Lawrence Jun Zhang

Investigating Language Learner Strategies among Lower Primary School Pupils in Singapore

To date, very few empirical studies can be found on primary, especially lower primary school pupils’ use of language learner strategies. The few studies that exist often employ research techniques such as questionnaires and think-aloud protocols as studies on adults do. However, we know very little whether the research methods commonly used with adult learners can be applied to lower primary school pupils (grades 1–3). Practically no published study in this area reports the problems associated with eliciting language learner strategy data from children. In addition, not much is known about whether children as young as primary one can be differentiated in terms of learner strategies they use in completing language tasks. This paper shares the problems that we encountered in eliciting strategies from lower primary school pupils in Singapore and presents some preliminary findings on these learners’ use of language learner strategies.

Metalinguistic Filters Within the Bilingual Language Faculty: A Study of Young English-Chinese Bilinguals

This study reports two metalinguistic parameters that constitute the schematic control of lateral inhibitory links between translation equivalents within the bilingual lexico-semantic system of Green’s (Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1:67–81, 1998a, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1:100–104, 1998b, The bilingualism reader, Routledge, London, 2007) inhibitory control (IC) model. Building on Green’s postulation that the bilingual lexico-semantic system is controlled by a hierarchy of schemas under a supervisory attentional system, the bilingual unconsciously filters activated lemmas during fluent spontaneous codeswitching, such that lemmas that are semantico-syntactically versatile or morphosyntactically transparent are likely to reach a threshold of activation first while other lemmas are inhibited. To investigate the issue, we collected code-paired naturalistic and elicited data with a focus on code-switched determiner phrases from 140 Mandarin-English simultaneous bilinguals who were post-secondary students in Singapore. We found that the semantico-syntactic and morpho-syntactic dissimilarities between Mandarin and English activated both filters. As most Mandarin determiners are economical vis-à-vis their English counterparts, their lemmas were selected frequently while English lemmas were largely inhibited. It was also found that our participants preferred English nouns in filling the lexical category for their interpretable feature of number, a feature that is normally absent in Mandarin nouns.

Relationships between Chinese College Test Takers' Strategy Use and EFL Reading Test Performance: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach.

This article investigates the relationships between test takers’ strategy use and test performance on an EFL reading test. For this study 209 Chinese college students were invited to participate in a reading comprehension test and answer a 30-item strategy use questionnaire. Results showed that two factors underlay test takers’ reading test performance: lexico-grammatical reading ability (LEX-GR) and text comprehension reading ability (TxtCOM). In addition, metacognitive strategy use had a significant and direct effect on cognitive strategy use, implying that the former performed an executive function over the latter. Monitoring strategies were found to have a significant effect on LEX-GR and evaluating strategies significantly affected TxtCOM, suggesting that metacognitive strategy use played an important role on the reading test. Pedagogical implications are also discussed.

Taking Stock of the Effects of Strategies-Based Instruction on Writing in Chinese and English in Singapore Primary Classrooms

Strategies-based instruction (SBI) is widely accepted and successfully implemented in North America in language and literacy programmes, but little has been reported on how this strategy would work in a bilingual/biliteracy learning context. This chapter reports on the efficacy of such an intervention conducted in two Singapore primary schools, where the government implements a unique bilingual/biliteracy policy in education, by which English is offered as the first language and one of the other three mother tongue languages (Chinese, Malay and Tamil) as a second language subject in the national curriculum. Although the Singapore quadrilingual education policy has been internationally acclaimed as being successful, some students face challenges in biliteracy learning, resulting in some students’ underachievement. To help these students catch up with their better-performing peers, we designed an intervention programme to answer the following research questions: (1) When integrated into the regular curriculum, does SBI have an impact on bilingual students’ understanding of the writing processes in their two languages? (2) Specifically, does SBI lead to writing improvement in both languages? The study had an experimental group and a control group. Such a design was intended for comparing the pedagogical efficacy of SBI on student improvement in writing in English and writing in Chinese over a period of one semester (10 weeks of teaching) in the regular school curriculum. Results suggest that the use of SBI not only raised students’ awareness of writing strategies but also improved their English and Chinese writing scores. Thus, we conclude that SBI was a useful dimension to the writing curriculum in the two schools involved in this study.

Are alphabetic language -derived models of L2 reading relevant to L1 logographic background readers?

In this paper, we argue that second language (L2) reading research, which has been informed by studies involving first language (L1) alphabetic English reading, may be less relevant to L2 readers with non-alphabetic reading backgrounds, such as Chinese readers with an L1 logographic (Chinese character) learning history. We provide both neuroanatomical and behavioural evidence from Chinese language reading studies to support our claims. The paper concludes with an argument outlining the need for a universal L2 reading model which can adequately account for readers with diverse L1 orthographic language learning histories.

Implementing English-medium instruction (EMI) in China: teachers’ practices and perceptions, and students’ learning motivation and needs*

ABSTRACT This paper reports on a classroom-based investigation into a tertiary English-medium instruction (EMI) programme in China, with a focus on subject teachers’ perceptions and practices in EMI and students’ motivation and needs in English learning. Given a lacuna in existing EMI research, it examined how EMI instruction was delivered by subject teachers and how English learning should be facilitated through adjunct ESP courses when participants’ English proficiency was inadequate. Data were obtained from nine classroom observations, three post-observation interviews and a questionnaire survey. Findings show that effective instruction was maintained via deploying pragmatic strategies, yet the goal of promoting English attainment was underachieved, as language teaching was not overtly heeded. Subject teachers’ perceptions of EMI undermined prospective students’ linguistic gains. The immediate educational context also contributed to students’ English learning motivation and needs. Our findings suggest increasing access to ESP provision that is fine-tuned to the language issues in genuine EMI classrooms is crucial. Collaboration between subject and language specialists is beneficial to students’ learning of both the subject knowledge and the language skills. ESP practitioners thus need to consider students’ communicative needs in their disciplines and address the limitations of the current EMI practices in tertiary education in China.

Effects of Task Complexity and Planning Conditions on L2 Argumentative Writing Production

ABSTRACT Investigating the effects of task design and implementation features on second language (L2) production is necessary, as the findings can provide potential insights into pedagogical and assessment task design and sequencing as well as into the nature of L2 learners’ attentional resources. To this end, this study probed into the effects of task complexity and pretask planning on L2 writing production. Eighty L2 learners of upper-intermediate English proficiency were invited to complete two writing tasks of varying degrees of complexity in relation to the reasoning demands and the number of elements under pretask versus no pretask planning conditions. Results show that as a function of increasing task complexity, one dimension of the syntactic and lexical complexity, content, organization, and writing quality improved, whereas accuracy and fluency reduced. Providing 10 minutes pretask planning had significant favorable effects on one dimension of syntactic complexity and fluency, no effects on accuracy or lexical complexity, and significant positive impacts on the content, organization, and writing quality. These findings lend partial support to the Cognition Hypothesis, the Trade-off Hypothesis, and attentional funneling in L2 writing. Theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications of the study for task design and implementation as well as for task-based assessment in language education programs are discussed.

Evaluating ELT multimedia courseware from the perspective of cognitive theory of multimedia learning

ABSTRACT Using the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, this study aimed to evaluate the design of one multimedia courseware used for teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in China and to compare the attitudinal differences in the teachers’ and students’ evaluation of the courseware. A questionnaire was developed and validated. Results indicated that the design of the courseware generally complied with the coherence principle, the signalling principle, the spatial contiguity principle, and the temporal contiguity principle but slightly violated the redundancy principle. The results of the independent sample t-tests on the questionnaires and the further analyses of the interviews revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the teachers’ and students’ evaluation concerning the coherence principle, the redundancy principle, and the spatial contiguity principle. Findings of this study suggested that the cognitive theory of multimedia learning can be a useful tool for evaluating multimedia courseware for teaching and learning EFL, as the theory is firmly grounded on the characteristics of human cognitive architecture and places the users in the centre of courseware design and evaluation.

Understanding novice teachers’ perceived challenges and needs as a prerequisite for English curriculum innovation

ABSTRACT Teaching English for specific purposes (ESP) is widely acknowledged as highly demanding for teachers. Currently in China itself, shifting the curriculum focus from General English to ESP in the provision of English language education is regarded as a curriculum innovation. And yet, scarcely any research has probed into the challenges facing novice ESP teachers, along with their related needs for institutional support, in order to implement such a curriculum innovation successfully. To address this lacuna, we developed the ESP Teachers’ Challenges and Needs Questionnaire (ESP-TCNQ), which was completed by 208 Chinese novice ESP teachers. Statistical methods were used for identifying typical patterns. Our exploratory factor analyses produced four dimensions representing major challenges and needs respectively for ESP teachers. To further verify the nature of institutional support needed, we conducted semi-structured interviews with six selected participants. Results show primarily two types of institutional support required for effective ESP provision, namely, policy and financial. They are closely related to the themes of self-directed learning, interdisciplinary liaison and collaboration, research activities, and pedagogical learning opportunities. Implications for curriculum innovation in terms of reconceptualising teacher knowledge and skills, and revisiting university organisational culture, are also discussed.

The dimensions of foreign language classroom enjoyment and their effect on foreign language achievement

ABSTRACTThis paper reports a study that investigated the dimensions underneath the construct of foreign language classroom enjoyment and explored the pattern in which these enjoyment dimensions affect foreign language achievement. To this end, 320 first language Chinese senior high school students, who were learning English as a foreign language (EFL), were invited to complete an adapted version of the Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale. These students’ mid-term English examination scores were collected as a measure of foreign language achievement. Factorial analysis revealed a 3-factor solution for the adapted scale, including Enjoyment of Teacher Support, Enjoyment of Student Support, and Enjoyment of Foreign Language Learning. Path analysis showed that Enjoyment of Foreign Language Learning had a direct effect on mid-term scores. Enjoyment of Teacher Support and Enjoyment of Student Support indirectly affected language achievement via Enjoyment of Foreign Language Learning. There was no significant diffe...