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No description available.

The holistic listening comprehension of 112 Kyoto University students, operationalized as TOEFL iBT listening (long listening), was investigated with a battery of 12 tests, including a phoneme and word recognition test, a test of short 10-second listening, a test of long 3- to 5-minute listening, a reading comprehension of listening scripts test, listening and reading cloze tests, a gap-filling test designed to assess syntactic awareness, a grammatical error detection test, and the Vocabulary Size Test. Rasch analyses were employed to yield person ability measures; these measures were used for correlation studies, a series of linear regression analyses, principal components analysis, and structural equation modeling. Long listening correlated most strongly with the reading comprehension test (.756) and the listening cloze test (.705), and these two variables explained as much variance in long listening as all the variables combined in a linear regression (68%). Of the two prominent components yielded by a principal components analysis, capturing sounds and processing for meaning, long listening loaded significantly only on processing for meaning (.727) and showed no notable loading on capturing sounds. When long listening comprehension was viewed as a two-stage activity consisting of capturing input and processing that input for meaning, the participants were found to rely mainly on processing for meaning. As a result, long/holistic listening had more in common with reading comprehension than with short listening, for which the first stage of input capture was more important. As a part of this study, long listening was expressed as a product of aural word recognition and processing for meaning as in the Simple View of Reading, where reading comprehension is regarded as a product of decoding and linguistic comprehension. While the Simple View of Reading typically accounts for 48% of the variance in reading comprehension, its listening counterpart in this study explained up to 58% of the variance; as much as an improved version of the Simple View of Reading named the Component Model of Reading. The identification of the structural equation models required an additional component for a total of three latent variables; availability of written text, aural activities, and processing for meaning. The three-latent-variable model for long listening incorporated all the variables as indicators except for the grammatical error detection due to its insignificant contribution to holistic understanding. Generally speaking, structural equation approach produced models which were in good qualitative agreements with correlation studies, principal components analysis, and multiple regression; thus, providing an integrative view and a unified treatment of the participants' proficiency with a focus on long listening. Overall, the results highlighted the importance of processing for meaning, a skill largely shared with reading comprehension, for the long listening comprehension of Kyoto University students. This finding indicates a transfer of meaning formation skill from L1 and L2 reading to L2 listening. / CITE/Language Arts

While the small group discussion is widely used in language classes, there is little empirical research on its efficacy. This research specifically focuses on novice level language students in order to understand the ways that they express agreement and disagreement in group interaction. This study utilizes the methodological framework of Conversation Analysis conducting a micro-analysis of student turn-taking practices and their embodied behavior. This research uncovered the fact that the novice level language learners utilized resources that are not generally considered when investigating agreement and disagreement. Nonverbal actions such as smiles and gaze shifts accomplished affiliative work mitigating disagreement turns. Facial expression, laughter, and gestures were often relied on to compensate for deficits in grammar and lexicon. A second finding of the research was that the students were able to accomplish significantly more as members of a group than they could as individuals. The multi-person context created a framework enabling members to participate. The students demonstrated a high level of collaboration, joining in word searches, successfully constructing collaborated completions, and frequently offering support to each other through receipt tokens, nods, and smiles. They proved to be each other's best resource. Another finding of the study was the importance of basic patterns of turns in effective group discussion. For example, in order for an argumentative sequence to emerge, a third response was expected: Turn 1, the claim; Turn 2, disagreement; and, Turn 3, defense, counterattack, or concession by the first speaker or a different speaker. For less skillful groups where topics were not well developed, only two-part sequences were utilized, not allowing subsequent and related talk to occur. Finally, this study contributes to research on the acquisition of disagreement strategies. Surprisingly, in expressing disagreement, these novice level language students employed a number of different means to express disagreement that were more often associated with advanced learners. For example, they delayed their disagreement turns, and they utilized accounts, exemplification, and elaboration when disagreeing. Though these students were not always able to express themselves fluently, they were nevertheless quite capable in expressing agreement and disagreement in the target language. / English

This study was an investigation into the effects of repetition on a listening comprehension test for second language learners. Repetition has been previously examined in a cursory way, usually as a secondary question to a primary treatment. Additionally, the method of repetition was limited to one way and to one treatment condition; therefore, it is not clear how different methods of repetition have influenced the results. To date, there are few studies on the influence of repetition on listening comprehension tests in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) situations. The purpose of this study was to examine four methods of repetition on listening comprehension with Japanese learners of English. In addition, the effect of repetition method on proficiency level, question type, and question difficulty was also examined. The participants were 2,041 students attending a private university in Tokyo, Japan. They experienced five conditions: non-repetition, immediate repetition, delayed repetition theory, delayed repetition A, and delayed repetition B. The participants listened to 12 passages under one of the five randomized conditions, and then answered five questions in one of three question types: true-false, multiple-choice, or short-answer. Additionally, the test included questions intended to measure two levels of comprehension, specific details and inference. Finally, the participants were divided into two listening proficiency levels based on the Global Test of English Communication. The results indicated that the type of repetition had an effect on listening comprehension. Overall, both proficiency groups in the delayed repetition conditions had higher comprehension scores. In addition, the delayed repetition conditions were better for all question types (true-false, multiple-choice, and short-answer) with each proficiency group responding equally well. Finally, the delayed repetition conditions reduced the range of question difficulty, especially when participants were allowed to preview questions. The theoretical implications of this study are that comprehension scores are affected by the strength of memory trace, focus of attention, and activated memory. The pedagogical implications are that delayed repetition is useful in the classroom because it not only improves comprehension scores on tests, but also reinforces material learned across several activities, and incorporates recycling into the curriculum design. The results will help test-makers consider new avenues to testing, teachers to incorporate delayed repetition into classroom activities, and administrators to incorporate delayed repetition into the curriculum. / CITE/Language Arts

This study was an investigation of student beliefs about their EFL education, and it was based upon the subjective task value component of the expectancy-value theory, a prominent theory of achievement motivation. The participants were three cohorts of Japanese public elementary school students (Cohort 1 from 2008; Cohort 2 from 2009; and Cohort 3 from 2010); each cohort consisted of third through sixth graders (N = 1,478; N = 3,693; and N = 1,336, respectively). Three research questions with associated hypotheses were posited in order to determine: (a) if students of all age groups could differentiate the three value components of Enjoyment, Importance, and Use; (b) the degree to which grade levels and genders were different with regard to each value; and (c) if grade level and gender differences were consistent between cohorts. The Young Learners Value Scale (YLVS) was an 11-item, 4-point Likert self report scale created in order to investigate elementary school students' values concerning their EFL education. Prior to conducting inferential analyses on the collected data, the dimensionality, validity, and reliability of the YLVS were established through the use of the Rasch rating-scale model. In addition, the raw scores were converted into interval Rasch measures. Results of the principal components analyses showed that each grade level was able to differentiate the three values of Enjoyment, Importance, and Use. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the instrument measures as well as the factorial structure of the theoretical model were both invariant across grade level. Results of the two-way ANOVAs indicated that the third grade students valued the Enjoyment, Importance, and Use of English to a statistically significant higher degree than the higher grade levels. Descriptive statistics showed that all grade levels valued the Enjoyment and Importance of English, yet all grade levels responded neutrally to the Use of English. With regard to gender, female students held statistically significant greater values of Enjoyment, Importance, and Use of English and their EFL class than boys, yet these differences were found for only Cohorts 2 and 3. This study was the first, to the best of my knowledge, to use the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation as a basis for an investigation of public school EFL students. The results indicated that the elementary school students valued the Enjoyment and Importance of English, but were neutral to the Use of English. The integration of more skill-based activities that focus on listening to English and speaking in English to communicate to others and a reduction in fun-focused activities such as songs and games might provide a greater opportunity to enhance the students' value of Use. / CITE/Language Arts

Recent research in second language acquisition has focused on the effects of group work on learning by examining various factors (i.e., motivation, age, task, gender differences, etc.). One particular factor that has not been heavily investigated is interlocutor familiarity, which is at the forefront of the present study. Two separate classes (in both classes, n = 23) of introductory Spanish (Spanish 1002) at Temple University were used in the present study. Subjects in Class #1 worked with the same partner of their choosing throughout the semester. Subjects in Class #2 did not repeat partners and were assigned a different partner during each group task throughout the semester. All subjects received the same treatment. Part of this treatment consisted of two separate lessons on slang terms from Spain that included creative group work assignments. Learners' written group work assignments were collected for analyses. To examine and compare learners' retention in each of the classes, a total of three slang retention tests were administered. All three tests were individual assignments. The first slang test (Slang 1 Immediate Test) was administered on the second class session following Slang Lesson #1 and consisted of slang terms from Slang Lesson #1. The second slang test (Slang 2 Immediate Test) was administered on the second class session following Slang Lesson #2 and consisted of slang terms from Slang Lesson #2. At the end of the semester the third slang retention test (Final Slang Retention Test) was comprehensive, consisting of the slang terms from both lessons. Results suggested that learners' overall retention was higher in Class #1 than in Class #2. At the end of the semester, a Group Work Attitudes Questionnaire was administered and revealed that Class #1 viewed interlocutor familiarity and group work as positive, whereas Class #2 viewed group work as problematic. In addition, learners in Class #1 produced larger quantities of text in the group work assignments and engaged in more slang play than Class #2. The findings suggest the need to further investigate the effects of interlocutor familiarity on language acquisition. / Spanish

In educational psychology, the cognitive and affective motivational variable interest has been demonstrated to have a positive influence on text-based learning outcomes where individuals learn in their first language (L1), yet little interest research has been conducted among second language (L2) learners. Research in L1 contexts also has shown textual concreteness to be an important factor in comprehension and recall with a mediating role in interest processes. Furthermore, gender studies outside of L2 contexts have indicated that gender is an important factor in interest processes. Two experiments were conducted to engage these qualities in L2 contexts. For experiment 1 it was hypothesized that reading short stories that were more interesting and more concrete would result in higher comprehension and recall test scores. For experiment 2, it was hypothesized that female and male participants would comprehend and recall higher interest short stories better than low interest ones, with stronger effects for male students. In the results of a pilot study and experiment 1, seven interest components (ease of comprehension, concreteness, unpredictability, personal relevance, excitement, attention and engagement, and socialness) were perceived. However, no significant differences were found between comprehension and free recall scores. It is possible that, because of lack of depth of vocabulary recognition, the concreteness of vocabulary was not experienced as such by the participants. Experiment 2 results indicated that despite the use of a "female-oriented" and "male-oriented" story, perceptions of interest of male and female readers did not significantly differ. One interpretation of these results is that the stories used in the study were insufficiently vetted to determine gender differences in short stories or that differences unrelated to gender interest in the structure and themes of the stories confounded the results. Another interpretation of these results is that the similarities between female and male reading interests outweigh differences. A peripheral concern of this study was the provision of a comparison of Bayesian and traditional statistical approaches in the context of one of the study experiments. / CITE/Language Arts