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Journal: Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

Uncovering Procrastination in Language Teaching: Self-Efficacy, Anxiety, and Situational Influences

Dino Dumančić

Language: EN | Published: 15-10-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-34

The study employed a mixed-methods approach to investigate the relationship between English language teachers’ teaching efficacy, emotional experiences, and situation and task-related procrastination. It aimed to explore both self-reported teaching self-efficacy beliefs and the factors influencing language teachers’ procrastination behaviors and emotions during task delay. A total of 305 Croatian EFL teachers participated in this study. Descriptive, correlation, and directed content analyses were carried out. According to the findings, the Croatian language teachers viewed themselves as highly effective in the classroom and they also reported engaging in procrastination infrequently. When inquired about language proficiency-related anxiety, they admitted having experienced it sporadically. Those confident in utilizing instructional strategies and implementing classroom management strategies procrastinated less and reported lower anxiety levels. Qualitative analysis revealed that demotivating or fatiguing tasks, especially administrative and testing-related ones, instigated procrastination, among others. When procrastinating, the teachers reported primarily unpleasant emotions, such as anxiety, nervousness, frustration, and guilt.

2025-10-15



Journal: Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

Exploring the Relationship between AI Tool Language Learning Awareness and Motivation to Learn English: Focusing on the Mediating Role of Adaptability

Hyang-Il Kim

Language: EN | Published: 15-10-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-25

As AI technology becomes more available and accessible to students, there has been a surge of research investigating its impact on how students learn a target language. However, a comprehensive understanding of how these technologies influence the motivational aspects of language learning remains limited. Addressing this gap, this study explores the broader relationship between individual engagement with various AI-based tools and their motivational impact on English learning, moving beyond the focus on specific AI tools. To achieve the research objectives, engagement with AI-based programs was examined in relation to awareness, experience, and interest in the future use of AI-based programs. Then, the relationships between these AI-related elements and motivational variables (such as self-efficacy and ideal L2 self) in language learning were investigated. Finally, the influence of adaptability was explored in these specific relationships. For this study, convenience sampling was employed to collect data from 180 Korean students who were enrolled in an English course at a university in South Korea. Hierarchical regression and mediation analyses revealed that students’ awareness and experience significantly influenced their interest in the future use of AI-based applications. Among the three AI-related elements, awareness and interest in future use were related to language learning motivation, specifically, self-efficacy and ideal L2 self. Notably, adaptability was identified as a mediating factor in the relationship between awareness of AI and the motivational variables. These findings contribute to our understanding of effective language learning in conjunction with AI-based tools.

2025-10-15



Journal: Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

When Language Anxiety and Selective Mutism Meet in the Bilingual Child: Interventions from Positive Psychology

Lindsey Leacox , Margarita V. Meza , Tammy S. Gregersen

Language: EN | Published: 13-08-2016 | Abstract

Abstract: Selective mutism is more common than initially thought and afflicts immigrant language minority children at approximately three times the rate of monolinguals (Toppelberg, Tabors, Coggins, Lum, & Burgers, 2005). Children who have developmental language and/or articulation problems and children who are quiet due to anxiety or concerns about accents and limited fluency can suffer from selective mutism. This case study examines the efficacy of interdisciplinary treatment with three positive psychology interventions to treat an eight-year-old Spanish-English bilingual child with selective mutism.  Pet-assistance therapy, music therapy, and laughter therapy were incorporated into the child’s speech-language therapy sessions to increase verbal productions across 14 weeks.  Results indicated that pet-assisted therapy revealed positive outcomes, with modest gains for music and laughter.  Implications of outcomes, collaboration, and conclusions are discussed.

2016-08-13



Journal: Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

Diagnostic Abilities of Novice Teachers

Ewa Tołoczko

Language: EN | Published: 20-07-2023 | Abstract | pp. 1-26

This paper discusses diagnostic abilities of novice teachers of English as a foreign language in Poland as demonstrated through analyzing critical incidents (CIs). A case study, designed to explore patterns and regularities in cognitive processes that practitioners activate to examine disorienting situations in their educational context, provided evidence of effective mental work of beginner teachers at the verbal and conceptual levels. Specifically-structured written reports on what the instructors considered critical moments in their teaching practice served as a tool to verbalize how they represent, interpret, and value phenomena in the FL classroom by activating and integrating various sources of professional knowledge. The data analysis, which included both identification of the character of mental representations the subjects stimulated during the recall as well as higher order thinking operations on these representations, led to the conclusion that the inexperienced teachers show a degree of efficacy to register relations and variation in classroom realities, to problematize the unproblematic, to take position on matters, and to formulate relevant feedback for their future didactic moves. This encourages a hypothesis that teachers’ diagnostic abilities are not necessarily determined by the current state of their professional expertise and that limited classroom experience does
not suppress adequate cognitive and affective responses to problems in beginner practitioners.

2023-07-20



Journal: Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

Effects of Adjunct Model of Instruction on EAP Learners’ Reading Comprehension Skill

Mahzad Karimi , Elahe Ghorbanchian

Language: EN | Published: 29-07-2022 | Abstract | pp. 1-19

With the quick transition to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to take the recent development in language teaching methodology into consideration, especially the pedagogical utility of new models of English for Academic purposes (EAP). Accordingly, the main objective of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of the adjunct model in improving the overall reading comprehension skills of Iranian architecture students in online EAP courses. To this end, from the population of students studying architecture at the Isfahan University of Art, three intact classes, each with 35 sophomore students were selected. While the first class was taught by a language teacher (the Language-driven Group) and the second class received instruction from a content teacher (the Content-driven Group), the third class was taught by applying the adjunct model involving both content and language teachers. At the end of the semester, a reading comprehension test was administrated to all students. The analysis of the data through running a one-way ANOVA and post hoc analysis revealed that the students in the adjunct class outperformed their peers in the other two classes on the reading comprehension test.

2022-07-29



Journal: Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

Gleaning Insights about Input-Based and Output-Based Form-Focused Instruction through Meta-Analysis of Korean EFL Learners

Andrew Schenck

Language: EN | Published: 04-04-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-23

Form-Focused Instruction (FFI) has been extensively studied, yet past research often yields contradictory results. Overly simplistic examination of grammatical features, along with inadequate exploration of EFL learners at different English proficiency levels, has limited understanding of how and when to use different forms of FFI. Due to a need for further research, the present study was designed to holistically examine input and output-based forms of FFI with various grammatical features, along with Korean EFL learners at different proficiency levels. Eighteen experimental studies with Korean EFL learners were selected for metanalysis and research synthesis. The effects of type of instruction (input vs. output) were analyzed along with complexity of a target feature and learner proficiency in English. Results suggested that input-based instruction is more effective with grammatical features that involve a single phrase (e.g., basic morphology and vocabulary), while output-based instruction is more effective with more complex phrases and clauses with a syntactic component (e.g., relative clauses and conditionals). Input may activate form-meaning mapping, which is more useful for the acquisition of basic morphology or vocabulary, whereas output may help learners order constituents, thereby aiding in the acquisition of syntactic phrases and clauses. Proficiency also appears to influence the efficacy of FFI. When proficiency of participants was low and complexity of a grammatical feature was high, the influence of input tended to be stronger. When proficiency was intermediate and complexity of a grammatical feature was low, output-based instruction tended to result in larger effect sizes.

2025-04-04