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• OpenAccess

Multimodal Analysis of Image-Text Relations in an EFL Conversation Material

While the multimodality of ELT textbooks has in recent years been increasingly studied for their pedagogic implications, unlike other genres of texts such as webpages, advertisements, picture books, and newspapers, textbooks have less often been viewed as semiotic artefacts, a perspective which leads to the study of image and text for intermodal interaction. To address this gap in the literature, this study explores visual and verbal interaction in ELT textbooks. In particular, the article focuses on the conversation section of an EFL senior high school textbook in Taiwan. The study found that the multimodal nature of face-to-face communication and the turn-taking mechanisms involved in conversations render the relations between images and texts unique in language learning materials. Consequently, frameworks of image-text relations that are developed based on narratives (such as picture books) or information texts are not sufficient for the understanding of this particular genre of multimodal text. This article discusses the distinct ways in which visual and verbal modes interact in multimodal ELT conversation texts and provides a preliminary framework for future examinations of language learning materials of a broader scope.

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Genre-based Pedagogy: Focusing on Teaching Literature Review Writing

Grounded in genre theory and research (Hsiao & Yu, 2012; Kwan, 2006; Swales, 1990), this study explores a genre pedagogy at the graduate level focusing on literature reviews (hereafter LRs), since there is currently a paucity of published classroom-based research in this area. A set of LR teaching materials was designed to help students become aware of the text structure and features, and develop strategies to reproduce these features in their own LR writing. The teaching methods consisted of three inter-connected stages: (1) helping student writers conceptualize the move structure; (2) requiring them to identify the moves in sample LRs, and (3) comparing and contrasting high-rated and low-rated LRs in order to understand what moves are needed for a quality LR, and (4) then asking them to use the features they have learned in their LRs. The focal students were interviewed on the process they adopted in writing a literature review after the intervention. The findings, based on a generic structure analysis of focal students' LRs, are evidence of the strengths of this instructional design and provide suggestions for genre-based pedagogy, which will be useful for thesis writing teachers.

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• OpenAccess

The Comparative Effect of Dictionary use, Etymological analysis, and Glossing on Iranian ESP Learners' Vocabulary Learning

The present study examined the effect of three techniques (dictionary use, etymological analysis, and glossing) on vocabulary recognition and production. To fulfill the purpose of this study, 45 English for specific purposes (ESP) learners majoring in architecture at Azad University, Anzali branch, participated in this research. They were divided into three groups, and each group was randomly assigned to one kind of treatment (dictionary use, etymological analysis, and glossing). Prior to performing the treatment, a Michigan proficiency test was administered to measure the language proficiency of ESP learners and ensure the homogeneity of the learners. The three experimental groups undertook three tasks for six weeks. After the treatment, language learners took a vocabulary recognition test (VRT) and a vocabulary production test (VPT). Data were analyzed using SPSS. The results of data analysis showed statistically significant differences between the three treatment conditions. The results of two separate one-way ANOVA analysis procedures indicated that the experimental group assigned dictionary use recognized and produced words much better than the other two experimental groups, suggesting that the dictionary group had outperformed the other two groups.