Editorial

아시아영어교육학회 아시아영어교육학회 2017 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.14 No.2

The Impact of Using the Interactive Whiteboard on Phonemic Awareness Instruction among EFL First Graders

Mohammad Husam Alhumsi 아시아영어교육학회 2021 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.18 No.2

The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of using the Interactive Whiteboard on phonemic awareness instruction among EFL first graders. For this study, a word recognition test was used as the research instrument. Pre-test, post-test, and delayed-word recognition were administered to 48 first graders, aged 7 on average, to both the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received the treatment for four weeks using IWB, whereas the control group was taught using the chalkboard. Paired sample t-test, independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were employed to analyse the data. The findings showed a significant difference in word recognition test scores in favor of the experimental group test (t = 2.50, p < .05). The mean score of the experimental group was better than that of the control group. The current study proposes some pedagogical implications for curriculum designers and concludes with recommendations and further studies on intervention programs.

Task-Related Motivational Strategies in EFL Classrooms : A Glimpse into Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions

Khoa Dang Truong 아시아영어교육학회 2021 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.18 No.2

This mixed-method study investigated teacher and student perceptions of the importance of taskrelated motivational strategies (TRMS) in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom instruction. A 48-item Likert scale questionnaire covering seven domains of TRMS were electronically delivered to teachers (N = 96) at different institutions in a large city in southern Vietnam and their students (N = 220). Concurrently, thirty-four written reflections were obtained from the teachers (N = 17) and the students (N = 17) to shed further light on their perceptions. Examining the participants’ central tendencies showed that they agreed on the motivational value of task nature, task relevance, task materials, task-related feedback, and during-task teacher behavior, but not on task presentation and task level. Item analyses further revealed statistically significant differences in the participants’ perceptions of as much as 23 percent of the TRMS. Recursive content analysis of the journal data corroborated a substantial part of the quantitative results and offered explanations for why each specific difference occurred. These perceptual mismatches provide important pedagogical implications for how teachers can design and implement tasks in the way that is motivating to students whose English learning is entirely confined within classroom walls.

A Meta-analysis: Shape of Age Effects and Second Language Grammar Acquisition

Muhammad Asif Qureshi 아시아영어교육학회 2021 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.18 No.2

This study reports findings of a meta-analysis on the effects of the age of first exposure, known as the age of onset (AO), on the acquisition of morphosyntax in a second language (L2). Several studies report restrictive effects of AO on L2 grammar acquisition (Abrahamsson, 2012; DeKeyser et al., 2010; Qureshi, 2016); however, there is a disagreement about the way sensitivity to second language acquisition declines (Birdsong, 2009; Long, 2013). Researchers disagree about the nature of the decline and argue whether the decrease that occurs in learners’ ultimate proficiency in the second language is gradual and continuous or gradual but followed by a plateau, without further decline. To explore the nature of AO, 29 samples from 14 studies were analyzed. The results revealed a large effect size1 (d = 1.13, SD = .06) for the impact of AO on ultimate proficiency in L2 morphosyntax. However, for the disaggregated data (i.e., when earlier & late learners are separated), a linear decline was observed for the 6 to 16 age-group (21 samples), while a flattening of the regression line was detected for the 17 to 24 age-group (8 samples). More importantly, the findings revealed two different shapes of decline based on participants’ first language and the target L2. Overall, the findings support a bounded critical period for second language acquisition and indicate the typological distance between the two languages as a major influencing factor.

The Role of Glossing and Working Memory Capacity in Second Language Reading Comprehension

Jookyoung Jung 아시아영어교육학회 2021 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.18 No.2

Glossing, providing information for unfamiliar lexical items to promote reading comprehension, has long been investigated as a textual modification technique to promote second language (L2) reading comprehension. Thus far, however, inconclusive findings have been produced as to whether L2 readers’ working memory capacity plays as a moderator of the effects of glossing on L2 reading comprehension. To fill the gap, the present study explored the moderating impact of working memory capacity on the efficacy of glossing in L2 reading comprehension. Eighty-eight Korean university students read two English passages in either a glossed or an unglossed version, while answering multiple-choice reading comprehension items. Participants’ phonological short-term memory was assessed with a digit span task and a Korean nonword repetition task, while their complex working memory was measured with a backward digit span task and an automated operation span task. The results of mixed-effects modeling revealed that forward digit span scores moderated the effects of glossing on L2 reading comprehension scores.

The Socio-Cultural Suitability of Task-based Instruction in Japan : Through the Lens of Learners

Yumiko Cochrane 아시아영어교육학회 2021 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.18 No.2

This article reports the findings of an action research project, which investigated how university students would respond to Task-based Instruction (TBI), with the primary aim to examine its sociocultural appropriateness in the Japanese EFL context. The study employed a hybrid form of task-based and textbook-focused instruction in English classes at the tertiary level. A survey was administered to collect student feedback, which was examined qualitatively using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that a majority of students positively viewed TBI in terms of main themes that emerged from the data: Social Skills Building; Personal Development; Future Usefulness, with English Learning as a common sub-theme. Pedagogical implications, as well as suggestions for further research, are discussed based on these findings.

Teacher Talk to Accommodate Low-Proficiency Learners in EFL Classes: A Case Study

A. Dzo’ul Milal 아시아영어교육학회 2021 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.18 No.2

Instructional design is usually focused on the presentation of materials. The principles of teachers’ language-use strategies have scarcely been discussed. In an EFL context, teachers are required to use the target language to promote learners’ language acquisition. What is the language like when the learners still have low language proficiency? This study aims to describe the speech features of nonnative teachers of English addressed to lower-proficiency learners in EFL classes. The data were collected by observation, interview, and recording the teachers teaching English in lower classes, i.e. semester one, and its comparable counterpart of higher classes, i.e. semester five of the English Department in a public university in Malang, Indonesia, and then analyzed by describing and comparing inter-levels intra-subjects. Despite some variability among subjects, it was found that there was a tendency that the language addressed to lower-proficiency learners has specific characteristics encompassing formal, interactional, and native language features that were simpler than that to higherproficiency learners. This study concludes a principle of instructional delivery that student’s level of knowledge and language ability determined the level of teacher speech. Hence, instructional designers should also describe how a medium of instruction is used, not merely how the learning material is presented.

Effects of Recasts, Explicit Correction and Metalinguistic Prompts on L2 Knowledge of the English Past Tense

Yusuke Sato 아시아영어교육학회 2021 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.18 No.2

This study examined the effects of three different types of corrective feedback (CF) on the acquisition of declarative/procedural knowledge of the English past tense in a foreign language (FL) classroom setting. The participants comprised Japanese university students, and five classes were assigned to recasts, explicit correction, metalinguistic prompt, task-only, and test control groups. The first three groups performed tasks designed to elicit past-tense forms and received CF. The task-only group performed the tasks without any CF, while the test control group completed pretests and posttests only. Participants’ declarative and procedural knowledge of the past tense was measured at the pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest. The results generally showed that recasts and explicit correction were effective for the development of declarative knowledge of the structures, while metalinguistic prompts were beneficial for the development of procedural knowledge. Thus, metalinguistic prompts would be one of the best types of feedback to provide in an FL classroom setting to help learners develop procedural knowledge of past-tense forms. However, to effectively develop their declarative knowledge of past-tense forms, recasts and explicit correction should also be provided.

Cognition and Language Learning, by Sadia Belkhir (Ed.), Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholar Publishing

Bao Kham 아시아영어교육학회 2021 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.18 No.2

The Place of English as an International Language in English Language Teaching, Teachers’ Reflections

Xiao Zhang 아시아영어교육학회 2021 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.18 No.2