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Learner talk, a neglected area of study in the literature of language advising for second language (L2) learners, deserves more attention. With reference to multiple qualitative sources of data obtained from interviews and tutor-learner recorded conversations, this paper delineates learners' behaviors, strategies and contribution to language learning in tutor-dominant writing consultations. More importantly, it reveals the relationships between self-perception and learning behaviors via learning strategies. Nine native and non-native English-speaking writing tutors and 23 L2 learners from different disciplines participated in the study. Three types of L2 learners and 11 learning strategies were identified and analyzed based on the self-reported data and transcribed conversations. Analysis showed that the identified strategies signify the learners' behaviors and varied degrees of readiness to engage actively in learning by obtaining language input from tutors through some self-initiated acts, demonstrating selfawareness of their problems and establishing rapport with tutors to accomplish the learning task. Implications for teaching and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a discursive constructionist (DC) approach to narrative in second/foreign language teaching and learning research. We begin by sketching an historical and theoretical background of constructionism. Next, we describe how DC advances contemporary narrative research by prioritizing analysis of narrative construction , that is, the in situ mobilization of the constructed and constructive elements of discourse that story-tellers use to build narrative worlds. Drawing on an analysis of two narrative episodes from focus group research with ESL teachers, we examine the construction and versioning of narrative worlds, identities, and knowledge. We also consider an additional affordance that attends a DC approach to narrative research—methodography—which opens up for analysis the situated work of the researcher/data analyst. We conclude with suggestions for future applications of DC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate on the roles of language and literacy in the increasingly internationalised university contexts where disciplinary content is taught through the medium of English has been a matter of recent research concerns. Despite the limited focus on language and literacy in English-medium instruction (EMI) programmes, there is currently increasing recognition of the need for explicit awareness of subject-specific language and literacies to favour content learning. However, there is a paucity of empirical research that measures the impact of students' disciplinary language and literacy skills on content achievement in EMI contexts. To address this issue, this paper analyses the relationship between the use of disciplinary-literacy variables related to the genre and specialized-language features of the laboratory report at the levels of text structure, cohesion, grammar, and vocabulary, and students' content proficiency in English-medium writing in a Spanish undergraduate setting. Results show a positive relationship between the frequency of occurrence of certain disciplinary-literacy variables and students' content proficiency. In particular, moves, cohesive devices, technical words, and passive voice appear as significant indicators of content proficiency in English-medium laboratory report writing. These findings strengthen the need to provide students with subject-specific language and literacy support for successful academic development in EMI courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]