Volume 37, Issue 2

In the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) tradition of genre-based approaches to academic literacy, one of the most noteworthy language features lies in lexical phrases. The lexical phrases investigated in the current study consist of both general lexical phrases (i.e., lexical bundles/clusters/formulaic sequences in vocabulary and linguistic studies) and movespecific lexical phrases (i.e., lexical phrases specific to the move/steps) as both are necessary for students to master in the construction of academic texts. Studies on either type have, however, tended to neglect the importance of the other and few studies have looked at students’ acquisition of these phrases within the genre-based framework. This study reports on the process of acquisition of lexical phrases in two cases with distinct starting levels over a period of one semester in an EAP genre-based academic writing classroom. The study was part of a larger project conducted in a tertiary level institution in southern China for instructing disciplinary-specific academic writing. From the analysis of rewritings, genre analysis assignments, in conjunction with a weekly interview and learning journals, it was found that both students’ awareness of lexical phrases was raised noticeably and a favorable number of phrases were used throughout the instructional period. Different patterns in the use of both general and move-specific lexical phrases were also found in their rewriting tasks, in terms of source of acquisition, perceived usefulness, number and appropriateness of use. This study is expected to offer pedagogical insights into the teaching and learning of academic lexical phrases for tertiary contexts.

This paper presents a case study of second language (L2) writing from a sociocultural perspective and highlights the mediational role of a piece of classic prose, “Youth,” as a psychological tool in the reflection writing process. Sixty English majors from a Chinese university participated in the study. Data were collected through reflection writing and interviews and were treated with the grounded theory method. The findings showed that in the appropriation of the classic prose, students not only improved their language skills but also deepened their understanding of the theme, which contributed to the buildup of their philosophy of life in a meaningful way.

This paper reports a study on a Chinese English major’s argumentative English writings focusing on the development of her thinking capacities and factors that facilitate or constrain such development. The data came from three sources: her essays, reflective journals, and my semi-structured interviews with her. Major findings can be summed up as follows: 1) at the initial stage, the participant was weak in rational thinking; 2) as she had more writing practice, she made progress in ideas and organization of ideas but not in expression of ideas ; and 3) factors facilitating or constraining her development primarily include language input, cultural identification, teacher feedback and motivation.

This study reports the development, piloting and initial validation of a test measuring language analytic ability – one foreign language aptitude component for Chinese learners of foreign languages (FL). A test with 50 items was constructed and administered to 53 third-year English majors. Rasch analyses showed that the subtest of inductive language learning ability was too easy. After removing misfitting items, the reduced grammatical sensitivity subtest showed satisfactory psychometric properties. The Rasch measures of the students’ grammatical sensitivity were also found to be correlated significantly with their TEM-4 scores and their English reading grades, thus providing further evidence for the validity of the this subtest.

This study investigated how background speech affected L1 and L2 reading of Chinese English major students. English, Dutch, and Mandarin Chinese were respectively set as the second language (L2), foreign language (FL), and first language (L1) background speech conditions. Self-paced word-by-word reading paradigm was used to collect the response time (RT) of each word. The conventional analysis revealed that L1 background speech exerted the most disruptive effect on both L1 and L2 reading and suggested that the background speech effect could be phonological and could be at the stage of phonological processing of L1 and L2 reading. It also implied that L1 phonological processing could be simultaneously activated during L2 reading. Spectral analysis of ten subjects’ reading data indicated that pink noise existed in each time series of word RT of L1 and L2 reading in each condition. It provided clear evidence that L1 and L2 reading processing are similar with different concurrent background speech.

This study investigates the development of lexical semantic autonomy by a semantic relatedness test on the part of 200 English majors from Year one through Year four in a university in Shandong Province. Despite the obvious development of their receptive vocabulary size, the subjects at the four learning stages have not achieved the lexical semantic autonomy, confirming the view that L1 semantic involvement in L2 word processing is a long and constant state of L2 lexical development. Explicit vocabulary teaching complemented by data-driven learning can be adopted to trigger the semantic restructuring, overcome semantic fossilization, and promote the development of lexical semantic autonomy in L2 vocabulary acquisition.

The past three decades have witnessed a proliferation of research on Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' use of learning strategies, but little has been examined about the potential influence of learning contexts upon their strategic engagement. This paper reports on the findings of an investigation of the impact of learning contexts upon the use of learning strategies of two cohorts of EFL learners in China. Both cohorts were non-English majors, one from a university where English is the medium of instruction (EMI) and the other from an EFL university. The data were collected using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Results reveal that learners from the EMI university demonstrated a higher level in their overall use of learning strategies over their counterparts from the EFL university. Independent T-test shows that the two cohorts were significantly different in their use of cognitive, meta-cognitive, affective and social strategies. These findings were discussed from a socio-cultural perspective. Implications are presented for the reform of English language education in China and beyond.