Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics - Online First

In this study a Physics Research Articles Word List (PRAWL) is built, which includes the most extensively used English vocabulary in the genre of physics research articles outside the most frequent general-purpose vocabulary. PRAWL can be of great use in English for Physics teaching and learning. This discipline-specific academic word list was produced from a corpus of 1.25 million running words, consisting of 200 physics research articles. PRAWL contains 929 words and has a 17.48% coverage in the corpus it was derived from. Together with 2,000 high-frequency general-purpose words, as well as words bearing no or minimal learning load, PRAWL reaches a coverage close to 95% in this corpus. We validate PRAWL in three independent corpora and also discuss the pedagogical implications and recommendations regarding its use. The list is intended for students of physics who do not have a command of English which is sufficiently adequate for reading research articles in it without outside support.

The present study aims to compare abstracts written by graduate students and internationally-published authors using Biber’s (1988) Multi-Dimensional (MD) model. To this end, two corpora of abstracts (1800 texts each) from research articles (RA) published in top international Applied Linguistics journals, and theses completed in the same field were compiled. We compared the two corpora with regard to three of Biber’s (1988) dimensions: involved versus informational production; elaborated vs. situation-dependent reference; and abstract vs. non-abstract style. Our results revealed that RA abstracts and thesis abstracts are similar when compared to non-academic registers of English, but different when compared to each other. Relative to thesis abstracts, RA abstracts are more informational but less elaborated and less impersonal. Interestingly, we found that RA/thesis abstracts differ from Biber’s (1988) academic prose register along the three dimensions. Our findings can further our understanding of the differences between RA and thesis abstracts, thus contributing to the instruction of academic writing at the graduate level.

This article presents the Spanish version of the Computer-Assisted Listening and Speaking Tutor (CALST), an online platform that can be used to complement pronunciation training in the classroom. The Spanish CALST offers listening, speaking, and spelling exercises for Northern-Central Peninsular Spanish as an L2. Exercises are tailored by an automatic comparison with the learner’s native language based on a database of phonetically specified phoneme inventories for over 500 languages, with the result that learners with different L1s are exposed to different exercises adapted to their specific needs. In this article, we present a description of the exercises as well as the criteria used to develop Spanish content for CALST. We discuss the limitations of the platform, the logging of user results as a partial solution to these limitations, and the possible future use of the logged data to increase our understanding of L2 acquisition.

Using a mixed-methods design, the study aimed to distinguish voice features from the criteria considered in most L2 writing rating scales (e. g., topic development, organization, and quality of language use). Accordingly, a sample of 200 argumentative essays written in English was scored for voice, writing quality, and the critical features of academic writing such as text length, lexical sophistication, and grammatical complexity (see Cumming et al., 2005). Multiple regression and structural equation modeling (SEM) were conducted to verify which of and how the critical elements of academic writing interacted to determine the scores for voice and writing quality. Think-aloud protocols (TAPs) of raters scoring voice and writing quality were also compared. Voice was found an indication of genre competence, rated independently of language use and mostly based on the structure of arguments and the quality with which writers employed certain textual voice elements. In assessing writing quality, however, textual voice elements were dismissed, and the writing quality scores mainly reflected the quality of language use rather than the argument structure. The study provides implications for second language writing assessment and instruction, as well as for future research to be conducted.

Fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness are considered important parameters of interpreting quality but have rarely been studied systematically in training programs of interpreting. Therefore, the present study was set up to investigate the effect of fluency training on speech fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness of interpreter trainees. Two groups of interpreter trainees at a university in Iran took part in the study, receiving the same amount of instruction and practice (12 hours over 4 weeks). The experimental group (N = 30) spent 33% of the time (i.e., 4 of the 12 hours in the training program) on dedicated fluency strategy training, encouraging the memorization, repetition, and retelling of audio and video materials. The remaining 67% was spent on training general speaking skills. The control group (N = 30) were only taught general speaking skills in the training program but received no dedicated fluency training. Systematic interviews were run to assess the interpreter trainees’ speech fluency, comprehensibility and accentedness, which were judged independently by three expert raters at three moments of testing, i.e., pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest (one month later). The findings revealed that the fluency training significantly enhanced the interpreter trainees’ fluency, and to a lesser extent the students’ comprehensibility but had only a marginal effect on accentedness. The pedagogical implication would be that awareness training on speech fluency in EFL settings be included in interpreting training programs.

El estudio analiza la importancia de la memorización de vocabulario para el desarrollo lingüístico general. Para ello se compara el impacto de dos diseños didácticos diferentes en la enseñanza universitaria del alemán como lengua extranjera. Mientras el grupo experimental memoriza el vocabulario utilizando una aplicación, el grupo control trabaja el vocabulario mediante tareas de lectura. Al final de la intervención se mide el rendimiento en términos de una competencia lingüística general aplicando un C-Test y se investiga la percepción del estudiantado sobre diversos aspectos de la enseñanza-aprendizaje de vocabulario mediante una encuesta. Igualmente, para el grupo experimental, se analizan las preferencias de actividades de aprendizaje de vocabulario por parte del estudiantado con la aplicación para relacionarlos con su rendimiento. Los resultados del C-Test muestran que el grupo experimental obtiene una mayor puntuación. Analizando las preferencias de actividades de aprendizaje con la aplicación, se deduce que el estudiantado prefiere usar los ejercicios que implican un aprendizaje receptivo. Sin embargo, obtienen mejores resultados en el C-Test los estudiantes que usan con más frecuencia los ejercicios que implican un aprendizaje activo. Por lo general, el estudiantado considera que el aprendizaje del vocabulario es difícil, mientras el uso de la aplicación se evalúa positivamente.