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摘要：Despite the popularity of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in foreign language (FL) education at elementary school, it remains unclear how young learners' FL abilities can best be evaluated with tasks. The present study seeks to understand developmental differences in interactions among elementary-school students during task-based language assessment (TBLA) and aims to address the possibilities and limitations of introducing paired-TBLA among young FL learners. The participants were 32 fourth-grade students (ages 9-10) and 32 sixth-grade students (ages 11-12) and their teachers from a FL program where TBLT was mandated. The students were engaged in two sets of assessment tasks with their peers. It was found that the interaction patterns were different between the two grade levels. Compared with the sixth-grade dyads, the fourth-grade dyads showed less mutual topic development, used formulaic turn-taking more frequently, and had a harder time taking their partners' perspectives during the tasks. Consequently, a smaller variety of interactional functions were observed among the fourth graders. The potential for eliciting a wide range of interactional functions, which is a primary advantage of introducing paired assessment, may have limited application for younger dyads. The study also discusses the strategic roles that such interactional characteristics may play among younger learners. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This article provides an examination of corrective feedback -- teacher and peer responses to learners erroneous second language production. The recent burgeoning of research into oral corrective feedback is attributable to its pedagogical and theoretical significance. Experimental studies to date have demonstrated that oral corrective feedback can facilitate second language development but that its effects may be constrained by contextual factors and individual learner differences (Li 2010; Lyster and Saito 2010). Adapted from the source document

摘要：The Output Hypothesis proposes that language production can facilitate language learning in a number of ways. However, while early research into this theory provided a strong starting point for further research, it did not provide clear, long-term evidence of output's role in language acquisition. More recent research has addressed this problem by using simple writing task sequences in which output precedes input in order to maximize its role in noticing. Results have been encouraging. In this article, I summarize this research before going on to suggest ways in which teachers can utilize similar task sequences in order to create practical classroom techniques which encourage learners to notice holes in their own knowledge and gaps between their written ability and expert user texts. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The close relationship between children's vocabulary size and their later academic success has led researchers to explore how vocabulary development might be promoted during the early school years. We describe a study that explored the effectiveness of naturalistic classroom storytelling as an instrument for teaching new vocabulary to 6- to 9-year-old children. We examined whether learning was facilitated by encountering new words in single versus multiple story contexts, or by the provision of age-appropriate definitions of words as they were encountered. Results showed that encountering words in stories on three occasions led to significant gains in word knowledge in children of all ages and abilities, and that learning was further enhanced across the board when teachers elaborated on the new words' meanings by providing dictionary definitions. Our findings clarify how classroom storytelling activities can be a highly effective means of promoting vocabulary development.

摘要：The aims of the present study were twofold. The study addressed the issues of simultaneous attention to form and meaning in second language (L2) written input and reactivity of think-alouds. Specifically, the study examined the comprehension of L2 learners of Spanish who either attended to lexical or grammatical forms while reading for meaning or read for meaning alone. Learners completed these tasks while either thinking aloud or not. Results indicated only a minimal effect for thinking aloud that did not appear to compromise the internal validity of the study. Additionally, results showed that attending to grammatical or lexical form while reading for meaning did not affect comprehension. Indeed, learners who processed these forms more deeply evidenced greater comprehension. These findings are considered in light of methodological issues and the larger issue of simultaneous attention to form and meaning in a L2. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Language testing has seen unprecedented expansion during the first part of the 21st century. As a result there is an increasing need for the language testing profession to consider more precisely what it means by 'assessment literacy' and to articulate its role in the creation of new pedagogic materials and programs in language testing and assessment to meet the changing needs of teachers and other stakeholders for a new age. This article describes a research project in which a survey instrument was developed, piloted, and delivered on the Internet to elicit the assessment training needs of language teachers. The results were used to inform the design of new teaching materials and the further development of online resources that could be used to support program delivery. The project makes two significant contributions. First, it provides new empirically derived content for the concept of assessment literacy within which to frame materials development and teaching. Second, it uncovered methodological problems with existing survey techniques that may have impacted upon earlier studies, and solutions to these problems are suggested. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Saito and Lyster (2011) examined the acquisitional value of pronunciation-focused recasts in a quasi-experimental study with a pre- and post-test design involving participants who were adult native speakers of Japanese learning English. The participants were involved with a series of form-focused tasks whereby they were guided to notice and practice one of two pronunciation features (the alveolar approximant /r/ or the low front vowel /ae/) while teachers consistently provided recasts in response to pronunciation errors. That study reported the results of the group focusing on /r/, revealing that pronunciation-focused recasts can be facilitative of L2 pronunciation development with medium-to-large effects, especially within familiar lexical items that appeared during the instructional treatment. In the current study, Saito and Lyster report on the results of the group focusing on /ae/ and further examine the pedagogical potential and limitations of pronunciation-focused recasts from various perspectives. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study investigated the effects of negative feedback type (i.e., explicit correction vs. recasts), communication mode (i.e., face-to-face communication vs. synchronous computer-mediated communication), and target structure salience (i.e., salient vs. nonsalient) on the acquisition of two Turkish morphemes. Forty-eight native speakers of English with no Turkish background carried out two communicative tasks during which their errors on the target structures were treated according to their feedback group. Oral production, comprehension, and recognition tests were used to measure learners' resulting performance. A clear advantage was found for explicit correction over recasts in the oral production and comprehension tasks on both immediate and delayed posttests. Results also showed that neither communication mode nor target structure salience moderated the difference between the negative feedback types but both factors made independent contributions to feedback effectiveness. Adapted from the source document

摘要：A mixed method design was used to investigate the effects of online second language (L2) methodology instruction on the sense of efficacy of teacher-candidates enrolled in initial licensure programs for L2 teachers. More specifically, the researcher examined the extent to which L2 teacher-candidates completing online L2 methodology instruction perceived themselves to be less confident in their ability to teach L2 learners upon completion of their coursework than did their counterparts who completed the same instruction in a F2F setting. Results of the study emphasized the confidence-related benefits of F2F L2 methodology instruction. Completers of the F2F courses experienced a significantly greater increase in confidence to teach L2 learners than did their online peers in regard to all but three of the 16 survey items measuring teacher efficacy. Data suggested that observing demonstrations of teaching strategies and witnessing classroom dynamics allowed the teacher-candidates in the F2F classes to see how the factual knowledge they learned transferred to actual classroom practice. This study speaks about the benefits of hybridized models of methodology instruction and provides a framework for fully online methodology courses that simulate best F2F teaching practices. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Teaching Chinese as a foreign language (TCFL) is increasingly becoming a mainstream profession and an independent academic discipline. However, there is little research in CALL targeting the Chinese language to date. This research attempts to show how a CALL system can be constructed following the unique properties of the Chinese language so it can benefit the learner maximally. First, we analyze student journals to identify problematic areas for British students learning Chinese as a foreign language, which seem to spread across levels of phonology, morphology, orthography, and vocabulary in an inextricable fashion. To address this issue, we designed a hierarchical network model linking levels of sound, syllables, characters, words, and phrases together in the form of nodes and connections. Current implementation of the model is a CALL system nicknamed Linkit, which can work alongside a textbook or a corpus, offering interconnected elements of the Chinese language such as the syllable, the character, the word, and the phrase on the same screen. The purpose of the design is for students to view a Chinese character not just as a character, but to see how it relates to other homophonic characters by appreciating the underlying phonological similarities and how the character can develop into a word or a phrase. We suggest that the emphasis on this type of continuity is a key factor in designing Chinese-specific CALL programs. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This article reports on the design and use of a profiler for lexical sophistication (i.e., use of advanced vocabulary), which was created to assess the lexical richness of intermediate and advanced Swedish second language (L2) learners' French and Italian. It discusses how teachers' judgments (TJs) of word difficulty can contribute to the methodology for lexical profiling and compares two methods, one purely frequency based and one modified on the basis of TJs of word difficulty. It has been suggested elsewhere that factors other than frequency play an important role in vocabulary acquisition. Here it is argued that cognates and thematic vocabulary related to teaching materials, although infrequent in target language (TL) corpora, should not necessarily be considered advanced and that analyses of learners' lexical sophistication would benefit from integrating these aspects. In this study, the frequency-based method normally used in lexical profiling was modified by recategorizing some low-frequency words considered easy by many teachers. On the basis of the TJs, a basic vocabulary, which consisted mainly of high-frequency words but also of cognates and thematic words, was defined, which was based on the fact that teachers judged certain low-frequency cognates and thematic words as relatively easy. Using the modified method, learners' lexical profiles were found to be more homogeneous within groups of learners at specific proficiency levels. The superiority of the new method over the purely frequency-based one was shown when comparing effect sizes. It is argued that this method gives a more correct picture of advanced L2 lexical profiles. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The introduction of virtual learning environments has made new tools available that have the potential to support learner communication and interaction, thus aiding second language acquisition both from a psycholinguistic and a sociocultural point of view. This article focuses on the use of videoconferencing in the context of a larger exploratory study to find out how interaction was influenced by the affordances of the environment. Taking a mainly qualitative approach, the authors analysed the written and spoken interaction in recorded videoconferencing sessions, alongside examining some quantitative data to reveal participation patterns. Exploring language learning interaction in a synchronous online medium allows us to show how this is a process mediated by interaction with experts and peers as well as by the artefacts used (e.g., technology) and how learners use and combine multiple modes to make meaning. Our findings illustrate how an online videoconferencing environment with its multiple modalities can be used in language teaching, how teachers and learners adapt to the multimodal online environment and how new patterns of communication emerge in the process. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study introduces the educational assistant robots that we developed for foreign language learning and explores the effectiveness of robot-assisted language learning (RALL) which is in its early stages. To achieve this purpose, a course was designed in which students have meaningful interactions with intelligent robots in an immersive environment. A total of 24 elementary students, ranging in age from ten to twelve, were enrolled in English lessons. A pre-test/post-test design was used to investigate the cognitive effects of the RALL approach on the students' oral skills. No significant difference in the listening skill was found, but the speaking skills improved with a large effect size at the significance level of 0.01. Descriptive statistics and the pre-test/post-test design were used to investigate the affective effects of RALL approach. The result showed that RALL promoted and improved students' satisfaction, interest, confidence, and motivation at the significance level of 0.01. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Written corrective feedback, referred to hereafter as 'written CF' and also known as 'grammar correction' or 'error correction', has been a controversial topic in second language studies over the past fifteen years. Inspired by John Truscott's thought-provoking 1996 essay in Language Learning, many different researchers have undertaken new programs of investigation, while others have engaged in scholarly synthesis and argumentation around the topic. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The Majority language instruction as a basis for plurilingual education/Mehrheitssprachenunterricht als Basis plurilingualer Erziehung (MARILLE) project, affiliated with the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), is briefly highlighted. MARILLE specifically focuses on 'majority' languages, also referred to as 'national' or 'official' languages, that are used as 'language(s) of schooling.' The project focuses on classrooms in which the majority language is taught as a school subject, where teachers have generally been trained for monolingual mother tongue teaching but may be challenged by the increasingly diverse linguistic backgrounds of their students. The MARILLE project examines these teachers' strategies for dealing with such challenges and the ways school systems have found to support them. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The authors present a research timeline that traces the empirical bases of current approaches to second language pronunciation teaching, with particular attention given to the concepts of accent and intelligibility. Their approach was to begin with an empirical core of classroom pronunciation studies and situate this within the context of other studies and opinion pieces that reflect major themes in the field. The timeline is heavily oriented toward studies of adult ESL learners focusing on the speech stream and how it is perceived. Adapted from the source document

摘要：In this paper I argue that online intercultural interaction and exchange remains a relatively peripheral 'add-on' activity in most foreign language classrooms. In its current state, it is yet to be considered an integral part of curricular activity and it does not yet form a significant part of high stakes assessment procedures. Against this background, it is becoming increasingly difficult for educators to justify to learners the value of their online work. I present here an overview of what online intercultural exchange involves and discuss what have been its contributions to foreign language education. I then present findings from a survey of telecollaborative practices and discuss why this activity has yet to become a 'normalised' part of foreign language learning. Adapted from the source document

摘要：A review essay is presented that covers the following books: (1) Andrew Barfield and Stephen H. Brown [Eds], reconstructing autonomy in language education: Inquiry and innovation (Basingstroke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007); (2) David Gardner [Ed], Learner autonomy 10: Integration and support (Dublin: Authentik, 2007); (3) Terry Lamb and Hayo Reinders [Eds], Supporting independent language learning: Issues and interventions (Franfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2006); (4) Richard Pemberton, Sarah Toogood, and Andy Barfield [Eds], Maintaining control: Autonomy and language learning (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009); and (5) Terry Lamb and Hayo Reinders [Eds], Learner and teacher autonomy: Concepts, realities and responses (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2008).

摘要：This review presents a broad picture of recent work on L2 Spanish in educational contexts. The thematic and geographic scope of the review is wide, in order to capture the diversity of learners and learning contexts of L2 Spanish, just two decades after teaching and learning the language gained impetus worldwide. Traditional second or foreign language learners, heritage learners, immigrants and indigenous children provide a variety of contexts for research that builds on and expands the fields of second and foreign language learning and teaching, applied linguistics and sociolinguistics. Continuing the trend from previous years in SLA, and in connection with research on learners of other languages, main themes in this time period have been the acquisition and teaching of the language system, learning processes, and social contexts of learning. The review is organized thematically according to these main categories. Adapted from the source document

摘要：For many decades, foreign language teaching has been dominated by the principle that teachers should use only the target language (TL) and avoid using the mother tongue (L1) except as a last resort. However, reports show that teachers make extensive use of the L1. This paper illustrates this discrepancy and considers some main reasons for it. It suggests a framework of principles for balancing L1 and TL use in the classroom. Finally, it reviews some strategies available to teachers who wish to make maximal use of the TL without denying the potential of the L1 to support foreign language learning. Adapted from the source document