Sessions / Graduate Student Showcase

Poetic Transcription in Narrative Data Analysis: A Study of EFL Teachers in Indonesia

One of the art-based research practices which can be adopted for qualitative research is poetic inquiry. A number of qualitative researchers have found poetic inquiry a beneficial method to illuminate aspects of the human condition and experiences. In this presentation, I will share how I adopted poetic inquiry in my current doctoral research which explored the lived experiences of EFL teachers in Indonesia as they entered their early career. I will demonstrate how I created poems from the narrative data/interview transcripts. One of the emerging themes was the struggles of the EFL teachers as they transitioned into online teaching. Through poetic transcription, the voices and emotional dimensions of participants‚ experiences could be strongly represented. I suggest that poetic transcription strategy be adopted by researchers who wish to look at their data from a new perspective.

The Effects of Recursive Conversations on L2 English Learners’ Speaking Competence

This presentation reports on the early quantitative results of an ongoing mixed methods research project comparing the effects of Recursive Conversations (RCs) (Bowyer, 2019) with more traditional focused practice activities (Cornillie at al., 2017) on learners’ L2 interactional competence. Two groups of first-year non-English majors at a Japanese university participated in this research for one academic year. Both groups began the year at the CEFR upper A2 level (Milton & Alexiou, 2009). The groups received 90 minutes of English conversation instruction per week, with Group 1 (n = 24) conducting RCs while Group 2 (n = 17) received focused practice lessons. At the end of the year, their recorded conversations were transcribed. They were then compared for spoken accuracy, fluency, and complexity using Mann-Whitney U tests. This presentation will report on these initial results, articulate the implications for the L2 teaching community, and describe the next steps of the project.

Improving L2 Learners' Spoken English Proficiency in Mainland China

English is seen as a foreign language in Mainland China, which means that the Chinese do not use English to communicate in daily life. Most schools pay more attention to English reading and writing competency to help students get a high score in Gaokao. However, English, as a word language, should not only be seen as a tool to get a high score, teachers should recognize the importance of applying English, especially oral English, in modern society. The lack of practicing oral English makes L2 learners be dumb English users. Graddol (2012) shows that only 7% of L2 learners "often" use English and the L2 learner's oral English proficiency is low. To improve L2 learners' oral English, teachers can use more original materials, like English TV shows or Youtube videos, to improve L2 learners' motivation and interests. Besides, new technology, like transcribing, can be applied during oral English teaching.

Mobile Game-Based English Vocabulary Learning App: A Study of Learning Outcomes of First-Graders

Although game-based apps for memorizing words are widely used in regular life, there is little empirical evidence that it has an impact on students' academic learning. This study sought to ascertain whether English apps using mobile games would have a motivating effect on first-grade elementary school students' English word learning. For this purpose, a pretest and post-test were conducted for students. And two groups of 40 first-grade elementary school students underwent a four-week experiment. One group of students was the experimental group that learned vocabulary by using the mobile game-based app; the other was the control group, where students learned with traditional paper word lists. The conclusion is that the mobile game-based vocabulary learning app motivates students to acquire vocabulary and is more easily for students to memorize than utilizing the traditional teaching method.

Using Open Questions vs. Closed Questions During Picturebook Read-Alouds

During read-alouds, a great deal of the benefit and enjoyment learners gain is due to the interaction from sharing the picturebook and the use of open questions is often recommended in Western-focused research. However, in the Asian classroom conversational norms as well as teaching styles can mean both teachers and learners can find open questions very challenging. This presentation discusses a small-scale case study which examined how 10-12-year-old Japanese low-level English learners respond to open and closed questions during interactive picturebook read-alouds. It will cover four main areas: the amount of interaction created by each question type, the different types of responses elicited, the situations where students could not respond to questions, and how class dynamics affected student responses. Participants will leave the presentation with a clearer idea of when the use of closed questions may be more appropriate than open questions during read-alouds in the low-level English language classroom.

Comparative English-Learning Experiences: The Case of North Koreans in the United States

The research regarding the English-learning experiences of North Korean refugees is small yet expanding. However, current studies have focused almost entirely on North Koreans located in South Korea. This presentation will report key findings from a case study of six North Koreans living in the U.S.A. Results will be compared with current literature and explore differences among those who studied English in South Korea versus in the United States. Focal points will include the importance of learning English in relation to the participants’ goals, how those goals varied among students in both countries, and suggestions that the participants made in reflection to their learning experiences – both in the classroom and among peers. Attendees can expect to come away with practical considerations for refugee students they may encounter in a post-secondary English classroom as well as an enhanced awareness of the needs of North Korean refugees, including questions for further research in the field.

Revisiting Language Assessment Literacy: Past, Present and Future

Language assessment literacy (LAL), a term developed from assessment literacy (AL), has now become a crucial agenda in the language testing field. The last decade, indeed, has witnessed numerous studies exploring LAL from different perspectives. That said, a detailed and comprehensive review is still in its infancy. As a response, the current paper used thematic review to categorize and synthesize existing LAL studies (N = 38), published on major language testing journals (e.g., Language Testing) and other relevant sources (e.g., book chapters), from the aspects of a) origin, b) definition, c) frameworks, d) stakeholders, and e) instruments. Results reveal that other stakeholders (e.g., parents), to some extent, are difficult to understand and use existing LAL definitions and frameworks effectively, as language testing researchers largely prescribe them. Besides, teachers' LAL is overrepresented in the present literature, while fewer studies have been conducted on other stakeholders (e.g., test-takers). To conclude, prospective areas are suggested for further research and discussion.

Comparing Syntactic Complexity and Lexical Complexity in Two Modes of CMCs

In EFL teaching, the main goal for learners is to be able to communicate with a wide range of people. Tragant et al. (2020) argue that many learners have limited opportunities to use English outside of the classroom. According to Hagley (2020), “EFL often became an academic activity with few chances to use English in real-world communicative events.” To address this problem, this study examined whether two different types of social network communications have the potential to promote “real-world communication” in a university context. The results indicated that online interaction can contribute not only to improving students’ language skills but also to promote authentic language use outside EFL classrooms.