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This paper claims that the current theories of Self-regulated learning (SRL) are short-sighted. The author provides a comprehensive, but brief, overview of SRL which addresses such issues as (a) SRL processes, (b) SRL strategies, (c) compartments of SRL, (d) theories of SRL, (e) agency in SRL, and (f) models of SRL. He then presents a new model for SRL (namely, the Revised Self-Regulated Learning Model (RSRLM)), and focuses on the role of dyadic agency in SRL. The paper concludes that SRL models need to take into account the roles played by social support systems.

This study observes the different representations and semiotics that web news texts encode and how these different sign systems could have influences on meanings. It analyzes the events, participants and semiotics of particular news items as covered in three different web newspapers. In studying the different representations of the news texts, an approach by Bell (1998) is implemented in considering the events and participants of the story presented. Semiotics analysis described by Bignell (2002) and Danesi (2002) is used to uncover the hidden messages in every news text where linguistic and graphic signs are involved. Linguistic signs cover the headlines, lexical choices and language use. Graphic signs take on typography, and photographs or images presented to complement the story. The study reveals how these three media use different representations, linguistic and graphic signs as a means of representing the news items to affect readers’ perceptions and insights of the events.

Readability formulas were invented about a century ago. They are intended as a simple measurement tool for evaluation of the complexity of a written text. Linguistic scientists, mathematicians, editors and software engineers have since then created many different formulas. They are either generally applicable to a specific language or to a business segment. For the readability of a document, its text part is crucial, though not all. The contribution of graphics to readability is relatively small, yet overestimated in many cases. This common misinterpretation results in ineffective investment in expensive ‘over the top’ graphics and even in safety hazards. Web pages and safety documentation are often presumed to be more readable with the simple addition of graphics rather than by writing better readable text. This is a safety threat to workers and it limits the efficacy of, for example, medical information for citizens. Linguistic research indicates that there are nine key parameters that determine the readability of a document. These are used in the ‘L-scale’ algorithm. Incorporated in an automated software tool, on line or in a word processing package, this algorithm quantifies readability of both text and graphics components in digital documents and calculates an effective CEFR readability level.

The role of teaching to develop learners’ pragmatic competence in both second and foreign language contexts has recently motivated a great deal of research. This paper aims to show whether learners’ pragmatic competence of ‘suggesting speech act’ improves after pragmatic language teaching, and to indicate what type of pragmatic language teaching is more effective in developing learners’ pragmatic competence of suggesting speech act. The participants were classified into the explicit teaching group, the implicit teaching group and the control group. Each group consisted of thirty Chinese EFL learners. The subjects in the explicit teaching group were taught metapragmatic information on the preselected target suggestion forms and were asked to do Chinese-English translation exercises using these target ‘suggestion’ forms. The subjects in the implicit teaching group were asked to compare their English suggestion forms in their completed role-plays with those in the NS-NS role-play transcripts and were also asked to find the differences in suggestion realization patterns between their suggestion forms and the NS suggestion forms. The subjects in the control group did not receive any metapragmatic teaching on suggestions, were required to read the NS-NS role-play transcripts, and were asked to answer each question in English. The study used a pretest and a posttest to measure the effects of pragmatic language teaching on the subjects’ pragmatic ability of making appropriate suggestions in different situations. Results of this study showed that pragmatic language teaching has a positive effects on the development of Chinese EFL learners’ pragmatic competence of suggesting speech act. The also indicated that explicit pragmatic language teaching is more effective in facilitating acquisition of pragamalinguistic suggestion forms.

This paper reports on a qualitative research into EFL undergraduate students’ intercultural experiences with a focus on feelings of security and dignity in a Thai context. Thirty-eight students voluntarily participated in the study and their encounters revealed that they had to go through processes of constructing and negotiating their multiple identities in three different stages. The identities they constructed and negotiated associated with not only English inability they perceived but also their negative and positive emotions they felt before, during and after interactions. Their Thai cultural background deeply embedded in their being, such as reluctance to impose (kreng-jai) upon interactions and fear of face-loss, appeared to influence the processes. Being refused, majoring in Business English, expectation in effective communication and unintelligibility were key situational features attacking their face leading the students to intercultural conflicts and lack of security and dignity. Their foreign interlocutors’ friendliness, willingness to interact and language accommodation were key situational features restoring their face. The study offers useful insights for EFL teachers and learners as well as implications for the present context.

This article presents the results from an experimental study on raising Japanese ESL students’ awareness of language-specific aspects of English through conversation analysis. The subjects were 100 non-language major undergraduate students at a university in Japan who were completing required academic English courses. For the purposes of this research, the participants received an introductory lecture on conversation analysis and used online video resources to study the basic concepts of conversation analysis and complete tasks and assignments. The data analysis and questionnaire responses suggest that the employed method had a positive effect on participant interest in the structure of English conversational interactions and language learning aptitude. The findings also suggest that the participants appreciated the opportunity to examine the intricacies of unscripted English conversations usually excluded from the standard ESL language classroom.