ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics - Volume 167, Issue 2, 2016

This article assesses the current status of written CF research. It focuses specifically on the potential of written CF to facilitate L2 development, seeking answers to five of the most frequently asked umbrella questions: (1) Can written CF facilitate L2 development? (2) Are some types of written CF more effective than other types for L2 development? (3) Is written CF more effective for the development of certain linguistic forms and structures than for others? (4) Is focused or unfocused written CF more effective for L2 development? (5) Can individual and contextual factors moderate the effectiveness of written CF for L2 development? The article assesses the extent to which the reported findings reported in this body of research provide valid and consistent answers to these questions and suggests where future written CF research would do well to focus its attention. From the limitations and shortcomings of the available research, new approaches to answering some of the umbrella questions are suggested and recommendations for research that seeks answers to why written CF may or may not be effective for some learners are presented. Finally and most importantly, emphasis is given to the need to recognise the interactional effect of a wide range of individual and contextual factors (especially those that characterize the whole learner and his/her learning environment) on learner response to and use of written CF.

This study compared the lexical coverage provided by four wordlists [West’s (1953) General Service List (GSL), Nation’s (2006) most frequent 2,000 British National Corpus word families (BNC2000), Nation’s (2012) most frequent 2,000 British National Corpus and Corpus of Contemporary American-English word families (BNC/COCA2000), and Brezina and Gablasova’s (2015) New-GSL list] in 18 corpora. The comparison revealed that the headwords in the BNC/COCA2000 tended to provide the greatest average coverage. However, when the coverage of the most frequent 1,000, 1,500, and 1,996 headwords in the lists was compared, the New-GSL provided the highest coverage. The GSL had the worst performance using both criteria. Pedagogical and methodological implications related to second language (L2) vocabulary learning and teaching are discussed in detail.

Prompted by the increased visibility of inclusive pedagogies, the present article discusses the concept of “inclusion” in relation to foreign language teaching from a linguistic perspective. The foreign language classroom constitutes a special environment that poses specific language-related challenges to inclusive education. In an effort to face these challenges, the present article elaborates how linguistic research and insights can contribute to an implementation of inclusive foreign language education. In terms of theorisation, the narrower and broader senses of educational inclusion are outlined, the notion of “linguistic barrier” is introduced, and various ways in which linguistic exclusion may manifest itself are identified. It is argued that purely cognitivist approaches to second language acquisition are insufficient for achieving higher levels of inclusivity, as they do not cater for the social and contextual aspects that shape practices of exclusion and inclusion. Alternative approaches such as sociocultural theory are shown to be better equipped for this purpose. Various prominent exclusion-related dimensions are discussed with respect to their repercussions in language and linguistic practices, among them exclusion related to learners with special needs, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and non-native language users. Suggestions are made of how to proceed methodologically in linguistic investigations of exclusionary practices, with the aim of creating effective, linguistically based inclusion strategies. It is suggested that typological, discourse analytic and ethnographic linguistic approaches are most promising in this respect. The concluding section recapitulates central aspects that have surfaced in the theoretical and methodological discussion, calls for inclusion-oriented changes in foreign language teaching and highlights conspicuous parallels between the inclusive EFL classroom and English as a lingua franca communication.

This paper investigates the efficacy of articulatory training and acoustic feedback on Persian L2 learners’ production of English segmental (/ɒ/). A sample of 30 Persian ESL learners was recruited- 10 learners were randomly assigned to the experimental group 1, 10 to the experimental group 2, and 10 to the control group. Over a five-week period, the experimental group 1 received training on the manner of articulation of the segment, the experimental group 2 received acoustic-articulatory training and was exposed to CALL software for receiving feedback, and the control group was only exposed to auditory input. The groups were given a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a generalization test. The results of the study showed a significant improvement in the performance of the participants in both the posttest and the generalization test in the experimental group 2. These findings suggest the inefficiency of the mere knowledge of the manner of articulation of the segment and lend support to the feasibility of using acoustic features of sounds and computer-based, learner-centred programs for second language segmental acquisition.