Research Core Issues In Language Teaching And Tesol (Research Paper Sample)

Core Issues in Language Teaching and TESOL
Student Name
Institution
Critical Commentary
The article by I-Chung Ke and Hilda Cahyani titled “Learning to become users of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): How ELF online communication affects Taiwanese learners’ beliefs of English” is a novel research study that intended to investigate the beliefs that non-native speakers (NNS) of English have about English as Lingua Franca (ELF). ELF is studied under a global context to find out how NNS use the English language in their interactions as a contact language. In other words, English becomes the language of convenience for those people interacting that are from different countries that have different non-English first languages. Other researchers had already explored the ELF subject with different foci. For instance, many studies have investigated the phonology of ELF, the lexical attributes of ELF, and the pragmatics of ELF. Notably, Europe, East, and South-East Asia regions are the major beneficiaries of ELF studies over the last fourteen years (Jenkins, Cogo, & Dewey, 2011).
The authors’ introduction of their topic is well articulated in the abstract. According to Brown (1988), the abstract has to summarize the important sections of an article correctly. Therefore, the article’s major parts such as the problem statement, thesis, methodology, findings, limitations, discussions, conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions for future studies should reflect in the abstract in order for the reader’s interest to be aroused. The authors of this study clearly stated the topic and the purpose. They also briefly compared the underlying principle of this paper to previous projects in the field of ELF online communication to set the correct context. The abstract briefly mentions the study’s participant demographics, materials, and methodology of the study. However, this article’s abstract lacks information or data that can sufficiently inform the reader. For instance, the abstract omits statistical analyses used in the study. In fact, the only numbers that appeared on the abstract were the number of participants and the length of the study/contact semesters. A mention of percentages and the predominant statistical tool used could have forecasted the study’s orientation. Moreover, the implications of the study were not mentioned in the abstract. In addition, the authors did not refer to any of the limitations of the current study. They also did not introduce any future questions or suggested area for further investigations. This omission makes the study perfect, which is impossible. Although Brown’s (1988) article does not make the inclusion of all these items mandatory, modern articles include these items to capture the attention of readers amidst an environment where the reader has to peruse through many articles to get relevant information.
The article’s introduction sufficiently explains the abbreviations of the common terms that the study will use in exploring the topic. The overuse of references in the introduction complicates the comprehension of the study. Many references in the introduction instead of using own voice shifts the motive of the research from the article’s author to the cited authors. For instance, anyone comprehending the introduction gets confused with the flow of ideas due the frequent introductions of the past studies conducted on the subject of ELF. Nevertheless, the problem statement of the article is located appropriately at the last sentence of the introduction paragraph.
The literature review, however, is clear, logical, and adequately explains the rationale behind the authors’ interests in carrying out the study. A cursory perusal of the literature review indicates that the authors did carry out an extensive research on the different kinds of studies that have been conducted on their area of study or studies closely related to their area of study. Most of the literature reviews are relevant to the authors’ interests. Division of the literature review into three sections sequentially guides the reader to understand the authors’ approach toward the study. For instance, the first section of the literature review discusses the concept of online communication in ELT and refers to the studies in this field. This section questions the teachers' hesitation to use NNS-NNS exchange projects despite the apparent benefits to learners. Consequently, the transition to the next part, which discusses the learners' beliefs on the roles of English and (second language acquisition) SLA, is smooth. The learner’s beliefs about the roles of English being an antecedent of the teaching English as an international language makes the reader understand the whole idea of the article. Much of the information in the literature review foreshadows what the study will reveal in the findings and discussion. In this case, the literature review sets the stage for the approval or disapproval of the hypothesis and postulates elaborated in the literature review.
The article’s methodology is not elaborative on particular factors that often determine the validity of the study or its replication ability. Stating the study’s objective at the onset of the methodology paves way for the clarification of the participants, variables under investigation, and the data collection and analysis tools. Interestingly, the coaching of the study participants on the etiquette of email communication might have compromised the authenticity of the correspondences between the Indonesian and Taiwanese students. Moreover, there was a bias in regards to the kinds of participants selected to participate in the study on the side of Indonesia. The Taiwanese respondents are mixed in terms of their level of education, whereas the Indonesian correspondents are all from the first year of study. This disparity in proficiency levels of English must have affected the validity of the results. For example, the Taiwanese students might have perceived their experience of English as satisfactorily because they had corresponding Indonesian partners who are weak in terms of their English proficiency levels. Another flaw evident in the methodology is the authors’ lack of explanation of the rationale informing their use of the Paired t-test and correlational analysis. Were these two statistical tools the appropriate ones in the situation? Notably, the research methodology lacked assumptions.
The presentation of the results was adequate and comprehensive. The authors highlighted the main and very significant qualitative results to show possible correlations. Statistical significances and reliability coefficients were articulated in each of the hypothesis tested. The incorporation of qualitative analysis into the statistical findings revealed information that would have otherwise been hidden. According to Duff (2007), qualitative analyses are the best approach in evaluating linguistic and language studies. Compare to the quantitative analyses that predict trends or outcomes, qualitative analyses reveal the underlying causes of the trends being observed. Interestingly, some of the hypotheses presented in the results sections had not been elaborated in the previous section of the study. The findings of the study seem to imply that the Taiwanese participants were all conversant with SE compared to their Indonesian partners. Consequently, the Taiwanese students adjusted their English levels to suit the ELF paradigm that was common to the Indonesians. For instance, many of the Taiwanese students reported that they had to co-switch to ELF to accommodate the Indonesian partners. The significance of this trend is an indicator that the study’s methodology was flawed in the first place. This flaw was a result of pairing the participants according to their interests instead of their proficiency in the English language. Maybe pairing the participants according to proficiency in the English language might have led to some of the partners engaging in the native speakers –English consistently without co-switching to ELF to accommodate each other.
The authors attempt to justify that their project altered the way the Taiwanese students perceived the use of ELF in NNS-NNS interactions. However, this is a false attempt considering that these students already had some attitudes about the use of ELF in NNS-NNS interactions and NS-NNS interactions. An overwhelming 69 percent of them agreed that English is irrelevant in their daily interactions.
Relevance of the Study to the Language Teaching Profession
This study by the two researchers reinforces the previous studies that have been conducted about the subject of ELF. For example, Xiangping (n.d.) conducted an investigation about the affiliating attitudes that people have towards the varieties of English in a context where the non-native English speakers are dominant. His findings indicated that the use of ELF is a very dynamic and a fluid activity that ties up with the process of globalization. The language is initially decontextualized (not located within a particular geographical setting). However, the English language becomes contextualized again in a setting that involves the speakers are from different countries. Notably, the speakers draw on their linguistic, cultural, resources, and reference points to communicate with each other. The findings of Xiangping are reaffirmed by the findings made by Professor Jennifer Jenkins five years ago (Jenkins, 2009). In fact, Professor Jennifer Jenkins had already done prediction that NNS people conversant with NS-English would find it appropriate to co-switch into ELF when in NNS-NNS interactions as early as 2001. The book “Phonology of English as an international language” by Professor Jennifer Jenkins set the foundation for ...