As part of our ongoing project investigating aptitude-treatment interactions (ATI) in language learning, please join us for two research seminars on Wednesday 31 May 2023.

ATI research aims to find out how different learners respond to different types of language instruction.  

Measuring language learning aptitude: LLAMA test development - 2.30pm to 3.30pm, Room CTC.2.05

Vivienne Rogers (Swansea University)
In recent years, the freely available LLAMA tests (Meara, 2005) have been widely used as a test of language learning aptitude. However, they have been subject to a number of criticisms, including their reliability (Bokander & Bylund, 2020). Since 2016, Meara and Rogers have developed these tests in two ways in response to user feedback:

1. to make the tests available on different operating systems by reprogramming them to work online on different browsers;
2. to improve the internal consistency of the tests and avoid ceiling and floor effects. 

To this end, the tests have undergone significant changes and are currently available on the lognostics website although will shortly move to a new bespoke website: http://llamatests.org. 
In this workshop presentation, we will discuss the changes between the original and current versions. This includes both the presentation format and the scoring mechanisms.

• Standardised input screen and instructions (English)
• LLAMA B: unchanged
• LLAMA D: no separate learning phase. All scoring items included. 
• LLAMA E: test phase with 20 possibilities instead of binary choice. 
• LLAMA F: 10 items, each scored twice according to five different target rules, each presented 4 times. This is instead of a binary choice based on 20 items. 

We will also present some initial data (n=640) showing the improved internal consistency of the new tests using Cronbach’s alpha.

ELT materials development: the research-practice divide - 4pm to 5pm, Room CTC.2.05

Paweł Scheffler and Karolina Baranowska (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań)

A central goal of instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) research is to provide teachers with evidence-based pedagogical recommendations. For these recommendations to be implemented, however, two conditions must be met. First, L2 researchers need to disseminate their findings effectively and, second, L2 teachers need to be actively interested in putting these findings into practice. 

In this presentation, we first report on a study investigating the impact of research publications and research conferences on teachers’ pedagogical practices in Poland. In the study, 131 English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers from 28 secondary schools in the city of Poznań completed a questionnaire that measured their attitudes towards and reported use of research-based teaching practices. The main findings indicate that research-based evidence has little direct impact on the , l choices that teachers make in their classrooms and on the materials that they prepare. As the teachers reported, EFL instruction in Polish secondary schools is heavily dependent on course book materials and the requirements of the final secondary school examination. 

In the second part of the presentation, we look at various proposals that have been advanced to facilitate the flow of research to L2 teachers. Based on our findings, we argue that in course book-oriented EFL contexts like the one in Poland it is primarily professional materials designers who should be responsible for translating research findings into pedagogical materials and practices. We finish by examining in what way grammar instruction materials in popular EFL course books used in Polish secondary schools relate to recommendations made in ISLA research.