Speaking and Instructed Foreign Language Acquisition

Compared with reading, writing and listening, there has been a paucity of empirical data documenting learners' experiences of speaking English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) in different learning contexts in spite of the fact that developing the ability to speak in a second or foreign language is widely considered a daunting task for most language learners. This paper reports on the findings of a questionnaire survey of the English speaking difficulties experienced by two Chinese populations: one group of university students from mainland China and one group of university students from Hong Kong. Drawing on various theoretical perspectives, the students' perceived difficulties are analysed in relation to linguistic deficiency, oral language processes, conversational skills and academic speaking conventions, affective influence as well as affordance of opportunities to use English for spoken communication in the students' learning contexts. Important implications of the results for pedagogical practices that foster development of ESL or EFL speaking skills are discussed.

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The effectiveness of the intercultural language communicative teaching model for EFL learners

Tran

Duong

2018

Asian. J. Second. Foreign. Lang. Educ.

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Over the past years, there has been a growing interest in intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in English language education. However, not all English language educators in the Vietnamese context and other similar contexts are well aware of intercultural language teaching since there lacks instructional design models to integrate intercultural content into English language classes. This project, therefore, aims to test the effectiveness of a developed intercultural communicative language teaching (ICLT) model. It involved forty-seven EFL learners learning General English at a foreign language center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Three research instruments, namely language test, intercultural competence test and semi-structured group interview were employed to garner data. The findings revealed that after a thirteen week training course, EFL learners' language competence and intercultural competence had similar patterns of improvement. This project, thus, implies that the ICLT model is effective in facilitating EFL learners' ICC development, and it can be applied in other similar EFL contexts.

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Speaking and Instructed Foreign Language Acquisition

Cited by 9 publications

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Assessment of Language Learners’ Spoken Texts: Overview of Key Issues

Assessment of Language Learners’ Spoken Texts: Overview of Key Issues

Understanding English speaking difficulties: an investigation of two Chinese populations

The effectiveness of the intercultural language communicative teaching model for EFL learners

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