Yueguo Gu is a research professor of linguistics, and head of the Contemporary Linguistics Department, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is also Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Beijing Foreign Studies University, President of China Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (ChinaCALL), and Founding Dean of the Institute of Online Education and Guest Professor of the University of Nottingham.

Pragmatics, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, rhetoric, the philosophy of language, and online education

Late Adulthood FL Learning and the Aging Brain

Late adulthood, from 60 years old onwards, is marked with the onset of senescence. Older adults generally experience some decline of cognitive capacities. Some may even be clinicallylabeled as suffering from mild cognitive impairments (MCI), e.g., naming difficulties, shortening of short-term memories, wording circumscription, etc. This paper, for practical reasons, holds a sharp line between what is known as typical, benign, and developmental changes in cognition with nonspecific histopathological brain changes -- the normal aging, and malignant changes in cognition and behavior, the latter of which reflects specific underlying brain histopathologies. Studies, though limited, do show some benefits for older adults with normal aging effects to start learning foreign languages. The purpose of this paper is twofold. One is to present a critical review of the literature, and the other is to outline a FL learning programme for Chinese older adults.

Peiya Gu is professor of English at Soochow University, where she also directs the Research Institute of Foreign Language Education and Teacher Development. She received her MA in TESOL, Ed.M in Applied Linguistics, and Ed.D in Adult Learning and Leadership from Teachers College Columbia University, USA. Her main research interests are in computer-assisted language learning (CALL), teacher development, and EFL/ESL learner and teacher standards. She has recently been the principal investigator of several China and US government-funded research projects, and published books, chapters, and journal articles in China, and internationally by TESOL Inc., IEEE Inc., and Springer.

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL), teacher development, and EFL/ESL learner and teacher standards

Creating a Technology-enhanced Constructivist Learning Environment for Research Ability Development in a BA Thesis Writing Course

This study investigates the technology enhanced constructivist learning environment (CLE) for developing undergraduate English-majors’ research abilities at a Chinese university. The faculty team attempted at transforming an English Writing course into BA Thesis Writing, supported by a free online learning management system (Moodle) with multi-faceted scenario, resources, tools and management. Situated in the broader context of the 10-year curriculum reform, two BA Thesis Writing classes from two semesters were examined using observation notes, interviews and student products. Findings show the CLE has enhanced the students’ problem-based learning (PBL) processes and research ability development in terms of problem awareness, information literacy, reasoning and research designing. The CLE contributed to the whole learning experience by continuous instructional support, forum discussions, and information resources and tools. The paper concludes by assessing the reform efforts’ overall gains and challenges, and its implications for future technology integration in foreign language learning and teaching in China.

Hao-Jan Howard Chen is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Chair of English Department at the Taiwan Normal University. His areas of expertise include computer-assisted language learning, corpus linguistics and applied linguistics. He has also served as the Director of Mandarin Training Centre of Taiwan Normal University for four years. He has published many journal articles related to Computer-assisted Language Learning and Corpus Linguistics. He also serves on several editorial boards, including Computer Assisted Language Learning, English Teaching and Learning, and International Journal of Digital Learning Technology. He is also managing the Cool English website, a website for English Learning supported by Taiwan Ministry of Education. The website now has more than 180,000 registered users.

Computer-assisted language learning, corpus linguistics, and applied linguistics

Developing and Managing an Innovative English Learning Site

It’s critical for EFL students to develop good English ability in this globalized world. To enhance EFL students’ motivation and English ability, an innovative English online learning website (Cool English: http: www.coolenglish.edu.tw) was developed by English department of Taiwan Normal University. The research and development funding for this website was provided by Ministry of Education. The site has three major sections to serve elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school students. This website has adopted a wide variety of new technologies. For listening, a wide selection of interactive videos were created for students, and there were tools for students to adjust speech rate and to consult an online dictionary. For speaking, advanced automated speech recognition technology and AI chat bots were developed to facilitate speaking skills. For reading, interesting multimedia books and quizzes were developed. In addition, to make English learning more engaging, several types of digital games were also developed. These games include a 3D role-playing games, various HTML5 games, unity-based English games. So far, this site has more than 180,000 registered users. To better understand our users, Matomo, a web analytics application, was installed on our website. The tool helps to track online visits and display reports on these visits for analysis.

Qing Ma is Assistant Professor of Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong. She obtained PhD in Linguistics, University of Louvain, Belgium. She is the committee member of Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics (HAAL) as well as the China Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (ChinaCALL).

L2 vocabulary acquisition, computer assisted language learning (CALL), mobile assisted language learning (MALL), and corpus linguistics

Developing and Evaluating Pre-service Teachers’ Corpus Literacy and Corpus-based Language Pedagogy via Mobile-enhanced Interactive and Flipped Learning

Despite the efforts made by linguists and researchers, a corpus-based linguistic approach remains largely unknown to the majority of professional teaching community, particularly pre- and in-service teachers who largely rely on an intuition-based approach to solving language issues as well as developing pedagogical materials. In order to fill this gap and help teachers develop a corpus-based pedagogy, this study investigated how a group of pre-service language teachers develop their corpus literacy and corpus-based pedagogy via mobile-enhanced interactive and flipped learning. The training consists of four sessions: (1) a workshop that introduced basic concepts and search skills for corpus literacy, (2) online sessions that expose students to flipped videos and accompanying tutorial tasks, (3) online group task design, and (4) physical classroom-based presentation of the task design. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed, covering both the learning process and outcome of the student teachers. Regarding the learning process, a Likert-scale survey was used to collect student perceived effectiveness on their learning of corpus literacy and corpus-based pedagogy; focus-group interviews were conducted to probe into more in-depth qualitative perspectives. As for the learning outcome, a set of self-developed rubrics were developed to rate the quality of each group task design. The results show that this mobile-enhanced interactive and flipped learning approach is effective in providing an adequate corpus literacy for our pre-service teachers, and allows them to further develop corpus-based knowledge and skills to design appropriate learning and teaching materials.