Jim Ranalli

• PhD, Applied Linguistics and Technology
• Professor (Assistant) at Iowa State University

The TSLL2023 event contributed to the launch of what promises to be an extensive program of research exploring AI in applied linguistics. The chapters in this volume were developed from selected conference presentations reporting on investigations of the potential, uses, and implications of AI technologies for language learning, teaching, assessmen...

The TSLL2023 event contributed to the launch of what promises to be an extensive program of research exploring AI in applied linguistics. The chapters in this volume were developed from selected conference presentations reporting on investigations of the potential, uses, and implications of AI technologies for language learning, teaching, assessmen...

The TSLL2023 event contributed to the launch of what promises to be an extensive program of research exploring AI in applied linguistics. The chapters in this volume were developed from selected conference presentations reporting on investigations of the potential, uses, and implications of AI technologies for language learning, teaching, assessmen...

To the extent automated written corrective feedback (AWCF) tools such as Grammarly are based on sophisticated error-correction technologies, such as machine-learning techniques, they have the potential to find and correct more common L2 error types than simpler spelling and grammar checkers such as the one included in Microsoft Word (technically kn...

Recent case-study research on L2 student engagement with automated writing evaluation (AWE) feedback shows it is not simply a matter of understanding and implementing suggested changes but can instead be strongly influenced by individual and contextual factors. The present multiple-case study builds on this work by investigating the extent to which...

The research literature on L2 writing processes contains a multitude of insights that could inform writing instruction, but writing teachers are constrained in their capacity to make use of these insights insofar as they lack detailed information about how their students' actually engage in the processes of writing. At the same time, writing-proces...

Assessment for learning (AfL) seeks to support instruction by providing information about students’ current state of learning, the desired end state of learning, and ways to close the gap. AfL of second-language (L2) writing faces challenges insofar as feedback from instructors tends to focus on written products while neglecting most of the process...

Assessment for learning (AfL) seeks to support instruction by providing information about students' current state of learning, the desired end state of learning, and ways to close the gap. AfL of second-language (L2) writing faces challenges insofar as feedback from instructors tends to focus on written products while neglecting most of the process...

Since the 1970s, one strand of second language (L2) pedagogy has been concerned with imparting behaviors and techniques to learners that they can use independently to improve their learning and use of the target language. This strand, known as strategy instruction (SI), has faced a number of challenges including overdependence on teachers for instr...

Accurate metacognitive monitoring of one's own knowledge or performance is a precondition for self-regulated learning; monitoring informs metacognitive control, which in turn affects task outcomes. Studies of monitoring accuracy and its connection to knowledge and performance are common in psychology and educational research but rare in instructed...

Automated written corrective feedback (AWCF) has qualities that distinguish it from teacher-provided WCF and potentially undermine claims about its value for L2 student writers, including disparities in the amounts of useful information it provides across error types and the fact that inaccuracies in error-flagging must be anticipated. It remains u...

This chapter discusses the potential of technology-mediated forms of L2 strategy instruction (SI) to enhance not only the design of SI interventions but also SI evaluations and L2 strategy research more generally. The results of an empirical study are used to show how technology can facilitate the delivery of SI in ways supportive of increasingly o...

An increasing number of studies on the use of tools for automated writing evaluation (AWE) in writing classrooms suggest growing interest in their potential for formative assessment. As with all assessments, these applications should be validated in terms of their intended interpretations and uses. A recent argument-based validation framework outli...

This paper discusses the potential of technology-mediated forms of L2 strategy instruction (SI) to not only facilitate SI but to enhance evaluation of SI interventions and L2 strategy research more generally. It uses results from a recent empirical study to show how computer-based forms of SI may offer remedies for problematic features of evaluatio...

The phrase learner dictionary is typically used to describe monolingual lexical reference tools designed for learners of a second or foreign language (L2). Such dictionaries have been created to support the learning of a number of European and Asian languages, but the best known and most influential learner dictionaries are produced in English, by...

This paper explores the feasibility of an automated, online form of L2 strategy instruction (SI) as an alternative to conventional, classroom-based forms that rely primarily on teachers. Feasibility was evaluated by studying the effectiveness, both actual and perceived, of a five-week, online SI course designed to teach web-based dictionary skills...

This paper describes the development of a CALL resource that combines a novel goal with an innovative method. The goal is to establish L2 learners’ knowledge of English word patterns (Hunston, Francis, & Manning, 1997) in the form of a complex cognitive skill that integrates conceptual understanding with related text-analysis and dictionary referen...

In this paper I discuss the proposal of Dörnyei and colleagues (Dörnyei, 2005; Tseng, Dörnyei, & Schmitt, 2006) to replace the construct of learning strategy with that of self-regulation and thus shift the research focus from specific strategic behaviors to a trait that is seen to underlie them. I argue that before doing so, we need a fuller unders...

A large body of research supports the efficacy of learning strategies employed in the acquisition of second language vocabulary. However, research also indicates that many such strategies are underused or misused by learners and, further, that any effort to integrate learner training in the use of such strategies into classroom instruction faces a...

With their realistic animation, complex scenarios and impressive interactivity, computer simulation games might be able to provide context-rich, cognitively engaging virtual environments for language learning. However, simulation games designed for L2 learners are in short supply. As an alternative, could games designed for the mass-market be enhan...