speech corpus are contextualised within the literature, based mainly on the work of Swan, Brown and McCarthy. The second part, section 5, addresses features of native speech flow which cause difficulties for EFL/ESL students (Brown, Cauldwell) and establishes the need for improvements in the teaching of listening skills. Examples are given of reduced forms characteristic of relaxed native speech, and how these can be made accessible for study using the Dublin Institute of Technology’s slow-down technology, which gives students more time to study native speech features, without tonal distortion. The final part, sections 6–8, introduces a novel Speech Corpus being developed at DIT. It shows the limits of traditional corpora and outlines the general requirements of a Speech Corpus. This tool – which will satisfy the needs of teachers, learners and researchers – will link digitally recorded, natural, native-to-native speech so that each transcript segment will give access to its associated sound file. Users will be able to locate desired speech strings, play, compare and contrast them – and slow them down for more detailed study.

In this paper, we propose a statistical evaluation method of pronunciation proficiency and intelligibility for presentations made in English by native Japanese speakers. We statistically analyzed the actual utterances of speakers to find combinations of acoustic and linguistic features with high correlation between the scores estimated by the system and native English teachers. Our results showed that the best combination of acoustic features produced correlation coefficients of 0.929 and 0.753 for pronunciation and intelligibility scores, respectively, using open data for speakers at the 10-sentence level. In an offline test, we evaluated possibly-confusing pairs of phonemes that are often mispronounced by Japanese speakers of English. In addition, we developed an online real-time score estimation system for Japanese learners of English using offline techniques to evaluate the pronunciation and intelligibility scores in real-time with almost the same ability as English teachers. Finally, we show that both the objective and subjective evaluations improved after learning with our system.

This study employs a bibliometric approach to analyse common research themes, high-impact publications and research venues, identify the most recent transformative research, and map the developmental stages of data-driven learning (DDL) since its genesis. A dataset of 126 articles and 3,297 cited references (1994–2021) retrieved from the Web of Science was analysed using CiteSpace 6.1.R2. The analysis uncovered the principal research themes and high-impact publications, and the most recent transformative research in the DDL field. The following evolutionary stages of DDL were determined based on Shneider’s (2009) scientific model and the timeline generated by CiteSpace, namely, the conceptualising stage (1980s–1998), the maturing stage (1998–2011), and the expansion stage (2011–now), with Stage 4 just emerging. Finally, the analysis discerned potential future research directions, including the implementation of DDL in larger-scale classroom practice and the role of variables in DDL.

Research into the multimodal aspects of language is increasingly important as communication through a screen plays a greater role in modern society than ever before (Liou, 2011). Multimodality has been explored from a number of angles relating to computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as its affordances and impact on language learners, highlighting its relevance and importance in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Because CMC scenarios require attending to both peers and the screen, learners can be seen as positioned as “semiotic initiators and responders” (Coffin & Donohue, 2014). Increasingly, researchers are highlighting a need for a methodological “turn” to analyse this scenario from a “language” focus to a more holistic understanding of the interactions (Flewitt, 2008; Hampel & Hauck, 2006; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001; Lamy, 2006). Along these lines, this case study explores how the action of task completion is mediated between six dyads (and individuals within the dyads) during an online peer-to-peer audioconferencing event. Drawing on notions from multimodal (inter)actional analysis (Norris, 2004, 2006) and the notion of “semiotic initiators and responders”, it investigates semiotic mediation with screen-based resources through analysis of audio recordings, screenshots, log files, task simulation and reconstruction. Results highlight oral and screen-based initiations and responses that take place during task completion, which is presented as a framework.

This paper reports action research into the use of electronic mail as a channel for giving feedback to English L2 writers in a sequence of writing process oriented technical communication courses. Four teachers used electronic mail feedback (EMF) regularly with 81 students on honours degree courses In information Systems and Computer Science. Electronic mail was used during planning and drafting stages in extended simulations of technical communication situations in concert with class meetings, workshop sessions, one-on-one and small group conference and with audiotaped summative feedback upon completion of major assignments.

Teachers and students reported in response to a questionnaire and in interviews that they found EMF significantly advantageous in that it supports prompt, complete, and instrumental commentary on student work, empowers students to use English for authentic communication, and helps build positive relationships between students and native speaking teachers. All participants agreed that the extra channel of communication contributed to students' motivation to use invention techniques freely, to take risks with language and style in drafting, and to make substantive changes to text in drafting. Students reported that the objectivity of EMF was face saving, allowing them to use critical commentary from their teachers more productively. They also said that they found their teachers' use of EMF was a powerful demonstration of their willingness to make themselves available as mentors to their students.

Nowadays, many second/foreign language (L2) academic writing instruction programs place a high premium on pre-writing strategies. The current study examined the effect of software-supported concept mapping on lexical diversity (LD) of English learners’ argumentative essays within a process writing framework. Additionally, the relationship between the learners’ LD and their overall writing quality was investigated. To this end, 53 university English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduates were assigned to a computer-aided concept mapping (CACM) and a traditional outlining condition over a span of seven weeks. The CACM group was instructed through the graphic organizer software Inspiration®, whereas the comparison group underwent outlining instruction for planning their writing tasks. Measure of textual lexical diversity (MTLD) was used to assess the so-called D values of the assignments. The results revealed that the CACM group outperformed the outlining group in terms of LD scores. Also, no relationship was found between LD and overall quality of the essays. The findings provide L2 researchers and teachers with insights into understanding the use of CACM strategy in process writing. Moreover, exploiting MTLD afforded our experiment the opportunity to counteract potential pitfalls associated with text size. Further implications for the L2 teacher are also discussed.

How can state-of-the-art computational linguistic technology reduce the workload and increase the efficiency of language teachers? To address this question, we combine insights from research in second language acquisition and computational linguistics to automatically generate text-based questions to a given text. The questions are designed to draw the learner’s attention to target linguistic forms – phrasal verbs, in this particular case – by requiring them to use the forms or their paraphrases in the answer. Such questions help learners create form-meaning connections and are well suited for both practice and testing. We discuss the generation of a novel type of question combining a wh- question with a gapped sentence, and report the results of two crowdsourcing evaluation studies investigating how well automatically generated questions compare to those written by a language teacher. The first study compares our system output to gold standard human-written questions via crowdsourcing rating. An equivalence test shows that automatically generated questions are comparable to human-written ones. The second crowdsourcing study investigates two types of questions (wh- questions with and without a gapped sentence), their perceived quality, and the responses they elicit. Finally, we discuss the challenges and limitations of creating and evaluating question-generation systems for language learners.

This article describes the anatomy and dynamics of an online professional development activity, the Moodle fishbowl. The fishbowl was designed as an opportunity for experienced EFL educators to witness and make sense of instructional conversation strategies that they might themselves use as they migrate their EFL courses to blended and eventually fully online venues, venues where the roles and dynamics of interaction are decidedly different than those in the live classroom. A major emphasis in this professional development sequence was to raise faculty awareness of the unique affordances on which they, as experienced language educators, might capitalize through observation of authentic examples of responsive online instructional strategies. To that end, three-week-long collaborations were established between participating faculty's EFL students and a ‘cultural expert’ in the US. The cultural experts were doctoral students in language technology who employed instructional conversation strategies with the EFL students as part of informal, authentic asynchronous threaded discourse topics. The role of the faculty in training was to observe these conversations by looking into the metaphorical fishbowl, reflect on the anatomy and impact of these online instructional conversations, and report back to the group as a whole. The following narrates the rationale, processes and outcomes of this Moodle fishbowl professional development sequence and suggests future considerations in supporting language educators as they move some or all of their instruction online.

This paper reports on the experimental use of a broadband computer network hypermedia environment for language learning (French, English and Spanish). Using Web-based resources, students engage in a collaborative task over a network which offers high quality video-conferencing, application sharing and access to authentic multimedia resources. One of the main aims was to establish the practicalities of providing learners of languages with opportunities to engage in reciprocal peer tutoring. After outlining the pedagogical assumptions, and describing the set-up of the network-based learning environment, the trials are analysed, and the effectiveness of network-based language learning in supporting collaborative learning is discussed.