Narrow reading has the potential to reduce vocabulary load and to provide rich opportunities for developing collocation knowledge, but these benefits rely on narrow reading increasing lexical repetition within a text. Hence, interest in narrow reading has been limited by the relatively small lexical effect of narrowing reading by topic (Nation, 2013). Nevertheless, research in data-driven learning and teaching and language corpora has reported positively on learners using concordances in a manner comparable to narrow reading. However, the potential for concordances to provide an increased lexical-repetition effect has not been assessed. This study bridges this gap by exploring the degree of lexical repetition available in concordances and identifies corpus composition as a key predictor of lexical repetition. The study uses standardised type-token ratio (sTTR) to analyse concordances extracted from corpora at three different levels of homogeneity/heterogeneity. The results show large, reliable variations in lexical repetition resulting from variation in corpus homogeneity/heterogeneity, and so identifies concordance-based narrow reading as a possible means of overcoming the limitations of traditional narrow reading by topic. The results are discussed with reference to pedagogical implications for language learners, teachers, and researchers.

Language massive open online courses (LMOOCs) represent an exciting prospect for language teachers and instructors around the globe (Bárcena & Martín-Monje, 2014). In this paper, we report on the dynamics of participation and learner behaviour in an ab initio Irish language course. The course, Irish 101, ran during March 2019, and we used a mixed-methods approach to analyse both typical patterns of behaviour among course participants and learner reflections upon their reasons for doing so. Findings suggest that most learners use the course resources in an assessing and exploratory manner and are far less likely to produce, or to examine, second language (L2) output, either written or spoken. Learners were found to be selective and to demonstrate significant metacognitive awareness (Wenden, 1998) in their interactions and learning methods, displaying agency and exploiting affordances beyond the design of the course itself. Implications for LMOOC design, including the need to question whether courses should emphasise L2 production or resource provision, are considered, in addition to a general need for more granular, dynamic research, so as to better understand the types of learners who engage in LMOOCs and to better cater to diverse learning needs.

Online language teaching is gaining momentum worldwide and an expanding body of research analyses online pedagogical interactions. However, few studies have explored experienced online teachers’ practices in videoconferencing particularly while giving instructions, which are key to success in task-based language teaching (Markee, 2015). Adopting multimodal (inter)action analysis (Norris, 2004, 2019) to investigate the multimodal construction of instructions in a single case study, we examine instruction-giving as a social practice demonstrated in a specific site of engagement (a synchronous online lesson recorded for research purposes). Drawing on the higher-level actions (instruction-giving fragments) we have identified elsewhere (Satar & Wigham, 2020), in this paper we analyse the lower-level actions (modes) that comprise these higher-level actions, specifically focusing on the print mode (task resource sheets, URLs, text chat, and online collaborative writing spaces) wherein certain higher-level actions become frozen. Our findings are unique in depicting the modal complexity of sharing task resources in synchronous online teaching due to semiotic misalignment and semiotic lag that precludes the establishment of a completely shared interactional space. We observe gaze shifts as the sole indicator for learners that the teacher is multitasking between different higher-level actions. Further research is needed to fully understand the interactional features of online language teaching via videoconferencing to inform teacher training policy and practice.

In recent years, marked gains in the accuracy of machine translation (MT) outputs have greatly increased its viability as a tool to support the efforts of English as a foreign language (EFL) students to write in English. This study examines error corrections made by 58 Korean university students by comparing their original L2 texts to that of MT outputs. Based on the results of the error analysis, the error types were categorized into 12 categories. Students were divided into three distinctive groups to determine differences among them according to the frequency of errors in their writing. The t-test results reveal that the numbers of errors significantly decreased in the revised versions for most of the error types among all groups. The results of the regression analysis also reveal a positive correlation relationship between the number of changes and the reduction of errors. However, the results also indicate that although all groups made error corrections at similar rates, students who less frequently committed errors in their L2 texts (higher language proficiency groups) generally tended to correct a higher proportion of errors. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications are discussed regarding how EFL teachers can effectively incorporate MT into the classroom.

Commonly, low completion rates in massive open online courses have called into question the quality of their learning materials and instruction. This paper attempts to identify crucial factors of engagement and retention in language massive open online courses (LMOOCs) in the context of the open online program of Icelandic Online, a self-guided course for second language learners of Icelandic. The study seeks to explore the impact of factors associated with the course’s instructional design on engagement and retention and reveal crucial determinants of attrition. The study depends on survey and tracking data from 400 learners and qualitative data from 62 informants in one course. It builds on previous studies on student engagement and retention in LMOOCs (Friðriksdóttir, 2018, 2019). The present study identified six content-specific factors that the majority of participants considered to be important for their motivation. Some factors, such as gradual and scaffolded presentation of input, had a positive impact on retention. Furthermore, statements from learners in the study who disengaged before completing show that non-course-related factors, such as time constraints, affect LMOOC retention. The study provides a new framework for how to promote student engagement and suggests specific strategies for other LMOOC developers.

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.

Corpus consultation with concordancers has been recognized as a promising way for learners to study and explore language features such as collocations at their own pace and in their own time. This study examined 1.5 million search queries sent to a collocation consultation tool called FlaxCLS (Flexible Language Acquisition Collocation Learning System; http://flax.nzdl.org) over a period of two years to identify learners’ collocation look-up patterns. This paper examines and characterizes learners’ look-up patterns as they entered search queries, clicked on the query formation aids provided by the system, and navigated through the different levels of collocation information returned by the system to support collocation learning. We looked at how learners formulated query terms, and we analyzed the characteristics of query words learners entered, the characteristics of collocations they preferred, and the sample sentences they checked. Our collocation look-up pattern analyses, similar to traditional user query analyses of the web, provide interesting and revealing insights that are hard to obtain from small-scale user studies. The findings provide valuable information and pedagogical implications for data-driven learning (DDL) researchers and language teachers in designing tailored collocation consultation systems and activities. This paper also presents multidimensional analyses of learner query data, which, to the best of our knowledge, have not been explored in DDL research.

This paper examines the role of motivation, anxiety, and self-efficacy beliefs and their interplay with regard to speaking on beginners’ Spanish LMOOCs. It answers three research questions: (1) what are learners’ motivations and goals for joining these LMOOCs and how do these relate to foreign language speaking anxiety; (2) how do learners’ self-efficacy beliefs and anxiety levels change as a result of course completion; and (3) is there a correlation between motivation, foreign language speaking anxiety, and self-efficacy beliefs in this context? A mixed-methods research design used quantitative and qualitative data gathered from self-reflective questionnaires and forum discussions. The results reveal that learners with intrinsic motivation are more likely to complete the courses than those who sign up to manage a personal situation or advance in their career or studies. No direct correlation was, however, found between motivation and the other variables under scrutiny. Learners present higher self-efficacy beliefs at the end of the courses than at the beginning, while anxiety levels are affected to a much smaller degree by course completion. Although spoken interactions in this learning environment are not synchronous, apprehension and anxiety prevent many learners from fully participating in the speaking activities.

With the increasing recognition of the pedagogical applications of corpus linguistics, there has been a growing interest in developing teachers’ corpus literacy to popularize the use of corpora in language education. This longitudinal study investigated Arab Gulf EFL student teachers’ immediate and long-term responses to corpus literacy instruction. After teaching a corpus literacy component to two classes of student teachers in a graduate computer-assisted language learning course they attended, the author collected focus group data about their views on this instruction and their own expected future uses of corpora in language learning, teaching and research. Two years later, a group of these student teachers (n = 19) responded to a follow-up questionnaire exploring their beliefs about corpus literacy integration and their multiple uses of corpora. The student teachers reported very positive immediate and long-term perceptions of corpus literacy instruction, but it was found that such instruction has not brought about all the desired changes in their long-term uses of online corpora as a linguistic and pedagogical resource, or their attitudes towards doing corpus-based TESOL research. However, it is expected that the popularization benefits gained from corpus literacy integration could lead to better future developments in using corpora for language education and research purposes in the target context.

Promoting speaking interaction remains a challenge for language massive open online courses (LMOOCs), both from a pedagogical and technological standpoint. This paper describes the design process of the tandemMOOC, which exploits the massive, open and online features of MOOCs in order to offer language learners online speaking interaction practice with native speakers of their target language. The course is based on eTandem language learning principles and equips learners with the necessary competences to be able to cope with online second language (L2) speaking opportunities. Following a design-based research approach, this paper presents an analysis and discussion of seven components of the design: learning environment, facilitation dynamics, dyad configuration, task types, task topics, feedback provision, and gamification components. The analysis of the implementation of these elements results in a set of key features for the integration of L2 speaking interaction activities in LMOOCs.

Studies on computer-mediated communication often compare the affective affordances of different technologies with face-to-face communication. This study aimed to understand how three different computer-mediated communication modalities may affect EFL learners’ foreign language anxiety (FLA). Using a counterbalanced 3 by 3 factorial design, 30 undergraduate Japanese university students participated in this study, completing a spot-the-difference task in three different oral synchronous computer-mediated communication modes: voice, video, and virtual reality (VR). Upon completing each task, participants responded to an FLA questionnaire and answered questions regarding their learning experiences. Finally, a post-experiment questionnaire asked participants to explicitly compare their experiences of learning within each modality. Results suggest that although all three modes were successful in reducing learner FLA, no statistically significant differences were found between mean scores. However, the results of the learner perceptions questionnaire suggested that VR was the easiest environment to communicate in, was the most fun, and the most effective environment for language learning. Participant responses to an open-ended question suggested that learner dispositions to technology as well as their affective characteristics may be responsible for differing opinions regarding the affordances of VR for language learning. The study concludes with a call for more research in the area of learner affect and technology use, including studies that more effectively utilize the technological affordances of VR, and also qualitatively assess which elements of VR may affect learner FLA and motivation.

In a previous study (Sarré, Grosbois & Brudermann, 2019), we explored the effects of various corrective feedback (CF) strategies on interlanguage development for the online component of a blended English as a foreign language (EFL) course we had designed and implemented. Our results showed that unfocused indirect CF (feedback on all error types through the provision of metalinguistic comments on the nature of the errors made) combined with extra computer-mediated micro-tasks was the most efficient CF type to foster writing accuracy development in our context. Following up on this study, this paper further explores the effects of this specific CF type on learners’ written accuracy development in an online EFL course designed for freshmen STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students. In the online course under study, this specific CF type was experimented with different cohorts of STEM learners (N = 1,150) over a five-year period (from 2014 to 2019) and was computer-assisted: CF provision online by a human tutor was combined with predetermined CF comments. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of this specific CF strategy on error types. In this respect, the data yield encouraging results in terms of writing accuracy development when learners benefit from this computer-assisted specific CF. This study thus helps to gain a better understanding of the role that CF plays in shaping students’ revision processes and could inform language (teacher) education regarding the use of digital tools for the development of foreign language accuracy and the issues related to online CF provision.

To address the challenges of limited language proficiency and provide necessary feedback in the implementation of task-based language teaching (TBLT), a mobile-supported TBLT application was developed to provide linguistic and task scaffolding. Sixty-six English as a foreign language (EFL) university learners participated in a three-week experiment as part of a general English course. They were assigned to either an experimental group (mobile-supported TBLT), which received TBLT with scaffolds built into the application, or a control group (traditional TBLT), which received traditional paper-based TBLT without the scaffolds. At the end of the experiment, an English achievement test of vocabulary, grammar, and conversation comprehension was administered to determine if the technological scaffolds enhanced the learning outcomes for the course. Students’ self-perceived use of oral communication strategies was also measured to explore how these scaffolds affected the conversational interaction essential for task performance. Results showed that the mobile-supported TBLT group outperformed the traditional TBLT group on the vocabulary and conversation comprehension tests but not so much on the grammar test. Also, the mobile-supported TBLT group reported greater awareness of fluency- and accuracy-oriented strategies for speaking than the traditional TBLT group. Implications for designing mobile learning to enhance TBLT in an EFL setting are drawn.

Automated writing evaluation (AWE) technologies are common supplementary tools for helping students improve their language accuracy using automated feedback. In most existing studies, AWE has been implemented as a class activity or an assignment requirement in English or academic writing classes. The potential of AWE as a voluntary language learning tool is unknown. This study reports on the voluntary use of Criterion by English as a foreign language students in two content courses for two assignments. We investigated (a) to what extent students used Criterion and (b) to what extent their revisions based on automated feedback increased the accuracy of their writing from the first submitted draft to the last in both assignments. We analyzed students’ performance summary reports from Criterion using descriptive statistics and non-parametric statistical tests. The findings showed that not all students used Criterion or resubmitted a revised draft. However, the findings also showed that engagement with automated feedback significantly reduced users’ errors from the first draft to the last in 11 error categories in total for the two assignments.

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 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.

This article reports on findings regarding the learning strategies used by a group of Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in a mobile-technology-assisted environment. The research design is a context-specific case study using Dörnyei’s (2005) categories of learning strategies as the conceptual and analytical framework to guide data collection and analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire from a sample of 75 Chinese EFL learners and a small-scale follow-up interview of five participants who completed the questionnaire. Data showed that a mobile-technology-assisted environment effected changes in Chinese EFL learners’ ways of adopting a particular set of learning strategies, which differed in type and frequency from those typical of a teacher-led and examination-oriented language classroom. Metacognitive and commitment control strategies were most frequently used by the respondents in this study. The frequency of student use of metacognitive strategies moved ahead of commitment and environmental control strategies. Satiation and emotion control strategies, rarely used by Chinese students in a teacher-fronted language classroom, were also observable. These findings have implications for the understanding and designing of mobile-technology-assisted learning for EFL learners to develop appropriate strategies for autonomous learning.