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Despite progress in recent years, Japanese classrooms continue to present challenges for educators seeking to promote language learner autonomy. Adopting an action research/case study design, the present study explored how, in a 5-week student-led project, an intact group of learners could contribute to the development of their own autonomy. Data consisting of questionnaires, observation notes, video recordings, written reflections, and recorded group discussions were analyzed using inductive qualitative coding and descriptive statistics. The students chose to work together as a class, and negotiated and executed a plan of action. The narrative that emerged highlighted the importance of group dynamics in collaborative autonomy development. Student reactions to the project were largely positive, with indications that the project promoted metacognition and learner motivation. This study provides an example of one approach to involving Japanese learners in classroom management to promote a collaborative, interdependent movement towards autonomy.

Previous research on willingness to communicate (Henceforth WTC) has shown that several teacher factors can affect learners' WTC. However, the effect of teachers' perceptions of learners' WTC on teachers' communicative and instructional behavior has remained understudied. This study aimed to examine how teachers' perceptions of learners' WTC affected the frequency and method of their turn allocations. The in-depth study was conducted with three teachers in Iran over a period of one semester. Qualitative data were obtained from observations, audio and video recordings of classroom interaction, and interviews with teachers. Analysis revealed that teachers gave more voluntary turns to those whom they perceived to have a higher level of WTC. Also, the method of turn allocation was different for such students. These findings are important because they can raise awareness among teachers and enable them to ensure all learners are given opportunities to participate.

This study investigates the role of emotions in second language learning, in particular, that of anxiety. Research has shown that positive and negative emotions are interrelated and that negative emotions are negatively correlated with motivation. It is, therefore, important to investigate how learners regulate their emotions. In this case study, one learner was closely observed over a period of 13 years. This learner claims that he has been feeling strong anxiety while learning English, but also that his negative emotion was the source of motivation to proactively study the language. The research used three types of data: (a) language learning historical records, (b) in-depth interviews, and (c) two questionnaires: the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning questionnaire. The results reveal the intense experience of the learner's emotions, as well as the significant shifts therein. It also unearths some of the sources of his emotional experiences and how he regulated these experiences. An important observation was the positive contribution that negative emotions had on some aspects of the participant's learning.

In the last decade, there has been a great deal of interest in language MOOCs (LMOOCs) and their potential to offer learning opportunities for large audiences, including those in disadvantaged communities. However, experiences and research have shown MOOCs to suffer from several challenges. Chief among these have been low participation and completion rates, which are often attributed to limitations in how opportunities for personalisation and social interaction are implemented. For the current study, a dedicated LMOOC was designed and implemented, called the "Social and Personal Online Language Course (SPOLC)." This language learning environment incorporates a recommendation system and emphasizes personalisation and social interaction. The study identified the types of learning behaviour that were related to course completion and observed how 270 learners in the LMOOC used the various course features. The data were collected using learning analytical methods and analysed using binary logistic regression and feature extraction prediction model. The results demonstrated that working in groups and creating a learning plan were important factors associated with course completion, while interacting with other learners online was not. We conclude with several suggestions and implications for future LMOOC design, implementation, and research.

This paper reports on the development and piloting of Classmoto, an online application designed to measure learner engagement. The application enables teachers to collect real-time analytics of student social, affective, and cognitive engagement. The results are immediately visible to the teacher. We investigated and reported on the engagement levels of 124 learners over a period of 15 weeks. Our analysis explores learners' perceptions of the usefulness of evaluating their engagement and the experiences of four teachers using the application in their courses. This paper demonstrates how engagement measures such as Classmoto can be used to innovate classroom teaching and learning. It also highlights limitations in the application, with recommendations for future development for the measurement of engagement.

This study attempts to answer one straightforward question: "what is the relationship between students' proficiency level and their willingness to communicate?", i.e., their "readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons", using an L2. Understanding the link between proficiency and WTC is important as a great deal of effort is expended by teachers worldwide on encouraging learners to engage in L2, interaction more. If their willingness to do so depends (in part) on their proficiency level at the time, this may affect what type of activities and instruction are to be provided in class, especially compulsory English classes where students have less autonomy and motivation. To establish this relationship, we correlated 1836 Thai university students' English Placement Test scores with their level of WTC as measured through a three-part survey instrument, with WTC operationalised as "self-perceived willingness to communicate", "communicative self-confidence", and "self-perceived L2 use". We found a weak to moderate correlation between WTC and language proficiency, with the construct of "self-confidence" being the most strongly correlated. We discuss some of the implications of these findings in relation to EFL teaching.

This study examines how 136 language learners interacted with other learners in and out of a Language MOOC on English presentation. It also investigates the learner-reported reasons that encourage them to interact, and that prevent them from interacting with other learners. The results demonstrate that the level of learner-learner interaction was quite low in the LMOOC overall. More active learners cited a sense of belonging to the group and confidence in their English ability as the reasons for interacting with others, and less active learners reported a preference for F2F (face-to-face) interaction, lack of time and lack of English proficiency as factors preventing them from doing so. Learners also reported frequent use of personal communication tools to interact with other learners outside of the LMOOC. We conclude with a number of suggestions and implications for future LMOOC design, implementation and research.

This classroom-based study investigated the antecedents of epistemic curiosity among 25 Thai university students in an English oral communication course. Using a whole-class survey and focus group interview, we recursively asked the students to describe a time in class when they experienced epistemic curiosity and the reasons behind it. A modified version of constant comparative analysis suggested seven thematic factors as the antecedents of epistemic curiosity and positive affect linked to its experience. Utilizing descriptions of the lessons kept in the teacher's record, we provide contextualized accounts of how and why the students experienced epistemic curiosity in class. We conclude by offering pedagogical suggestions for creating learning environments that inspire language learners' epistemic curiosity.

Despite their popularity, there remains a challenge as to how success should be measured in Language MOOCs. Although traditional metrics such as completion rates have often been adopted, they have failed to take into account the fact that learners enroll in LMOOCs with different learning goals. This study examined how success is perceived in an LMOOC on English presentations from learners' perspectives. Data were collected through 137 questionnaire responses and 22 semi-structured interviews. The quantitative results showed that the majority of learners who completed the course, as well as those who dropped out, thought that they were successful in learning in this LMOOC. Qualitative results showed that course completion was not the primary reason for their perceived success. Rather, they attributed their success to learning specific aspects of the course, language development, applications of the content to their work or study, and achieving their learning goals. The authors conclude with suggestions and implications as to how success can be measured in future LMOOC implementation.

In the last decade, Language MOOCs have attracted a lot of interest for their potential to enhance language learning. However, how learners engage with MOOC environments and realise their benefits, remains unclear. The current study adopts activity theory (Engeström in J Educ Work 14:133-156, 2001) as a lens to comprehend the affordances and limitations in an LMOOC dealing with English presentation skills called "Presentation@work." Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 22 participants. The data were then analysed using thematic content analysis and triangulated with the participants' profiles using learning analytical procedures. The results showed that peer learning, personalisation, and social interaction opportunities were perceived as affordances by the participants, while lack of proficiency, lack of affinity, course content, and lack of teacher presence were seen as limitations. Relationships between the perceived affordances and limitations and different types of participants were also found. The findings demonstrate that the LMOOC activity system is dynamic and complex and that the learners play a central role in interacting with different aspects of the system. We conclude with a number of suggestions and implications for future LMOOC design, implementation and research.

This article aims to provide teachers with a practical introduction to the capabilities of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) in foreign language education. We first provide an overview of recent developments in this field and review some of the affordances of the technologies. This is followed by detailed outlines of a number of activities that teachers can use in any ESL classroom with access to smartphones or AR/VR capable devices. The article concludes with consideration of privacy concerns, and practical issues of classroom implementation.

If only we could know what our students were up to at any given moment in class. Who is paying attention, and who is falling asleep? Who understands the past perfect and who thinks it is about something wonderful that happened yesterday? And wouldn't it be great if we knew who is motivated and who is ready to drop out of the course? Language teachers perhaps struggle with these questions even more than teachers in other domains, because their students are not able to communicate their preferences and needs as well as L1 speakers. Learning analytics involves monitoring student engagement and comprehension and can be used as a way to identify potential problems early on in a course. In this short article I will describe what learning analytics is, how it can work in practice, as well as its potential benefits and drawbacks for language learning and teaching.