Larisa Nikitina

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Verified

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• PhD (University of Malaya), M.A.-B.A. (Lomonosov Moscow State University)
• Associate Professor at University of Malaya

There is a growing awareness in methodological literature that parametric statistical tests may not be appropriate in studies with a small sample size and non-normal data (Larson-Hall and Herrington 2010; Mizumoto and Plonsky 2016). In addition, the presence of outliers or cases widely different from the rest of the data set poses serious methodolo...

Studies on stereotypes have been done in various academic disciplines, which makes stereotypes a truly interdisciplinary construct. This article offers a review of literature on country and national stereotypes. It examines the origins of the construct of stereotypes and methodologies employed to investigate it. The article also highlights gaps – b...

Internationalization of higher education is becoming an important topic for studies in educational research. For the most part, these studies have been done in the context of economically developed countries that are traditional exporters of higher education. The present study is different. First of all, it was conducted in a public university in M...

This study examines metaphors about learning produced by a group of eighteen students at a big public university in Malaysia. The learner perspective is placed within a wider discourse on education in order to explore whether the images employed by the learners to describe their learning reflect the dominant conception of education as “production”....

This study explored stereotypes about China held by young Malaysians. It focused on the learners of the Mandarin language in a big public university. The study not only examined the content but also assessed the favourability and salience of the language learners’ stereotypes, which had not been done in the previous studies. The stereotypes about C...

Chromatic Lexicons for text analysis (English) This resource presents chromatic lexicon (colour term dictionary) developed to support computer-assisted analysis of colour terms in English texts. The lexicon includes a systematically compiled list of colour-related vocabulary. It was created was created based on a range of online chromatic source...

Хроматический лексикон Данный ресурс представляет собой хроматический лексикон (словарь цветовых терминов), разработанный для компьютеризированного анализа цветовой лексики в русскоязычных текстах. Лексикон включает систематически собранный перечень цветообозначающих слов. Он был создан на основе различных онлайн-источников, связанных с цветовой...

Due to the development of digital technology and the diversification of working styles in the wake of the recession and pandemic, the demand for flexible task-based gig work is increasing in Malaysia. However, university students tend to be reluctant to enter the gig economy, preferring conservative full-time jobs. Knowledge of how well the younger...

Motivational drivers and emotions that students experience play an important role in the process of learning a new language (L2). This has been recognised by researchers and educators, and extensive research has been conducted in recent decades to examine the psychological and emotional factors involved in L2 learning. However, two ubiquitous epist...

Plain language summary Chinese students’ beliefs about knowing and learning the English language People who have learned a foreign language have their own opinions about what it means to know a foreign language and about good ways to learn it. However, these opinions are rarely explored. This study investigated Chinese university students’ perspect...

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KBKUZJQSQX83HHF86BFG/full?target=10.1080/09555803.2024.2407774 Japanese popular culture (pop culture) has penetrated and influenced foreign cultural markets through various means. Japanese city pop music, popular from the 1970s through the 1980s, has charted a new trajectory in this transnational cultural spillov...

In recent years, there has been a rise in research on sensorium in various academic disciplines. Olfaction is recognized as a sense that is most closely linked to cognition, memory and emotion. Due to this unique feature, studies on various aspects of human olfaction are steadily gaining prominence in the humanities and social sciences. In order to...

This study explored linguistic resources that people employ to express their perceptions and opinions of a fragrance. Several natural language processing (NLP) techniques were used, including sentiment analysis, topic modelling, and supervised classification. The data were collected from the website of Fragrantica, popular among perfume lovers, and...

This study employed a moderated mediation analysis with the aim to expand our understanding of psychological processes pertaining to learning an additional language. Since moderated mediation analyses are less common in L2 research, this article gives a detailed explanation of the analytical procedure. The data were collected among Malaysian learne...

This study explored epistemic beliefs held by Mainland Chinese learners of English. Studies that investigate language learners' personal epistemologies, which include beliefs about the nature of knowledge and the process of knowing, are scarce. For the most part, such studies are quantitative. This paper employed Q methodology, an approach that ble...

This study explored linguistic resources that people employ to express their perceptions and opinions of a fragrance. Several natural language processing (NLP) techniques were used, including sentiment analysis, topic modeling and supervised classification. The data were collected from a popular among perfume lovers website Fragrantica.com and the...

With almost 260 million speakers, the Portuguese language is one of the most widely spoken European languages in the world. Besides Portugal, it is the official language in several countries and territories around the globe. Portuguese is the official or working language of international organizations, such as the African Union and Mercosur. Howeve...

Malaysia’s taxi sector is beginning to question platform capitalism. Penyatuan Pemain Industri Pengangkutan Darat Malaysia (PPDM) has called for the creation of a new government-led platform to replace the online platform companies that have exhausted the taxi industry ecosystem. However, discussions with the Malaysian Government remain parallel. T...

This study investigated the mental images of Portuguese-speaking countries held by 91 students learning Portuguese in two large public universities in Malaysia. It also explored the factors that motivated them to learn Portuguese. This is the first such study to present findings on the mental images associated with Portuguese-speaking countries apa...

This study investigated the mental images of Portuguese-speaking countries held by 91 students learning Portuguese in two large public universities in Malaysia. It also explored the factors that motivated them to learn Portuguese. This is the first such study to present findings on the mental images associated with Portuguese-speaking countries apa...

Psychological factors involved in learning a second language (L2) present a considerable interest for applied linguistics researchers and language educators. This study adopted the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) framework to examine links between L2 motivation, willingness to communicate in the target language (L2WTC), classroom environment (L...

This study investigated the mental images of Portuguese-speaking countries held by 91 students learning Portuguese in two large public universities in Malaysia. It also explored the factors that motivated them to learn Portuguese. This is the first such study to present findings on the mental images associated with Portuguese-speaking countries apa...

Background: Epistemic beliefs refer to a person’s viewpoints about the nature of knowledge and the process of knowing. A number of studies have explored language learners’ subjective views about what knowing and learning a foreign or a second language (L2) means to them personally. For the most part, these studies adopted quantitative research desi...

Penyatuan Pemain Industri Pengangkutan Darat Malaysia (PPDM), a group of people involved in the Malaysian land transport sector requested the Malaysian Government to create a government-led e-hailing platform to improve the firm-centred industry ecosystem. However, the Malaysian Government has not given a clear response to their requests. Existing...

The Malaysian taxi industry may be at a turning point. Penyatuan Pemain Industri Pengangkutan Darat Malaysia (PPDM) has demanded for the creation of a new government-led platform to replace the existing private platform-based e-hailing industry. This movement indirectly foreshadows the re-emergence of commons in e-hailing industry in Malaysia. T...

Introduction. This study adopts a Global Englishes perspective to examine dimensions within beliefs about English language held by Mainland Chinese university students. It also assesses whether and how these beliefs impact the students’ motivation to learn English (L2 motivation). Materials and Methods. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 46...

(free access till 14 April 2022) https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ee1P5FQORiFD2 This study examines how syntactic complexity evolves in argumentative L2 writing by Chinese first-year university students (N = 102). The participants were at either a low- or upper intermediate level of English language proficiency, like the majority of the first-year...

Adopting a cognitive-interactionist perspective, this study focused on peer interaction in the L2 classroom. It explored what types of peer interaction in terms of Negotiation of Meaning (NoM), Language-related Episodes (LRE) and Uptake of Recast that tend to prevail during task discussions in the L2 classroom. This study also assessed whether task...

Numerous studies have been devoted to explorations of various aspects of language learner psychology, such as L2 motivation, language attitudes, learner autonomy, etc. Some studies have explored mental images (stereotypes) that language learners have of target language countries, their cultures and people. The focus of these earlier studies was on...

Link to 50 days' free access to this article (expires on June 02, 2021) https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1curn,7ttA2Po3 The aim of this study is to deepen our understanding of psychological processes involved in learning an additional language, particularly the associations between ideal L2 self and L2 willingness to communicate (L2 WTC). For this...

A questionnaire on epistemic beliefs of language learners. Please cite as Nikitina, L., and Furuoka, F. (2018). Dimensionality in language learners’ personal epistemologies. International Journal of Instruction, 11(1), 269-282.

Applied linguists and language educators have long acknowledged the prominent role that language attitudes play in the process of selecting and learning an additional language. The current study examines a mediating role of language attitudes in the Stereotypes–L2 motivation linkage in the context of learning a foreign language, an area which remai...

This article highlights methodological challenges inherent in implementing a repeated-measures ANOVA study on L2 academic writing and suggests possible solutions to these challenges. The RM-ANOVA design is employed when the same participants are measured more than once. Therefore, a repeated-measures ANOVA study with its several sessions of data co...

A flattening of the Phillips curve in recent decades has attracted a considerable interest of researchers and central bankers. As trade openness might be among the main causes of this phenomenon, this study puts forward a testable ‘openness–Phillips curve’ hypothesis. Two methods — a static and a dynamic approaches — were employed to test the hypot...

Much of the available empirical research on personalized learning is done in the primary and secondary educational settings and, for the most part, in Western countries. There is a lack of literature – both in terms of theoretical advancements and empirical investigations – on the dilemmas and challenges inherent in the implementation of personaliz...

This study examined relationships between language attitudes and L2 motivation of learners of Korean as a Foreign Language (KFL) in a large public university in Malaysia. It employed the socio-educational model of L2 motivation and focused on the relationship between the language learners’ attitudes toward speakers of the target language and their...

This paper proposes a four-step procedure to examine a disappearance of the Phillips curve. The procedure involves estimating an initial value, computing a potential output using the state–space model, calculating a static slope coefficient of the Phillips curve and estimating a time-varying slope coefficient. This analytical sequence was employed...

This book explores stereotypes that learners of six Asian languages— Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Myanmar, Thai and Vietnamese—hold about the target language country, its cultures and people. Some of the findings, such as the language learners’ mental images of Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, are presented here for the first time. Recognizing that s...

This study has adopted the Cognition Hypothesis to examine the effects of task complexity and task condition on individual L2 argumentative writing. The linguistic measures of the written production assessed in this study were Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency (CAF). A repeated-measures ANOVA test analyzed the data collected from 36 Malaysian univer...

It has been acknowledged in research literature that stereotypes about a target language country held by language learners influence the students’ motivation to learn a foreign language (L2 motivation). However, there is a lack of studies that link explorations of these stereotypes and L2 motivation in a single research project. This mixed-methods...

It has been acknowledged in research literature that stereotypes about a target language country held by language learners influence the students' motivation to learn a foreign language (L2 motivation). However, there is a lack of studies that link explorations of these stereotypes and L2 motivation in a single research project. This mixed-methods...

Quantitative applied linguistics research often takes place in restricted settings of an intact language classroom, workplace, phonetics laboratory or longitudinal sample. In such settings the samples tend to be small, which raises several methodological problems. The main aim of the current paper is to give a detailed explanation of methodological...

R code for OLS analysis. (TXT)

R code for bootstrapped OLS. (TXT)

R code for bootstrapped QR. (TXT)

Data used for the analysis. (TXT)

(Link to the full paper, limited to 50 downloads, ---- https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DZaKyePPSkr22CH2R7R5/full) People who learn a foreign language hold various mental images about the target language country, its culture and society. These images are recognised as a valuable source of information for developing the cultural component of a f...

In the context of higher education foreign language courses are viewed as skills-oriented subjects that aim to enable students to communicate in a foreign language. The main four language skills to be developed are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Until recently, decisions about which of the linguistic skills should be emphasized in a fore...

In the context of higher education foreign language courses are viewed as skills-oriented subjects that aim to enable students to communicate in a foreign language. The main four language skills to be developed are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Until recently, decisions about which of the linguistic skills should be emphasized in a fore...

This study aimed to examine dimensionality in language learners’ epistemic beliefs. To achieve this, a survey was conducted using a newly-developed research instrument-“Language Learners’ Epistemic Beliefs” (LLEB) questionnaire. Based on a review of literature, it was proposed that language learners’ epistemic beliefs would cluster in three dimensi...

Paper presented at the 6th Discourse and Society International Conference, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 5th & 6th December 2017

A research seminar conducted at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

A number of studies have focused on language learners’ images of Spain and Spanish-speaking countries, however, none of these investigations was conducted in an Asian educational context. The current study has addressed this gap in research literature. It investigated not only representations but also salience and favourability of students’ images...

This article describes the steps and phases involved in constructing a questionnaire on the motivation to learn a second or foreign language (or L2 motivation). It evaluates psychometric properties of the instrument by performing exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Participants in this study were 194 students. The results of the explorato...

This pedagogically-oriented study investigated cultural representations of Portugal held by 29 learners of Portuguese in a large public university in Malaysia. The main purpose of this study was to demonstrate how these representations could be employed for teaching the cultural component of the Portuguese language programme. During the content ana...

Several studies in the field of applied linguistics have explored images held by language learners about a target language country. However, for the most part, these studies focused on learners of modern European languages, such as German, Spanish and French and they were conducted in Western educational contexts. Besides, none of the previous inve...

Numerous studies have explored images and representations about Russia. For the most part these studies were done in Western socio-cultural and educational contexts. The present article focuses on images about Russia held by learners of Russian in a big public university in Malaysia. Besides exploring the content of the students’ stereotypical repr...

This study explores stereotypes about Germany, its culture and native speakers held by learners of the German language in a big research university in Malaysia. It adopts a rigorous approach to exploring the students’ mental representations about the target language country. Thus, it investigates not only the content of stereotypical representation...

Language learners bring into the classroom a multitude of stereotypes about the target language country, culture and native speakers. Recognizing an important role that these images play in the process of learning a foreign language, several research studies have explored stereotypes held by language learners. For the most part, these studies were...

Stereotypical representations of Italy have been widely explored from European and North American perspectives. However, few studies have been done in an Asian context. This study addresses this gap and investigates stereotypical images about Italy held by students learning Italian in a renowned public university in Malaysia. The findings revealed...

Among the educational metaphors “learning as acquisition” and “learning as participation” occupy a prominent position. These metaphors shape and guide the discourse on education and learning and they have been extensively employed by educational researchers, scholars and educators themselves. However, do these metaphors reflect the students’ perspe...

The present study aims to explore mental images or stereotypes about Italy held by the students learning Italian in a big public university in Malaysia. It not only examines the stereotype content but also assesses favourability and salience of the students’ images about the target language country. Thirty-four beginner language learners participat...

Research studies in the fields of general education and language pedagogy recognize the importance of metaphor as a research tool. Metaphors can help teachers articulate and construct their professional experiences (Kramsch, 2003) and ameliorate the classroom practice (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999). The majority of the previous studies that employed metaph...

In the past two decades the topic of beliefs about language learning has been attracting considerable research interest. The first to conduct a systematic research into the nature of language learning beliefs was Elaine Horwitz of the University of Texas at Austin, who developed the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI). This instrument...

This study explores images about Brazil held by learners of Brazilian Portuguese in a big public university in Malaysia. It employs a mixed methods approach for this purpose. In the qualitative component of the study, the students’ images about Brazil were explored by analyzing their responses to an open-ended question and grouping the resultant im...

In educational research literature there are two influential metaphors about learning. They describe this process as either “acquisition” or “participation” (Sfard, 1998). These metaphors have been widely used by scholars, researchers and educators. However, the students’ perspectives on learning have been underexplored. This article addresses this...

Extensive research has been done on language learners’ perceptions and representations of the target language country, culture and speaking community. However, first of all, there is a lack of such studies in the context of Russian language teaching and learning. Secondly, no attempt has been made in the previous studies to quantitatively assess th...

This article explores country images and stereotypes about Russia held by Russian language learners in a big public university in Malaysia. Several studies in the field of applied linguistics have explored language learners’ stereotypes about the target language country. However, there are some gaps in the academic literature on this topic. Firstly...

This study explored stereotypes about China held by young Malaysians. It focused on the learners of the Mandarin language in a big public university. The study not only examined the content but also assessed the favourability and salience of the language learners' stereotypes, which had not been done in the previous studies. The stereotypes about C...

Internationalization of higher education is becoming an important topic for studies in educational research. For the most part, these studies have been done in the context of economically developed countries that are traditional exporters of higher education. The present study is different. First of all, it was conducted in a public university in M...

In 2006, the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, recommended that all public institutions of higher learning in the country incorporate soft skills formation into their curricula. This qualitative study aimed to explore Malaysian students’ expectations of university education with a special focus on the acquisition of soft skills and to examine...

This poster was presented at Research and Innovation Competition 2011 (PEREKA 2011) held on June 6-7, 2011 at Universiti Malaysia Sabah. It won gold medal.

Theatrical activities are widely used by language educators to promote and facilitate language learning. Involving students in production of their own video or a short movie in the target language allows a seamless fusion of language learning, art, and popular culture. The activity is also conducive for creating an authentic learning situation wher...

Educational constructivism has long been associated with advanced pedagogy on the basis that, it champions a learner-centered approach to teaching, advocates learning in meaningful contexts and promotes problem-based activities where learners construct their knowledge through interaction with their peers. Involving language learners in video projec...

This paper describes a video-making project in which twenty-four Russian language students at a Malaysian university made their own digital videos in Russian. The article argues that the activity supports a construc-tivist perspective on education, based on such tenets as the active construction of knowledge by learners, the social nature of learni...

This article describes a video project in which learners of the Russian language at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) were involved in making their own digital video in the target language. The activity is viewed from the constructivist perspective of education, in which an active construction of knowledge by the learners, the social nature of learni...

This study examines the dimensions in teacher-student relationship in the language classroom. It also explores the most and the least desirable qualities of the language teacher as perceived by a cohort of Malaysian university students, and the hierarchy of these qualities. It has been proposed that cultural mores predominant within a particular so...