Category: Literature review

Conversational agents in language learning

Xiao, F.,, Zhao, P., Sha, H., Yang, D. and Warschauer, M. (2023) Conversational agents in language learning Journal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning, 2023. 1-26.

This article provides a description and the findings of a scoping review of the use of conversational agents. The review includes some familiar commercial ones such as  Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant and others which are programmable such as Google’s Dialogflow and Amazon Lex. The authors define a scoping review as “a method of systematically identifying, mapping and summarising the available literature on a specific research topic” (p.3 ). It focuses on their use and potential use in language teaching and  learning, along with suggestions for future research to examine their potential to support language teaching and learning.

The scoping review indicated that such conversational agents are currently being used in language learning in three broad areas. The first is for general communication practice in which language learners interact directly with the conversational agent. The second is task-based language learning in which learners are required to interact with the conversational agent in the context of specific tasks. The third is structured pre-programmed dialogue whereby  conversational agents are designed and programmed by researchers and instructors to conduct dialogues with learners on specific topics.

Findings  from the literature identified in the scoping review show that conversational agents provide opportunities for learners to engage in conversation in the target language, thus providing useful learning opportunities both in and outside the traditional language learning classroom . The literature also indicates that generally language learners find this engagement useful in supporting and improving their language learning.  Some of the studies reviewed suggest that conversational agents can be useful as  diagnostic tools.  The review identified a significant gap in the research literature in relation to the educator perspective on the use of conversational agents and the authors suggest that  a focus on the educator perspective will be crucial in ongoing development and implementation of such agents.

Retrievable from: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jccall-2022-0032/html

Newcomers and the Digital Divide

Lukawiecki, J., Khan, A., & Bedi, G. (2022). Newcomer families in Canada and the digital divide. Guelph, ON: Community Engaged Scholarship Institute.

This study, in partnership with the Local Immigration Partnership in the Guelph-Wellington area in Southwestern Ontario looks at a number of newcomer services impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on ESL and digital literacy training. The report includes a brief review of academic literature looking at newcomers’ use of technology. It then describes services available throughout the region and describes the challenges as agencies adapted to providing them online.

One of the major conclusions from the report is that there are significant differences in in newcomers’ experience of the digital divide depending on language levels, gender, education, previous employment and/or professional status. It also notes areas where online services eliminated some barriers for newcomers.

The report makes recommendations about how to meet newcomers’ digital needs better through activities like providing them with devices and Wifi connections when needed, improved staff training, enlisting newcomers with language and digital literacy proficiency as “navigators” for others, mobile home services to ready clients for work interviews and frequent communication with clients using a variety of methods.

Retrievable from:

https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/handle/10214/26971

Google Translate as a Tool for Self-Directed Language Learning

van Lieshout, C., & Cardoso, W. (2022). Google Translate as a tool for self-directed language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 26(1), 1–19.

Many language learners have to overcome obstacles when they want to learn a new language. This may result in them making attempts to learn the language on their own. This study looks at three features that define successful self-directed learners: self-motivation, use of independent learning strategies and an ability to self-assess whether those strategies are effective. The authors look to affordances of Google Translate that can help to enable self-directed learning.

The study provides background on both self-directed learning and self-directed language learning and examines the impact of Google Translate on the latter in the areas of vocabulary and pronunciation.

The study explored these two questions:

To what extent can learners acquire phrases and their pronunciations after using Google Translate in a self-directed language learning environment?

How do learners interact with Google Translate to learn an L2?

Although the study looked at learners of Dutch as a foreign language, because Google Translate is widely available, the findings will be of interest for many learners who want to learn and continue to learn on their own and to teachers who would like to include some of these self-directed tools for use beyond the classroom.

Retrievable from:

https://www.lltjournal.org/item/10125-73460/

Here are two quite different studies of Google Translate in second language learning:

A “Hands-On” Approach to Raise Awareness of Technologies: A Pilot Class and its Lessons

Retrievable from:

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3ds2d55b

Using an ADAPT Approach to Integrate Google Translate into the Second Language Classroom

Retrievable from:

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dm2p4bb

Current and Future Directions in TELL

Chun, D.M. (2019). Current and Future Directions in TELL. Educational Technology & Society,  Vol.22(2), pp.14-25.

This  article provides a brief overview of the history, and an in-depth review of likely future trends in technology-enhanced language  learning (TELL).

The author, an experienced teacher and researcher and the Editor in Chief of the journal Language Learning and Technology, suggests that TELL should be understood as Technology Enhanced Languaculture Learning because of a growing emphasis on the link between language and culture.

The article offers an overview of the history of technology-enhanced language learning in four overlapping periods: 1970s-1980s, Structural CALL; 1980s-1990s, Communicative CALL; 2000s, Integrative CALL; 2010s Ecological CALL.

The wide-ranging review of likely future trends in the area of technology-enhanced language learning is based on topics and themes that have appeared in Language Learning and Technology Journal and at TELL conferences throughout the decade of the 2010’s.

The article offers a timely perspective of developments in the use of digital technologies in language learning and a compelling discussion of potential future directions. Upcoming special issues of the journal will focus on pragmatics, big data in language education and research and emerging technologies.

Retrievable from:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N1wWPNx8g0CAHki8s01iGNsgGqZttRyg/view

 

Technology-mediated workplace language training: Developing and assessing a module for a blended curriculum for newcomers

McLellan, G. Technology-mediated workplace language training: Developing and assessing a module for a blended curriculum for newcomers. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and postdoctoral Affairs: Carleton University, Ottawa. (2019).

This report on a small-scale Canadian study of a module developed for a blended occupation-specific language class looks at providing online components of language support to language learners who are already in the workplace. The author includes a literature review and highlights the essential nature of needs analysis to determine both language needs and technology needs in the workplace.  The developers used a Task-based language teaching approach in the module design. The learners who took part in the study had been assessed between Canadian Language Benchmarks 3 and 5 and were all working in the customer service sector. They all had mobile phones and were comfortable using them. The activities were developed in Moodle and were meant to be used on their phones. One of the potential advantages described was the ability to work on the activities in “dead time”, while commuting, waiting for an appointment, etc. The first module addressed the need for them to be able to greet customers and make requests. The module used video to illustrate greetings and requests in customer service settings. Many of the topics covered elsewhere in the bibliography, e.g., learner autonomy, attitudes towards learning with technology, mobile learning and the importance of teacher training are illustrated in the study.

Retrievable from:

https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/etd/e1b4d39f-7c9b-4d4d-b451-687c439ec7e9/etd_pdf/fc0772b01f059336608c63be7d152fbd/mclellan-technologymediatedworkplacelanguagetraining.pdf

 

 

Research on Mobile Learning in the English Classroom: Pedagogies, Computer developments and Teachers’ Reactions

Barrientos, M. (2019). Research on Mobile Learning in the English Classroom. Revista de Lenguas Modernas, (30) 2019, pp 251-266.

The author provides a literature review focused on the following four areas of mobile learning in English language classrooms to explore not only the feasibility and implications of integrating mobile learning in secondary EFL classrooms in Costa Rica, but advantages and disadvantages in these areas:

  1. The development of pedagogical models for mobile learning in the English language class
  2. Defining the platforms and infrastructure solutions for appropriate integration of mobile learning
  3. A description of the mobile devices apps and links
  4. Training and reactions of English teachers

The report concludes with a number of research questions for further exploration. Although this review looks at the questions for high school EFL language planning in Costa Rica, the same questions could be asked about planning for adult settlement language classes in Canada.

https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rlm/article/view/38986

Professional development in CALL: a selection of papers

Goria, C., Konstantinidis, A., Kilvinski, B., & Dogan. B. E. (2019). Personal learning environments and personal learning networks for language teachers’ professional development. In C. N. Giannikas, E. Kakoulli Constantinou & S. Papadima-Sophocleous (Eds), Professional development in CALL: a selection of papers(pp. 87-99). Research-publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2019.28.872

This collection of papers looks at the rise in encouragement to use technology tools in language teaching despite a lack of teacher training and support to integrate these tools in this language classroom. This annotation focuses on Chapter 6, Personal learning environments and personal learning networks for language teachers’ professional development. The specific context for the collection is foreign-language training, but is nonetheless relevant to the settlement language context.

The chapter presents background for, and two case studies that illustrate, the Personal Learning Environment (PLE) and Personal Learning Network (PLN). The chapter describes describes the impact  of the PLE and PLN on the work of participating teachers, their practice and their students’ learning and autonomy. In the first case study, the teacher seamlessly integrates good language teaching practice with mobile phones and instant messaging in the early stages of the learners’ PLEs. This case study also describes other changes that occurred during the evolution of these activities. Both case studies demonstrate how teachers continued to expand and enhance their learning beyond the teacher training program that introduced the PLE and PLN to them.

 

Retrievable from:

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED593926.pdf

 

Blended Learning in English Teaching and Learning: A Review of the Current Literature

Albiladi, W., & Alshareef, K. (2019). Blended learning in English Teaching and Learning: A Review of the Current Literature. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 10 (2), 232-238.

This paper provides a review of research related to the use of blended learning in English as a second/foreign language context. As part of the review, the authors cite two studies that identify sets of challenges to using a blended learning approach. The studies will be of interest to language professionals despite not being language-related. In Bonk and Graham’s Handbook of Blended Learning, they include cultural adaptation as an issue. They relate this to the materials that are used in the mode of delivery and also their relation to the students’ culture.

Riel, J., Lawless, K. A., & Brown, S. W. (2016)’s Listening to the teachers: Using weekly online teacher logs for ROPD to identify teachers’ persistent challenges when implementing a blended learning curriculum reports on Responsive online professional development for well-supported middle school teachers implementing a social studies curriculum. The issues identified in the teachers’ learning logs are also relevant to instructors working in settlement language programs as is the notion of providing responsive professional development. This report provides insight into the importance of teachers’ understanding of the pedagogy embedded in learning tools and the knowledge and confidence to implement and use them in their classrooms.

 

 

 

http://academypublication.com/ojs/index.php/jltr/article/viewFile/jltr1002232238/1831

Blended Learning Adoption in an ESL Context: Obstacles and Guidelines

Shebansky, W. (2018). Blended Learning Adoption in an ESL Context: Obstacles and Guidelines. TESL Canada Journal, 35(1), 52 – 77.

This report looks at the factors that influence adult ESL instructor opinions about implementation and use of blended learning in a federally-funded Canadian LINC program(Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) (24 instructors), in an ESL program in a mid-sized Canadian community college (5 instructors) and in an EFL program in a large Korean university (19 instructors).

The author acknowledges that digital tools are available and accessible, but are not being widely used to implement Blended Learning.

He references several conceptual frameworks and extends two that are used in higher education to a part-time LINC context to inform and guide his investigation into the low rate of technology adoption at his LINC program.

The research study asks these questions:

  1. Do participants in the study use BL? How is use different across different ESL settings?
  2. What institutional strategy (design-related issues), structure (issues related to facilitation of the BL environment) and support (faculty implementation and maintenance of its BL design) factors most influence whether instructors will adopt BL? Is this different across ESL settings?
  3. Why do those factors affect adoption of BL in a LINC context?

He reports on these factors that influence instructors’ decision whether to adopt blended learning:

  • Ability to quickly upload and download materials
  • Availability of professional development in a face-to-face group or one-on-one
  • Availability of technical support
  • Availability of pedagogical support

He then reports on these findings to explain why this list of factors influenced instructors’ decisions.

Retrievable from

https://teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl/article/view/1295

Significant Predictors for Effectiveness of Blended Learning In a Language Course

Wichadee, S. (2018) Significant predictors for effectiveness of blended learning in a language course. JALT Call Journal, Vol. 14, (1) 24-42.

Although this research study of 149 (90 female, 59 male) participants took place in an undergraduate university language course, the results are meaningful for adult learners who are in settlement language programs and for those who design blended programs for them as well. After highlighting the characteristics, rationale for and benefits of blended learning, the author goes on to explore satisfaction with the course being studied and participants’ learning performance.

The author identifies digital literacy, workload management, attitudes toward blended learning, online tool quality and face-to-face support to be among the factors identified in literature reviews as those that will have an impact on the effectiveness of blended learning.

The design of the course studied included a face-to-face orientation followed by alternating weeks of face-to-face classroom work and online self-study using online learning platforms. The knowledge gained in online weeks was checked in the face-to-face weeks.

One of the results of the study was that the more these students had positive attitudes towards blended learning, had digital literacy skills and received face-to-face support, the better their learning performance. In this study, workload management and quality of online tools did not affect learning scores. As far as satisfaction with the course, there were two factors that predicted satisfaction: face-to-face support and attitudes towards blended learning.

In the discussion at the end of the report the author provides additional background on how the course was modified for this study and details on students’ attitudes as he reviews how and why face-to-face support and attitudes toward blended learning were predictors of student satisfaction.

 

Retrievable from
https://jcj.jaltcall.org/index.php?journal=JALTCALL&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=127

Twitter: A Professional Development and Community of Practice Tool for Teachers

Rosell-Aguilar, F., (2018). Twitter: A Professional Development and Community of Practice Tool for Teachers. Journal of Interactive Media in Education. 2018(1), p.6.

This research report begins with a literature review of Twitter for Education, Twitter as a learning environment for teachers and teacher use of hashtags for professional and community development.

The research questions explore who uses a specific hashtag (#MFLtwitterati), whether there is evidence that using Twitter can contribute to Continuous Professional Development and whether the hashtag can be described as a community of practice. The author looked at this specific hashtag, but also mentions  language learning hashtags which may be of more interest to instructors in settlement language learning programs. Language learners use Twitter because they encounter authentic language in tweets, can practise language skills and access resources such as text, audio and video in the target language.

The author concludes with a discussion of the results and notes that the study brought the under-researched issue of mobile learning among teachers to the forefront and demonstrates how teachers are using up to the minute tools like Twitter to take charge of their professional development in the absence of funding for PD in their institutions.

Retrievable from

https://jime.open.ac.uk/article/10.5334/jime.452/

When at Crossroads of L2 Tasks and Technology: A Critical Review of Implementing Technology-mediated Task-Based Language Teaching

Jaramillo Cherrez, N. (2018). When at Crossroads of L2 Tasks and Technology: A Critical Review of Implementing Technology-mediated Task-Based Language Teaching. In E. Langran & J. Borup (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 876-882). Washington, D.C., United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

This article focuses on the interconnections between Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) through a critical review of the relevant literature. The review examines how second language instructors currently use technology in the TBLT environment.  While the literature indicates that there are clear benefits for language learners in implementing technology mediated task-based language teaching there are potential implications and  challenges that need to be addressed in relation to access to technology, professional development, and identifying learner needs and capacity in relation to the use of technology. The article offers a useful starting point for instructors and program designers in the second-language sector as they consider, plan and work to maximize the potential of impact of  technology mediated TBLT in their programming and teaching.

 

Available for purchase ($9.95) USD at: https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/182623/

 

Pre-Service and In-Service English as a Second Language Teachers’ Beliefs about the Use of Digital Technology in the Classroom

 

Kartchava, E. Chung, S. Studies in English Language Teaching. Vol 3, No 4, 2015.

This Canadian study includes a literature review of research on beliefs regarding technology and learning using three interrelated influences of previous learning experiences, professional development and teaching context. The study identifies age as an additional influence. It then describes a study in Ontario of pre-service and in-service ESL teachers. The study gathered participants’ background information, used open-ended prompts at the beginning of the study to discern their actual use of digital technology and their views on ideal ways to use it in the classroom and followed these with closed questions. These are included in the report, categorized by Experience/Importance, Expertise and Context. Researchers collected additional information through follow up interviews.  There is a discussion of the benefits, limitations, concerns and possibilities that were identified for teacher educators, administrators and teachers themselves at the end of the report.

Retrievable from: http://www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/selt/article/view/405/389