This study aimed to understand the nature of learning English in the digital age from students' personal 'learning lives'. Drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology's principles, this study conducted conversational interviews and obtained reflective reports from students over 5 months. The findings reveal that students' English learning experiences are…

This study explores the effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) in Chinese as a second language (CSL) vocabulary learning from the international students' perspective. A new theoretical framework of VR-based vocabulary learning was designed and verified to serve the investigation. A total of 30 international students learning CSL in a Chinese…

Collocations, a crucial component of language competence, remain a challenge for L2 learners across all proficiency levels. While the data-driven learning (DDL) approach has shown great potential for collocation learning from a shorter-term perspective, this study investigates its effectiveness in the long term, examining both linguistic gains and…

Language learner engagement, which is receiving increased attention, has predominantly focused on offline classroom contexts, while learner engagement in language Massive Open Online Courses (LMOOCs) remains under-explored. This study was conducted on a College English MOOC with the purpose of examining learner engagement and its relations with…

The enormous importance of second language learning, paired with the rapid development of mobile-assisted language learning, has led to the increasing use of mobile dictionaries by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at Chinese universities. Although many studies have explored the role of dictionaries in English language learning, few…

This study applies Activity Theory to describe and analyze an out-of-school project in which eight Chinese university students utilized a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) to learn English. Based on data collected through questionnaires, gaming journals, gaming recordings and interviews, thematic analysis was performed to identify the…

Autonomy of language learners in technology-supported learning environments has attracted much scholarly attention. However, few studies, to date, have examined the issue in the emerging context of language MOOCs. The present study complemented this line of research via a qualitative investigation of a group of Chinese EFL learners in an English…

Utilizing a structural equation modeling approach, this article aims to examine the dynamics between Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE) and Intercultural Competence (ICC). Altogether, 1490 Chinese college students from different types of universities in China answered the self-developed and validated IDLE-ICC questionnaire. The results…

This study explores the relationship between the L2 Motivational Self System--namely, the ideal L2 self and the ought-to L2 self--and L2 Willingness to Communicate (L2 WTC) in the classroom (a typical place for English communication among EFL learners) and in the extramural digital setting (an emerging English communication channel increasingly…

This study reports on the results of a semester-long Chinese-American telecollaborative exchange via WeChat, in which students from China and the U.S. shared thematically similar songs in their respective languages and discussed relevant cultural topics that were suggested by the students. Various types of qualitative data collected from the…

The use of translation and interpreting (T&I) in the language learning classroom is commonplace, serving various pedagogical and assessment purposes. Previous utilization of T&I exercises is driven largely by their potential to enhance language learning, whereas the latest trend has begun to underscore T&I as a crucial skill to be…

This article reports the study of a novel way of raising tertiary-level students' native cultural awareness (NCA) via an informal mobile learning community. Through two cycles of action research at a teacher-education university in East China, the study drew upon the Community of Practice (CoP) theory to form a synchronous English chat group.…

Informal digital learning of English (IDLE) is an increasingly important subfield of inquiry in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) for its concentration on the language learning practices of the digital native EFL students in out-of-class contexts. Attention in mainstream research of IDLE has been directed to (meta)cognition, learning…

This study mainly explored the effects of teacher feedback, peer feedback and automated feedback on the use of metacognitive strategies in EFL writing. Ninety-seven participants were recruited and divided into three groups, who received two months of feedback from teachers, peers and an automatic writing evaluation system, respectively, and then…

Although formative assessment has been recognized as an effective way for improving learning, scant attention has been paid to the specific design on the sequence of applying formative assessment practice in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Even less emphasis has been devoted to the cognitive and affective outcomes of different orders…