Examinar la eficacia relativa de los modelos de enseñanza en línea, mixta y presencial para promover el desarrollo profesional de los profesores de idiomas extranjeros

Teacher professional development (PD) is an essential part for teachers’ professional growth for the quality provision of education to their students. Nonetheless, we need to find out effective ways of professional development. This study was conducted to achieve this goal by exploring the effectiveness of three teaching modes, online, blended, and face-to-face delivery, of an EFL course in a Chinese university, with the ultimate aim of promoting their PD. Three intact English classes were treated differently with Class 1 receiving online teaching, Class 2 receiving blended teaching, and Class 3 receiving face-to-face teaching. Their learning outcome was measured by an end-of-semester test. One-way ANOVA results showed that the face-to-face (onsite) teaching class performed significantly better than the other two classes. Focus group interviews of students revealed more drawbacks of online teaching than benefits. The findings suggest that online teaching, as a new teaching mode that has gained popularity due to the pandemic, cannot replace face-to-face teaching in terms of students’ learning outcomes and their perceptions toward online teaching currently. Such findings provide food for thought for EFL teachers with regard to their own professional development.El presente trabajo trata de averiguar a través de un estudio experimental la eficacia de tres modalidades de enseñanza, a saber, la modalidad en línea, la mixta y la presencial, en las aulas de inglés universitarias chinas, con el fin de ayudar a los profesores de inglés a conocer las ventajas y desventajas de las modalidades referidas y, de ahí facilitar su desarrollo profesional. En el experimento se han seleccionado primero tres grupos de estudiantes con los que se han adoptado respectivamente la modalidad de enseñanza en línea, la combinada y la presencial, para luego examinar el rendimiento de los estudiantes en el examen semestral. Los resultados del análisis de la varianza con un factor (ANOVA) conducen a la conclusión de que el grupo que ha recibido la modalidad de enseñanza presencial ha rendido mejor en comparación con los otros dos grupos, mientras que las entrevistas en grupo con los estudiantes dejan en claro que las modalidades tanto en línea como mixta constan de más perjuicios que beneficios. Los resultados del estudio demuestran que, siendo un modelo pedagógico emergente y popular en la epidemia, la enseñanza en línea aún no es capaz de reemplazar la enseñanza presencial en términos del rendimiento y la cognición de alumnos en el estudio. Y las conclusiones de este artículo sirven como referencias para el desarrollo y la formación de los profesores de inglés.

Chinese senior high school EFL students’ metacognitive awareness and reading-strategy use

This paper reports findings from a study that assesses metacognitive awareness and reading-strategy use of Chinese senior high school students who are learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A total of 270 students responded to a 28-item survey of reading strategies (SORS). The strategies were classified into 3 categories: global, problem-solving, and support. The results showed that the students reported using the 3 categories of strategies at a high-frequency level. Both the main effect for strategies and the main effect for learners’ proficiency were significant. The high-proficiency group outperformed the intermediate group and the low-proficiency group in 2 categories of reading strategies: global and problem-solving; but no statistically significant difference was found among the 3 proficiency groups in using support strategies. Pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the changing Chinese society

The effects of instructor clarity and non-verbal immediacy on Chinese and Iranian EFL students’ affective learning: The mediating role of instructor understanding

Drawing on the rhetorical/relational goal theory, this study examined the role of instructor clarity and non-verbal immediacy in affective learning through the mediation of instructor understanding. Data were gathered through close-ended questionnaires from 756 Chinese and 715 Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) students, the factor structure and cross-cultural validity of which were supported via confirmatory factor analysis and testing measurement invariance, respectively. Path analysis results indicated that clarity and non-verbal immediacy positively predicted instructor understanding and affective learning; instructor understanding positively predicted affective learning; and understanding was a significant positive mediator in the relationship of non-verbal immediacy and clarity with affective learning. Except for the positive association of non-verbal immediacy with understanding which was significantly higher for the Iranian group, no significant difference was found between the Chinese and Iranian groups in all other associations, providing empirical support for the role of EFL teachers’ positive interpersonal communication behaviors in EFL students’ affective learning, irrespective of the cultural context

Advocating School-University Partnership for Responsive Teacher Education and Classroom-based Curricula: Evidence from Teachers’ Cognitions about Principles of Curriculum Design and Their Own Roles

This study investigated the differences between novice and experienced non-native English-speaking English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers’ cognitions about EFL curriculum design principles and their own roles in designing an EFL curriculum. The challenge these teachers faced in their roles and the support system they needed were also explored. Data were collected from 40 non-natives English-speaking EFL teachers using a questionnaire and open-ended questions. The results show that the observed differences between the two groups’ cognitions about EFL curriculum design principles were not statistically significant. Results also reveal that both groups believed they lacked the required theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and time and financial resources to develop the classroom-based EFL curriculum and assumed the role of material adapters for themselves. Teachers asserted that they tried to accommodate their students’ needs, interests, and other contextual factors through teaching strategies. They expressed aspirations for ongoing support from local scholars and experienced teachers to update their theoretical knowledge and to meet the challenges arising from their teaching contexts. Implied in the teachers’ responses was their need for developing a classroom-based EFL curriculum. In light of the findings, we recommend initiating school-university partnership for developing responsive teacher education programmes for pre-service as well as in-service teacher education

University Teachers' Teaching Style and Their Students' Agentic Engagement in EFL Learning in China: A Self-Determination Theory and Achievement Goal Theory Integrated Perspective

As a relatively new dimension of student engagement, agentic engagement has received growing research interest in recent years, as it not only predicts academic achievement and other positive outcomes, but also benefits reciprocal teacher-student relations. In the educational context, teachers' teaching style exerts a crucial impact on students' engagement. However, research on how perceived teachers' teaching style influences students' agentic engagement is inconclusive. To address this lacuna, this study, taking an integrated perspective that draws on Self-determination Theory and Achievement Goal Theory, investigated the relationship of three types of teaching style (i.e., perceived autonomy support, social relatedness, and controlling) to university students' agentic engagement in EFL learning in China, especially through the mediation of mastery-approach goals and performance approach goals. Structural equation modeling showed that perceived autonomy support positively predicted agentic engagement through the mediation of mastery-approach goals, whereas perceived controlling negatively predicted agentic engagement through the mediation of performance-approach goals. Comparatively, the relationship of perceived social relatedness to agentic engagement was fully mediated by both mastery-approach and performance-approach goals. After discussing these results, practical implications as well as suggestions for future studies were given

Development and validation of a genre-based second language (L2) writing self-efficacy scale

Writing self-efficacy serves as one of the essential motivational factors in L1 and L2 writing, which has been measured by a series of scales in L1 and L2 contexts. However, the issue of task specificity was not resolved appropriately. This study aims to tackle this issue by entailing the genre characteristics of L2 writing tasks through developing a genre-based L2 writing self-efficacy scale with pertinent items. The new scale was designed with reference to the available research into writing self-efficacy. Its factorial structure was examined by structural equation modeling. Convergent validity and discriminant validity of the scale were examined by taking into consideration the average variance extracted and composite reliability for each individual factor involved in the scale, whereas the predictive validity of the scale was computed through regression analysis. Results show that the genre-based L2 writing self-efficacy scale demonstrated sound psychometric qualities. Theoretical and pedagogical implications of these research findings are discussed

Editorial: Language teacher psychology: New perspectives in multilingual contexts

Peer reviewedPublisher PD