Effects of recasts and prompts on L2 pronunciation development: teaching English /r/ to Korean adult EFL learners

The current study aimed to test how two different types of corrective feedback—recasts and prompts—can differentially affect the pronunciation development of English /ɹ/ by Korean learners in the context of simulated meaning-oriented classrooms receiving form-focused instruction (FFI). Twenty-two Korean learners of English as a foreign language were divided into three groups (FFI-only, FFI-recasts, FFI-prompts). Each group received 4 h of instruction in which they were taught how to structure an argument in English through activities designed to simultaneously focus their attention on /ɹ/, including explicit articulatory instruction. All lessons were video-recorded, which allowed all instances of feedback and learner response to be identified and coded. Production was measured through both spontaneous and controlled tests, and judged by five trained English native-speaking listeners. According to the results of the pre/post-tests, recasts were especially helpful in the improvement of controlled production of /ɹ/, whereas prompts were facilitative of not only controlled but also spontaneous production of /ɹ/. The results of the video-coding analysis further demonstrated that, during instruction, students were pushed by prompts to improve intelligibility mainly through the adjustment of interlanguage strategies (e.g., prolonging the phonemic length), and by recasts to refine accuracy in their /ɹ/ production

The interplay between learner beliefs and foreign language anxiety: insights from the Turkish EFL context

Foreign language learning in classroom settings has long been found to be associated with anxiety (Horwitz, 1986). Though it is known that sources of foreign language anxiety are varied (Young, 1991), whether anxiety is related to learners’ inherent beliefs about language learning is understudied. To this end, the present study examines the possible relationship between learner beliefs and language anxiety in the under-researched Turkish EFL context. A population of university-level Turkish EFL learners (n=153) completed the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety scale (FLCAS). The underlying constructs in both instruments were explored using an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). A series of Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) tests were performed on the factor scores from both instruments. The findings revealed that fear of ambiguity was positively linked to classroom performance anxiety and negative feelings towards English. In addition, the more confident learners feel themselves using English, the more desire they seem to have to interact with native speakers. Overall, positive beliefs about language learning may be helpful in reducing anxiety and boosting confidence in language learning. These findings not only enhance our understanding of the complex psychology of language learning but also have important implications for instructed EFL/ESL settings

Learners’ use of communication strategies in text-based and video-based synchronous computer-mediated communication environments: opportunities for language learning

This study investigates the different learning opportunities enabled by text-based and video-based synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) from an interactionist perspective. Six Chinese-speaking learners of English and six English-speaking learners of Chinese were paired up as tandem (reciprocal) learning dyads. Each dyad participated in four kinds of interactions, namely, English text-based SCMC, Chinese text-based SCMC, English video-based SCMC and Chinese video-based SCMC. Their use of communication strategies (CSs) were analyzed along with an after-task questionnaire and with stimulated reflection to explore systematically and comprehensively the differences between text-based and video-based SCMC. In addition to the main role of qualitative analysis, the quantitative analysis was undertaken to provide an overview of the relative frequencies of the occurrence of the different strategies and to understand their distribution in the different conditions. A MANOVA was applied to understand to what extent the differences are likely to have occurred by chance. The results showed that learners used CSs differently in text-based and video-based SCMC and indicated different learning opportunities provided by these two modes of SCMC. While text-based SCMC appears to have greater potential for learning target-like language forms, video-based SCMC seems particularly effective for fluency development as well as pronunciation improvement

Towards a modular language curriculum for using tasks

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) and task-supported language teaching (TSLT) are often seen as incompatible as they draw on different theories of language learning and language teaching. The position adopted in this article, however, is that both approaches are needed especially in instructional contexts where ‘pure’ task-based teaching may be problematic for various reasons. The article makes a case for a modular curriculum consisting of separate (i.e. non-integrated) task-based and structure-based components. Different curriculum models are considered in the light of what is known about how a second language is learned. The model that is proposed assumes the importance of developing fluency first. It consists of a primary task-based module implemented with focus-on-form (Long, 1991) and, once a basic fluency has been achieved, supported by a secondary structural module to provide for explicit accuracy-oriented work to counteract learned selective attention (N. Ellis, 2006): one of the main sources of persistent error. The article also addresses the content and grading of the task-based and structural modules. It considers the factors that need to be considered in the vertical and horizontal grading of tasks but also points out that, for the time being, syllabus designers will have to draw on their experience and intuition as much as on research to make decisions about how to sequence tasks. An argument is presented for treating the structural component as a checklist rather than as a syllabus so as to allow teachers to address selectively those features that are found to be problematic for their students when they perform tasks

Mother's occupation and sex ratio at birth

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many women are working outside of the home, occupying a multitude of jobs with varying degrees of responsibilities and levels of psychological stress. We investigated whether different job types in women are associated with child sex at birth, with the hypothesis that women in job types, which are categorized as "high psychological stress" jobs, would be more likely to give birth to a daughter than a son, as females are less vulnerable to unfavourable conditions during conception, pregnancy and after parturition, and are less costly to carry to term.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We investigated the effects of mother's age, maternal and paternal job type (and associated psychological stress levels) and paternal income on sex ratio at birth. Our analyses were based on 16,384 incidences of birth from a six-year (2000 to 2005 inclusive) childbirth dataset from Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, UK. We obtained a restricted data set from Addenbrooke's hospital with: maternal age, maternal and paternal occupations, and whether or not the child was first-born.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Women in job types that were categorized as "high stress" were more likely to give birth to daughters, whereas women in job types that were categorized as "low stress" had equal sex ratios or a slight male bias in offspring. We also investigated whether maternal age, and her partner's income could be associated with reversed offspring sex ratio. We found no association between mother's age, her partner's job stress category or partner income on child sex. However, there was an important interaction between job stress category and partner income in some of the analyses. Partner income appears to attenuate the association between maternal job stress and sex ratios at moderate-income levels, and reverse it at high-income levels.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>To our knowledge this is the first report on the association between women's job type stress categories and offspring sex ratio in humans, and the potential mitigating effect of their partners' income.</p

Climate change litigation: a review of research on courts and litigants in climate government

Studies of climate change litigation have proliferated over the past two decades, as lawsuits across the world increasingly bring policy debates about climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as climate change‐related loss and damage to the attention of courts. We systematically identify 130 articles on climate change litigation published in English in the law and social sciences between 2000 and 2018 to identify research trajectories. In addition to a budding interdisciplinarity in scholarly interest in climate change litigation we also document a growing understanding of the full spectrum of actors involved and implicated in climate lawsuits and the range of motivations and/or strategic imperatives underpinning their engagement with the law. Situating this within the broader academic literature on the topic we then highlight a number of cutting edge trends and opportunities for future research. Four emerging themes are explored in detail: the relationship between litigation and governance; how time and scale feature in climate litigation; the role of science; and what has been coined the “human rights turn” in climate change litigation. We highlight the limits of existing work and the need for future research—not limited to legal scholarship—to evaluate the impact of both regulatory and anti‐regulatory climate‐related lawsuits, and to explore a wider set of jurisdictions, actors and themes. Addressing these issues and questions will help to develop a deeper understanding of the conditions under which litigation will strengthen or undermine climate governance. This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governanc

Differences in Brain Function and Changes with Intervention in Children with Poor Spelling and Reading Abilities

Previous fMRI studies in English-speaking samples suggested that specific interventions may alter brain function in language-relevant networks in children with reading and spelling difficulties, but this research strongly focused on reading impaired individuals. Only few studies so far investigated characteristics of brain activation associated with poor spelling ability and whether a specific spelling intervention may also be associated with distinct changes in brain activity patterns. We here investigated such effects of a morpheme-based spelling intervention on brain function in 20 children with comparatively poor spelling and reading abilities using repeated fMRI. Relative to 10 matched controls, children with comparatively poor spelling and reading abilities showed increased activation in frontal medial and right hemispheric regions and decreased activation in left occipito-temporal regions prior to the intervention, during processing of a lexical decision task. After five weeks of intervention, spelling and reading comprehension significantly improved in the training group, along with increased activation in the left temporal, parahippocampal and hippocampal regions. Conversely, the waiting group showed increases in right posterior regions. Our findings could indicate an increased left temporal activation associated with the recollection of the new learnt morpheme-based strategy related to successful training