Incidental vocabulary learning is a form of acquiring new words without having a specific intention in the acquisition, and it can occur in or out of the educational frame (Hatami, 2017). In the digital age, incidental vocabulary acquisition is increased as learners encounter and assimilate new words through different online platforms and technological tools. The study was conducted by searching digital databases ERC and ERIC using keywords such as "EFL," "L2," "reading," "listening," "viewing," and "watching" over 15 years (2008-2023). The studies that focus on traditional strategies or word frequency over incidental learning were excluded. Consequently, the results include diverse locations and learners and aim to capture a comprehensive view of incidental vocabulary learning.  This study explores the efficacy of incidental vocabulary learning modes—reading, listening, and watching—in an English as a foreign language classroom, considering the influence and the role of digitalization. While reading appears as the most potent mode of input for incidental vocabulary acquisition, listening and viewing also contribute significantly, but not as significantly as reading. Moreover, combining reading with listening has the most multifaceted approach and superior results in incidental vocabulary learning for foreign language educators. However, due to the lack of research on specific age groups and diverse situations, further studies are needed to explore various student types and effective methods for learning new vocabulary, particularly in Swedish schools.

The EF English Proficiency Index has presented high English proficiency levels for Swedish students. Previous investigations have studied different factors that contribute to high proficiency in a second language, such as the engagement with the language in the free time, or personal characteristics such as motivation or learners’ home environment. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate correlations between Swedish 9th grade studentsʼ grades in the English subject with three factors; 1) their extramural activities, 2) their home environment, and 3) the students’ personal characteristics. The participants in this study were 49 students of ages 15-16 years old from a primary school in northern Stockholm. They answered an online survey with four open-ended questions and 35 statements in which the participants answered on a Likert scale between 1-6. The results suggest a weak correlation between extramural activities and the students’ English grades, a weak correlation between home environment and the students’ grades in English, and a moderate correlation between individual differences and students’ English grades. Given the small sample size and potential limitations of the study, the results cannot be generalized to a larger population and further investigation, such as a qualitative study through interviews with students and EFL practitioners, may provide us with a more in-depth understanding of the connections between the investigated factors and Swedish students’ proficiency levels in English.

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[pt] O foco do estudo são entendimentos sobre questões identitárias de adultos aprendizes de inglês em narrativas emergentes em entrevistas de pesquisa na relação de coconstrução com o professor-pesquisador. O objetivo consiste em analisar discursivamente os posicionamentos identitários de três alunos de uma escola de idiomas da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Este estudo parte de uma concepção de Linguística Aplicada voltada para a construção de inteligibilidades em contextos pedagógicos. Adota uma concepção pós-estruturalista de identidade e um modelo de narrativa com análise de posicionamentos, com interpretações da prática social de aprendizes de inglês. A pesquisa é qualitativa e interpretativa e os dados são de três entrevistas de caráter autobiográfico, transcritas, com aproximadamente trinta minutos de duração cada. Da primeira entrevista, depreende-se que a aluna entrevistada se posiciona como alguém que tem medo da língua inglesa, mas que vincula a sua realização pessoal ao domínio do idioma como forma de empoderamento. A segunda entrevista, no entanto, aponta para as ambiguidades de quem que se posiciona entre as contradições de sentir-se perseguido pela língua inglesa e a crítica do que significa, em sua opinião, saber inglês no Brasil. A terceira entrevista indica uma forte idealização da língua inglesa através da experiência de uma aprendiz que se posiciona entre o encantamento e a idealização do idioma. Sinalizamos assim para o fato de que os posicionamentos identitários de aprendizes de inglês como língua estrangeira são de grande relevância para o aprofundamento dos entendimentos a respeito do processo de ensino-aprendizagem do idioma. / [en] This study focuses on understanding how three adult English learners, studying in a language institute in Rio de Janeiro, co-construct their identities in narratives that emerged in research interviews with the teacher-researcher. The aim is to observe: how they position and construct themselves as learners and users of English; how they feel positioned and position other participants in their stories and how they position the teacher, the school and other students. The research conceptualizes the field of Applied Linguistics as a way of creating intelligibilities in pedagogical contexts. Adopting a post-structuralist view of identity, the stories told are considered opportunities for identity construction. The research methodology is qualitative and interpretive; the transcribed data consist of three thirty-minute autobiographical interviews. We infer from the first interview that the learner identifies herself as someone who fears English, but who associates her sense of achievement and empowerment to developing a good command of the language. The second interview points to the ambiguities of an individual positioned between the contradictions of being chased by English and a criticism of what it means, in his opinion, to know English in Brazil. In the third interview, English is strongly idealized in the experience of a learner who positions herself between the feelings of enchantment and deference towards the language. Finally, this dissertation highlights the fact that identity positionings of English learners are of great relevance for enhancing the field s understandings of language teaching and learning processes.

The current study investigates what recent research tells us as to how creative writing can support language learning in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms at the primary and secondary levels. The results show that teachers must implement a variety of approaches when structuring creative writing lessons to help reach the knowledge requirements in the syllabus for English. Furthermore, the presented studies establish that creative writing is an excellent method to develop writing skills and encourage pupils to write. This investigation also shows that implementing creative writing into ESL classrooms helped develop vocabulary, grammar, and imagination. Finally, it appears that confident pupils are more likely to enjoy a creative writing class and advance faster in their language learning.

Developing speaking proficiency in English has been highly demanded in the field of English education in Japan; however, teaching speaking in academic settings is difficult because of its complex nature. Many Japanese high school students cannot organize their spoken production coherently because they have not been explicitly taught how to meet the expectation of particular contexts or genres. Research on genre-based instruction has shown its effectiveness in the development of reading, writing, and listening skills; however, investigations of genre-based instruction have not been fully applied to the teaching of speaking. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of genre-based instruction to develop the academic speaking ability of Japanese high school students through a one-year longitudinal study. The effectiveness of genre-based instruction was assessed by focusing on the development of a macro-genre, academic monologic speech, and three micro-genres—procedure, definition, and causation—for within-group assessment as well as one oral summary of a research project micro-genre for between-group assessment. The research design was a multistage intervention mixed-method approach with qualitative data gathered after the experiment. Three analytical techniques were employed: (a) multi-faceted Rasch measurement (MFRM) was used to assess the extent to which the participants’ performance improved quantitatively, (b) descriptive analyses were used to investigate frequency changes in the use of target lexis, and (c) genre analysis was used to analyze how the discourse structure of the target genres changed qualitatively. The results indicated that genre-based instruction led to improvements in the participants’ speaking ability. The findings from the analysis of the three micro-genres—procedure, definition, causation—revealed statistically significant differences between the pretest and the posttest speeches in the procedure and causation micro-genres. A descriptive analysis also revealed the increases in the use of the target lexis in the micro-genres. A genre analysis of the three micro- genres illustrated how the schematic and rhetorical structure of the participants’ speech changed to meet the genre expectations of the target micro- and macro-genre. The analysis of the oral summary of a research project micro-genre demonstrated the effectiveness of genre-based instruction, as the experimental group outperformed the comparison group. This result was supported by the MFRM results, the descriptive analysis of lexis, and quantitative and qualitative genre analyses. The external validity analysis using the TOEIC Speaking Test also confirmed the effectiveness of genre-based instruction. In sum, the results provide evidence that genre-based instruction can improve Japanese high school students’ speaking ability. / Teaching & Learning

This research examined the relationships between the Big Five human personality traits, favorable social conditions, and foreign language classroom speaking confidence. Four research questions were investigated concerning the validity of the Big Five for a Japanese university sample, the composition of Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence, the degree to which the Big Five influenced Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence, and the degree to which perceptions of classroom climate affect Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence. The first stage of the research involved three pilot studies that led to the revision of the Big Five Factor Marker questionnaire and the creation of a new instrument for measuring foreign language classroom speaking confidence that included both cognitive and social factors as theorized in mainstream social anxiety research. The second stage of the research involved the collection and analysis of data from 1,081 participants studying English in 12 universities throughout Japan. Data were analyzed using a triangulation of Rasch analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in order to verify the construct validity of the eleven hypothesized constructs. Following validation of the measurement model, the latent variables were placed into a structural regression model, which was tested by using half of the data set as a calibration sample and confirmed by using the second half of the data set as a validation sample. The results of the study indicated the following: (a) four of the five hypothesized Big Five personality traits were valid for the Japanese sample; (b) Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence comprised three measurement variables, Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Anxiety, Perceived Foreign Language Speaking Self-Competence, and Desire to Speak English; (c) Emotional Stability and Imagination directly influenced Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence, and; (d) Current English Classroom Perception and Perceived Social Value of Speaking English directly influenced Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence. The findings thus demonstrated a link between personality, positive classroom atmosphere, and foreign language classroom speaking confidence. The implications of the findings included the possibility that foreign language anxiety is not situation-specific as theorized, and that improved social relations within the foreign language classroom might help reduce speaking anxiety. / CITE/Language Arts

This study is a quasi-experimental, longitudinal investigation into the role that extensive reading and reading strategies play in the cultivation of reading self-efficacy. Conducted over the course of one academic year, how changes in reading self-efficacy translate into changes in reading comprehension was examined. In addition, the participants' perceptions of the utility of extensive reading and reading strategies, and how those perceptions related to reading self-efficacy were investigated. A final goal was to ascertain how retrospective ratings of reading self-efficacy influence current levels of the construct. The participants (N = 322) were first and second-year, non-English majors at a four-year, co-educational university in Osaka, Japan. The participants were divided into four groups: an intensive reading group (control group), an extensive reading group, a reading strategies group, and an extensive reading/reading strategies group. Data for the study were obtained from six major sources: a reading comprehension test, a reading strategy test, a reading self-efficacy questionnaire, a perceived utility of extensive reading questionnaire, a perceived utility of reading strategies questionnaire, and a sources of reading self-efficacy questionnaire. The questionnaires and tests were administered three times over the course of the academic year. Before conducting the quantitative analyses on the data gathered with the above instruments, the dichotomous test and questionnaire data were analyzed using the Rasch rating-scale model to confirm the validity and reliability of the instruments and to transform the raw scores into equal interval measures. By employing MANOVAs, ANOVAs, Latent Growth Curve Modeling, and Pearson correlation coefficients, the data were then analyzed to ascertain differences between groups and within groups for all tests and constructs measured. The results showed that the participants in the reading strategies and extensive reading/reading strategies groups gained significantly more in reading self-efficacy over the academic year than those in the extensive reading and intensive reading groups. In addition, all three experimental groups outperformed the intensive reading group in reading comprehension. Furthermore, results from the latent growth curve model showed that gains in reading self-efficacy were related positively to gains in reading comprehension. In a similar vein, the results showed that gains in reading strategy skill led to changes in reading self-efficacy, while reading amount was not significantly related to changes in reading self-efficacy. The results also suggested that those who more highly regard extensive reading as useful to improving reading comprehension exhibited higher levels of reading self-efficacy over the course of the study. On the contrary, there was no significant difference in levels of reading self-efficacy between those who highly rated reading strategies as useful and those who did not rate them as highly. Finally, Pearson correlation coefficients showed moderately strong relationships between junior high and high school (retrospective) levels of reading self-efficacy and university (current) levels. These results underscore the importance of self-efficacy in the learning process and how the cultivation of self-efficacy should be a goal of any educator or administrator in an EFL context. The findings also highlight the detrimental effects of teaching methodologies, such as grammar-translation, that deprive learners of the opportunity to develop their own cognitive abilities. With the introduction of reading strategy intervention and/or extensive reading practice, the participants in the experimental groups of this study were able to develop the skills needed to overcome comprehension breakdowns in the reading process, and this help them become more autonomous, empowered readers. / CITE/Language Arts

Young children nowadays interact with a lot of extracurricular English through different activities. They learn the language in ways other than formal contexts. This study investigates how extracurricular English provides children with knowledge about the English language. Moreover, this study addresses how extracurricular English can develop children’s knowledge, if it is integrated with the formal English teaching in the classroom. Lastly, I discuss how teachers may approach various levels of English skills in a heterogenous classroom. Due to children’s exposure to extracurricular English, they have different English skills. I conclude that teachers need different teaching strategies to help pupils develop, regardless of level. This puts pressure on teachers who are required to develop their competence.

This study investigates code-switching among EFL students during pair work in uppersecondary school classroom settings. The aim is to uncover the reasons behind code-switchingand the factors influencing code-switching. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research usesclassroom observations and survey to collect data from 13 EFL students. Observations captured real-time code-switching instances, while the survey gathered students' perceptions and self-reported motivations for code-switching. The findings reveal that the most frequent reason for code-switching is a lack of vocabulary, both observed in the classrooms and reported by thestudents themselves. The second most frequent observed reason for code-switching is the needfor clarifications or explanations in Swedish. In students' self-reports, difficulty remembering English words was the second most common reason. Lastly, engaging in miscellaneous talkemerged as the third most common reason observed in classroom interactions, while studentsreported that code-switching occurs naturally or comes as a reflex as their third most commonreason in the questionnaire. The findings indicate that code-switching serves as a strategic toolto manage linguistic gaps, maintain conversational flow and express emotions, among otherthings.