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摘要：Usage-based theories of language learning suggest that native speakers of a language are acutely aware of formulaic language due in large part to frequency effects. Corpora and data-driven learning can offer useful insights into frequent patterns of naturally occurring language to second/foreign language learners who, unlike native speakers, are not privy to a lifetime of input and fine-tuning. Recently, the use of the web in combination with the Google search engine as an accessible corpus and concordancer has received much attention. This article describes an experiment which tests the hypothesis that native speakers of English perceive learner-generated phrases to be more natural after learners have searched the phrases on Google and modified them in light of the frequency of search results. The findings indicate that native speakers perceive phrases that generated more results in Google searches to be more natural.

摘要：English for academic purposes (EAP) has established itself as a considerable part of English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction in Iranian universities. Considering the Internet as a major educational source in EAP reading courses, it is highly important that the stakeholders have positive attitudes toward it and be aware of promises and challenges. This study was conducted to investigate the participants' attitudes toward the Internet in EAP courses for undergraduate students of civil engineering (CE) in Iran. To this end, 723 undergraduate students, 67 EAP instructors and 105 CE instructors participated in the study. Instrumentation included a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation. Our analysis of the data revealed that the majority of EAP instructors, CE instructors and undergraduate students have positive attitudes toward the Internet. However, the results showed that EAP instructors do not make use of any types of Internet-based activities in their classes. Moreover, the majority of limitations in using the Internet in EAP courses were identified. It is concluded that undergraduate students of CE need training in various Internet-based skills. The findings promise implications for renewing the EAP programs. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Various language learning projects using Second Life (SL) have been documented; still, their specific learning potentials, particularly in English as a foreign language (EFL) context, remain to be explored. The current study aims to add one piece of empirical evidence on how SL can be infused into a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) course for 25 college students through task design in a limited Internet connection context. Four tasks -- orientation of SL and chatting, pedagogical activities, peer review, and an SL tour -- were designed with their influence examined. Although students' frustration about the unstable Internet connection was shown from responses of an evaluation questionnaire, they confirmed the benefits of using SL for English learning and teaching. SL provides affordances of interaction and immersion, which are conducive to their English learning, and SL can easily establish an authentic environment for communication. It is argued, as supported in the previous literature of various educational contexts, that sound pedagogy with appropriate tasks, instead of 3D virtual world software alone, guides SL applications in the multi-member community (instructors, teachers assistants, students, and other users not in this class) advancing toward language learning objectives or sense-making in student learning. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study explores adolescents' accounts of self-harm with a view to elucidate the implications for health care practitioners seeking to administer care to teenagers in English. Drawing on a corpus of 1.6 million words from messages posted on a UK-hosted adolescent health Web site, analysis began by identifying a range of keywords relating to self-harm. The subsequent contextual examination of these keywords afforded a close description of the contributors' experiences of self-harm and the factors that resulted in their self-injurious behaviours. A recurring theme was that of the habitual nature of self-harm, with the act being represented as a form of addiction over which they had little control. Self-harmers construct the phenomenon as particularly powerful, and the act is formulated as the only effective means of relief from emotional turmoil. If we are to increase parents and health professionals' ability to respond to self-injury in the medium of English, close linguistic attention to individuals' accounts of self-harm is valuable. Online health resources are also valuable means of eliciting concerns from distressed adolescents who are often reluctant to seek support from professionals face-to-face. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This article discusses the informal learning of English by non-native speakers with particular reference to the role of virtual communities. The concept of informal learning is presented and related to current areas of interest in the literature such as incidental learning, and dynamic systems theory. Our research investigates how non-specialist language learners use the Internet in their spare time to read and listen to English, and also communicate in English, notably in online communities through social networking websites. The study looks particularly at the dynamics of these phenomena by studying a small number of non-native users of English over a period of two months. The results of this research will be used to question the relevance of the learner autonomy paradigm, which has been a cornerstone of language learning policy in Europe for the past thirty years. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The DOTS (Developing Online Teaching Skills) project, which was launched with support from the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), is briefly highlighted. As effective online teaching requires very specific skills, the DOTS project aims to "provide teaching professionals with an opportunity to develop such skills in a language learning context." The DOTS team is in the process of creating an online resource in the form of a Moodle workspace that features training activities that give teachers and trainee teachers a chance to develop and enhance their skills. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The current study explores closely how using a combined modalities of asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) via blogs and face-to-face (FTF) interaction through ethnographic interviews with native speakers (L1s) supports autonomous learning as the result of reflective and social processes. The study involves 16 American undergraduate students who participated in blogs to develop their intercultural competence over the course of one-semester study abroad. The results show that blogs afforded students the opportunity to work independently (e.g., content creation) and reflect upon cross-cultural issues. Critical reflection, however, relied on the teacher's guidance and feedback, as most of the students were cognitively challenged by not being able to clearly articulate different points of view. It is likely that students were not accustomed to reflecting. The findings also indicate that task type fostered autonomy in different ways. While free topics gave students more control of their own learning, teacher-assigned topics required them to critically think about the readings. Lack of access to Internet at the host institution and family also contributed to a limited level of social interaction. The study concludes that well-designed tasks, effective metacognitive and cognitive skills, and the accessibility to Internet are essential to maximize the potentials of blogs for learner autonomy and intercultural communication. Adapted from the source document

摘要：There has been increasing interest in the possible applications of corpora to both linguistic research and pedagogy. This study takes a corpus-based, genre-analytic approach to discipline-specific materials development. Combining corpus analysis with genre analysis makes it possible to develop teaching materials that are not only authentic but also research-supported. An RA corpus consisting of 60 research articles from three major journals of computer science was constructed. A word frequency list derived from the corpus was analyzed to develop a vocabulary profile for the genre. Move analysis was also conducted based on a self-developed coding scheme of rhetorical moves in the target genre. The move codes were tagged in the corpus texts so that individual moves and move patterns could be retrieved for the purpose of developing research-based online teaching materials for graduate students of computer science. Numerous examples of specialized vocabulary, grammatical usage, and move structures that showcase and characterize academic computer science discourse were used in not only lessons but also learning tasks, discussion topics, and online writing models. The paper ends with a discussion of the usefulness and effectiveness of the online RA writing materials, based on student feedback and assessments. We combine corpus-based with genre-analytic approach to develop research-based online courseware for graduate students of computer science. We build a corpus of 60 research articles. We analyze word frequency and rhetorical moves in each section from the corpus. The online courseware includes examples of specialized vocabulary, grammatical usages, move structures, and learning tasks. The usefulness and effectiveness of the online courseware are evaluated by student feedback and assessments. [Copyright The American University; published by Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are beginning to be utilized in English language courses, allowing students to access a plethora of authentic language and potentially engaging them in authentic interaction. Blyth argues that in the excitement of exploring this new frontier, what appears to be missing is a discussion on the appropriacy of bringing the outside world inside students' often private learning environments. In particular, this paper focuses on students' privacy and a need to prevent a future loss of reputation. Adapted from the source document

摘要：An online discussion involving text-based computer-mediated communication has great potential for promoting equal participation among non-native speakers of English. Several studies claimed that online discussions could enhance the academic participation of non-native speakers of English. However, there is little research around participation patterns in online discussions for non-native speakers of English. This descriptive pilot study considered the concept of communities of practice as it examined the online postings of three non-native and three native speakers of English who were enrolled in an online course on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Content analysis was employed to study the 201 postings. The findings showed that the non-native speakers of English posted more messages in online discussions than their native peers did, and their postings showed more reflection on and accommodation of other students' perspectives than their native peers' postings. The pattern and frequency of these non-native English speakers' participation revealed that they gained a legitimate status engaging in academic socialization. In addition, an examination of the influence of the types of discussion questions posed for the non-native English speakers confirmed the significant role of the instructor in class participation. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Using the Internet through a mobile phone for learning English as a foreign language (EFL) listening skills has significant potential, and language learners in South Korea hold clearly positive attitudes towards using this. However, the barriers discouraging language learners from using the Internet for EFL listening have not yet been thoroughly investigated. This study investigates these barriers and proposes a number of features to minimise them, in order to encourage the use of EFL listening wireless application protocol (WAP) sites in a Korean context. These barriers and WAP site design principles were investigated experimentally. A WAP site for EFL listening activities was designed based on WAP site design principles and used for EFL listening for 12 weeks. Thirty Korean college-level students participated in the experiment, which used questionnaire surveys and interviews. The learners' attitudes towards using the WAP site changed after the experiment, and this change was a result of both positive and negative factors -- the novelty, convenience and interactivity of the site on the positive side, and the limitations of mobile technology and the extra expense of the Internet connection on the negative side. A number of suggestions are made to minimise the negative factors and optimise the positive ones. These include various changes to the WAP-based activities, additional communication channels and instant help and feedback facilities, all of which show potential for minimising the barriers and optimising the use of WAP sites for EFL listening. Adapted from the source document

摘要：While the HIV/AIDS epidemic has wrought havoc in the lives of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, access to information about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of the disease remains a challenge for many, and particularly for young people. This article reports on an action research study undertaken in a rural Ugandan village in 2006. Twelve English language learners, all of whom were young women, participated in this study. The focus was a digital literacy course that sought to help the participants gain access to information about HIV/AIDS through global health Web sites available in English, Uganda's official language. Our conceptual framework is drawn from theories of investment and imagined identities in the field of language education, and our central questions are twofold: (1) What were the learners' investments in the language practices of the digital literacy course? and (2) What was the relationship between the learners' investments in the course and their identities? Our findings suggest that the learners' multiple investments in the digital literacy course derived not only from the significance of HIV/AIDS to their lives, but also from the opportunity to appropriate a range of imagined identities that offered enhanced possibilities for the future. Adapted from the source document