Volume 29 Number 1, 2025

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https://hdl.handle.net/10125/110067

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 21

Leveraging COCA for teaching collocations with high mutual information scores: A practical approach
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-06-30) Pham, Quy Huynh Phu; Matt Kessler
Over the past decade, extensive research has explored collocations with high mutual information (MI) scores. However, second-language learners often struggle to incorporate these collocations into their writing due to a lack of awareness and limited practice opportunities. To address this challenge, the present article presents a 10-week writing course that integrates various activities using COCA, an online corpus tool, to enhance students’ awareness and use of collocations with high MI scores. By analyzing student essays and their reflections on class activities, the article examines the benefits and challenges of using COCA for the instruction of collocations with high MI scores in the English language classroom. Pedagogical recommendations are provided to refine instructional practices.
AI-assisted English learning: A tool for all or only a select few?
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-06-30) Kim, EunJung
This study investigated English learner profiles and challenges among 884 Korean 5th-grade students, with a focus on the role of AI-assisted language learning in shaping proficiency outcomes. While AI-based interventions have gained popularity, their effectiveness across diverse learner populations remains insufficiently explored. The study aimed to (a) empirically identify distinct learner profiles based on motivational, contextual, and socio-affective characteristics through latent class analysis (LCA), and (b) examine the predictive effects of AI participation and learner-specific factors on English proficiency levels using multinomial logistic regression. Results indicated that AI-assisted learning positively influenced class membership among students with strong affective traits, such as high motivation and confidence, but demonstrated limited effectiveness for learners facing multiple vulnerabilities. Although AI-supported instruction contributed to proficiency growth for certain groups, its independent predictive power was modest overall. These findings suggest that AI-based tools should be integrated thoughtfully within broader educational frameworks that include teacher mediation, structured curricula, and targeted support for underperforming learners. Future research should examine the long-term impacts of AI learning on diverse learner populations.
Corpus literacy development: Three teachers' stories
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-06-16) Bennett, Cathryn; Mimi Li
Corpus and applied linguists have reported on the benefits that teachers gain from teaching with language corpora as early as the 1990s; however, recent studies confirm that few teachers use corpora in their classrooms. In attempts to change this reality, some researchers have called for corpus literacy training programmes to guide teachers in using corpora/corpus tools to design their typical classroom tasks. A training programme was built around this idea. This paper outlines three teachers’ corpus literacy development during the training programme: a teacher with previous experience teaching with corpora, a teacher with knowledge of but no experience teaching with corpora, and a teacher who reported no knowledge or prior experience teaching with corpora. To provide an in-depth perspective, a qualitative thematic analysis was completed with themes emerging from the dataset. Findings show that teachers viewed the training positively, that they incorporated corpus-based materials in their classes, and that they were using corpora in their teaching three months following the programme. Further research is called for which highlights teachers’ voices in their corpus literacy development.
Spatial repertoires in mixed-reality-based simulations for L2 teacher telecollaboration
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-06-16) Wu, Sumei; Liaw, Meei-Ling
In telecollaboration research, scholars have broadened their focus from the purely linguistic details of online intercultural encounters to include its multimodal dimensions. Yet, no study to date has explored spatial repertoires, namely the totality of semiotic resources (e.g., speech, image, objects) embedded in a particular environment and used during teaching and teacher telecollaboration. To add to the literature on this topic, this telecollaborative project invited language teachers in Taiwan and the U.S. to first use a mixed-reality (MR) simulation technology for enacting lessons with avatar students, in order to examine the spatial repertoires that unfolded during instruction, and then to reflect on their own as well as each others' teaching. Drawing on video recordings of teacher instruction, as well as lesson plans, written reflections, and post-lesson telecollaborative interactions with each other, we identified rich spatial repertoires emerging from deeply intertwined individual repertoires, from diverse semiotic resources afforded in the MR-based simulation space, and from the sequential telecollaborative tasks. The findings highlight the agentive and performative role of semiotic resources in this virtual space (especially the avatar teaching videos) in deepening L2 teachers’ intercultural understanding, which indicates the potential contributions of integrating MR simulations into telecollaboration for teacher intercultural learning.
Educational escape rooms for French grammar: A technology-in-practice approach
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-06-02) Hu, Hengzhi; Du, Kehan; Hashim, Haida Umiera; Hashim, Harwati; Matt Kessler
Teaching grammar in foreign language education has long posed challenges. While technology-assisted learning tools, such as educational escape rooms (EERs), have been widely adopted—especially in English language education—their implementation in Languages Other Than English remains underexplored. As such, this technology-in-practice piece presents a classroom-based innovation: an interactive, web-based EER designed to reinforce French grammar in a Malaysian university context, with verb conjugation as an illustrative example. Drawing on learning, game-for-learning, and context elements, we embedded the EER within instruction through a four-stage process: presentation of linguistic forms, controlled practice, interactive play, and personalization through reflection. Short-term benefits included increased learner engagement, improved grammatical accuracy, and enhanced cognitive flexibility. However, challenges emerged in terms of teacher workload, role adaptation, and design literacy. This article highlights the potential of EERs to enrich grammar instruction while underscoring the pedagogical reflection and support needed for sustainable implementation.
What does AI bring to second language writing? A systematic review (2014-2024)
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-05-19) Feng, Haiying; Li, Kexin; Zhang, Lawrence Jun
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has introduced both opportunities and challenges to second language (L2) writing, and a new dimension to L2 writing research. To map the evolving landscape of AI-integrated L2 writing research, this systematic review analyzed 112 studies published between January 2014 and June 2024. The review focused on research contexts and participants, theoretical and methodological orientations, research setups, and key research issues. The analysis revealed that the majority of studies were conducted with undergraduates in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. Most studies did not specify a theoretical framework; however, the predominant theoretical orientations were cognitive, technological-pedagogical, social, critical, and genre. The literature commonly employed eclectic or mixed methodologies, favoring (quasi-)experimental designs with short duration. The writing tasks investigated were varied, with a notable emphasis on elemental genres such as argumentative essays. The main research issues addressed included AI functionalities; students’ perceptions and experiences; impacts on students’ writing, cognitive, affective, and behavioral performance; teachers’ perceptions, teaching practices, and literacy development; and factors influencing AI use. The findings highlight the need for future research, particularly longitudinal studies focusing on the development of AI literacy in L2 writing.
The potential advantages of using an LLM-based chatbot for automated writing evaluation for English teaching practitioners
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-05-05) Kim, Kyungmin; Lee, Jang Ho; Shin, Dongkwang; Mimi Li
With the ever-increasing demand for assessing large amounts of student writing, Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) has emerged as an efficient system to satisfy this demand. However, it has also been suggested that applying it in teachers’ writing classes may offer limited results. Given this, the present study developed an AWE chatbot based on ChatGPT 4.0-turbo, designed as an automated rater. A total of 465 narrative essays written by Korean high school EFL students were scored according to three criteria by the developed tool; these were then compared with the scores administered by two professional raters using various analytic measures. The results showed that the AWE chatbot’s scoring was strongly correlated with that of the human raters. Meanwhile, the many-facet Rasch model’s result indicated that the two human raters’ statistics demonstrated an excellent fit, whereas those of the developed AWE chatbot were slightly lower. The Coh-Metrix analysis suggested that the human raters’ scoring tendencies and GPT are largely aligned, indicating that both raters scored the essays similarly. Based on our findings, we suggest that the Large Language Model (LLM)-based AWE chatbot has great potential to assist teachers in EFL writing classrooms.
Comprehensibility of AI-generated and human simplified texts for L2 learners
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-05-05) Murphy Odo, Dennis
There is currently limited investigation of readers’ comprehension of AI simplified text from the perspective of educators, but such research can help to more effectively address the specific needs and perspectives of language teachers and learners regarding the comprehensibility of AI simplified text. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare second language readers’ comprehension of an original reading passage, a version that was simplified by human experts, and a version that was automatically simplified by AI. Results showed that the AI and human simplified texts were not any easier to comprehend than the original version of the text when readers’ topic familiarity was taken into account in the analysis. These findings suggest that AI-generated simplified text does not yet improve L2 learners' comprehension. Thus, further study is needed on the effect of AI simplifications using learner-centered qualitative assessments like think aloud to assess the efficacy of simplified texts. These findings also serve as a reminder to researchers and teachers that they must carefully evaluate AI tools before attempting to apply them to instructional practice.
Attention and learning in L2 multimodality: A webcam-based eye-tracking study
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-04-21) Zhang, Pengchong; Zhang, Shi
Multimodal input can significantly support second language (L2) vocabulary learning and comprehension. However, very little research has examined how L2 learners, especially young learners, allocate attention when exposed to such input and whether learning from multimodal input can be explained by attention allocation. This study therefore investigated individual differences in attention allocation during L2 vocabulary learning with multimodal input and how vocabulary learning and comprehension were influenced by these differences. Forty young learners of French watched two types of multimodal input (Written+Audio+Picture vs. Written+Speaker+Video) and had their eye-movements recorded through online webcam-based eye-tracking technology. They also completed tests of comprehension, vocabulary, and phonological short-term memory (PSTM). We show that greater attention was allocated to the non-verbal input in video than in picture format, and such attention allocation differences were further negatively predicted by learners’ PSTM capacity. Additionally, increased attention to the non-verbal element, whether video or picture, resulted in better overall comprehension and larger vocabulary gains in meaning recognition and recall. Our findings give new insights into the role of attention and how it can be maximized, with both theoretical and pedagogical implications for multimodal L2 learning.
First- and second-language subtitles and cognitive load: An EEG study
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-04-07) Lee, Taegang; Lee, Yoohyoung; Choi, Sungmook
Empirical evidence remains sparse about how videos enhanced with first-language (L1) and secondlanguage (L2) subtitles influence cognitive load in L2 learners. To address this point, 25 Korean undergraduate students were exposed to six short videos: baseline, L1-subtitled, and L2-subtitled videos at both high and low difficulty levels (determined by linguistic complexity and speech rate). Baseline videos included subtitles in Arabic, a language unfamiliar to the participants. As participants viewed the videos, their brains’ electrical activity was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). After each video, participants completed a self-report questionnaire based on the video they had just watched. Analyses of the EEG data and questionnaire responses consistently suggested that, compared to baseline videos, L1-subtitled videos reduce cognitive load in L2 learners. However, findings for L2-subtitled videos were less consistent. While the EEG results indicated no significant difference in cognitive load between L2-subtitled and baseline videos, participants reported significantly higher cognitive effort for baseline videos than for L2-subtitled videos. Notably, these results did not vary according to the difficulty levels of the videos.

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