Wednesday Onsite Presentation Session 3

Foreign Languages Education & Applied Linguistics

Session Chair: Allison Segal

13:40-14:05

68733

| The Role Teaching Assistants Play in Cross-Linguistic Team Building

Robert McClung, Yorkville University, Canada

Building better opportunities to assist future student-teachers has become possible through online tandem learning (OTL). This study looked at improving the classroom teaching skills of Japanese English as foreign language (EFL) students enrolled in teaching a TEFL course who wished to become future schoolteachers. Third-and-fourth-year students from an Australian university, who had majored in Asian languages, were scheduled to intern as teaching assistants (TAs) to help foster a more engaging classroom between students and instructor. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, the original plans had to be changed to an online environment. This created an opportunity to develop a new approach by adopting an OTL methodology. Over a period of 3 semesters, classes of 25 TEFL students and 5-8 TAs were teamed in groups of 3-4. Under the direction of the instructor, the teams were led by the TAs over 14-weeks of OTL TEFL training. The results revealed that OTL TEFL had a positive impact on overall motivation and led to a better understanding of andragogy, student-centeredness, and lesson flow. By using data collected throughout the three semesters, interpretive analysis was utilized to analyze and identify common themes in the participants' reported experiences. The program clearly showed the positive effects of bridging the knowledge of students and TAs by determining best practices, fostering team building exercises, and drawing on learning experiences. Positive social change will result from facilitating programs that engage undergraduate university learners in more meaningful and authentic ways.

14:05-14:30

66681 | Enhancing Undergraduate Students’ Intercultural Communication and English Skills Through Virtual Exchange

Jirajittra

Higgins,

Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

As people around the world have become more interconnected, the ability to interact effectively across cultural and linguistic diversity or intercultural communication competence plays an important role in being a global citizen. However, learners in many countries where English is regarded as a foreign language still do not have many opportunities to utilise their knowledge of English in practice outside of class. Therefore, learners need to engage in activities that allow them to enhance language proficiency as well as intercultural communication competence in diverse linguistic and cultural environments. With advanced technology, a wide range of opportunities to enhance language proficiency and intercultural knowledge can be done easily via virtual exchange. This study explores how effectively virtual exchange can enhance undergraduate students’ intercultural communication competence and English skills. The virtual exchange programme implementation lasted for 8 weeks and the participants from universities in Thailand and Japan met virtually for collaborative discussions on various topics. The five-point Likert scale self-assessment questionnaire and written reflection essays were collected at the completion of the programme. The quantitative method was utilised for the questionnaire analysis by using descriptive statistics, whereas the qualitative method was employed in order to interpret data from the reflection essays. The results of the study show that virtual exchange experiences can successfully facilitate and promote intercultural communication and English skills for undergraduate students.

14:30-14:55

69568 | Speak Better: A Meta-analysis of Language Learning Modalities for Improving Speaking Proficiency

Allison Segal, University of Utah, South Korea

Whether it is to improve one's job opportunities or understand the lyrics of your favorite KPOP band's latest single, the importance of knowing a second or third language is becoming more vital (Park, 2011; Tuan, 2017; Yoshida, 2016). Despite foreign languages being a compulsory subject in many countries' K-12 education, many language learners are unable to exceed low intermediate speaking proficiency (Al-wossabi, 2016; Jumrah, 2019; Tuan, 2017; Yoshida, 2016). So, many undergraduate students seek ways to improve their speaking proficiency. However, there are a multitude of different modalities for language learning, such as asynchronous courses, traditional synchronous university courses, foreign language housing, studying/living abroad, intensive language courses, social media platforms, and mobile applications for language learning (MALL). Thus, this meta-analysis will investigate various language learning modalities utilized to improve speaking proficiency. In total, 22 empirical studies involving 1,758 second and foreign-language undergraduate learners have been reviewed. These studies were selected from the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and Google Scholar. The findings of the meta-analysis indicated that the modality's effectiveness depended on the learners' level of proficiency and specific learning goals. Students with lower self-efficacy and proficiency greatly benefited from using social media and MALL. Students with an intermediate speaking proficiency level found the most improvement in intensive programs, short study abroad experiences, and foreign language housing. These findings also support the incorporation of social media and MALL into the traditional face-to-face classroom.

14:55-15:20

69175 | The Short-term Effects of a First-year Writing Course on the Linguistic Complexities of Students’ Writings

Zi Hui Yeo, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Kooi Cheng Lee, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Melvin Yap, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Siew Mei Wu, National University of Singapore, Singapore

This study investigated the short-term effects of a first-year writing course (FYC) on the linguistic complexity of near-L1 students’ writings. First, using Biber et al.’s (2011) model for academic writing development, freshmen’s pre-FYC academic writing abilities were identified to be in the initial stages of the developmental trajectory. Then, the linguistic complexity of pre- and post-FYC essays were compared for 495 students. For syntactic complexity, the mean length of clauses and the number of complex nominals per t-unit as well as per clause were found to be significantly higher in post-FYC essays than pre-FYC essays, while the number of dependent clauses per clause and per t-unit were significantly lower. For lexical complexity, verb variation and verb sophistication were significantly higher. These results are consistent with expectations formed based on Biber et al.’s (2011) model, suggesting that FYC can have positive short-term effects on near-L1 students’ ability to leverage linguistic complexities required for academic writing. The study also demonstrates how Biber et al.’s model for academic writing development can be used to narrow down which computationally scored linguistic complexity measures are important to track for academic writing development. Our ongoing research builds on this work by employing the use of a control group and by investigating if whether positive short-term effects found in this study persists into the long term.

09:30-11:10 | Room 704