High school EFL students’ beliefs about oral corrective feedback: The role of gender, motivation and extraversion

This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design to examine the beliefs of Vietnamese EFL students concerning oral corrective feedback (CF) and the role of some individual differences in these beliefs. The data consisted of questionnaires completed by 250 Vietnamese high school students and follow-up interviews with 15 of them. Exploratory factor analysis revealed six latent factors underlying students’ beliefs about CF, namely, (1) output-prompting CF and eliciting recasts, (2) desire for CF, (3) non-verbal cues, (4) important errors, (5) input-providing CF, and (6) less important errors. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis of the interviews showed that students were positive about CF. They liked both input-providing CF and output-prompting CF for all error types. Metalinguistic feedback was the most strongly preferred, while clarification request was the least preferred. Further statistical analyses revealed some interesting relationships between students’ beliefs about CF and their gender, English learning motivation, and self-rated introversion/extraversion. Females were more positive about CF than males, and extraverted females were more positive about input-providing CF than introverted females. Also, students learning English for exams were more positive about CF than those learning English for communication. Pedagogical implications for effective feedback provision in EFL contexts are discussed

Review and analysis of empirical articles published in TESOL Quarterly over its lifespan

We report the results of a bibliometric study of 696 empirical articles (EAs) published in TESOL Quarterly (TQ) over its lifespan (1967-2019). We report overall and periodic reviews (1967-1979, 1980-1989, 1990-1999, 2000-2009, 2010-2019) concerning the following themes: (1) contexts and participants, (2) research foci and theoretical orientations, and (3) research methodology and data sources. A typical article was written by a single author addressing a learning/teaching English issue related to undergraduates in US universities. The most common research foci were instruction, learning, and assessment. A quarter of the articles did not have a specifiable theoretical orientation, and for those that had, the main theoretical orientations were linguistic/scientific, linguistic/cognitive, and social. The most frequently used research methodologies were quantitative, qualitative, and eclectic, and the top three data sources used by researchers were elicitation, multiple sources, and observation. Based on the findings, we make suggestions for future research in TESOL. Overall, the present review and analysis of published EAs give readers a birds-eye view of the research gravity in TQ over the last 52 years

Comparison of Three Different Techniques of Inverted Internal Limiting Membrane Flap in Treatment of Large Idiopathic Full-Thickness Macular Hole.

Purpose: To evaluate and compare three different techniques of inverted internal limiting membrane (ILM) flap in the treatment of large idiopathic full-thickness macular hole. Methods: In a comparative interventional case series, 72 eyes from 72 patients with large (\u3e 400 µm) full-thickness macular hole were randomly enrolled into three different groups: group A - hemicircular ILM peel with temporally hinged inverted flap; group B - circular ILM peel with temporally hinged inverted flap; and group C - circular ILM peel with superior inverted flap. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), anatomical closure rate, and ellipsoid zone (EZ) or external limiting membrane (ELM) defects were evaluated preoperatively, at week 1, and months 1, 3 and 6 after surgery. Results: There were 24 eyes in group A, 23 in group B, and 25 in group C. In all three groups, larger diameter macular hole was associated with worse preoperative visual acuity (r=0.625, P\u3c0.001). Mean BCVA improved significantly in all three groups 6 months after surgery (0.91vs 0.55, p\u3c0.001). 6 months after surgery, mean BCVA improved from 0.91 logMAR to 0.52±0.06 in group A, 0.90 to 0.53±0.06 in group B, and 0.91 to 0.55±0.11 in group C. In group A vs. B vs. C, improvement of BCVA was 0.380±0.04 vs. 0.383±0.04 vs. 0.368±0.11 logMAR, with no statistically significant difference between groups (P=0.660). The rate of successful hole closure was 87.5% vs. 91.3% vs. 100%. Although the closure rate was 100% in Group C (circular ILM peel with superiorly hinged inverted flap), this difference was not statistically significant (P=0.115). Conclusion: ILM peel with an inverted flap is a highly effective procedure for the treatment of large, full-thickness macular hole. Different flap techniques have comparable results, indicating that the technique can be chosen based on surgeon preference

Comparing writing performance in TOEFL-iBT and academic assignments : an exploration of textual features

This paper reports an exploratory study in which the written texts produced by postgraduate students in test and real-life academic situation are compared in terms of the linguistic and discoursal features. Data were collected from 20 international English as a second language (ESL) postgraduate students from different first language backgrounds and three general disciplines of science and engineering, arts and humanities, and business and economics. The participants were studying in postgraduate programs in five universities in New South Wales, Australia. These participants completed two writing test tasks of the TOEFL-iBT (integrated and independent tasks) and an academic assignment for one of the university courses they enrolled in. Textual features of the test and academic assignment texts were compared on 20 linguistic and discoursal features. These textual features are related to syntactic complexity (five variables), lexical sophistication (nine variables) and cohesion (six variables). Results of a series of repeated measures Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) indicated similarities and differences in the linguistic and discoursal features of the three writing task texts. Findings are reported and discussed and implications are made for the extrapolation inference claim in the validity argument of the Writing section of the TOEFL-iBT.13 page(s

Innovative mixed-methods research : moving beyond design technicalities to epistemological and methodological realizations

Mixed-methods research (MMR), as an inter-discourse (quantitative and qualitative) methodology, can provide applied linguistics researchers the opportunity to draw on and integrate the strengths of the two research methodological approaches in favour of making more rigorous inferences about research problems. In this article, the argument is made that the methodologically pluralistic characteristic of MMR is in line with the interdisciplinary nature of applied linguistics, and, in fact, that MMR enables researchers to investigate more complex research issues usually not possible with purely quantitative or qualitative methods. Three categories of MMR studies are discussed, namely, ‘eclectic’, ‘principled eclectic’, and ‘innovative’. It is argued that in ‘innovative’ MMR studies, researchers treat MMR as a holistic ‘methodology’ and not a combination of separate ‘methods’ by including different epistemic perspectives in their conceptualization of the research problem. This is illustrated by presenting a recent epistemological discussion in applied linguistics. From a methodological perspective, two realizations of MMR are presented: mixed-methods grounded theory and mixed-methods phenomenological research which provide accounts for how a pluralistic conceptualization of research problems can be translated into ‘innovative’ mixed-methods as possible cases of innovative mixed-methods research (IMMR).17 page(s

Book review : 'Statistical methods in language and linguistic research'

A book review of Statistical methods in language and linguistic research, by P.C. Gomez, Sheffield/Equinox, 97818455343183 page(s

The Routledge encyclopedia of research methods in applied linguistics : quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Research Methods in Applied Linguistics provides accessible and concise explanations of key concepts and terms related to research methods in applied linguistics. Encompassing the three research paradigms of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, this volume is an essential reference for any student or researcher working in this area.384 page(s

(In) Agency of EFL teachers under the negative backwash effect of centralized tests

This paper reports a study which investigated the effect of centralized English tests on one of the immediate stakeholders, namely, teachers. Data for the study were collected from 20 high school English language teachers by administering an assessment literacy test and conducting face to face interviews. Moreover, centralized and teacher-made tests were collected for the purpose of content analysis. Findings from the analysis of the three data sources showed that (a) participants' level of assessment literacy as measured by an assessment literacy test was lower than expected, (b) participants' test construction practices were heavily influenced by the content and format of centralized summative tests, and (c) participants' teaching practices were in fact preparing students for tests with less emphasis on oral/aural skills. The paper concludes that the heavy shadow of centralized tests and their strong negative backwash effect have downplayed teachers' agency in favor of the dominant structure.20 page(s

Evaluation of learning objectives in Iranian high-school and pre-university English textbooks using Bloom's taxonomy

This paper reports a study that investigated the types of learning objectives represented in Iranian senior high school and pre-university English textbooks using Bloom’s taxonomy of learning objectives. Three high-school textbooks and the sole pre-university textbook were included in the analysis. To codify the learning objectives, a coding scheme was developed based on Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy of learning objectives. The exercises and tasks of the textbooks were codified and the frequencies and percentages of occurrence of different learning objectives were calculated. Results of the study indicate that in all grades lower-order cognitive skills were more prevalent than higher-order ones. Furthermore, the difference between the senior high school and the pre-university textbooks in terms of the levels of the taxonomy were significant insofar as the pre-university textbook used some degrees of higher-order learning objectives. Results of this study have implications both for teaching and materials development.16 page(s