Computer assisted testing of spoken English: A study to evaluate the SFLEP college English oral test in China

Since its opening up to the outside world in the 1980s and the introduction of economic reforms that have involved engagement with the global economy and wider community, the Chinese government has become determined to promote the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language among its citizens. In particular, it has mandated the study of English for all college and university students and has made the passing of the College English Test (CET) at Band 4 level a requirement for obtaining a degree. With some ten million candidates annually (and rising) CET Band 4 has become the world’s largest language test administered nationwide (Jin and Yang, 2006). In a deliberate attempt to harness the backwash effect of examinations on teaching and learning, the Ministry of Education has insisted that all college and university students (generally when in their second year of study) must sit the CET Band 4 written papers that test reading, writing and listening skills in English. Aimed largely, but not exclusively, at those students majoring in English, there is also a higher level, Band 6, CET available

An investigation into the relationship between speaking-in-class anxiety with instructor behaviour and classroom practices among Chinese ESL (English as a Second Language) first year undergraduates in a Hong Kong university

This study investigates the relationship of instructor behaviour and classroom practices with Chinese ESL speaking-in-class anxiety of a group of first-year university students in Hong Kong. The factors contributing to second language learning speaking-in-class anxiety (SA) are identified by means of interviews,a questionnaire and discussion. The relationship between sex, majors, students' second language (English) proficiency, self-evaluation of their first language (Chinese) and second language (L2) proficiency with SA are examined with the help of a questionnaire. A further aspect of the study explores the kinds of classroom practices and teacher behaviour that help students reduce SA by means of an experiment, comparison of data gathered from pre-and-post experiment questionnaires, participant observation, interviews, classroom activity records, audio recording and comparison of students' English oral grades before and after the experiment.Factor analysis identified five factors contributing to SA. They are- speech anxiety and fear of negative evaluation- comfortableness when speaking with native speakers- negative attitudes towards the English class- negative self-evaluation and- fear of failing the class/consequences of personal failure.Speaking in front of the class without preparation, being corrected when speaking, inadequate wait-time and not being allowed to use the first language in a second/foreign language class were also indicated by this group of first-year Chinese ESL university students as important elements leading to SA.Results suggested that teacher behaviour such as creating a warm and easy going atmosphere in the classroom, upholding teaching professionalism, providing specific help to students and providing pleasant language experience are useful to encourage spoken English in an ESL classroom. Classroom practices such as adopting appropriate tasks and activities that address varied leaning styles and strategies in the classroom, adopting appropriate modes of assessment and correction, allowing preparation in advance before asking students to speak in front of the class, providing adequate wait-time and allowing the use of the first language help lower students' SA.The thesis concludes with an examination of the methodological and theoretical implications of the study. The present research has highlighted the importance of considering the cultural elements, wait time and the use of LI in the L2 classroom, elements which have been neglected in previous anxiety research. A number of tentative and practical recommendations from the study are proposed together with suggestions for future research

A communicative English-speaking supplementary curriculum: Using WeChat to develop Chinese EFL learners’ speaking fluency

The development of English communication skills is ignored by most EFL learners in China. This problem attributes to sufficient practice during their English-learning process in class, since most public schools in China, grammar-translation is still the mainstream teaching approach. Which means that Chinese not English is used to give lectures. Students do grammatical analysis and vocabulary memorizing instead of communicating in the target language. However, this approach cannot help the development of students’ speaking fluency. The deficiency of English speaking a variety of problems when students need to communicate with English speakers. Besides, the inner shy personality and face-saving culture cause anxiety when Chinese EFL learners speak English. Thus, this project provides a curriculum for EFL instructors, which aims at increasing more oral practice opportunities to help EFL learners enhance English-speaking skills. The whole curriculum is conducted on WeChat which is the most popular social mobile application in China and all of the lessons are task-based learning. Through completing tasks on WeChat, students can gain English-speaking practice without time and space constraint. What’s more, speaking English on social network sites can help Chinese EFL learners reduce anxiety effectively

A Study of Chinese University EFL Learners’ Foreign Language Listening Anxiety, Listening Strategy Use and Listening Performance

The present study examined foreign language (FL) listeninganxiety and listening strategy use in relation to FL listeningcomprehension performance of 1702 undergraduate EFLlearners from 5 universities in China. Analyses of the surveydata revealed the following findings: (1) more than half of thestudents generally did not feel anxious when listening toEnglish, were low in English listening proficiency, were notconfident in or satisfied with their English listening proficiency,and usually moderately used different types of strategies whenlistening to English; (2) compared with their femalecounterparts, the male students felt significantly more anxiouswhen facing listening activities and less satisfied with theirEnglish listening proficiency, used significantly more often thememory/attention/understanding-related strategies and were lessproficient in English, employed significantly more often ‘lessactive listener strategies’ (FLLSUS6), but significantly lessfrequently the strategies of negotiation for meaning (FLLSUS1),maintaining fluency (FLLSUS2), getting the gist (FLLSUS4),and nonverbal strategies (FLLSUS5), (3) all FLLAS (ForeignLanguage Listening Anxiety Scale) and FLLSUS (ForeignLanguage Listening Strategy Use Scale) scales were highlysignificantly correlated with each other and the students’listening comprehension performance, and (4) FLLSUS6,FLLAS2, FLLAS3, FLLAS1, FLLSUS2, and FLLSUS1 weregood predictors of English listening comprehensionperformance.Keywords: foreign language, listening anxiety, listeningstrategy use, listening comprehensionperformanc

Explaining listening comprehension among L2 learners of English: the contribution of general language proficiency, vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive awareness

Listening comprehension constitutes a major problem for second language learners but little is known about the relative contribution of different factors to listening comprehension. Since there are still only very few studies in this area by comparison with studies focusing on the relationship between reading and vocabulary, there is a need for studies which can fill the gap in our knowledge about the specific contribution of generic and discrete-point measures of language ability to explaining listening. In the present study among 151 non-English major students at a university in Northwest China we explore what proportion of the variance in listening comprehension is explained by general language vocabulary size and metacognitive awareness. Our results show that vocabulary size is the strongest predictor, followed by general language proficiency, while metacognitive awareness is less important. We discuss implications for the componential structure of the notion language ability, theories of listening and pedagogical practice in L2 classrooms

A study of Chinese university EFL learners’ foreign language listening anxiety, listening strategy use and academic listening performance

The present study examined foreign language (FL) listening anxiety and listening strategy use in relation to the FL listening comprehension performance of 1702 undergraduate EFL learners from 5 universities in China. The findings were: (1) more than half of the students generally did not feel anxious when listening to English, were low in English listening proficiency, and were not confident in or satisfied with their English listening proficiency, and usually moderately used different types of strategies when listening to English; (2) compared with their female counterparts, the male students felt significantly more anxious when facing listening activities and less satisfied with their English listening proficiency, used significantly more often the memory/attention/understanding-related strategies and were less proficient in English, employed significantly more often‘less active listener strategies’ (FLLSUS6), but significantly less frequently the strategies of negotiation for meaning (FLLSUS1), maintaining fluency (FLLSUS2), getting the gist (FLLSUS4), and nonverbal strategies (FLLSUS5), (3) all FLLAS and FLLSUS scales were highly significantly correlated with each other and the students’ listening comprehension performance, and (4) FLLSUS6, FLLAS2, FLLAS3, FLLAS1, FLLSUS2, and FLLSUS1 were good predictors of English listening comprehension performance. Based on the findings, some discussions are made

Exploring the communicative competence of Chinese graduate students at Memorial University

A considerable number of Chinese international students enter Canada to pursue higher education every year. However, their less than adequate education in communicative competence domestically causes challenges in intercultural communication even for those students who study abroad by pursuing their Master's or doctoral degree. A great number of studies about Chinese students and their experiences in English speaking countries have been done in recent years. However, little research has provided a holistic picture of what Chinese students think about their own communicative competence, how they improve it consciously as well as what they think of the social and academic support offered by their universities. Therefore, this phenomenological ethnographic qualitative research project intends to fill this research gap. The results show that participants in this study perceived more challenges in terms of pragmatic competence and fluency. The strategies they used and the support provided by Memorial University and the province for improving their communicative competence were described. Pedagogical implications for ESL teachers and further support that should be provided by MUN are also addressed

Using Bloom\u27s taxonomy to teach college English in China: A handbook for educators

With the modernization and globalization of China, the Chinese need to study and utilize English to be a part of the world. College students are essential to learning English. However, the purpose of college English in China still focuses on the national College English Tests. College students are not able to meet their original goal of learning English. The purpose of this project is to create some teaching materials that improve students’ motivation and ability to learn English instead of raising exam grades. The project is a handbook which composes two model units based on Bloom’s taxonomy. Each unit contains four model lesson plans which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Educators can adapt these lesson plans in the classroom and learn how to apply Bloom’s taxonomy to their own teaching situations. All in all, this handbook provides educators with different samples of the application of Bloom’s taxonomy in teaching materials. For teachers, applying Bloom’s taxonomy optimizes their teaching methods and strategies. They can avoid using only one teaching approach. Also, they have a chance to better interact with students. College students will have benefits from the teaching materials and increase their motivation to learn English. Therefore, students can attain more sense of achievement in learning English

Dissertations and theses on technology and L2 LEARNING (2000-2015)

This list has been updated with an eye towards providing working links to actual dissertation texts. Permanent links available free of charge through university databases have been privileged; for-profit enterprises that sell dissertation manuscripts have been listed when universities do not provide for the electronic dissemination of these documents. Manuscripts that are not available by either of these means are nevertheless listed as we hope to provide the most complete coverage of dissertations in the field of CALL that is possible. You will notice that the reference list style is somewhat different than what is suggested by APA. We decided upon a format that includes the name of the institution where the dissertation was completed such that a quick scan of the list reveals where people are studying CALL related themes—and which universities are field leaders in terms of freely distributing dissertations. If you notice that dissertations completed at your institution have not been included, please send us the references, so we can update this list yearly