Published by De Gruyter Mouton

Volume 10 Issue 1

Issue of Language Learning in Higher Education

Submit manuscript

Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available September 19, 2020

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iv

Download PDF

Articles

September 19, 2020

The impact of a peer-facilitated discussion initiative on international students’ learning experience in the context of internationalisation at home

Catherine Jeanneau, Stéphanie O’Riordan

Page range: 1-24

Abstract

Fostering skills development is one of the tenets of education. For a long time, the traditional binary teacher-student interaction was used as the sole approach to teaching and learning but it is now overwhelmingly regarded as insufficient. The present paper reports on an initiative based on the principles of peer learning. The discussion groups and one-to-one sessions in languages, facilitated by native speakers (NS) who are international students in the institution, were set-up to enable language learners to develop their oral skills. While the advantages of the activity for language learners are clear, it is not as easy to determine the benefits for the NS peer-facilitators. The study presents findings from questionnaires and interviews conducted with some of these NS peer-facilitators and discuss the reported impact of the initiative on these students. While personal growth and development of intercultural awareness feature strongly in the data analysis, an enhanced language learning experience and an influential factor in some participants’ educational and career paths are also revealed. These findings are explained with reference to relevant developments in the study abroad, volunteering and peer learning literature. We will conclude that the initiative is a positive tool for international students’ integration into the host institution and offers a novel way for them to socialise and engage in their new learning environment.

Open Access September 19, 2020

Studying in a foreign language: Study performance and experiences of German students at a Dutch university

Lidy Zijlmans, Marc van Oostendorp, Roeland van Hout

Page range: 25-51

More Download PDF

Abstract

This article reports on the academic performance and experiences of non-native university students, specifically German students in a Dutch academic environment. These students have a substantial dropout rate. In an earlier study, we found correlations between results on language tests and study results. In this study, we used semi-structured interviews with student advisors, students and teachers to investigate in more detail the role of foreign language proficiency in academic success. We identified three major language-related issues: (1) listening and speaking in discussion groups, (2) writing in examinations and assignments, and (3) the negative impact of language proficiency on grades. The quality and readability of the written assignments was repeatedly highlighted as the core problem. Additionally, we investigated the influence of the use of English as an additional foreign language.

September 19, 2020

Investigating the relationship between linguistic focus of recasts, learning styles and noticing

Mojtaba Tadayonifar, Mahnaz Entezari, Mostafa Bahraman

Page range: 53-72

Abstract

The efficacy of Corrective Feedback (CF) is contingent on various factors; conflicting results have been obtained regarding the roles of individual differences and the linguistic focus of CF. The current study investigated the relationship between the linguistic focus of recasts (the most common CF type) and noticing. It further explored the possible relationship between learning styles and recast noticing. The learning styles of 25 intermediate Iranian EFL learners were determined through the VARK questionnaire. During the participants’ story retelling tasks, the researchers provided recasts in response to their grammatical, lexical, and phonological errors. The class presentations were audiotaped, and recasts were highlighted. Online and retrospective methods of measuring noticing were used. Chi-Square tests indicated that there were significant differences among the participants’ noticing in general and in noticing of grammatical, lexical, and phonological recasts in particular. The results of post hoc analysis revealed that the auditory-style participants received the highest noticing rate and the kinesthetic style the least. The study further indicated that learners whose learning style was auditory better noticed grammatical recasts, learners whose learning style was mixed better noticed lexical recasts, and visual learners better noticed phonological recasts.

Open Access September 19, 2020

Comprehension in English Medium Instruction (EMI) lectures: On the impact of lecturer L2 English use

Joseph Siegel

Page range: 73-91

More Download PDF

Abstract

The importance and amount of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) usage and English Medium Instruction (EMI) lectures continue to increase on university campuses as universities worldwide seek to promote internationalization among both the student body and the faculty. While EMI has become a priority, the teaching and learning that occurs within this framework needs to be monitored for effectiveness and efficiency. Many of the teachers and students in these EMI courses do not share a common first language and likely have a first language other than English. Therefore, they are operating in EMI with varying levels of second language (L2) English ability, which can lead to low levels of student comprehension, learning and satisfaction unless the lecturer takes special care in their delivery of content. This paper explores the linguistic composition of EMI lectures in the Swedish context and reports survey findings of students’ self-reported levels of comprehension related to lecture content and their lecturer’s L2 English use. Three case studies are described and illustrate various linguistic factors that can contribute to or inhibit student comprehension in EMI lectures. Pedagogic implications are presented with the intention of supporting EMI lecturers and their students.

Open Access September 19, 2020

Cooperation and development for academic language skills in the university context

Carmen Argondizzo, Vanessa Marcella, Maria I. Sasso

Page range: 93-109

More Download PDF

Abstract

This paper analyses the learning process of students of a Master’s course in Cooperation and Development (C&D) who attend classes in English for Academic Writing at the University of Calabria, and their awareness of competences achieved. The language objectives are to expand students’ knowledge of the main elements of spoken and written discourse in English in academic contexts with focus on specialized language in the fields of C&D. The study evaluates the ability of students to improve their competences and assess their language development using the self-assessment grid of academic language competences included in the European Language Portfolio created at the Università della Calabria, Italy. Specifically, this version of the ELP focuses on academic language and contains descriptors aimed at evaluating learners’ language competences in academic contexts. A group of 25 students participated in this didactic experience, in the second semester of the academic year 2018. Students’ oral production, interaction and academic writing skills were monitored. For the written examination students were required to write a Research Proposal (RP) showing competence in text cohesion and content coherence, appropriate use of terminology and accurate use of language structures. Following on from the acceptance of the RP, students delivered an oral presentation on the topic presented, showing ability in answering questions and expressing opinions on issues presented by other students. The concepts of autonomous learning are crucial in order to monitor students’ improvement and commitment. A contrastive analysis of data from students’ first self-assessment to the final evaluation of competences achieved by the end of the academic year was conducted.

August 8, 2020

The validation of the listening comprehension test tasks in the Certificate of English for Primary Teachers: An extension study

Margherita Pelleriti

Page range: 111-128

Abstract

This paper investigates the validation of the computer-based listening subtest in the Certificate of English for Primary Teachers (CEPT), which is addressed to in-service primary teachers who work in state Italian schools. Since 2004, these teachers, specialists in other subjects, have been asked by the Italian Ministry of Education to teach English to their pupils. Training courses for different CEFR levels and certification have been devised by Italian universities for in-service teachers who are then allowed to teach English in primary schools. This study will briefly illustrate the new requirements set by the European Council in terms of foreign language teaching and learning from an early age. A profile of the foreign language teacher will then be presented and a more detailed analysis of the Italian situation will be provided. The paper then presents the CEPT administered in the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy, by the Language Centre of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, with a special focus on the listening subtest. In order to validate the listening test tasks, a mixed methods study was conducted. In particular, the results of the listening subtest administered in June 2015 to 67 candidates and in June 2017 to a new sample of 354 test takers have been statistically analysed and semi-structured interviews have been conducted with a test developer, a teacher trainer and a test taker. In order to shed light on the content relevance and coverage of the CEPT listening subtest under investigation, the judgement expressed by three experienced University English language instructors has been analysed. The results of the quantitative and qualitative data gathered confirm the validity of the CEPT listening subtest. Implications for future research are provided.

September 19, 2020

Errors in translation: A case study of Chinese into English translation

Wei Du, Teeraporn Saeheaw

Page range: 129-142

Abstract

Translation teachers have long experimented with various methods to help students improve their translation competence. This study approaches the issue by developing an assessment framework based on error analysis and a translation grading system, with the aim of identifying the most common and frequent errors committed by students in their translation works. One group of translation students in Ningxia University, China served as the target group of the study. The errors identified in their renditions were classified, with text-level errors the most prominent, followed by translation errors and substance errors. Possible causes of the errors were analyzed, and suggestions were proposed for future teaching.

Open Access September 19, 2020

The impact of an instruction to improve L2 learners’ academic conference abstract writing in multidisciplinary programmes

Godwin Ioratim-Uba

Page range: 143-169

More Download PDF

Abstract

Writing successful academic conference abstracts is essential for PhD students to enable them to access world-class conferences for the presentation of their research. However, these students often face both discourse-structure and linguistic difficulties in writing their conference abstracts. This study evaluates the impact of genre, process, elicitation and guided learning instruction on students’ performance in academic conference abstract writing. Participants are multidisciplinary L2 PhD students at a Sino-British university. The first dataset used for the impact evaluation comprises post-intervention written abstracts collected from 10 focal students. To evaluate the instruction, a scoring descriptor instrument adapted from the university’s academic writing assessment rubric is used to grade the abstracts’ move-structure, and linguistic features of cohesion, hedging, passive, and present simple. Trends in the scores are analysed statistically. The second dataset consists of students’ questionnaire-elicited experiences of the instruction. Findings show improvements in post-intervention abstracts’ move-structures and linguistic features, which suggests pedagogical effectiveness. Questionnaire responses also display positive perceptions of the pedagogy. Due to the impact of disciplinary genre materials, disciplinary discrepancy is more evident in linguistic structures than in move structures. Writer characteristics also appear to gravitate towards a discipline-centric writing ethos due to the impact of disciplinary-genre materials and the desire to enhance the abstract’s selection chances. Thus, there is potential for language-feature functions, process writing, exact-genre materials and interactive learning process pedagogies to mediate learning and improvement in disciplinary L2 writing.

August 8, 2020

Inverse translation and the language student: A case study

Lucía Pintado Gutiérrez

Page range: 171-193

Abstract

This article explores the agency of the student in translation in language teaching and learning (or TILT). The purpose of the case study discussed here is to gain an overview of students’ perceptions of translation into the foreign language (FL) (also known as “inverse translation”) following a module on language and translation, and to analyse whether there is any correlation between students’ attitude to translation, its impact on their language learning through effort invested, and the improvement of language skills. The results of the case study reveal translation to be a potentially exciting skill that can be central to FL learning and the analysis gives indications of how and why language teachers may optimise the implementation of translation in the classroom. The outcome of the study suggests that further research is needed on the impact of translation in the language classroom focussing on both teachers’ expectations and students’ achievements.

Reports

Open Access September 19, 2020

From placement to diagnostic testing: Improving feedback to learners and other stakeholders in SELF (Système d’Evaluation en Langues à visée Formative)

Sylvain Coulange, Marie-Pierre Jouannaud, Cristiana Cervini, Monica Masperi

Page range: 195-205

More Download PDF

Abstract

Since 2012 an interdisciplinary and culturally heterogeneous team composed of more than 30 people has been engaged in the complex process of conceiving, designing and validating an online placement test with formative orientation called SELF (Système d’Evaluation en Langues à visée Formative), developed and already deployed in six different languages – Italian and English as pilots, followed by French, Mandarin, Japanese and Spanish. Its results are used to form groups and classes of similar ability, or to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses in three macro skills (listening, reading, limited writing). In this report, we describe the steps the multilingual team is currently taking to transform SELF into a diagnostic test that will fulfill its original formative purpose and provide students and other stakeholders with more precise information about their performance. This can be done in two ways, by using the data automatically recorded by the online administration platform more thoroughly and by enriching user feedback with clear and informative graphics. This will enhance the validity of our test, and help close the gap between testing and learning.

September 19, 2020

Personal branding in an elevator: Developing job search pitch skills in tertiary level Business English pedagogy

Jolanta Łącka-Badura

Page range: 207-215

Abstract

This contribution reports on the use of genre-based instruction in developing students’ job search pitch skills in a Business English course taught at the tertiary level. The job search pitch (also referred to as personal branding pitch ) is viewed as a subgenre of an elevator pitch ; it is regarded as an essential communication tool to be mastered and used by students in future job search situations. Drawing on the available literature as well as the author’s own research and experience, the report demonstrates how the generic structure and rhetorical devices contributing to the realisation of the communicative function of job search pitch are incorporated in the job search module of an undergraduate Business English course taught at the University of Economics in Katowice. It also provides a brief account of students’ reflections and observations related to the usefulness of job search pitch skills and the challenges involved in their development.

September 19, 2020

Data-driven learning in English for academic purposes class

Patrizia Giampieri

Page range: 217-233

Abstract

This paper will present a translation project with second-year bachelor students together with some observational data. The students firstly translated an academic abstract from Italian (their first language) to English by using the language resources they were acquainted with. Then they translated a second abstract by using a pre-compiled offline corpus of academic articles. The paper findings highlight that the second translations were better as regards grammar and word choices, while sentence structures still showed influences of the students’ first language. The students learnt that a corpus is a useful supplement to a dictionary, as a corpus may corroborate what the dictionary suggests. The report also highlights the importance of corpus analysis training in order to help users process corpus information, which otherwise might be perceived as “distracting”.

September 19, 2020

Promoting positive washforward through personalised test feedback and other benefits: Piloting a computer-based testing system

Elena A. M. Gandini, Tania Horák

Page range: 235-244

Abstract

This contribution reports on the developing and piloting of a computer-based version of the test of English as a foreign language produced by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), where it is currently used for the admission of international students and the subsequent evaluation of their language progress. Among other benefits, computer-based testing allows for better and individualised feedback to both teachers and students, and it can provide a more authentic test experience in light of the current digital shift that UK universities are undergoing. In particular, the qualitative improvement in the feedback available for test-takers and teachers was for us a crucial factor. Providing students with personalised feedback, that is, directly linked to their performance, has positive washforward, because it means we can guide their future learning, highlighting the areas they need to work on to improve their language skills and giving them suggestions on how to succeed in academia. Furthermore, explaining the meaning of test results in detail improves transparency and ultimately washback, as teachers can use the more accessible marking criteria, together with information on how their students performed, to review plans and schemes of work for subsequent courses.

August 8, 2020

Consciousness raising tasks: Developing learners’ reflective attitude toward plurilingualism

Noriko Nagai

Page range: 245-258

Abstract

This report proposes a number of tasks which help learners become more aware of how their feelings are moulded in their L1 and notice crosslinguistic similarities and differences between their L1 and a target language. The proposed tasks are motivated by findings in the crosslinguistic influence literature and a study that investigated Japanese learners’ perception of crosslinguistic similarities and differences between English and Japanese passives. Japanese has two types of passives, while English has only one. Although the two types of Japanese passives share some properties, they have distinctive functions; one type is mainly used to express adversative feelings of the speaker towards the event a sentence describes, while the other is much the same as the English passive. The study results indicate that half of the subjects perceive crosslinguistic similarities yet avoid using the construction and the other half incorrectly assume similarities which do not exist in reality. The proposed tasks attempt to develop learners’ metalinguistic ability through analysing Japanese and English passives and to facilitate learners’ awareness of crosslinguistic similarities and differences in the passive constructions.

About this journal

Language Learning in Higher Education (LLHE) is the Journal of CercleS, the European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education. The Journal deals with the most relevant aspects of language learning and teaching in university contexts. It mainly focuses on the outcomes of research on blended learning, autonomous learning, language assessment, EMI and so many other aspects of professional development, quality assurance and university language policy. Its primary aim is both to disseminate the best results of research activities carried out at University Language Centres and Higher Education Departments as well as to give the opportunity to share ideas among professionals involved in language studies. This aim carries the long-term objective to help increase the quality of language learning and of the so many teaching and learning actions offered by the higher education language community throughout the European academic context and beyond.

Issues include a Special one 10.2 (2020) Enhancing the Role of European University Language Centres: past achievements and future perspectives, the aim of which was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of CercleS (1991-2021). A Webinar was organized in Spring 2021 for this special event. The recording of the Webinar can be found on　http://www.cercles.org.

LLHE 11.1 and 11.2 (2021) include several contributions presented at the XVI CercleS Conference held at Masarik University (Brno) in September 2020. The 2022 Issues (12.1, 12.2) include a special section on Language Education for Sustainable Development and other research articles covering topics related to language learning and activities carried out within Language Centres communities. The 2023 Issues (13.1, 13.2) comprise several contributions, arising from the XVII CercleS Conference, hosted by ReCLes.pt, the Association of Language Centres in Higher Education (Portugal), at ISCAP, the Porto Accounting and Business School (September 2022).

CercleS regularly organizes Webinars that offer the opportunity to discuss topics related to articles published in LLHE. The Webinars feature lively interviews with the authors, Detailed information can be found on the CercleS website　http://www.cercles.org.