Book Review: Taking Literature and Language Learning Online: New Perspectives on Teaching, Research, and Technology

The creation of beautiful literature and art is one of humanity's most essential endeavours. The importance of literature as a component of the language-teaching curriculum has fluctuated over the last century with the popularity of various language-teaching pedagogies. Notwithstanding, it has recently seen a resurrection of appreciation for its effective utility in language acquisition. Covid-19 lockdown combined with the further progress of computer-assisted language learning has led to a gradual shift in the provision of literature-based language education to an online setting. Under this trend, Sandra Stadler-Heer and Amos Paran's edited chapter book Taking Literature and Language Learning Online: New Perspectives on Teaching, Research and Technology concentrates on a particular component of this transfer process, namely the interaction between literature and language learning. This book review provides an overview of this volume.

Digital Language Learning Strategies Subject to Change or Not – Post Pandemic Reflections

The strategic approach to language learning has gained recognition among both language teachers and learners since the early nineties. However, the use of such strategies in technology-enhanced environment has remained marginal, focusing interest of a small group of CALL (TELL, MALL) pioneers. The sudden outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic with its restrictions enhanced the need of learning languages in the digital environments. The change had a big impact on the teachers, who needed to learn quickly how to work online. However, it is interesting whether the change influenced the ways students learn. Reflection on the experience is necessary to incorporate it into development of the domain. In the text, the current digital strategy use among students is compared with the results of the previous study. Both datasets were collected with the use of similar questionnaires – three more answers were only added to let the respondents indicate the change in their use of digital strategies during the pandemic. The results show that the strategies remained the same as before the pandemic. Thus, the intensive use of digital tools may not have a substantial impact on students' learning habits. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The Future Role of Online Consultations Within Self-Access Learning

In response to COVID-19, Japanese self-access learning centers (SALCs) rapidly shifted their in-person consultations entirely online. While online consultations were scarce prior to 2020, there still existed few attempts. Yet, this prior history has not been considered in recent studies. Additionally, while researchers have recently addressed the role of online consultations, there is insufficient data from students regarding their experiences and future needs. Instead, the discussion has positioned online consultations as a temporary solution without considering their continuation. Therefore, this study assesses the effects that online consultations have had on students and addresses their future role, considering the history while soliciting students' perceptions. Data collection included a survey consisting of closed and open-ended questions administered to eighteen students at a university in Japan who voluntarily participated in multiple online consultations at a self-access facility. The main findings indicate that students would still prefer to attend online consultations in the future and see them as playing an integral role in their self-access learning. Additionally, students' experiences with online consultations have been positive, and motivation and language learning are unhindered.

Saudi EFL University Instructors' Perceptions of Online Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study aimed to investigate the EFL university instructors' perceptions of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were 32;87.5% of them were females while 12.5% were males. They belonged to many higher educational institutions in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using an online questionnaire. This questionnaire included four parts which were (1) the participants' demographic information, (2) the advantages of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic, (3) the disadvantages of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally (4) the effectiveness of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that most of the participants had a more dominant positive attitude regarding online learning activities although some of them claimed that there were some negative aspects that should be taken into consideration. Online education is fundamentally characterized by its flexibility, being chargeless, and enabling EFL instructors to think creatively and improve their performance. However, the lack of regulating sinful activities such as cheating, lack of face-to-face social interaction, and poor accessibility to the internet connection were essentially the three significant disadvantages of online education that most of the participants agreed on. Based on the findings obtained, this study provided some recommendations as well as suggestions for further research.

Student satisfaction and perceived learning in an online second language learning environment: A replication of Gray and DiLoreto (2016)

The current study is an approximate replication of Gray and DiLoreto's (2016) study, which proposed a model predicting that course structure, learner interaction and instructor presence would influence students' perceived learning and satisfaction in online learning, with student engagement acting as a mediator between two of the predictors and the outcome variables. Using mixed methods, the current study investigated whether Gray and DiLoreto's model would be able to explain the relationships among the same variables in a computer-assisted language learning environment. A mediation analysis was conducted using survey responses from a sample of 215 college-level students, and qualitative analysis was conducted on the survey responses from a subsample of 50 students. Similar to Gray and DiLoreto's study, positive correlational relationships emerged between the variables. However, the model proposed by Gray and DiLoreto did not fit our data well, leading us to suggest alternative path-analytic models with both student engagement and learner interaction as mediators. These models showed that the role of course organization and instructor presence were pivotal in explaining the variation in students' perceived learning and satisfaction both directly and indirectly via student engagement and learner interaction. Moreover, qualitative analysis of students' responses to open-ended questions suggested that from students' perspectives, course structure was the most salient factor affecting their experiences within online language learning contexts, followed by learner interaction, and then by instructor presence.

Chinese university students' experience of WeChat-based English-language vocabulary learning

The outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide in 2020 has posed tremendous challenges to higher education globally. Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is among the many areas affected by the pandemic. The unexpected transition to online teaching has increased challenges for improving and/or retaining students' language proficiency. WeChat, a popular social application in China, was widely used for TEFL at Chinese universities before COVID-19. However, it remains unclear whether the use of WeChat can facilitate Chinese university students' English-language lexical proficiency during the pandemic. To fill this gap, the aim of the present study was two-fold: (1) it initially explored the relationship between the variables including students' academic years, genders, and academic faculties/disciplines, and their lexical proficiency;and (2) it evaluated the effectiveness of a WeChat-assisted lexical learning (WALL) program in facilitating learning outcomes of English-language vocabulary. One hundred and thirty-three students at a university in Northern China participated in the WALL program for three weeks. As the results indicated, the independent variables had no correlation with the students' lexical proficiency. More importantly, the students had a decline in the test scores after using the program, compared to their initial test scores. Moreover, the difference was reported to be medium. The findings further proposed questions on applying WeChat to vocabulary teaching in a large-scaled transition. The study is expected to provide insights for tertiary institutions, language practitioners, and student stakeholders to troubleshoot the potential problems regarding implementing WeChat-based TEFL pedagogies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Can Underprivileged Children Learn Effectively at Home? A Six-Month Study of Game-based Traditional Chinese Learning During the Pandemic Lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic has suspended physical classes, and influenced students from underprivileged groups more seriously due to their poor living conditions and digital disadvantages. To understand the impact of the constrained learning, we conducted a study on game-based learning to examine the effectiveness of computer-aided and autonomous learning of traditional Chinese by underprivileged students. From December 2020 to May 2021, we collected 3,245 quiz results from 26 underprivileged students over six months. The quizzes systematically covered the fundamentals of learning traditional Chinese in six aspects, i.e., literacy, orthography, phonology, morphology, speaking, and writing. We analyzed the results to understand the learning efficacy of students. Remarkably, students can significantly improve their skills in literacy and phonology through unsupervised game-based learning. Furthermore, by parsing the writing tasks, we observe substantial improvements among 7 out of 13 common types of writing mistakes. Our study provides a critical lens to understand the design opportunities of game-based learning without direct supervision. IEEE

Channelling discomfort through the arts: A Covid-19 case study through an intercultural telecollaboration project

In this article we argue, in the context of the current dominance of the performative and instrumental drives characterizing the accountable university, that language and intercultural communication education in universities should also be humanistic, addressing ‘discomforting themes' to sensitize students to issues of human suffering and engage them in constructive and creative responses to that suffering. We suggest that arts-based methods can be used and illustrate this with an intercultural telecollaboration project created in response to the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. In this way language and intercultural communication education can become a site of personal and social transformation albeit modest and piecemeal as part of a longer process. Through arts-based methodologies and pedagogies of discomfort, Argentinian and US undergraduates explored how the theme of the Covid-19 crisis has been expressed artistically in their countries, and then communicated online, using English as their lingua franca, to design in mixed international groups artistic multimodal creations collaboratively to channel their suffering and trauma associated with the pandemic. This article analyses and evaluates the project. Data comprise the students' artistic multimodal creations, their written statements describing their creations, and pre and post online surveys. Our findings indicate that students began a process of transformation of disturbing affective responses by creating artwork and engaging in therapeutic social and civic participation transnationally, sharing their artistic creations using social media. We highlight the powerful humanistic role of education involving artistic expression, movement, performativity, and community engagement in order to channel discomforting feelings productively at personal and social levels.

L2 communicative competence analysis via synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) as an alternative to formal classrooms

The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically altered formal classrooms and traditional learning environments with many educational institutions forced to teach online. Communicative L2 classes are impacted as in-person, face-to-face interactions are key to developing communicative competence. This qualitative research study investigates if L2 communicative competence can be demonstrated via online synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) platforms as an alternative to formal classrooms. Previous research on SCMC has focused on its implementation in a blended learning environment to support formal classrooms. The study analyzes seven recorded group interactions of 22 Japanese university students in a communication class for a presentation and discussion project done completely online while being physically isolated. The study observes whether L2 communicative competence can be demonstrated via expression, integration, and negotiation of meaning. Additionally, technological competence via procedural and technological negotiation is examined. The study shows that with careful planning, structured scaffolding from the instructor and technological familiarity and acceptance from the students, L2 communicative competence via SCMC platforms can be demonstrated, to varying degrees, when formal classrooms are not available. Formal classrooms may never be completely replaced but the development of SCMC platforms shows technological possibilities in future L2 learning environments. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Factors intensive English program instructors perceive as playing a role in facilitating communicative language teaching activities in the emergency remote teaching environment

While the use of educational technology in online instruction has increased in higher education, it is still limited in intensive, academic English programs. Precipitated by COVID-19, U.S. Intensive English Programs (IEPs) quickly transitioned from face-to-face (F2F) instruction to the emergency remote teaching environment (ERTE) when the public health crisis occurred. The purpose of this study was to identify how University and College Intensive English Program (UCIEP) instructors used technology, to explore their perceptions of factors that played a role in using technology, and to understand how they learned to use technology.Using purposeful sampling, 10 UCIEP instructors were interviewed using the general qualitative approach (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003) served as the theoretical framework for the study and guided the development of the interview protocol.The findings indicate the influence of the CLT approach on how the instructors used technology to facilitate activities. Instructors described how the facilitator role in CLT activities changed, and how they questioned translanguaging in the remote environment. During remote teaching instructors relied on Zoom features and used various technologies, collaborative tools, and video in synchronous and asynchronous environments. Their use of technologies was influenced by several factors, including their reported prior experience with educational technology, their ease in using technology, and input from their colleagues and students. Additional perceived factors that played a role in facilitating CLT activities in the ERTE included the usefulness of technology, their effectiveness in using technology, and barriers such as the lack of access to stable internet and adequate bandwidth. In regards to how instructors learned to use technology for facilitating CLT activities, they credited the education and technology resources provided by their IEP and university. Implications for teaching with technology and instructor development in IEP programs in the United States are provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Online foreign language learning in Higher Education during the COVID-era: A survey of Greek students' perspectives

During the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, serious disruptions, including campus closures and a massive transfer to online 'emergency remote teaching' (ERT), have brought unparalleled repercussions to all tertiary academic fields, including foreign language (FL) teaching and learning. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted among Greek HE students. In total, 367 responses were collected from students who had attended university FL modules during the 2020 spring lockdown. Results revealed high attendance rates, which seem to relate to the novelty of the online learning experience and the participants' positive feelings towards transitioning to the online mode, while increased screen exposure and lack of interactive engagement appeared as the primary impediments. Issues of equity of access due to technological deficiencies were also raised. Ambivalent evaluations were recorded with regards to online FL learning courses, with students reporting the least progress in their speaking skills development. However, the teaching material used was overall positively evaluated, along with recorded gains in students' digital literacy. It is hoped that this study could shed light on the consequences of what has been the most challenging academic transition in recent decades and prepare for future contingency plans and emerging opportunities in FL teaching in HE.

Design-based research for virtual learning: A holistic perspective on the pedagogical and contextual factors of interactive mobile technology on English learners

The purpose of this design-based research study was to provide a holistic perspective on the pedagogical and contextual factors of interactive mobile technology on English learners and investigate the theoretical potential of audio-video software interventions for second language acquisition. Specifically, the study explored current virtual technologies for 2nd through 5th grade English learners designed to model face to-face EL instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing prolonged school closures. After evaluating three cycles of interventions founded on Stephen Krashen's and Lev Vygotsky's language learning theories and utilizing a teacher survey and researcher observations, the study identified an onslaught of key takeaways including the need for investment to establish necessary infrastructure, ed-tech policies and standards, and comprehensive pedagogical frameworks to effectively operationalize virtual learning curriculum and leverage best practices of interactive mobile technology. The study discusses the impact of the sudden shift to virtual contexts and provides suggestions for overcoming challenges in educational technology to move beyond surface levels of integration within the computer-assisted language learning contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Narrative inquiry for CALL teacher preparation programs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: language teachers' technological needs and suggestions

Drawing on qualitative research, this study explores the Iranian EFL teachers' technological needs and their suggestions for using computer-assisted language learning (CALL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed the narratives produced by 66 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers for their themes through deductive and inductive thematic analysis phases using MAXQDA. The findings indicate that CALL teacher preparation programs should prioritize technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK), then technological content knowledge (TCK), and finally technological knowledge (TK). Moreover, teachers stated that CALL teacher preparation programs should develop their knowledge concerning the intersections of TCK/TPK and TPK/TK. Furthermore, Iranian EFL teachers suggested that CALL can be used during the pandemic if cooperation among teachers, students, and parents will be made, technological-related infrastructures will be developed, and teacher preparation programs will develop EFL teachers' collaboration, digital literacy, teacher autonomy, and TPK with special attention to the educational needs made by the pandemic situation. The findings have implications for teacher educators, professional development course designers and providers, and decision-makers by highlighting promising directions to devote their precious time and resources. © 2022, The Author(s).

Examining a technology-focused language teacher community on Facebook during a crisis situation

Due to the chaos and confusion caused by the sudden transition from face-to-face teaching to online and remote teaching in early 2020, numerous language teachers had no choice but to rely on online communities on social networking sites. The current study therefore examined how some language teachers were utilising online communities on Facebook during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employing a mixed-methods approach, data were mainly collected through: (1) an eight-month observation of a technology-focused language teacher community on Facebook to identify different types of posts generated by its members before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 340);(2) a questionnaire to understand the community members' backgrounds and experiences of being in the community (n = 51);(3) semi-structured interviews with some of the questionnaire participants (n = 13);and (4) a post-interview questionnaire (n = 12) to get a better understanding of their responses. A content analysis of online posts and community members' responses suggest that language teacher communities on Facebook were supporting teachers during the stressful periods of the pandemic professionally and emotionally. The main findings are discussed in terms of the benefits and drawbacks of using online language teacher communities for professional purposes. The overall goal of the study is to offer much-needed answers on how pre-existing communities can be used to assist language teachers in times of a crisis.

Factors intensive English program instructors perceive as playing a role in facilitating communicative language teaching activities in the emergency remote teaching environment

While the use of educational technology in online instruction has increased in higher education, it is still limited in intensive, academic English programs. Precipitated by COVID-19, U.S. Intensive English Programs (IEPs) quickly transitioned from face-to-face (F2F) instruction to the emergency remote teaching environment (ERTE) when the public health crisis occurred. The purpose of this study was to identify how University and College Intensive English Program (UCIEP) instructors used technology, to explore their perceptions of factors that played a role in using technology, and to understand how they learned to use technology.Using purposeful sampling, 10 UCIEP instructors were interviewed using the general qualitative approach (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003) served as the theoretical framework for the study and guided the development of the interview protocol.The findings indicate the influence of the CLT approach on how the instructors used technology to facilitate activities. Instructors described how the facilitator role in CLT activities changed, and how they questioned translanguaging in the remote environment. During remote teaching instructors relied on Zoom features and used various technologies, collaborative tools, and video in synchronous and asynchronous environments. Their use of technologies was influenced by several factors, including their reported prior experience with educational technology, their ease in using technology, and input from their colleagues and students. Additional perceived factors that played a role in facilitating CLT activities in the ERTE included the usefulness of technology, their effectiveness in using technology, and barriers such as the lack of access to stable internet and adequate bandwidth. In regards to how instructors learned to use technology for facilitating CLT activities, they credited the education and technology resources provided by their IEP and university. Implications for teaching with technology and instructor development in IEP programs in the United States are provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Design-based research for virtual learning: A holistic perspective on the pedagogical and contextual factors of interactive mobile technology on English learners

The purpose of this design-based research study was to provide a holistic perspective on the pedagogical and contextual factors of interactive mobile technology on English learners and investigate the theoretical potential of audio-video software interventions for second language acquisition. Specifically, the study explored current virtual technologies for 2nd through 5th grade English learners designed to model face to-face EL instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing prolonged school closures. After evaluating three cycles of interventions founded on Stephen Krashen's and Lev Vygotsky's language learning theories and utilizing a teacher survey and researcher observations, the study identified an onslaught of key takeaways including the need for investment to establish necessary infrastructure, ed-tech policies and standards, and comprehensive pedagogical frameworks to effectively operationalize virtual learning curriculum and leverage best practices of interactive mobile technology. The study discusses the impact of the sudden shift to virtual contexts and provides suggestions for overcoming challenges in educational technology to move beyond surface levels of integration within the computer-assisted language learning contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

A Critical Analysis of Computer Assisted Language Learning (Call) in Particular Relation to the Learning of Speaking Skills of a Foreign Language

Learning a new language is always an asset. There are various ways in which people can learn a language. During covid 19 when the world was shut down, there was a surge in language learning through technology and applications. Now in the current era, the use of technology is unavoidable in one's life. With the existence of so many language learning apps, it has become challenging to choose the correct one according to one's needs. This study tries to critically evaluate the use of CALL applications in teaching and learning a foreign language's speaking skills. Out of the four skills of language learning, speaking skills are the most different. As we know, speaking is a primary skill and is colloquial in nature, i.e less formal and less structured. To learn to speak a foreign language needs a natural touch of the language. So, the question is the use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) will take you away from the setting of speaking skills or towards it. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Hommage à Mario Tomé, pionnier dans l'usage scientifique des outils numériques pour l'enseignement du français à l'université

Integrating Telecollaborative Networks into University Foreign Language Education (INTENT) https://uni-collaboration.eu/ et Evaluating and Upscaling Telecollaborative Teacher Education (EVALUATE) http:// www.evaluateproject.eu/. Francais langue étrangere et Internet est un projet de recherche sur les applications pédagogiques des nouvelles technologies de l'information et de la communication (NTIC) dans le domaine du français langue étrangere (FLE). D'Apollinaire a Zola, d'Anouilh a Troyat, enseignants et apprenants peuvent encore facilement accéder, pour chaque auteur (plus d'une centaine sont répertoriés) a une liste de liens et références aboutissant a des documents authentiques issus notamment de l'INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel), des livres audios en acces libre, etc. Du bon ou mauvais usage des nouvelles technologies dans l'enseignement du français et l'édition scientifique La premiere partie de ce quinzieme numéro recueille quatre recherches dans lesquelles les technologies numériques jouent un rôle central, sachant bien évidemment que tout repose sur l'art et la maniere de les utiliser pour répondre a des besoins et atteindre des objectifs au service de l'enseignement-apprentissage du français dans notre cas.

Exploring Autonomous Language Learning Behaviors through Video Sharing and Online Discussions in Higher Education1

This study explores the way in which video sharing and online discussions foster learning autonomy in English language classes at a public university during the lockdown established by the Colombian government because of the coronavirus pandemic. This study was conducted with 127 engineering and administration undergraduates from a public university in the department of Boyaca. It was a qualitative case study that aimed to identify the extent to which video sharing and online discussions increase learner's autonomous behaviors in English language learning. The instruments for data collection were student journals and artifacts such as video recordings and online discussions, interviews, and questionnaires. An open coding analysis was performed, and the results revealed that the degrees of autonomous behaviors could be gradually fostered by the implementation of video sharing. The results also indicated that students are receptive to online writing discussions, and showed how motivation plays a vital role in learning English and the achievement of the learning goals set by the students themselves.

Professionalization in second language teacher education

This dissertation explores the professionalization of students enrolled in second language teacher education (SLTE) and their perceptions of the characteristics and obligations of a professional second language teacher (SLT). The sociocognitive approach forms the theoretical foundation, which sees humans as life-long learners and teachers, who adapt by progressively aligning with others and their ecosocial environment. Professionalization is seen as the socialization process of progressive alignment that involves the development of skills, knowledge, identities, norms, and values within a professional community of practice. An SLTE course was observed in an etic ethnographic tradition, all course materials were collected, and semi-structured interviews that focused on SLT professionalism were conducted with 13 participants. Data were analyzed using the lenses of language socialization and membership categorization analysis (MCA) to make visible target phenomena related to professionalization. Language socialization revealed instances of professionalization that took place during the SLTE course or that resulted from processes during the semi-structured interviews, which were illuminated by positive or negative affiliation. MCA revealed participant perceptions about the obligations and characteristics of a professional SLT, from which six themes emerged, which include interacting with students, methods and materials, teacher attributes, student attributes, and the concepts of schools and schooling, which broadly represent the synchronic and diachronic sociocultural contexts for SLTE respectively. The use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) received further attention. 100% of participants expressed some willingness to use these tools, but 23% had an initial reactionary response that rejected CALL in favor of more traditional methods. Additionally, 54% of responses included unsolicited mentions of the Covid-19 pandemic in a misinterpretation of CALL. Interventions for those with a misinterpretation are suggested to orient CALL appropriately in the context of the pandemic and for 21st century language learning and teaching. Course materials were quantitatively analyzed using semantic similarity indices in an exploratory process with negligible results. Possible modifications are discussed that might result in a useful proxy statistic for professionalization. Further implications are discussed in relation to SLTE curriculum and professionalization along with perspectives about building rapport when using semi-structured interviews as a research method. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)