Australian Review of Applied Linguistics - Volume 46, Issue 1, 2023

Abstract

Studies on feedback given to second language (L2) learners have focused primarily on learners’ response to feedback on language. This study explores how L2 learners in one university EAP class respond to teacher written feedback on all aspects of writing and the factors that may affect their response. Using data from student initial and revised texts, the study first looks at nine learners’ uptake of feedback. Then, adopting a case study approach and using data from retrospective interviews, the study examines how three learners engage with feedback on different dimensions of their writing. Findings show that learners took up almost all feedback suggestions regardless of form or focus. Yet, learners’ engagement with the feedback differed. Using activity theory (AT), we explain the learners’ engagement with the feedback received by reference to the interaction of context and individual-related factors. Our findings highlight the complexity of learner behavior in response to feedback.

Abstract

The present study examines the ways Chinese high school EFL learners organize information in their writing. A class of 50 students at grade 9 from a local high school in Guangzhou, China, were recruited as participants. The students’ writing at grade 9 was collected as a corpus, comprising ten writing tasks from different text types. In order to gain a holistic understanding of the organization of information in student writing, the analytical framework of Theme at three levels – that is, clause, paragraph, and text – from Derewianka and Jones (2010) was adopted. Findings show that the students have varying degrees of control over information organization at different levels. In particular, the students are not proficient in organizing information at the paragraph level. Findings also show that registerial differences affect the organization of information. The study provides relevant pedagogical implications and recommendations for this group of learners.

Abstract

The impact of global mobility and technology innovations on urban linguistic diversity poses a key challenge to understand how and to what extent international students are immersed in the target language. Such diversity of languages and modes of communication has pointed to a fundamental transformation in the way that international students interact with both online and offline resources. The translingual practices of Chinese international students presented in this study suggest that, instead of being a language learner in an English-dominant country, these students make use of but go beyond their full repertoires to conduct various online and offline activities when living in a translanguaging space. An evaluation of both online and offline practices demonstrates how their online translingual practices were merged into offline contexts, to create opportunities for learning and social engagement. Understanding international students’ experience with both online and offline resources provides useful insights into the translingual practices and processes adopted by them when living and studying in a multilingual city.

Abstract

Kriol, an English-lexifier contact language, has approximately 20,000 speakers across northern Australia. It is the primary language of the remote Aboriginal community of Ngukurr. Kriol is a contact language, incorporating features of English and traditional Indigenous languages. The language has been perceived both positively and negatively, although recent literature suggests a shift towards more favorable views. This paper investigates how community members in Ngukurr responded to the question of non-Indigenous residents (known locally as Munanga) learning Kriol. Interviews with local Indigenous residents showed positive attitudes to Kriol, with respondents providing a number of perceived benefits for outsiders learning the language. Our interviews provide empirical evidence for pride in the language, affirming a shift to more positive attitudes.

Abstract

This paper reports on a professional learning (PL) project conducted over one year at a senior secondary school in New Zealand. Subject teachers volunteered to work with one another and a facilitator to identify the linguistic demands of their subjects, adapt teaching materials, and try out teaching approaches congruent with research evidence about teaching emergent bilingual (EB) learners. This paper explores cases of subject-specific partnerships and how participants’ responses to the PL appeared to impact their existing pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The PL sessions were facilitated through audio-recorded Zoom meetings. A thematic analysis was conducted, and the findings were analysed using an adaptation of Davison’s (2006) framework to map how participants engaged with the PL and collaborated with one another on new pedagogies. The study suggests that these teachers accommodated linguistic teaching approaches, but their adaptation to language PCK may have remained at a compliant level.

This article reviews Language as symbolic power978-1-108-83586-2