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The study investigates the impact of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) on players’ application of vocabulary learning strategies. The participants are experienced online gamers aged between 24 and 25 years old. Apart from identifying the vocabulary learning strategies used by the ESL players during online gaming, in order to find out how aspects related to MMORPG influence the use of strategies, data were also obtained from online semi-structured interviews with these (ESL) players who are involved in Guild Wars 2, a popular MMORPG computer game. Using Gu and Johnson’s (1996) categorisation of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS), it was found that these ESL players utilise metacognitive, cognitive, memory and activation strategies in order to learn game-related vocabulary during the MMORPG game-play sessions. Additionally, there are four factors that affect the vocabulary language learning experience of the players, and they consist of; (a) the role of game storylines in enhancing MMORPG gaming immersion, (b) freedom to learn while being away from classroom-related rules, (c) social interaction that enriches players’ learning experience, and (d) the role of collaboration among the MMORPG community in enriching learning experience.

Background and Purpose: Recent technological advancements and Covid-19 pandemic have prompted more opportunities for online learning. However, there is a dearth of empirical research that is focused on high school students. Therefore, this study aims to obtain a more comprehensive view of ESL learners’ involvement or word contributions in a ‘normal’ face-to-face situation and in a synchronous online text-based environment by relating it to their personality and language proficiency. Methodology: In this study, a quasi-experiment was carried out over four weeks. It involved eight sessions of face-to-face and online discussions with 48 Malaysian high school students who were divided into two matched-sample groups. The participants' feedback was used to support and provide insights on the findings. The quantitative data were analysed using using IBM SPSS statistics 26 software while the participants’ responses to the online feedback session were analysed using open coding and axial coding strategies. Findings: Statistically significant difference was found in learners’ word contributions during face-to-face and online discussions. Apart from the extroverts with high-intermediate language proficiency, the other groups of learners who are either introverts or having lower level language proficiency were found to produce significantly more words in synchronous online text-based discussions. The non-face-to-face context of online forums might have lowered the learners’ level of anxiety and increased their confidence to interact with their peers. Contributions: Learners’ personalities and language proficiency levels should be considered when choosing a discussion setting and when facilitating discussion activities. More support should be provided for the less proficient or introverted learners to express themselves in a face-to-face discussion. Keywords: Personality, Language proficiency, Computer-mediated communication, Synchronous text-based online discussions, Word contributions Cite as: Chew, S. Y., & Ng, L. L. (2021). The influence of personality and language proficiency on ESL learners' word contributions in face-to-face and synchronous online forums. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(1), 199-221. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp199-221

Students experience different levels of autonomy based on the mediation of self-regulated learning (SRL), but little is known about the effects of different mediation technologies on students' perceived SRL strategies. This mixed explanatory study compared two technology mediation models, Icourse (a learning management system) and Icourse+Pigai (an automatic writing evaluation system), with a control group that did not use technology. A quasi-experimental design was used, which involved a pre and post-intervention academic writing test, an SRL questionnaire, and one-to-one semi-structured student interviews. The aim was to investigate 280 Chinese undergraduate English as a foreign language (EFL) students' academic writing performance, lexical complexity, and perceptions of self-regulated strategies in academic writing. One-way ANCOVA of writing performance, Kruskal-Wallis test of lexical complexity, ANOVA of the SRL questionnaire, and grounded thematic content analysis revealed that, first, both Icourse and Icourse+Pigai provided significant support for the development of SRL strategies vs. the control group, although there was no significant difference between the two groups. Second, Icourse+Pigai-supported SRL was more helpful for improving students' academic writing performance because it enabled increased writing practice and correction feedback. Third, Icourse+Pigai-supported SRL did not significantly improve students' lexical complexity. In conclusion, we argue that both learning management systems and automated writing evaluation (AWE) platforms may be used to assist students' SRL learning to enhance their writing performance. More effort should be directed toward developing technological tools that increase both lexical accuracy and lexical complexity. We conclude that the technical tools used in this study were positively connected to the use of SRL techniques. However, when creating technologically mediated SRL activities, students' psychological study preferences should be considered.

In addition to discussion settings (e.g. face-to-face or online) and learners’ individual differences (e.g. personality, levels of language proficiency), there are also other factors which could influence the communication process during large-group discussions. The main factors discussed in this chapter include the affective domain, noise and distractions. The affective domain refers to the area related to the attitude and emotion of the learners. Confidence, language anxiety and motivation are crucial elements of the affective domain which are found to play an important role in influencing learners’ communication during group discussions. Apart from the affective domain, noise and distractions could also affect the communication process. We should anticipate potential disruptions or noises that could occur during group discussions in face-to-face (F2F) and online settings so that we are better prepared to intervene if problems arise.

Written corrective feedback (WCF) is widely used among writing teachers in attempt to improve students’ language accuracy in their written tasks. Experts of second language (L2) writing stated that WCF plays a significant role in language accuracy development because it is related to the development and improvement of students’ accuracy in second language writing. Corrective feedback can be grouped into direct WCF and indirect WCF. However, results in many past empirical studies were inconclusive because of variation in how the effectiveness of WCF was measured. Additionally, there is a lack of investigation pertaining to the students’ perceptions toward the feedback they received, which may reveal important factors that influence the students’ reception of the feedback that resulted in performance changes. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore factors that contributed to the accurate use of the past tenses resulting from direct WCF and indirect WCF. Interviews were conducted with 12 students and the qualitative findings revealed the following factors: 1) learner attitudes towards feedback provided, 2) learner beliefs towards what corrections entailed, and 3) types of scaffolding. Additionally, the findings revealed the importance of teacher-student conference, the need for students to be trained over a longer period of time in relation to the use of error codes and the need for instructor to understand and implement direct and indirect feedback accordingly in their teaching. Keywords: written corrective feedback; second language acquisition; direct-indirect feedback; past tenses; mixed methods

Recognising that active involvement with the target language is important in learning a second language, this research compared the participation style of the language learners in different discussion settings; online and face-to-face. The personality (extroversion and introversion) and language proficiency (high-intermediate and low-intermediate) of the 48 participants were looked into. Qualitative data were obtained through observation, survey and online feedback session to substantiate the main data gathered from the quasi-experiment. The findings revealed that the use of synchronous online setting helps elicit more contribution of words and balance the participation of ESL learners especially among the introverts and the less proficient learners. The findings also implied that language instructors can capitalise on this setting to elicit more participation from selected group of students and encourage more balanced participation in the language classroom. In addition, the findings of this study showed that the medium played a role in influencing the messages produced by certain group of learners more than the others.

Unemployment among the Malaysian public universities’ graduates due to their inability to communicate proficiently and accurately in English language with proper pronunciation has been a concern among various parties. One possible method to address such issue is to look at how these graduates learn and improve their command of English language. Language learning strategies (LLS) is one of the prominent variables that can affect their language learning process. With that in view, this study investigated the LLSs used by the first year undergraduates in a Malaysian public university. It also examined the relationship between language learning strategies based on gender. The survey utilised the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) by Oxford (1990) on 535 male and 1173 female respondents. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test, One-way ANOVA and chi-square test. Finding revealed that females employed more strategies if compared to males. The research result also showed that metacognitive strategies were highly employed by these undergraduates whereas affective strategies were least used among them. Further ANOVA test revealed there was a significant difference between the language learning strategies used by these undergraduates. The implications of these findings to educators, scholars and researchers were also discussed.

Studies showed that interest in anime motivates students to learn the Japanese language and culture (Manion, 2005; Fukunaga, 2006; William, 2006). However, little has been written about the practical use of anime in a Japanese language classroom. By employing the method of classroom research, this study will try to narrow the gap between theory and practice of using anime as a teaching tool in the Japanese language classroom. This qualitative study will focus on discussing what the participants think about the use of anime as a teaching tool. A course named “Learning Japanese language and Culture through Anime” was planned and conducted in a public university in Malaysia. During the administration of the course, the data were collected via the participants’ learning diaries at 7 intervals and a group interview at the end of the semester. The findings presented from the data analysis on the participants' perception of the use of anime as a teaching tool include motivation, language and cultural awareness, critical thinking, sense of prejudice, and stereotypes. The findings reveal that giving a place for anime in the Japanese language classroom is like opening a new door for educators to connect with the students and deepen understanding about the students’ learning experiences of using anime as a language and culture learning tool. This is important to provide insightful ideas to the Japanese language educators regarding the option of using anime as a teaching tool.