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The present study examines effects of focus-on-form (FonF) instruction on the development of the use of the past counterfactual conditional among Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The researcher developed instructional techniques for inducing cognitive comparisons by means of a written modeling method. The study included three groups of university students (N = 84): (1) an Explicit FonF group (EFF), which received model texts and explicit grammar instruction after second language (L2) writing; (2) an Implicit FonF group (IFF), which received only model texts after L2 writing; and (3) a Focus on Meaning group (FonM), which engaged in L2 writing only. The results showed that EFF outperformed IFF and FonM, and that IFF outperformed FonM in the written sentence-completion test. The data indicated that approximately 56% of the noticed linguistic features of IFF were for grammar, and that approximately 44% of students in the IFF condition noticed the target form while comparing their own texts and the model texts. The author argues that FonF instruction, which helps L2 learners make cognitive comparisons, has a more significant effect on the development of their productive knowledge of the target form than FonM instruction, in which learners are not involved in making cognitive comparisons.

Second language acquisition theories highlight the fundamental role of social interaction in facilitating learners’ efforts to gain competence in an L2, and consider learners’ perceptions of classroom interaction and their affective states to be as important as teaching, in a way that encourages interaction. However, there is a dearth of research focused on learners’ perceptions of interaction in the target language and the relationships between these perceptions and both communication motivation and communication apprehension in the language-learning classroom. The purpose of the present study, therefore, is to explore the relationship between learners’ perceptions of classroom interaction and learners’ communication motivation and communication apprehension. The participants consisted of 162 sophomore students majoring in applied English at a university in Taiwan. Data were collected via a questionnaire. The results showed significant correlations between the learners’ perceptions of classroom interaction and three variables: English-language classroom communication apprehension, intrinsic motivation, and years of English learning. Further, a multiple regression analysis showed that intrinsic motivation contributed to the learners’ positive perceptions of classroom interaction in regard to using the target language, whereas this was not the case for extrinsic motivation and communication apprehension. The study results have implications for both teaching and research.

Task–based reading activities are of crucial value today, and consequently learners’ proficiency is more important than their abstract knowledge of language rules. It seems that learners’ familiarity with task-based reading activities may increase learners’ proficiency. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of task-based reading activities such as text completion and pupil generated questions on vocabulary learning and retention of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To conduct the study, three intact classes of learners who had already finished Top Notch Fundamental A and B (Saslow & Ausher, 2011) in previous semesters in an English language institute were selected as the participants of the study. To ensure the homogeneity of the participants, those who got a score between 30-47 from the total score of 60 in OPT were selected as the intermediate level for main participants of the study (N=47). As the data were normally distributed, one way ANOVA and repeated measure ANOVA were employed for the statistical analyses of the study. The findings indicated that using task-based reading activities such as text completion and pupil-generated questions has significant and meaningful impacts on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary learning and retention. The implementations of the study are discussed.

Due to the expected value of English proficiency for living in a global society, acquiring English proficiency has become a major concern for many people in Korea. This attention is because people in Korea believe English is providing them with premium opportunities to better their lives such as being admitted to prestigious schools or getting high-paying jobs. The differential investment in learning English thus has yielded a new form of social inequality, dividing people between the English rich and the English poor. Perceiving the potential negative effects of the English divide and the importance of equipping Koreans’ English proficiency, the Korean government has put effort and strategic investment into improving public English education in Korea. Studies on policies have often been presented in a multilingual context where the concept of language policies, language education policies, foreign language policies, and English language education policies are somewhat blurred. Looking at the English education policies in a monolingual society like Korea exclusively can present a focused view on the effectiveness of English education policies. This study presents the key policies put into practice to improve the quality of English education in Korea and highlights secondary teachers’ responses to those policies in attaining the policy goals. A total of 1039 secondary teachers working in Daegu participated in the survey administered twice: 557 in 2010 and 482 in 2016. The perceptual changes are discussed with the participants’ comments included in the results. The study will provoke discussion and intuition for managing English education policies in similar contexts.

Drawing on a systemic functional linguistics genre paradigm, this article examines model writing texts in two types of English teaching and learning materials for high school students in Japan: public and commercial textbooks. A corpus of 73 texts was created. This article aims to identify what genres are provided as model texts to teach and learn English writing in these textbooks. It further aims to identify the schematic structures of the genres identified. It was found that, in the commercial textbooks, only a limited range of genres was provided while, in the public textbooks, a variety of genres such as Information reports, Everyday procedures and Sequential explanations was included. In relation to text structures, different ways of constructing the Argument stage in argumentative genre texts were found in the two types of textbooks. Pedagogical implications for English writing instruction in Japanese high schools are suggested.

This case study demonstrates how the identity of a Korean nonnative English-speaking teacher (NNEST) was continuously negotiated and resituated according to how she positioned herself and how she perceived others positioned her in educational and social contexts. To explore her fluid and multiple identities as a nonnative English speaker (NNES) in English education, data sources included initial and follow-up individual interviews, group conversations, and artifacts (e.g., drawings and reflective memos). Analysis focuses on how a NNES’s self-image as an English language teacher can be transformed by participation in critical practices. This study reveals that critical practices can help demystify the ideology of native speakerism and concludes that language teacher education programs should provide NNESTs with frequent and consistent opportunities to raise their critical awareness of how language and ideology are structured by social and political practices and how those practices are (re)produced by power relations in society.

This study is the second part of a project on motivation for short in-class extensive reading (ER) and examined factors affecting the motivations using self-determination theory (SDT). Japanese university learners of English as a foreign language (N = 133) responded to a questionnaire designed to measure four hypothesized predictors of ER motivation (i.e., positive peer influences, perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in the middle of an academic year, and five subtypes of SDT motivation for short in-class ER (i.e., intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation) at the end of the academic year. The results of a recursive path analysis showed that: 1) perceived autonomy had a positive impact on motivation, leading to higher intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, and lower amotivation, introjected regulation, and external regulation; 2) positive peer influences had a positive impact on more self-determined types of motivation (i.e., intrinsic motivation and identified regulation); 3) perceived competence was neither associated with amotivation nor more self-determined types of motivation; and 4) perceived relatedness held no relevance for any of the five subtypes of motivation. These findings indicate the importance of perceiving autonomy and peer engagement in ER in enhancing motivation for short inclass ER.

Despite growing interest in the implementation of dynamic assessment in second or foreign language learning research, few studies have attempted to incorporate the notion into real second language classrooms. This study explored the effect of cumulative Group-Dynamic Assessment on depth of vocabulary knowledge in an EFL context. To this end, 50 EFL learners were selected from a junior high school in Iran after administering the Oxford Quick Placement Test. Then, they were randomly assigned to two equal groups, namely, experimental Group-Dynamic Assessment and control Non- Dynamic Assessment. The Group-Dynamic Assessment group was instructed through interactionist cumulative Group-Dynamic Assessment procedures while the control group was taught without providing any cumulative ZPD-sensitive feedback. Before and after the instruction, a vocabulary knowledge scale (Paribakh & Wesche, 1993, 1996) was administered to measure both groups’ depth of second language vocabulary knowledge. The split-plot ANOVA results revealed that the implementation of interactionist cumulative Group-Dynamic Assessment helped the learners outperform the Non-Dynamic Assessment group on both immediate and delayed posttests. Additionally, complementary qualitative analysis showed that cumulative Group-Dynamic Assessment had both diagnostic and developmental potentials to contribute not only to individual participants but also to the whole class to increase their depth of vocabulary knowledge. The findings pointed to the use of ZPD-based collaborative frameworks in teaching second language vocabulary in meaningful contexts and thereby helping learners develop deeper word knowledge.

This study investigated EFL language teachers’ and learners’ evaluation of classroom-based pair and group work activities during an intensive English language program and it sought their opinions on the potential of Facebook to extend such collaborative activities online. Data were collected from 26 teachers and 178 pre-intermediate students using surveys and semi-structured interviews at an international university in Cyprus. The data analysis revealed that despite acknowledging the benefits involved in using pair and group work tasks in their classes, more than half of the participants reported that students developed the feelings of boredom and demotivation toward participating in classroombased collaborative activities, mostly due to their overuse, poor design, and failure to cater to students’ learning needs and beliefs and their educational and cultural backgrounds. The results also indicated that, under some conditions, Facebook could function as a learning environment to revamp students’ interest and facilitate their engagement in collaborative language learning activities. Both students and teachers suggested specific ideas with respect to the informal as well as formal integration of Facebook into language learning classes.

The English language today functions as a lingua franca with the largest number of learners and users of any language. As an international language, it has attracted much attention in terms of its impacts on other languages. As another key language with the largest number of native speakers, the Chinese language has also demonstrated a global status, with an increasing number of language learners and users. This paper investigates Chinese overseas students’ perceptions of the influence of English on the Chinese language and culture. By adopting a series of qualitative interviews, this paper researches the attitudes of overseas Chinese students studying in the UK towards the influence of English on the Chinese language. In order to explore how the uses of English influence the Chinese language in the Chinese context, the paper investigates students’ attitudes towards the Gaokao reform, the influence of English on Chinese language and culture, and the future use of English in China. It concludes that, although the Chinese language is developing quite rapidly with both L1 and L2 speakers, English represents an important channel for people’s personal development, and English as a lingua franca will continue to be used for a range of purposes in many Chinese people’s lives for some time to come.