RELC Journal recent issues

Editorial

Chan Yue Weng, — 2009-06-10

Buddy Reading in a Singaporean Primary School: Implications for Training and Research

Shegar, C. — 2009-06-10

Buddy Reading, a peer tutoring programme, is popularly adopted in Singapore schools to increase the reading proficiency of lower primary children who are not reading at age appropriate levels. However, this programme is rarely subjected to systematic evaluation. In view of this, the present study undertakes an evaluation of the programme as it is implemented in a Singaporean primary school. The evaluation brings to the fore some of the shortcomings inherent in the programme and proposes how the training could be enhanced. The final part of the paper evaluates the effects of the newly proposed training programme and concludes with implications for training and research in the area.

Peer-Assessing Peers' Contribution to EFL Group Presentations

Saito, H., Fujita, T. — 2009-06-10

The aim of this study is three-fold: (1) to examine the similarities and differences between instructor and peer assessments of EFL group presentations; (2) to understand the utility of peer assessment for discriminating each group member's contribution to group presentations in college EFL classrooms; and (3) to investigate the relationship between the quality of a group product and group cooperation, each of which were measured by peer assessments. Eighty-three Japanese freshmen worked in groups to create TV commercials. They then completed two types of peer assessment. Results indicated an overall similarity between peer and instructor assessments, along with some notable differences in item difficulties. Most group members succeeded in differentiating the degree of each member's contribution to the group project. Strong support, however, was not found for the assumption that groups with high cooperators produced quality group presentations. Although these results are encouraging for using peer assessment for EFL group presentations, some caution is advised.

English Educational Policy for High Schools in Japan: Ideals vs. Reality

Kikuchi, K., Browne, C. — 2009-06-10

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology issues a document known as the Course of Study Guidelines on average once every ten years. This document states the overall and specific goals for English education in Japanese junior and senior high schools including specifying the contents of ministry approved textbooks. This study looks at the influence these guidelines have had on classroom pedagogy from the point of view of the student. For this study 112 college freshmen were surveyed shortly after they had been admitted into several private universities in the Tokyo area, responding to both closed-response and open-response questions about their perceptions of classroom practice in each of the six English courses defined in the guidelines. In the closed-response questionnaire, students were asked to rate various items related to teaching. In the open-response questionnaire, students were asked to describe the teaching practice of their English teachers. Standard descriptive statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data. The study gives insights into the successes and failures of the guideline's curriculum revisions. It is a response to call for the further study by Nunan (2003) and helps to show the complicated gap between educational policies and actual teaching practice in Japan.

A Tale of Two Texts: Tracking Developments in Learner Writing

Cullip, P. F. — 2009-06-10

This case study analyses two written texts produced by an ESL learner either side of a five-week genre-based teaching intervention. The second text was judged to be of a much higher quality by two independent markers in a previous study. The question arising is: what exactly has improved? The analytical tools of systemic functional linguistics are used to identify the major areas of generic, discourse and lexico-grammatical development in the learner's writing of an argument. These developments are discussed in relation to the theoretical foundations of the genre-based approach and the classroom practices associated with it.

A Cross-cultural Analysis of English Newspaper Editorials: A Systemic-Functional View of Text for Contrastive Rhetoric Research

Ansary, H., Babaii, E. — 2009-06-10

It is true that analyses of English language texts dominate the literature. It is equally true that a flourishing field of Contrastive Rhetoric (CR) research has begun to address the way various text types and/or genres may differ across cultures and languages (see Connor 1996, 2003). Very much in line with these developments, this study was an attempt to first characterize the global and/or macro-rhetorical structure of English newspaper editorials and formulate what Halliday and Hasan (1989: 64) call `the Generic Structure Potential' (GSP) of a genre. Secondly, this study attempted to cross-examine whether there is significant macro-structural variation from one culture to another within the same genre. To this end, a total of 90 editorials culled from three English newspapers (30 editorials each) published in three different socio-cultural environments by native speakers of English (The Washington Times), and non-native speakers (The Iran News, and The Pakistan Today) were text-analyzed. The results of a GSP analysis of texts indicated that, in terms of the rhetorical elements of structure, there is `statistically' no significant difference ( = .05) between editorials written by (non-)native editorial writers, in whatever socio-cultural and socio-political context they are produced and disseminated. In plain words, results revealed that an `unmarked' English newspaper editorial, published either in Iran or Pakistan or the USA, typically consists of four obligatory and two optional generic rhetorical elements.

Book Review: COHEN, Andrew D. and Ernesto Macaro, Language Learner Strategies: Thirty Years of Research and Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. viii + 336. ISBN 978-0-19-442254-3 (pbk)

Pang, A. K.M. — 2009-06-10

Book Review: SCHELLEKENS, Phillida, The Oxford ESOL Handbook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 236. ISBN 978-0-19-442281-9

Nicholls, C. — 2009-06-10

Editorial

Chan Yue Weng, — 2009-03-10

Developing an Integrated Diagnostic Test of Vocabulary Size and Depth

Ishii, T., Schmitt, N. — 2009-03-10

Following growing interest in vocabulary acquisition, a number of researchers have proposed how learners' vocabulary knowledge can be measured both in terms of how many words they know (vocabulary size) and how well they know those words (depth of knowledge). However, most of the depth measures have addressed only a single depth aspect (often for research purposes), and not many researchers have investigated how size and depth approaches can be combined in a test battery suitable for pedagogical purposes. Furthermore, there is little advice available on how the scores of size and depth measures can be appropriately interpreted. This article describes how one size-depth vocabulary test battery was developed for a specific student group (Japanese university students), and proposes a scoring scheme that combines size and depth scores in a principled way. It also suggests a method of making the resulting scores accessible to the students. It is hoped that the test battery and procedure described can act as a useful guide for teachers and test writers in other countries and contexts who wish to develop a more comprehensive vocabulary assessment approach.

IELTS Preparation Course and Student IELTS Performance: A Case Study in Hong Kong

Gan Zhengdong, — 2009-03-10

Since the University Grants Committee (UGC) selected the academic module of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) as the common English proficiency assessment for graduating undergraduate degree students in 2002, almost all the tertiary institutions in Hong Kong have offered IELTS preparation courses that aim at providing students training in IELTS taking strategies and giving them practice with IELTS tasks under exam conditions. This study examines the potential impact of IELTS preparation course on IELTS test performance. A web-based questionnaire designed to collect information about students' IELTS preparation experience and performance was distributed to the students who had applied to take the common English proficiency assessment in the 2003/2004 academic year in one university in Hong Kong. The findings showed no significant differences in exit IELTS test scores between students who had taken an IELTS preparation course prior to the test and those who had not taken such a preparation course. However, significant differences were found between the two groups in their university entrance English exam scores. Our findings indicate that students who scored lower in the university entrance exam were more likely to take the later test preparation course prior to the exit IELTS test. The lack of statistically significant differences between the two groups in the exit IELTS test scores also points to the fact that the gap in English language proficiency between the two groups reflected in the entrance exam scores appeared to have narrowed by the time they took the exit test, which is apparently the result of the university English learning experiences, of which participation in IELTS preparation courses should be an important part. Implications for the issue of `homogenous IELTS scores' in Hong Kong, as well as the learning/motivational effects of IELTS preparation courses are discussed.

Developing a Problem-Based Course Based on Needs Analysis to Enhance English Reading Ability of Thai Undergraduate Students

Bosuwon, T., Woodrow, L. — 2009-03-10

This paper reports on a needs analysis underlying a proposed business English reading course using a problem-based learning approach designed to enhance English reading abilities of Thai undergraduate students. As part of a work in progress, the needs analysis survey was done prior to the course design with the major stakeholders in business and academic settings. The findings from the needs analysis were used to determine the course's learning objectives, content and the evaluation so that the needs of the students who are English for business communication majors of the School of Humanities, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce could be met. Based on this needs analysis, it is proposed that the problem-based business English reading course might be effectively designed as an ESP course to enhance English reading ability of Thai undergraduate students.

The English Language Curriculum for Senior Secondary School in China: Its Evolution from 1949

Wenfeng Wang, , Lam, A. S.L. — 2009-03-10

This article traces the evolution of the English language curriculum for senior secondary school in China from 1949 against the background of national developments in China. The latest English language curriculum (2003) is then introduced and discussed in comparison with the 1993 syllabus. The comparison suggests that the 2003 curriculum recognizes the humanistic value of English as a foreign language in fostering students' cognitive and personal growth beyond its traditional instrumental value in providing access to scientific knowledge and economic development. This calls for a concomitant fundamental change in teachers with its associated difficulties for teachers in curricular implementation and the need for new teacher development programmes.

Learning Language, Learning Teaching: Episodes from the Life of a Teacher of English in Thailand

Hayes, D. — 2009-03-10

It has been suggested by some researchers that the world of the teacher of English as a foreign language is terra incognita . Little research seems to be widely available to map this world for external observers, particularly from the perspectives of non-native-speaking (NNS) teachers of the language working in those contexts where most English language teaching worldwide occurs—state education systems. This article aims to make a contribution to mapping the world of NNS language teachers through a case study of the life of a teacher of English in a government school in Thailand. It hopes to contribute to a wider contextual appreciation of teachers and teaching through exploring in particular this teacher's perceptions on her own language learning, her experiences as a teacher of English and her attempts to innovate in her classroom in a context which seemed to militate against such innovation. In so doing the study also aims to make a case for further research into the careers of NNS English teachers in order that the full richness and complexity of teaching and learning of English in the widest possible variety of socio-educational contexts can be revealed and compared.

Shifts in Beliefs about Second Language Learning

Riley, P. A. — 2009-03-10

This article is based on a study which investigated the beliefs about English language learning of 661 first-year university students and their 34 English teachers at a Japanese university. The focus of the article is the shifts in reported student beliefs over a nine-month period of English study between two administrations of the Sakui and Gaies (1999) beliefs survey instrument. Beliefs are usually considered as resilient constructs, self-perpetuating in nature. In this study, however, significant differences were found in student responses to almost a quarter of the items on the questionnaire. Two student discussion groups were also formed which provided further evidence of shifts in student beliefs about language learning during the nine-month period of English study.

Book Review: NG Bee Chin, and Gillian Wigglesworth, Bilingualism: An Advanced Resource Book (London: Routledge, 2007), pp. xiv + 358. ISBN 978-0-415-34387-9 (pbk)

Tatlonghari, M. A. — 2009-03-10

Book Review: COREIL, Clyde, (ed.), Imagination, Cognition and Language Acquisition: A Unified Approach to Theory and Practice (Jersey City: New Jersey City University, 2007), pp. vii + 169. ISBN 978-1-883514-11-2

Ho, C. M.L. — 2009-03-10

Editorial

Chan Yue Weng, — 2008-10-27

Designing an Online Writing System: Learning with Support

Kuo, C.-H. — 2008-10-27

The potential of online language learning has received much attention recently. This paper reports the design of an online writing system featuring learning support for non-native students during their writing process. The central premise is that in the online writing situation, students are in great need of writing aids. The proposed system provides a friendly and supportive writing environment. It consists of three main parts: writing practice, peer review, and e portfolio. Writing practice contains not only writing guidelines to raise students' consciousness of the structure of the target genre but also learning resources and tools that render full assistance. The resources include online translators, online dictionaries, phraseology, and wordlists, while the tools include a web concordancer and a collocation builder. Peer review allows students to give feedback to their partner's online writing, leading hopefully to reflection and revision. E portfolio consists of a learning record and a learning journal. Students can check their individual online writing record and retrieve both original and revised drafts for comparison. Learning journal is the place where students reflect over their writing process and problems. Pedagogical implications are finally discussed.

Reflective Writing: Insights into What Lies Beneath

Kathpalia, S. S., Heah, C. — 2008-10-27

Educationists and writing practitioners consider reflection to be a defining feature of student portfolios (Fink 2003; Zubizarreta 2004; Jones and Shelton 2006). A writing portfolio without reflection is merely a collection of written work which does not contribute to `real' learning. Reflection in the portfolio approach happens when students examine their work against established criteria, analyse the effectiveness of their efforts and plan for improvement. According to Fink (2003), reflective writing `focuses on the writer's learning experience itself and attempts to identify the significance and meaning of a given learning experience, primarily for the writer'. This paper will examine the self-reflection of student writers in an undergraduate writing course offered to Science students at Nanyang Technological University. An attempt will be made to identify and illustrate the communicative competencies learnt by these students through the process of selfreflection as well as suggest tools to prompt these reflections. It is hoped that this study will unearth what lies beneath the written product and highlight those forces which make writing practice more informed, both for the student as well as the teacher.

Pragmatic Transfer in Thai EFL Refusals

Wannaruk, A. — 2008-10-27

Communication breakdowns can occur during cross-cultural communication due to different perceptions and interpretations of appropriateness and politeness. This study investigates similarities and differences between refusals in American English and Thai and incidences of pragmatic transfer by Thai EFL learners when making refusals. The participants of the study include Thai and American native speakers and EFL learners. All of them are graduate students. The data were collected by means of a discourse completion test (DCT) which was designed on the basis of interviews carried out with a view to possible situations for refusals. EFL data for refusals were compared with similar data elicited from native speakers of American English and Thai. Results indicate that overall all three groups share most of the refusal strategies and that pragmatic transfer exists in the choice and content of refusal strategies. Awareness of a person of a higher status and the characteristics of being modest in L1 culture motivate pragmatic transfer. Language proficiency is also an important factor in pragmatic transfer. In making refusals, EFL learners with lower English proficiency translate from L1 to L2 because of their lack of L2 pragmatic knowledge.

A Deep Look into Learning Strategy Use by Successful and Unsuccessful Students in the Chinese EFL Learning Context

Qingquan, N., Chatupote, M., Teo, A. — 2008-10-27

This article focused on the investigation of the differences in the frequency of language learning strategy use by successful and unsuccessful first-year students of a Chinese university.. The study found that successful sudents used a wider range of learning strategies for EFL learning significantly more frequently than unsuccessful students. It was also found that the strategies often employed by the successful students are different from those often preferred by their unsuccessful peers. The former often used deep, L2-based, association, active participation, language use, positive-attitude taking and learning-process monitoring strategies that are likely to make more contributions to successful L2 learning while the latter tended to use surface, L1-based, word-level, rote memory and gesture strategies.

The Effectiveness of English Teaching in Japanese Elementary Schools: Measured by Proficiency Tests Administered to Seventh-year Students

Katsuyama, H., Nishigaki, C., Wang, J. — 2008-10-27

The effectiveness of early English education was investigated in this study to determine if English should be taught formally in Japanese public elementary schools. We administered English tests and questionnaires to 1466 elementary school students in 2004 and 2005. The results showed significant differences between the English-education-experienced and non-experienced students and indicated positive effects of early English education. Although we confirmed the effects, some researchers claim that the effects may diminish at the junior high school level. To examine the above claim, we conducted a proficiency test and gave questionnaires to the seventh-year students of two junior high schools in 2006. As most of the students of the two elementary schools, at which we had conducted our research for the previous two years, entered the two junior high schools, the results of our new research gave us follow-up data on how the English ability of these students changed. The results showed a significant difference between the English-education-experienced at elementary schools and non-experienced and also between the experienced outside of school and non-experienced. It was also found that early English education helps to enhance students' interest toward English and facilitates learning motivation toward English after entering junior high school.

Western EFL Teachers and East-West Classroom-Culture Conflicts

Simpson, S. T. — 2008-10-27

This article surveys some of the conflicts endemic to foreigners teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in China. Though learning English is very popular in China now and China is one of the most popular destinations for Western EFL teachers, neither the teaching nor learning of English comes without certain clashes in the classroom. These clashes result from divergent educational philosophies meeting in an environment that is both low in mutual awareness and high in expectations. However, with greater awareness and increased understanding, the effects of these clashes may be mediated. This article, after presenting and explaining relevant historical and cultural background, offers several culturally relevant reforms intended to help in the mediation process.

Book Review: PIENEMANN, Manfred (ed.), Cross-linguistic Aspects of Processability Theory (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2005), pp. ix + 303. ISBN 9027241414 (hbk)

Van Vlack, S. P. — 2008-10-27

Book Review: ROBINSON, Viviane, and Mei Kuin LAI, Practitioner Research for Educators (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2006), pp. xiv + 220. ISBN 0761946845 (pbk)

Ward, C. — 2008-10-27

Editorial

Cane, G. — 2008-07-02

Second Language Teacher Education Today

Richards, J. C. — 2008-07-02

Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE) is affected by two factors; a rethinking of its knowledge base and instructional practices as a response to changes in our understanding of the nature of SLTE, as well as external pressures resulting from the expanded need for competent language teachers worldwide. The impact of these two factors is seen in the growing professionalism of the field with the need for acceptance of standards, a rethinking of the knowledge base of the field, a move towards a sociocultural view of teacher learning, a focus on teacher cognition as the underpinning of teacher practice, acknowledgement of the role of teacher identity in teaching and teacher learning, implementation of collaborative approaches to SLTE, the need for greater accountability, as well as critical perspectives on teacher education. These factors are examined and their implications discussed for theory and practice in SLTE.

Language Education: Past, Present and Future

Krashen, S. — 2008-07-02

The recent past in language teaching has been dominated by the Skill-Building Hypothesis, the view that we learn language by first learning about it, and then practicing the rules we learned in output. The present is marked by the emergence of the Comprehension Hypothesis, the view that we acquire language when we understand messages, and is also characterized by the beginning stages of its applications: comprehensible-input based teaching methods, sheltered subject matter teaching, and the use of extensive reading for intermediate language students. My hope is that the future will see a clearer understanding of the Comprehension Hypothesis, and the profession taking more advantage of it.

Metacognitive Instruction for Second Language Listening Development: Theory, Practice and Research Implications

Goh, C. — 2008-07-02

There has been a growing interest in and concern for the teaching of listening in the last 40 years. Looking back over the years, we can see how the emphases on teaching listening and the focus of listening instruction have changed. Although instructional practices were initially heavily influenced by models of the written language and a behaviourist approach, the focus has since moved to developing listening as a skill needed for constructing and communicating meaning. More recently, discussions about listening instruction have emphasized the role of strategy training and learner metacognition in facilitating comprehension. In this paper I discuss a metacognitive approach, drawing on understandings from educational research as well as second language listening studies. I explain its theoretical rationale and identify principles for carrying out metacognitive instruction, as well as outline general instructional objectives and learning activities for this purpose. Finally, I suggest possible research directions for examining the role of metacognition in second language listening and the relevance of metacognitive instruction to listening development.

The Tip of the Iceberg: Factors Affecting Learner Motivation

Littlejohn, A. — 2008-07-02

Teachers' informal discussions of learner motivation often emphasize the need to find ways to motivate learners, most usually through `fun' or `dynamic' activities. This paper starts from the assumption, however, that part of the work of the teacher is to avoid the demotivation of learners, and that there is a need to consider the overall structural organization of teaching and learning, not just the kinds of activities which learners do. The paper reviews four factors significant in affecting learner motivation: the locus of control, a sense of value and purpose, self-esteem, and feelings of success. These concepts are then used to interpret interview data from two school-aged learners. The causes of their apathetic reaction to English classes are explained by reference to these factors, as evidenced by how they describe the nature and purposes of the activities they do. They appear to see their classes as mainly consisting of `exercises', free of any memorable content. It is suggested that they experience their classes as `endlessly contemporary', with no clear sense of a past, present or future and that that, combined with a lack of involvement in classroom decisions, conspires to produce learners who simply comply because they are required to do so.

`Here's the Book, Go Teach the Class': ELT Practicum Support

Farrell, T. S.C. — 2008-07-02

The English language teaching (ELT) practicum has come to be recognized as one of the most important aspects of a learner teacher's education during their language teacher training program. During the practicum, learner English language teachers need lots of support and cooperating teachers are seen as the main source of this support because they are one of the most influential people in a learner teacher's time during teaching practice. However, within English language teaching (ELT) there is a paucity of research that specifically examines the perceptions and experiences of learner English language teachers concerning the role of support they expect, need and obtain during their practicum experiences. This paper presents one such study that explores the perceptions of 60 learner English language teachers' experiences in Singapore during the period of their school placement for teaching practice. The paper also outlines a detailed case study of eight of these teachers with respect to specific problems they experienced during their teaching practice.

Globalization and Multicultural Communication: Unity in Diversity

Nihalani, P. — 2008-07-02

Communication is one of the keywords of the global age. The ever-increasing use of English as a World language has clearly meant that British RP and American Standard English (GA) are no longer seen as the models that learners aspire to. With the global spread of English, three major related questions come to our mind: (a) diversity and multicultural identity, (b) mutually intelligible international communication, and lastly (c) the pedagogical issue of an educational target for global communication.

After a critical examination of the impact of globalization on the educational patterns in general and English language teaching in particular, this paper focuses on the intercultural communication in the global context, and examines the three much-debated major related issues of `comprehensibility', `intelligibility' and `interpretability' from the perspectives of linguistics and social psychology. Quantitative acoustic data from the Expanding Circle (Japanese English), the Outer Circle (Indian English, Malaysian English, Singapore English, Brunei English, Nigerian English, etc.), and the Inner Circle (British English, Scottish English and American English) will be presented. In conclusion, a pragmatic model that is informed by the multi-dimensional view of intelligibility and, more importantly, multicultural interpretability will be discussed in order to address the third major concern of language standardization for global communication.

Talking Sense about Learning Strategies

Swan, M. — 2008-07-02

Judicious training in the use of learning strategies can be very valuable for language students. However, the notion of `strategy' is not always well defined in the literature. For pedagogic purposes strategies need to meet certain criteria: they should be problem-oriented, subject to choice among alternatives, under conscious control, clearly describable and plausibly effective. The teaching of reading skills, in particular, commonly involves strategies which are of doubtful value; this is especially the case for training in `guessing unknown words'. Classification of strategies is notoriously problematic: taxonomies tend to be based on questionable psycholinguistic analyses and not well targeted pedagogically. While training in strategy use can contribute usefully to learner independence, this can be taken to unconstructive extremes; and such training is no substitute for basic language teaching.

Book Review: PRESCOTT, David (ed., assisted by Andy Kirkpatrick, Azirah Hashim and Isabel Martin), English in Southeast Asia: Varieties, Literacies and Literatures (Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), pp. xii + 374. ISBN 9781847182241

Poedjosoedarmo, G. — 2008-07-02

Book Review: BRUCE, Ian, Academic Writing and Genre: A Systematic Analysis (London: Continuum, 2008), pp. 194. ISBN 978026498441

Lewis, M. — 2008-07-02