Volume 15, Issue 2

This study underpins the integration of an English as a lingua franca (ELF)-oriented approach into traditional English language teaching (ELT) to develop learners’ full intercultural awareness and intercultural communicative competence (ICC). The aim is to inform prospective and senior teachers as well as practitioners about the need for adequate preparation for learners to face any speech situations involving native and non-native English speakers. Using informal classroom observations from different Italian education cycles, this study adopts a multidimensional approach to traditional ELT, combining some main ICC and ELF pedagogy tenets. Our discussion indicates that a dual teaching model, including the native English speaker (NES) model for the structural section of language teaching and learning and the ELF intercultural competent communicator model for the intercultural section, can be attained by shifting conveniently from model to model. Therefore, this study offers a fresh perspective on an extensively addressed topic by clarifying and explicitly combining the underlying connections between the main ICC and ELF tenets. This study intends to encourage teachers and practitioners to change their attitudes, perceptions, and concerns towards integrating ELF-oriented approaches into traditional ELT to tackle today’s intercultural communicative challenges outside the classroom.

The present study adopted a mixed-methods approach using a convergent parallel design to focus on the role that positive and negative emotions have in the Foreign Language (FL) classroom on the ontogenesis of positive flow. Participants were 1,044 FL learners from around the world. They provided quantitative and qualitative data on FL enjoyment (FLE), classroom anxiety (FLCA) and experience of flow via an on-line questionnaire (Dewaele, Jean-Marc & Peter D. MacIntyre. 2014. The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 4. 237–274). FLE was a significantly stronger predictor of frequency of flow experience than FLCA. Further statistical analyses revealed that flow experiences are typically self-centred, infrequent and short-lived at the start of the FL learning journey and when the perceived social standing in the group is low. They become an increasingly shared experience, more frequent, stronger and more sustained as learners reach a more advanced level in their FL. What starts as an occasional individual spark can turn into a true fire that extends to other group members. The findings are illustrated by participants’ reports on enjoyable episodes in the FL classroom in which some reported complete involvement in an individual or collective task, merging of action and awareness, joyful bonding with classmates, intense focus and joy, loss of self-consciousness, sense of time and place.

A growing number of family language policy studies have started to pay more attention to the emotions that transnational multilingual families (TMFs) identify regarding their multilingual identity, even if much of the research remains primarily focused on TMFs residing in Europe and North America. This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the emotions that five TMFs residing in Russia identified with their multilingual identity, and how these emotions affected their family language policy. The study combined ethnographic elements in the form of video recordings and two rounds of semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that the parents felt pride and satisfaction in their own multilingual identity yet feared that their children were developing a monolingual identity, which led to them experiencing anger and frustration. Coupled with these negative emotions, they were found to adopt monolingual practices with their children in hopes of making them more multilingual. The study adds to our understanding of how emotions, multilingual identity, and family language policy interact in TMFs outside of Europe and North America and is one of the first studies to explore the experiences of such families in Russia.

This article presents an empirical study on selected aspects of the orthographic performance of mono- and bilingual students in German. Particular attention is paid to the question whether a connection can be drawn between the orthographic performance of the bilingual students in German and their first language. For this purpose, a corpus is analyzed with data from approx. 800 test students. One group is monolingual in German, one is bilingual German–Turkish and one is bilingual German–Russian. A highly significant influence of Russian resp. Turkish on the performance to differentiate between tense and lax vowels is found. This corresponds to expectations insofar as in opposition to German, neither in Turkish nor in Russian, tense and lax vowels are distinguished phonologically. In other areas of orthography, this influence of the first language is not measurable or not to the same extent.

The purpose of this research is to validate the conceptual domains of teachers’ knowledge and needs vis-à-vis content and language integrated learning (CLIL) within bilingual taught programmes in the Chinese-speaking setting of Taiwan. A Chinese version of a ‘CLIL teachers’ conceptual domain’ scale was developed and administered to measure teachers’ competence in using CLIL, the challenges they may face, and the training to be offered in their CLIL classrooms. Using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, the results show that the internal consistency was supported by satisfactory Cronbach’s alphas, the composite reliability of all three measures ranges from 0.75 to 0.93, and the AVE (average variance extracted) is between 0.43 and 0.70. These results suggest that the measures possess high internal validity, and there exists factorial and external convergent and discriminant validity. This validated questionnaire is an effective instrument for providing valuable insights for CLIL practitioners and training providers in Chinese-speaking contexts.

The present study investigated agentive one-on-one intercultural communication between L2 English-speaking international faculty and their L2 English-speaking host colleagues in relation to identity (re)construction. Two foreign professors and their Chinese faculty colleagues participated in the study. The research instruments consisted of reflective journal writing and in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the occasions of the faculty’s communication at Chinese universities were both influenced by and influenced a number of factors. These factors represented self- and other-positioning, agency, appropriation of native speakerism, face-threatening acts, and alterity. Based on the findings of the study, research implications are provided.

Applied linguistics (AL) is a broad field of study that often concerns subjective domains such as beliefs, opinions, perspectives, values and emotions. Q methodology (Q), a mixed methods approach to phenomenological and typological inquiry, is specifically designed to help researchers better understand individuals’ subjective viewpoints. Although Q has existed for eight decades, it rarely intersects with language-related research. This article offers AL researchers an overview of Q and examples of its application. The overview covers its brief history and underlying theoretical concepts. The application is illustrated using a case exemplar that investigates language learners’ perspectives regarding enjoyment in online learning. The advantages and limitations of Q are also discussed. There is plenty of room for AL researchers to advance Q, both as a standalone methodology and as an accompaniment to other methods.

The online digital sphere has recently witnessed a rapid growing of amateur audiovisual translation, which not only reinvigorates the current body of translation scholarship but also calls for a paradigm shift from the entrenched monolingualism. Though a plethora of studies have been conducted on fansubbing, little is known about blogger subtitling. Drawing on the netnographic data from a subtitling video blogger, @暴躁鸭仔 ( baozao yazai , Grumpy Duckling for English) on a microblogging site (Weibo) in the mainland of China, we explored trans-translating by examining the translanguaging involved in the blogger’s subtitling translation. It is revealed that the blogger makes a hybrid, integrated use of multiple semiotic, orthographic, discursive and modal resources, without being confined by the boundaries amongst nameable languages, or linguistic/non-linguistic codes. The orchestration of the unified heterolingual repertoire builds up a social-media translanguaging space, wherein the tensions between translation and translanguaging due to distinct conceptual schemas are manipulated to yield synergy insofar as they dovetail into ingenious language making. We concluded that such creative translation can be retheorized as a process of trans-translating to encapsulate the subtitling experience in light of its dynamic and fluid nature, and transformative power of translanguaging. The results of this research might add to the picture of amateur subtitling and translation and that of translanguaging as well as their relation to one another.

The purpose of this study was to expand upon available research which quantifies the relationship between single word characteristics and L2 listening comprehension. The effect of single word characteristics on L2 listening have been mostly studied in isolation in past research. Furthermore, little research exists on listening comprehension during the first years of L2 acquisition. To begin filling this gap, 172 English L2 novice participants were administered an isolated phrase transcription test in which participants must quickly attempt to transcribe phrases of four to five words they hear only one time. The independent variable word characteristics in this study were part of speech, phrasal position, word length, frequency, and Minkowski3 sensorimotor norms, an embodiment semantic variable. Word transcription probability (i.e., whether a word was transcribed or not) was analyzed using Rasch analysis and hierarchical linear mixed effects regression. Part of speech and phrasal position did not significantly predict word transcription probability. Word length, frequency, and Minkowski3 sensorimotor norms significantly predicted transcription probability. The findings of this study have implications for the creation of listening texts and theoretical models of L2 listening comprehension.

Displaying a strong competence in English as a second language (L2) is a major advantage for university graduates in personal development and career advancement. There are limited studies that have explored how the implementation of English-Medium-Instruction (EMI) in non-Anglophone universities can affect students’ academic English proficiency. This mixed-method study explores how both the learners’ variables (motivation and L2 learning strategies) and the medium-of-instruction policy implemented at secondary and university settings can contribute to students’ success in academic English learning at a bilingual university in Hong Kong. The findings of a large-scale questionnaire reveal that the effect of medium-of-instruction in students’ secondary school education is not a significant predictor of students’ academic English language proficiency at university. The findings suggest that university students who previously attended secondary schools which adopt medium-of-instruction other than English tend not to be disadvantaged in improving their academic English proficiency. Institutional factor (i.e. provision of EMI lectures at university) and learners’ variables, including students’ L2 strategy use and motivation, are statistically significant predictors of the student’s English language proficiency. The implications for higher education policy in Hong Kong and worldwide will be discussed.

The measurement of vocabulary size is crucial in applied linguistics research. Although increasing attention has been given to the study of Chinese vocabulary assessment, few reliable and valid tools are available to evaluate Chinese learners’ receptive vocabulary size, particularly for teenagers and adults. We aim to fill this gap by developing LexCH, a quick, reliable and free receptive vocabulary size assessment tool that researchers and language teachers can readily adopt. In developing LexCH, we chose items covering a range of difficulty levels and with strong discriminative power as test items for the final version of LexCH based on item response theory. In total, 480 students from a junior high school and a high school in China participated in this study. Our initial validation results suggest that LexCH is a reliable and valid receptive vocabulary size test for L1 Chinese speakers; it also shows great potential for use among L2 Chinese learners. Implications for assessing receptive vocabulary size in Chinese learning are provided.

While student feedback literacy has received increasing attention in second language education, little is known about the role of writing proficiency in the development of student feedback literacy. This qualitative study examined the characteristics of high and low English writing proficiency (i.e., HP, LP) students’ feedback literacy in second language (L2) writing and identified the factors that shape these students’ feedback literacy. This study involved five LP and five HP students with data collected from semi-structured interviews, students’ drafts, teacher’s written corrective feedback and peer feedback. The results found that both the LP and HP students were cognitively prepared in terms of appreciating feedback value with distinct self-orientation in feedback process and emotionally ready in regulating their affect for gains from handling feedback. Yet, the LP students were found less prepared to benefit from their current feedback practice due to their passive perspective of learner roles. By contrast, HP students displayed their preparedness featured by proactive learner roles in feedback process, well-developed judgement criteria and broader revisions. The internal consistency across dimensions of feedback literacy was also identified for HP students but not for LP students. Factors contributing to the disparity include students’ perception of their writing proficiency, course engagement and their self-regulation ability. Pedagogical implications on enhancing feedback literacy for students with varied writing proficiency levels are provided.

Confucius Institutes (CIs) and Confucius Classrooms (CCs) have always been controversial, with concerns raised by politicians, academics, journalists and members of the public about their impact on the universities, schools and countries which host them. Such concerns have grown to the extent that closures of CIs and CCs have become common. This article analyses data on the closure of CIs and CCs to determine what they mean for this language and culture promotion project. It maps out the scope and scale of closures, explains the reasons behind them, outlines China’s reaction to them and finally speculates about the future of CIs and CCs. It finds that closures have been confined to North America, Australia and Europe due to deteriorating relations with China. However, closures have not occurred in South America, Africa or the Middle East, and new CIs continue to open in these regions. This is due to opinions towards China being largely positive and a need for resources for Chinese language and culture education. Overall, the number of closures is also small, with many times more CIs and CCs still in existence than those which have closed. It would take a long time for all CIs and CCs to be shut down based on current closure rates. China has also demonstrated a willingness to modify how CIs and CCs are managed to ensure their continued existence. The article concludes that the spate of closures which have taken place in recent years does not signal the end of CIs and CCs. Closures will likely keep occurring in North America, Australia and Europe, but CIs and CCs will continue in South America, Africa and the Middle East as long as China is willing and able to support them.

Recent studies have shown that translanguaging as a knowledge-construction process can be utilized to decolonize curricula that privilege English-mediated, class-specific knowledge and foster epistemic justice in educational settings. This study focuses on the process whereby translanguaging was mobilized by teachers, tutors, and international students to decolonialize the English-Medium Instruction (EMI) curriculum on an indigenous discipline in a top-rated Chinese university. Drawing on nexus analysis, this study delineates the ways the implemented EMI curriculum was shaped by two processes/practices: (1) intercultural translation as interdiscursive translanguaging, and (2) Chinese philosophy as an embodied way of life, as witnessed in both the teacher-directed interaction order in the classroom as well as in the dialogic interaction order in tutorial sessions, and mediated through the historical bodies of the participants. The analysis reveals that translanguaging provides valuable transknowledging opportunities that encourage negotiations among a plurality of discipline-specific knowledge systems and the construction of decoloniality-informed knowledge production and learning ecologies situated within the unequal geopolitics surrounding knowledge production; this aligns with translanguaging scholars’ decolonial agenda and contributes to developing an operational definition of “transknowledging” based on extant decolonial studies that emphasized the intertwined relationship between transknowledging and translanguaging in decolonializing the EMI curriculum.

Although task complexity effects on L2 oral production have been widely studied in teaching contexts, their application to task-based language assessment and pragmatic language use remains underexplored. Since pragmatic competence is part of effective communication and interactional abilities and is context-dependent, an investigation of the relationships among task complexity, pragmatic language use, and paired speaking test performance is needed. This study examined the effect of the resource-directing and resource-dispersing dimensions (the number of elements, causal reasoning demand, and planning time) of Robinson’s task complexity construct on fifty-two intermediate-level English as a Second Language (ESL) learners’ rapport-building language use during two decision-making tasks as the achievement test in an EAP program, and the relationships between rapport language use and three dimensions of paired speaking test performance: collaboration, task completion, and style. The results showed that frequency and variety of rapport-building language use did not significantly differ between the two tasks. However, the study found that only in the simple task did different types of rapport-building language have statistically significant positive or negative relationships with different dimensions of paired speaking test scores. Specifically, greeting language use had a strong or close to strong positive relationship with collaboration and style scores, whereas agreeing language had a strong negative relationship with collaboration scores. Additionally, thanking language had a strong negative association with task completion scores. The findings further suggest that task complexity effects learners’ production of rapport-building language in terms of alignment with their peer interlocutors and formality of style, and also impacts raters’ perceptions of paired speaking task performance. The findings highlight the importance of task effects, paired oral assessment rubrics development, and rapport-building language instruction.