ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Development of a Corpus-Based Tool for Exploring Domain-Specific Collocational Knowledge in English
Author: Huang, Ping-Yu
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Academic Discourse,Phrase Structure,Computational Linguistics,English for Academic Purposes,Comparative Analysis,Word Lists,Pilot Projects,Second Language Instruction,Medicine,Engineering,Teaching Methods

Since it was published, Coxhead's (2000) Academic Word List (AWL) has been frequently used in English for academic purposes (EAP) classrooms, included in numerous teaching materials, and re-examined in light of various domain-specific corpora. Although well-received, the AWL has been criticized for ignoring some important facts that words still tend to show irregular distributions and are used in different ways across disciplines (Hyland &amp; Tse, 2007). One such difference concerns collocations. Academic words (e.g. &quot;analyze&quot; and &quot;concept&quot;) often co-occur with different words across domains and sometimes even refer to different meanings. What EAP students need, accordingly, is a &quot;discipline-based lexical repertoire&quot; (Hyland &amp; Tse, p.235). Inspired by Hyland &amp; Tse's insightful remarks, we developed an online corpus-based tool, &quot;TechCollo,&quot; which is meant for EAP students to explore collocational knowledge in a domain or compare collocations across disciplines. TechCollo runs on textual data stored in three specialized corpora and utilizes frequency and some information-theoretical measures (e.g. mutual information) to decide whether co-occurring word pairs constitute collocations. In this article we describe the current version of TechCollo and how to use it in EAP studies. Particularly, we report a pilot study in which we employed TechCollo to investigate whether the AWL words take different collocates in different domain-specific corpora. This pilot basically confirmed Hyland &amp; Tse's indications and demonstrated that many AWL words show uneven distributions and collocational differences across disciplines.
Affordance of English-Medium Instruction Contexts in Taiwan
Author: Huang, Yi-Ping
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Statistical Analysis,Language of Instruction,Foreign Countries,Cultural Awareness,Qualitative Research,Case Studies,Correlation,Immersion Programs,Course Selection (Students),Context Effect,International Education,Foreign Students,Native Speakers,Course Content,Student Attitudes,College Students,Language Teachers,College Faculty,Language Proficiency

The proliferation of English-medium instruction (EMI) in nonnative English-speaking (NNES) contexts has compelled researchers to explore the challenges students face in such environments. Mostly quantitative in nature with foci on language-related difficulties in one type of institution or curriculum, these studies obscure the complexity of NNES students' learning of content via English. Through the lens of &quot;affordance&quot; in van Lier's (2000, 2004a, 2004b, 2007, 2008b) ecology of language education, this qualitative case study examines learning opportunities afforded by two types of EMI contexts in Taiwan: selective EMI courses and an immersion program. Findings showed that despite the limited attention to cultural affordance, more content and language affordances were cognized and acted on in the design where students displayed more interest in subjects, instructors held higher expectations, and flexibility in selection of courses was allowed. As such, this paper underscores the primacy of interests, educational levels, and background knowledge in individual factors; the provision of sufficient English and cultural affordances in contextual factors; and the dynamics between the two in students' learning of content via English.
Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Medical Students at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
Author: Seddigh, Fatemeh
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Vocabulary Skills,Learning Strategies,Medical Students,English (Second Language),English Language Learners,Questionnaires,Gender Differences,Student Surveys,Student Attitudes,Likert Scales,Preferences,Statistical Analysis,Notetaking,Dictionaries,Foreign Countries

This study aimed to investigate the use of vocabulary learning strategies among medical students at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) in Iran as an EFL context. A questionnaire was administered to 120 medical students (53 males, 67 females) to identify; 1) the effective types of vocabulary learning strategies used by the learners and 2) the differences in vocabulary strategy use based on gender. The results revealed that guessing and dictionary strategies were the most frequently used VLS and social and study preference strategies were the least used ones. The results of ANOVA showed that there were statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the eight strategies. As to gender, the females utilized more VLS than males specially in the case of guessing and note-taking strategies; the statistical analysis indicated a significant difference between the students' gender and their choice of VLS.
Investigation the Relationship among Language Learning Strategies, English Self-Efficacy, and Explicit Strategy Instructions
Author: Yang, Pei-Ling
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Self Efficacy,Learning Strategies,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,College Students,Correlation,Memory,Social Cognition,Social Theories,Quasiexperimental Design,Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries,Measures (Individuals),Reading Skills,Reading Comprehension,Questionnaires

The present study aims to investigate the relationship among EFL college learners' language learning strategies, English self-efficacy, and explicit strategy instruction from the perspectives of Social Cognitive Theory. Three constructs, namely language learning strategies, English learning self-efficacy, and explicit strategy instruction, were investigated through a correlational and quasi-experiment study. Besides the descriptive analysis of the learners' background information, a series of ANCOVA and Pearson Correlation coefficients were conducted to demonstrate findings from the quantitative data. Given the results, the study reveals two significant findings. First, there is a more positive correlation between language learning strategies and English self-efficacy after the strategy instruction. Second, after the strategy instruction, the learners applied more language learning strategies, especially memory strategies. Therefore, the findings of the study could possibly shed light on EFL learning and could be of help to those who are interested in strategy building and self-efficacy enhancement.
Evolution of an Academic English Course for Science Research Postgraduates (RPGS): A Case Study at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
Author: Wong, Wei-Wah Claudia
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English for Science and Technology,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Questionnaires,Communication Skills,Graduate Students,Student Attitudes,Writing for Publication,Scientists,Writing Instruction,Oral Language,Conferences (Gatherings),Class Activities,Language Styles,Language Teachers,Case Studies,Foreign Countries,Curriculum Design,Course Descriptions,Course Evaluation,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis,Likert Scales

The demand for communication skills training for science research postgraduates (RPGs) has been increasing over the years. Many potential scientists and researchers in the industry are under enormous pressure to get published (Cargill, O'Connor &amp; Li, 2012) and to attend conferences and seminars. In light of the aforementioned needs, all first-year HKUST science RPGs enrolled after September 2012 are required to take a discipline-specific academic English course entitled &quot;Postgraduate English for Science Studies&quot;. It aims at providing science RPGs with academic writing and oral presentation training. This paper presents the evolution of this science ESP course, with a focus on the impact of course design and class activities on RPGs' learning. Data collected over two academic terms, including post-course questionnaires and other course materials, will be presented. Results suggested science RPGs found the ESP course most beneficial when more advanced topics were covered, such as title writing in manuscripts and dissertations, analyzing features of different science writing genres, as well as learning how to use analogies in science presentations. Authentic text analyses, individual consultations and presentation rehearsals are shown to be effective means to deliver learning materials to RPGs. ESP teachers should act as managers, facilitators and collaborators. Pedagogical implications and areas for further research will also be discussed.
A Quantitative Corpus-Based Approach to English Spatial Particles: Conceptual Symmetry and Its Pedagogical Implications
Author: Chen, Alvin Cheng-Hsien
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Statistical Analysis,Computational Linguistics,Correlation,Language Usage,English,Form Classes (Languages),Foreign Countries,Nouns,Textbooks,Content Analysis,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,High School Students

The present study aims to investigate how conceptual symmetry plays a role in the use of spatial particles in English and to further examine its pedagogical implications via a corpus-based evaluation of the course books in senior high schools in Taiwan. More specifically, we adopt a quantitative corpus-based approach to investigate whether bipolar spatial particles (e.g., up/down) on the same spatial dimension (e.g., vertical axis) exhibit a symmetrical extension to similar sets of target domains in real language use. Our data is based on the British National Corpus. We examine the correlation patterns between 13 spatial particles and their co-occurring nouns in English preposition constructions through exploratory statistical methods. The distributional patterns of the spatial particles have clearly revealed different patterning on three dimensions with respect to their degrees of conceptual symmetry. On the other hand, we further analyze the distribution of the spatial particles in three major officially-approved versions of textbooks in senior high schools, namely, Far East, Lungteng and Sanmin. This evaluation features a critical comparison with the authentic corpus-based realization of these spatial particles in the BNC. The similarities and differences between the textbook illustration and the realistic corpus instantiation may shed light on the pedagogical practices for language teachers on the frontline.
Are Modal Auxiliaries in Malaysian English Language Textbooks in Line with Their Usage in Real Language?
Author: Khojasteh, Laleh
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Textbook Content,Textbook Evaluation,Verbs,Semantics,Qualitative Research,Content Analysis,English (Second Language),English Instruction,Language Usage,Secondary School Curriculum,Educational Practices,Structural Grammar

Based on the discrepancies found in many Malaysian English language textbooks, a detailed analysis on the way modal auxiliary verb forms and their semantic functions were introduced and presented in texts and exercises in five Malaysian textbooks was done. For that to be achieved, a qualitative page-by-page content analysis was applied. From the discussion of the grammatical progression in the textbooks, we can see that the presentation of modal auxiliaries in Malaysian English language textbooks is not fully in accordance with their use in natural English. Besides that, although recycling modal auxiliaries throughout different levels in order for the students to fully grasp their various meanings is advised by many linguists, we could see that Malaysian textbook authors used only a few of the same modals to express repetitive semantic functions. Accordingly, changes are recommended in order to bring the English taught in textbooks into accordance with real-life language use.
&quot;Of&quot;-Constructions in the Predicate of &quot;Demonstrate&quot; and &quot;Show&quot; in Academic Discourse
Author: Chen, Liyin
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Verbs,Nouns,Semantics,Phrase Structure,Computational Linguistics,Form Classes (Languages),Academic Discourse,Natural Language Processing

This study investigates &quot;of&quot;-constructions in the predicates of two reporting verbs, &quot;demonstrate&quot; and &quot;show,&quot; in academic discourse. A construction perspective is taken to examine how the two predicate constructions ([&quot;demonstrate&quot; N1 &quot;of&quot; N2] and [&quot;show&quot; N1 &quot;of&quot; N2]) would differ when the information-weighting of N1 and N2 are considered. The noun phrases are compared following Sinclair's (1991) conception of semantic headedness. He notes the peculiarity of &quot;of&quot; through the expression of double-headed constructions (i.e., considering both N1 and N2 as the semantic heads). This study adopts this framework and applies it to analyze the &quot;of&quot;-constructions of the two synonymous verbs. The results show that headedness of the &quot;of&quot;-constructions can be used to identify the subtle differences between the two synonyms. &quot;Demonstrate&quot; displays greater information weight predominated by double-headed constructions and tends to be associated with abstract conception for providing evaluative (e.g., &quot;importance,&quot; &quot;limitation&quot;) and modal (e.g., &quot;possibility,&quot; &quot;ability&quot;) functions. &quot;Show&quot; follows closely after &quot;demonstrate&quot; in the double-headed constructions, but further analysis reveals that &quot;show&quot; varies from &quot;demonstrate&quot; by displaying evidential functions through its co-occurrence with nouns denoting perspectives (e.g., &quot;pattern,&quot; &quot;organization&quot;), representations (e.g., &quot;diagram,&quot; &quot;position&quot;) and cause and effect (e.g., &quot;results,&quot; &quot;impact&quot;). It was also found that only &quot;show&quot; displays a propensity for N2-headed nouns as characterized by N1 measure nouns (e.g., &quot;degree,&quot; &quot;level&quot;) and evidential nouns (e.g., &quot;sign,&quot; &quot;evidence&quot;). Pedagogical implications are provided to indicate where &quot;demonstrate&quot; can replace &quot;show&quot; in academic writing.
English Curriculum Redesign through an EFL Teacher Study Group
Author: Yeh, Hui-chin
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English Curriculum,Curriculum Design,Curriculum Development,English (Second Language),English Teachers,Communities of Practice,Lesson Plans,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Educators,Teacher Collaboration,Meetings,Transcripts (Written Records),Interviews,Thematic Approach,Units of Study,Teacher Attitudes,Competency Based Teacher Education,Integrated Curriculum,Faculty Development,Semi Structured Interviews,Group Dynamics,Educational Practices,Group Discussion,Barriers,Foreign Countries

This study investigates how a teacher study group collectively examined problems in their current English curriculum and redesigned the curriculum into theme-based lessons for various grades. Comprised of seven elementary school teachers and a teacher educator, the teacher study group met bi-weekly for three hours for a total of eight meetings. The transcripts from the group meetings, individual interviews, field-notes, and lesson plans were collected. With the framework of activity theory for data analysis, this study reports on the problems reviewed and identified in the curriculum, and explores how the group worked collaboratively to restructure their English curriculum by developing thematic units incorporating key competencies in the textbooks. The teachers' perceptions towards their participation in curriculum redesign are analyzed and reported.
On the Effect of Gender and Years of Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners' Collocational Competence
Author: Ganji, Mansoor
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Foreign Countries,Interlanguage,Phrase Structure,Form Classes (Languages),Translation,Majors (Students),Statistical Analysis,Nouns,Verbs,Language Teachers,Material Development,Undergraduate Students,Gender Differences,Language Tests

This study investigates the Iranian EFL learners' Knowledge of Lexical Collocation at three academic levels: freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. The participants were forty three English majors doing their B.A. in English Translation studies in Chabahar Maritime University. They took a 50-item fill-in-the-blank test of lexical collocations. The test included five types of collocations: &quot;verb-noun, adjective-noun, noun-verb, adverb-adjective, and verb-adverb.&quot; Descriptive statistics, t-test, and One-way ANOVA were employed in the data analysis. According to the results, Iranian English majors are weak in lexical collocations, answering just more than 50% of the questions. A significant difference was found among the performance of the students at three academic levels, but there was no significant difference between boys and girls in their knowledge of lexical collocations. While noun-verb collocation was revealed to be the easiest type of collocation, adverb-adjective collocation proved to be the most difficult type. These findings have immediate implications for language learners, EFL teachers, and material designers.
MI as a Predictor of Students' Performance in Reading Competency
Author: Hajhashemi, Karim
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Achievement,Predictor Variables,Language Proficiency,Multiple Intelligences,Reading Tests,Scores,Secondary School Students,Questionnaires,Standardized Tests,Correlation,Performance Based Assessment,Predictive Measurement,Predictive Validity,Competency Based Education,Foreign Countries,Language Tests,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Regression (Statistics)

The purpose of this study was to examine whether performance in MI could predict the performance in reading competency. The other objectives were to identify the components of MI which are correlated with the reading test scores, and to determine the relationship between the multiple intelligences and reading proficiency. A descriptive and ex post facto design was employed to ascertain relationships among the variables. The participants were 128 randomly chosen pre-university students (grade 12, 18-19 years old) of both genders studying in Tehran in the academic year 2008-2009. Three instruments were utilized in this study: 1) a demographic questionnaire; 2) the Persian version of Mckenzie's MI Inventory; and 3) a standardized reading proficiency test which was selected from retrieved paper-based TOEFL® tests. Results of the correlation analysis revealed no significant relationship between the two variables of MI and reading scores of the students. Furthermore, the results of the correlation analysis revealed that there was a low significant, negative relationship between musical-rhythmic intelligence and reading which suggests that when the reading score of a student increases, musical-rhythmic intelligence of the same student decreases and vice versa. Overall, three categories of MI (musical-rhythmic, verbal-linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic) were found to be predictive of reading proficiency.
Constructing Geometric Properties of Rectangle, Square, and Triangle in the Third Grade of Indonesian Primary Schools
Author: Rizkianto, Ilham
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary School Mathematics,Grade 3,Foreign Countries,Geometric Concepts,Geometry,Mathematics Instruction,Learning Activities,Concept Formation,Teaching Methods,Computer Assisted Instruction,Pretests Posttests

Previous studies have provided that when learning shapes for the first time, young children tend to use the prototype as the reference point for comparisons, but often fail when doing so since they do not yet think about the defining attributes or the geometric properties of the shapes. Most of the time, elementary students learn geometric properties of shapes only as empty verbal statements to be memorized, without any chance to experience the concepts meaningfully. In the light of it, a sequence of instructional activities along with computer manipulative was designed to support Indonesian third graders in constructing geometric properties of square, rectangle, and triangle. The aim of the present study is to develop a local instructional theory to support third graders in constructing geometric properties of rectangle, square and triangle. Thirty seven students of one third grade classes in SD Pupuk Sriwijaya Palembang, along with their class teacher, were involved in the study. Our findings suggest that the combination of computer and non computer activities supports third graders in constructing geometric properties of square, rectangle, and triangle in that it provides opportunities to the students to experience and to develop the concepts meaningfully while using their real experiences as the bases to attain a higher geometric thinking level.
Teaching Writing Skills Based on a Genre Approach to L2 Primary School Students: An Action Research
Author: Ahn, Hyejeong
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Writing Skills,Writing Instruction,Teaching Methods,Elementary School Students,Action Research,Literary Genres,Student Diversity,Intervention,Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),Writing Attitudes,Self Efficacy,Instructional Effectiveness,Competency Based Education,Lesson Plans,Writing Achievement,Writing Improvement,Foreign Countries

This article, based on research findings, examines the effect of implementing a genre approach to develop writing competency of Year 5 and 6 L2 primary school students. Using action research, the genre approach was implemented over a 10-week term with two lessons per week in a culturally and linguistically diverse ESL class in a South Australian public metropolitan primary school. Two specific genres, Report and Essay writing, were taught using a three-staged teaching and learning cycle (TLC), based on Vygotsky's notion of scaffolding. Assessment was conducted by comparing students' writing samples, before and after the teaching intervention. The results indicated that the teacher's active scaffolding processes at the early stage of the cycle benefited students by making them aware of the different ways texts are organised for different communicative purposes. In addition, students' confidence level increased and the approach encouraged a positive attitude towards writing.