Papers by Peter Yongqi Gu
Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics
Formative assessment (FA) has been increasingly recognised as a powerful tool to improve teaching... more Formative assessment (FA) has been increasingly recognised as a powerful tool to improve teaching and learning, and thereby increase educational effectiveness. As such, FA has been written into government directives and curriculum standards; and incorporated into teacher education programmes. At the classroom level, however, teachers have found FA a formidable task that is difficult to implement. This has been attributed to the teacher’s lack of assessment literacy, among other reasons. In this guest-editor introduction, we frame the special issue and its scope by highlighting the main issues involved. We then briefly introduce the 10 articles which we believe, taken together, advance our understanding of teacher formative assessment literacy and its development.
National Center for English Language Teaching and Research, 2007
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This paper focuses on strategy-based instruction (SBI) in English language teaching. I will begin... more This paper focuses on strategy-based instruction (SBI) in English language teaching. I will begin by introducing language learner strategies, and argue that learner strategies are useful and that strategy-based instruction is necessary. Next, I will present a strategy intervention study recently completed in Singapore involving 246 grade 5 primary school students over a whole semester. A fivestep SBI model that was used in the experiment will be illustrated. These are: 1) Awareness-raising and preparation, 2) Teacher presentation and modelling, 3) Multiple practice opportunities, 4) Evaluation of strategy effectiveness, and 5) Transfer of strategy to new tasks. Preliminary analyses indicate that the experimental group who received writing strategy instruction outperformed their control group counterparts in a post-test and a delayed test. Some issues in SBI integration will then be discussed. I will finally conclude that SBI is not only an empowering tool for learners, it should also be explored as a potential tool for teacher development.
The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2015
Vocabulary guessing strategies (VGS) refer to the plans and procedures people use to guess the co... more Vocabulary guessing strategies (VGS) refer to the plans and procedures people use to guess the contextual meaning of words, during reading or listening, for the main purpose of comprehension. Guessing is needed when we encounter an unknown word in reading or listening in a second language (L2). In fact, even experienced readers and listeners in their first language (L1) use the guessing strategy all the time. Since many words are homonyms or homographs, part of the comprehension process depends on inferring the correct and appropriate meaning in context. Keywords: language teaching; reading; vocabulary
published_or_final_versionEducationDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph
RELC Journal, 2002
Gender and academic major are often seen as amongst the major factors that influence language lea... more Gender and academic major are often seen as amongst the major factors that influence language learning. However, empirical studies on these two factors have produced inconsistent results. This paper bases itself upon the contention that specific tasks and contexts of learning may confound the relationship among gender, academic major, learning strategies and learning outcomes. A large-scale survey was conducted amongst a group of adult Chinese EFL learners on their vocabulary learning strategies. Female students significantly outperformed their male counterparts in both a vocabulary size test and a general proficiency test. Females also reported significantly more use of almost all vocabulary learning strategies that were found to be correlated with success in EFL learning. Academic major, on the other hand, was found to be a less potent background factor. Science students slightly outperformed arts students (though insignificantly) in vocabulary size, but arts students significantl...
Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics
Formative assessment has become an increasingly popular topic in educational reform since the pub... more Formative assessment has become an increasingly popular topic in educational reform since the publication of Black and Wiliam’s (1998) highly influential review article. In China, formative assessment has been promoted by the Ministry of Education in its curriculum standards for over two decades. A lack of implementation in classrooms has been attributed to the lack of assessment literacy among classroom teachers. A 12-week professional development program was designed and implemented for a group of five secondary school EFL teachers in China aiming at developing their classroom-based formative assessment literacy. The program took the form of collaborative action research in which a researcher joined the teachers to form a community of practice for continuing professional development. This paper focuses on one teacher’s growth in assessment literacy for classroom-based formative assessment. Classroom video recordings and interviews were transcribed and coded using NVivo 12. Baselin...
Language assessment research has so far focused on the assessment of language competence or langu... more Language assessment research has so far focused on the assessment of language competence or language achievement. Although formative assessment focuses on the process of learning and the growth of the learner, it attempts to elicit information about the linguistic gap between the current state and the target state of learning. It also tries to provide informative feedback as to
This article presents reflections from 12 experts on LANGUAGE LEARNERS STRATEGY (LLS) research. T... more This article presents reflections from 12 experts on LANGUAGE LEARNERS STRATEGY (LLS) research. They were asked to offer their reflections in one of their domains of expertise, linking research into LLS with successful language learning and use practices. In essence, they were called upon to provide a review of recent scholarship by identifying areas where results of research had already led to the enhancement of learner strategy use, as well as to describe ongoing and future research efforts intended to enhance the strategy domain. The LLS areas dealt with include theory building, the dynamics of delivering STRATEGY INSTRUCTION (SI), meta-analyses of SI, learner diversity, SI for young language learners, SI for fine-tuning the comprehension and production of academic-level, grammar strategies at the macro and micro levels, lessons learned from many years of LLS research in Greece, the past and future roles of technology aimed at enhancing language learning, and applications of LLS in content instruction. This review is intended to provide the field with an updated statement as to where we have been, where we are now, and where we need to go. Ideally, it will provide ideas for future studies.
Language Teaching
This article presents reflections from 12 experts on language learners strategy (LLS) research. T... more This article presents reflections from 12 experts on language learners strategy (LLS) research. They were asked to offer their reflections in one of their domains of expertise, linking research into LLS with successful language learning and use practices. In essence, they were called upon to provide a review of recent scholarship by identifying areas where results of research had already led to the enhancement of learner strategy use, as well as to describe ongoing and future research efforts intended to enhance the strategy domain. The LLS areas dealt with include theory building, the dynamics of delivering strategy instruction (SI), meta-analyses of SI, learner diversity, SI for young language learners, SI for fine-tuning the comprehension and production of academic-level, grammar strategies at the macro and micro levels, lessons learned from many years of LLS research in Greece, the past and future roles of technology aimed at enhancing language learning, and applications of LLS ...
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1988
The ‘Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach’ (CALLA) is designed for limited English profi... more The ‘Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach’ (CALLA) is designed for limited English proficient (LEP) students who are being prepared to participate in mainstream content area instruction. CALLA provides transitional instruction for upper elementary and secondary students at intermediate and advanced ESL levels. This approach furthers academic language development in English through content area instruction in science, mathematics and social studies.
Instructed Second Language Acquisition, 2022
Teaching and Learning Vocabulary in EFL By Paul Nation and Peter Yongqi Gu (2019) Beijing: Foreig... more Teaching and Learning Vocabulary in EFL By Paul Nation and Peter Yongqi Gu (2019) Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, xii + 230pp.
Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 46(2), pp. 198-218, 2023
Formative assessment has become an increasingly popular topic in educational reform since the pub... more Formative assessment has become an increasingly popular topic in educational reform since the publication of Black and Wiliam's (1998) highly influential review article. In China, formative assessment has been promoted by the Ministry of Education in its curriculum standards for over two decades. A lack of implementation in classrooms has been attributed to the lack of assessment literacy among classroom teachers. A 12-week professional development program was designed and implemented for a group of five secondary school EFL teachers in China aiming at developing their classroom-based formative assessment literacy. The program took the form of collaborative action research in which a researcher joined the teachers to form a community of practice for continuing professional development. This paper focuses on one teacher's growth in assessment literacy for classroom-based formative assessment. Classroom video recordings and interviews were transcribed and coded using NVivo 12. Baseline data indicated that the teacher lacked the knowledge and beliefs needed to conduct formative assessment. She did not have clear targets for teaching, learning and assessment; and she did not make any targets clear to her students. In addition, the teacher's assessment practices did not aim to improve student subject core competencies as stipulated in the senior secondary English language curriculum. By the end of the program, the teacher's knowledge, beliefs and practices in formative assessment were significantly enhanced. In particular, her goal setting for classroom teaching, learning and assessment was intentionally aligned with the development of subject core competencies. More cycles of formative assessment practices were found to help students close the learning gaps and achieve their learning goals. These findings lend encouraging support to the feasibility of teachers developing formative assessment literacy within a continuing professional development framework.
Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 46(2), pp. 155-161, 2023
Formative assessment (FA) has been increasingly recognised as a powerful tool to improve teaching... more Formative assessment (FA) has been increasingly recognised as a powerful tool to improve teaching and learning, and thereby increase educational effectiveness. As such, FA has been written into government directives and curriculum standards; and incorporated into teacher education programmes. At the classroom level, however, teachers have found FA a formidable task that is difficult to implement. This has been attributed to the teacher's lack of assessment literacy, among other reasons. In this guest-editor introduction, we frame the special issue and its scope by highlighting the main issues involved. We then briefly introduce the 10 articles which we believe, taken together, advance our understanding of teacher formative assessment literacy and its development.
In Amerstorfer and von Blanckenburg (Eds) Activating and Engaging Learners and Teachers: Perspectives for English Language Education, (pp. 141-158). Narr Francke Attempto, 2023
A similar inconsistency has been found in research investigating learner perceptions of the activ... more A similar inconsistency has been found in research investigating learner perceptions of the activity. In some studies, the results are disheartening. According to Leki (1991), of all sources of help available, the teacher was the best, and the L2 peer was the least helpful, far behind a native speaker friend, and not even equal to a grammar book. Many other studies also showed a clear preference for teacher feedback (Sengupta 2000; Zhang 1995; Zhao 2010). Zhang (1995), in particular, reported that 94% of the participants favoured teacher feedback over peer feedback. Interestingly, Jacobs et al. (1998) found an almost equal but opposite percentage of participants (93%) appreciated peer feedback. The participants in many other studies (Hu 2005; Mendonça and Johnson 1994; Tsui and Ng 2000) also welcomed peer feedback. The value of peer feedback is seriously challenged in studies which compared the outcomes of teacher and peer responses. In Paulus (1999), peer feedback accounted for 13.9% of all revisions while teacher feedback contributed to 34.3%. Most disappointingly, Connor and Asenavage (1994) were able to attribute only 5% of the revisions to peer comments as compared to 35% to teacher feedback (and 60% to other sources such as self-revision). It can be said that while learners may believe that peer feedback is beneficial, uptake of teacher feedback is more established. The reluctance to accept the value of peer feedback among teachers mentioned earlier seems to repeat itself among students. These mixed results have, among other reasons, given rise to the idea that L2 learners need training before a peer response session. The methods used for coaching have been abundant, ranging from extensive discussion of writing (Stanley 1992), longitudinal training (Berg 1999), conferences (Zhu 1995), to video watching (Zhu 2001). Min (2008) conducted arguably the most thorough training programme where the participants were exposed to in-class demonstration, explicit coaching, and after-class customized teacher feedback. Generally, the results have suggested that careful preparation and training are essential for successful peer response. The most common finding is that trained reviewers are enabled to provide more feedback with richer quality (Berg 1999; Rahimi 2013; Villamil and de Guerrero 1996), better positioned to see their own texts from a reader's perspective (Lundstrom and Baker 2009), and transformed into active reviewers (Braine 2003). Min (2006), for example, reported that 77% of the trained peer feedback was incorporated, constituting 90% of the total revisions (as compared to 39% pre-training). Min (2008) corroborated these findings, maintaining that training not only enhanced revision quality but also changed the participants' attitudes from seeing revision as a correction task of a finished product to embracing it as part of the writing process.
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Papers by Peter Yongqi Gu