Volume 37, Issue 4

This paper reviews important second language research on recasts in response to a recent debate between Goo and Mackey (2013) and Lyster and Ranta (2013) in the journal Studies in Second Language Acquisition . It begins by clarifying the definition of recasts and then examines several controversial issues featuring prominently in the debate, including the theoretical underpinnings of existing research on recasts, mixed findings about their effectiveness in language acquisition, and methodological concerns in effectiveness research. The primary aim of this paper is to demarcate common ground and disagreement that are emerging in this debate and, based on a synthesis and critique of previous empirical studies, to identify directions for future research. It also explores pedagogical implications of recasts research for English-as-a-foreign-language contexts.

The creative use of English idioms has led to heterogeneous idiom variants that are particularly problematic for L2 learners. Drawing on a cognitive linguistic perspective of idiom learning, this paper categorizes English idiom variants into four major types, and reports on an empirical study that investigated the effects of variation type and proficiency level on Chinese EFL learners’ comprehension of English idiom variants. Targeting non-English major college students of basic and intermediate English levels, the study confirmed the influence of proficiency level on learners’ comprehension and evaluation of the difficuIty of idiom variants. Structural change in idioms was found to be the easiest type and idioms modified in terms of literal imagery were the most difficult in comprehension. These findings suggest that the dominant “rote memorization” tends to limit learners’ choices of comprehension strategies to literal translation and L1 transfer. The learning environment unsupportive of cultivating L2 learners’ analytical ability is held accountable for the generally low success rates in comprehension of idiom variants.

An empirical study of Chinese EFL learners has been carried out in the authentic Chinese EFL classroom on the campus of Tianjin Foreign Studies University, with an aim to verify how and why the cognitive linguistic approach can facilitate L2 or FL learners in the process of learning English as a second or a foreign language. The statistical analysis of the data showed that the EC outperformed the CC both on lexical and grammatical proficiency and on their metaphorical and pragmatic or sociolinguist competence after the classroom treatment. The study has concluded that using CMs and IMs as the motivator and organizer in the process of learning English as a foreign language, the cognitive approach benefits L2 or FL learners with respect to comprehension and retention of memory.

This paper reports on an inquiry into the construction of stance in finite reporting that -clauses. The data were drawn from two corpora of academic papers from a journal in the discipline of Applied Linguistics written by different language users: native speakers of English and Chinese writers using English as L2. By drawing on Sinclair’s distinction between “averral” and “attribution,” as well as Martin and White’s notion of extra-vocalization, this paper sets up a framework for analyzing the sources in reporting clauses in order to examine how the writers construe their stances as visible, hedged or concealed. The study found that for self-sourced reports, the L2 writers are inclined to avoid direct self-mention which shows the greatest writer visibility, but instead use hidden averral with internal attribution. As for other-sourced reports, L2 writers prefer reporting verbs which are strong in the strength of attitude to make a much more definite and stronger claim, while native writers tactically use the moderate verbs and boosting expressions to construct more flexible stances. These discrepancies are likely to result from the disciplinary characteristics which are both community-based and context-situated.

Under the guidance of Contrastive Rhetoric, this paper applies the attitudinal system of Appraisal Theory in the comparative study of the appraisal strategies between Chinese and Western literary reviews. Analysis of 12 English literary reviews by native speakers of both cultures reveals that they exert strategic differences. First, the Chinese reviews employ fewer appraisal resources than their Western counterparts. Second, they differ in their preference for the patterning of the three attitudinal sub-systems (Affect, Judgment, Appreciation). This study discloses that the reviewers construct the appropriate appraisal strategies from their respective interpersonal perspective to conform to the generic features of the discourse and the cultural context.

Studying abroad (SA) is an important means for EFL teachers to develop their professional competence. This paper reports on an enquiry in Shandong Province, China, into a SA program for a group of 103 secondary school English teachers. Drawing on questionnaire data and teachers’ interview narratives, the paper examines how the SA experience influenced their self-perceptions of EFL teaching in three aspects, namely, language proficiency, teaching ideology and the comparison of native speaking and non-native speaking English teachers. The enquiry revealed that the length of SA was a powerful factor in determining teachers’ attitudes toward their jobs and their own capacities to perform them successfully. These findings are discussed with suggestions for making SA experience an effective, sustainable path for secondary school English teachers’ professional development.

This paper reports a case study of my self-development in applying Information Communication Technology (ICT) to teaching. I analyzed my own growth from three perspectives: technical confidence and competence, pedagogical development and self-efficacy. Classroom observation, interviews, reflective journals and questionnaires were used to explore how professional self-development occurred when I changed my teaching belief in teaching, and how I understood the development as a practicing teacher in learning by teaching. I participated in various projects based on action research in order to meet the challenges of the teaching reform in the new era. The results indicate that teachers can develop their informational quality and professional competence in applying ICT in teaching.