rEFLections

The Effects of the Guided Dialogic Peer Feedback-Based Writing Instruction on Chinese EFL Students’ Writing Performance in an Integrated Blended Learning Environment

Yin Deng, Pragasit Sitthitikul — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0700

While extensive research exists on peer feedback and its effects on writing, there are few experimental studies that rigorously investigate the effects of guided dialogic peer feedback on students’ argumentative writing performance. This study, adopting a mixed-methods approach, examined the influence of guided dialogic peer feedback within a blended learning setting on the writing performance of 63 university students studying English as a second language (L2). The participants from two intact classes were randomly assigned as an experimental group (31 students) and a control group (32 students). Over a period of 18 weeks, the experimental group engaged in guided dialogic peer feedback instruction, whereas the control group was given traditional teaching. Both groups were assessed through writing assignments on two different topics, administered as a pre-test and a post-test. Additionally, students from the experimental group filled out a questionnaire and some engaged in semi-structured interviews after the treatment. The study’s findings, derived from a series of t-tests and ANCOVA, revealed that dialogic peer feedback significantly enhanced the students' writing performance. Furthermore, the questionnaire responses indicated a positive student perception towards this instructional approach, a sentiment echoed in the interview analyses.

Impact of Student Outcomes on EFL Teacher Emotions and their Strategies to Cope with Emotional Responses

Nguyen Duc Phuong Trang, Ngoc Tien Tran — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0700

Teachers’ emotions are believed to have a strong impact on teachers’ teaching quality. Teachers who are satisfied with their jobs are more engaged in their professions. However, the teaching is not always joyful. Some teachers may see teaching as a source of happiness, but for others, it is a misery. This study aims to explore the impact of students’ factors namely emotions, beliefs, motivation, discipline, and performance on EFL teachers’ emotions. The study also investigates the strategies EFL teachers employ to cope with their emotional responses. A qualitative approach was employed with in-depth interviews, group discussions, and classroom observations on 12 instructors at two universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The findings bring to the fore a complex tapestry of emotions experienced by EFL teachers in response to the varying trajectories of student outcomes such as accomplishment, fulfillment, and pride that emerged as prevailing emotions when students excelled in their learning journey. Conversely, moments of frustration, disappointment, and self-doubt surfaced when student progress fell short of expectations. A couple of strategies found in the study that teachers often employed to deal with emotional response encompass reviewing and enhancing instructional methods, maintaining their motivation and enthusiasm, strengthening the subject knowledge, creating a supportive and autonomous learning environment, getting closer to students emotionally, adopting self-regulation and upholding a calm demeanor. The study can make some practical contributions by highlighting that teacher emotions are not just reactions to student outcomes but are worth concern in the teaching process.

Correlation between English Major Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties and their Use of Metacognitive Strategies of Listening during Online Listening Comprehension Courses

Rabab Ahmad Mizher, Kholoud Hussein Amoush, Bandar Khalil Mukattash — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This paper attempted to investigate the relationship between English major learners’ use of metacognitive strategies of listening to overcome the difficulties they face while learning listening skills at Al-Balqa Applied University (BAU). The data was collected by administering an online Microsoft Form questionnaire to 168 first-year English major learners. The retrieved questionnaires were 104, with 99 valid for statistical analysis. The questionnaire main themes were the difficulties related to listener, speaker, content, lack of concentration, internet issues, and metacognitive strategies of listening. Data was analyzed using SPSS statistical analysis software (linear regression). The analysis revealed a positive correlation between English major learners’ use of metacognitive strategies of listening when facing listening comprehension difficulties related to all themes. Nevertheless, the evident positive correlation became apparent when learners encountered difficulties associated with a lack of concentration and internet issues. These difficulties were perceived to require the implementation of metacognitive strategies of listening as an effective remedy. This study contributes to the understanding of English major learners’ use of metacognitive strategies of listening during online learning of listening skills. Moreover, it reflects on the English major learners’ awareness of metacognitive strategies of listening and calls for the need to teach these strategies deliberately.

Exploring the Semantic Domain of Environmental Issues in British English Conversation: A Corpus-Assisted Ecolinguistic Perspective

Raksangob Wijitsopon — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0700

In the age when environmental sustainability is among the chief concerns and goals of communities around the world, a number of linguistic studies have been conducted to illuminate the roles of language in protection and destruction of ecological systems. Most of the studies, however, focus on written and/ or formal discourses. The present study aims to fill the gap regarding text varieties in ecolinguistic research by exploring informal conversation, focusing on text meanings of lexical items in the semantic domain of environmental issues. The spoken component of the British National Corpus 2014 was employed as data and concordance lines for lexical items tagged as related to environmental issues were extracted and analysed. Drawing on the concept of local textual functions in corpus linguistics (Mahlberg, 2007), the given lexical items were examined in terms of their lexicogrammatical patterns and associated functions before each functional category was interpreted and discussed from an ecolinguistic perspective on the basis of the interrelatedness concept proposed by Goatly (2022). The analysis reveals 10 local textual functions of the given domain of lexical items in British English informal conversation. Through an ecolinguistic lens, these functions suggest that environmental lexis is part of the discursive construction of individuals’ social identities and personal stories, reflecting an inseparable relationship between humans and the environment. It is thereby suggested that informal conversational discourse is not less important than other discursive practices in its potential for promoting environmental sustainability.

English Clickbait Language Features Which Attract Thai Tertiary EFL Learners

Wipatsaya Srimanoi, Atipat Boonmoh — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study explored how likely its Thai participants were to choose to read an article with a clickbait headline, together with how the reasons given for choosing clickbait headlines correspond to the linguistic features found in the headlines. News headlines were presented to 18 participants to rate which news headline they would choose. Then, the rationales behind the selection were elicited using an interview. The results revealed that the majority of the participants preferred non-clickbait headlines because they consider the relevancy of the headlines to themselves as the major factor, followed by the linguistic features of the headline, which marked education as not relevant to choosing to read a news headline. Among the headlines selected, numbers and unanswered questions play a vital role in influencing people to choose non-academic headlines. Numbers make the headline easier to follow and look reliable, while unanswered questions prompt the reader to discover the truth. All in all, clickbait is not as ‘clickbaity’ when personal relevance and preference affect headline selection. Here, personal relevance includes background, interest, and age, whereas personal preference includes entertaining content, use of neutral words, non-question type headlines, and use of formal words used.

Developing Thai University Students’ Review Writing Skills through International Movie Trailers

Natthaphong Sirijanchuen, Kittitouch Soontornwipast — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0700

Following a paradigm of English as an international language — one that values cultural diversity — this classroom research conducted a quasi-experiment using a single-group pretest and posttest design. The study incorporated learning materials from both Anglophone and non- Anglophone settings, utilizing international movie trailers with English subtitles as a novel instructional resource. The primary aim was to enhance Thai university students' writing skills in the context of movie reviews and to explore their perceptions of this instructional innovation. Participants were 39 Thai third-year undergraduate students from a public university in Thailand. Data collection was done through pretest and posttest results, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. The findings of innovative teaching approach show that the students writing abilities improved significantly following the intervention. The study posits that international movie trailers can be an engaging teaching and learning medium, helping to stimulate students' writing motivation through diverse and culturally significant input. Further, this study encourages the use of the English language in varied contexts, aiding students in understanding the multifaceted identities of English users across different cultural boundaries.

Exploring the Reading Instruction in Foundation English Courses for EFL Non-English Major Undergraduates

Mintra Puripunyavanich — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study explored English reading instruction in foundation courses for non-English major undergraduates in Thai universities. 163 teachers completed an online questionnaire and eight teachers participated in semi-structured online interviews. Key findings revealed that building reading comprehension, teaching reading strategies, and building vocabulary were prioritized. Approximately 70% of the participants dedicated over half of class time to while-reading activities, followed by post-reading tasks at 63.19%. The study also found a balanced approach to reading instruction, with 45.55% of the activities being regularly teacher-led and 44.54% student-led. Balanced selection of materials that met the course requirements and students’ preferences and interests was also observed. Commercial 4-skill course books were the most commonly used materials. While the questionnaire data identified students’ limited vocabulary, negative attitudes to English reading, and low English proficiency as main challenges in teaching reading, 50% of the interviewees reported students’ inability to read English as their biggest challenge. Furthermore, over 60% of the participants did not incorporate extensive reading (ER) in their instruction, mainly due to concerns that students would not enjoy it, uncertainty about assessment methods, and time constraints. The study highlights current reading instruction practices and provides implications for improving English reading education for non-English majors in higher education.

Teaching Quality in Higher Education During A Crisis: Longitudinal Evaluation of Dynamics and Management

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0700

In this study, we conducted an investigation into student satisfaction with a Norwegian university´s capacity to navigate its management of digital resources to provide remote learning facilities during the two-year period of COVID-19. This was carried out from the perspective of students’ course evaluations. We analysed data from over 19,000 course evaluations at the University of Stavanger (UiS), collected between 2020 and 2021. The results indicate that students’ reported satisfaction with their courses remained unchanged throughout the pandemic. Results of this study can be used to ensure that the quality of UiS academic operations meets the expectations of its students.

A Study of the Linguistic Landscape on Phuket Island: Identity, Tourism and Policy

Saranya Pathanasin — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study approaches multilingualism on Phuket Island by means of a linguistic landscape (LL) analysis. The data in this study consists of 185 photographs of shop signs taken from popular streets on the island. They were analyzed via a mixed-methods approach. It was found that different languages were purposely chosen to indicate or showcase the ethnic identities of the shop owners, to reach certain target customers, and to conform to tax regulations. Furthermore, the current study has also identified language changes in Phuket. Hokkien Chinese was found increasingly being replaced by Mandarin Chinese in the shop signs on Phuket Island, while English has become the predominant language as a result of globalization. Strategies in expressing the shop owners’ identities and boosting business include the use of local and foreign languages, cultural images, and gender-related terms. Thus, results show that whilst the island has become an international tourist destination following the global trends of language use, the residents still make an effort to preserve their local ethnic identities as portrayed in the linguistic landscape, for both indexical and tourism purposes.

Evaluating the Context-Dependent View of How and Why Ph.D. Students Experience Boredom during Their Studies

Badriyah Ulfah, Nandyan Ayu Nooryastuti, Utami Widiati — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0700

Maintaining mental health during study time is crucial for students, particularly those enrolled in the Ph.D. program. Boredom as one type of mental health problems is occasionally regarded as inconsequential, but in fact has a significant impact on Ph.D. students and the effectiveness of their study. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the contextdependent view of how and why Ph.D. students experience boredom during their studies from three frameworks of context: institutional, emotional, and situational. A survey study was conducted involving 23 Ph.D. students registered at three state Indonesian universities offering English Language Education Doctoral Program in the country. The data were collected through a questionnaire containing both open-ended and closed-ended questions referring to the three contexts of boredom. The collected data were then coded based on these three contexts. The results show that 60.9% of the participants experienced intermediate, 21.7 % experienced low, and only 17.4% experienced high levels of boredom with the emotional aspect being the highest reason. Additionally, a small number of participants indicated in the open-ended responses that they did not experience boredom at all. In light of the findings, this study underscores the importance of continuing to support and maintain the favourable conditions experienced by Ph.D. students in the country.

L2 Psychology Constructs and L2 Willingness to Communicate of L2 Learners in a Context of Low Exposure to English

Pariwat Imsa-ard — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0700

Recently, there has been a rapid growth in the number of studies related to emotions and positive psychology constructs in language teaching and learning. However, there is scant research in the context of low exposure to English. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the relationship between Thai EFL secondary school learners’ L2 positive and negative psychology constructs and their L2 Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in the context of low exposure to English. A total of 1,601 Thai EFL secondary school learners completed the questionnaire. The results of several statistical analyses (i.e., path analysis, hierarchical multiple regression, and correlation) indicated that there was a significant intercorrelation among all variables. The findings revealed that the amount
of exposure to Extramural English (EE) had the strongest positive correlation with L2 grit and the strongest negative correlation with L2 anxiety. In addition, L2 attention, L2 anxiety, L2 enjoyment, and L2 grit exhibited statistical significance as predictors of L2 WTC when considering limited exposure to English, with intended effort and positive views failing to reach significance. Pedagogically, the findings suggest a shift in instructional approaches to focus on a psychologically informed approach, highlighting the important influence of positive psychology on language learning.

Designing Learning for Multimodal Literacy: Teaching Viewing and Representing

Woravit Seneechai, Rayns Keneth Ampon — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0700