This study investigates the effectiveness of data-driven learning (DDL) in promoting lexical complexity in Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ argumentative writing, tracks developmental trajectories, and examines learners’ perceptions. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, one class (n = 26) received DDL instruction, and the other (n = 22) received non-DDL instruction. Data were collected using triangulation, including argumentative writing samples from five time points, pre- and post-instruction questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Results showed that learners in the DDL class significantly improved their lexical complexity, while the non-DDL class experienced declines. Across the five time points, nonlinear trajectories were observed in lexical complexity at the individual learner level. Learners reported positive attitudes toward DDL, though some challenges in corpus use remained. These findings provide empirical support for the effectiveness of DDL in promoting lexical complexity development in Chinese EFL learners’ argumentative writing and provide pedagogical implications for corpus-based writing instruction.

This study investigates whether and how interacting with ChatGPT may offer a context that supports perspective shifting and the development of cognitive flexibility, defined as the capacity to move between etic (outsider) and emic (insider) perspectives. Drawing on individual interviews with students enrolled in an advanced university-level Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) French course focused on marketing and advertising in France, this qualitative study examines students’ perspectives on their experiences using ChatGPT to conduct market research on French consumer needs and preferences. The analysis reveals that while students expressed concerns about the legitimacy, authenticity, and cultural positioning of AI-generated content, the interactive and conversational nature of the tool enabled some students to experiment with culturally unfamiliar roles, adopt emerging emic stances, and reflect on the limits of their interpretive frameworks. However, co-creative engagement or shared agency with ChatGPT was not automatic and depended on prompt design, tolerance for ambiguity, and the negotiation of subjective positioning. Rather than facilitating perspective transformation, ChatGPT-supported interactions appeared to foster more modest but meaningful shifts in interpretive positioning and dialectical thinking. The study points to prompt literacy as crucial for fostering more dynamic partnerships with ChatGPT and enabling students to explore alternative perspectives and roles in ways that support the development of intercultural competence in the L2 classroom.

Given the shift to technology-mediated communication, this study investigated the factors that influence Chinese EFL learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in the second language (L2) in MOOCs. While most previous studies conceptualized L2WTC as a unified construct, this study made a first attempt to distinguish its oral and written dimensions, thereby addressing an underexplored gap and capturing the complexities of both modes in online learning environments. Data were collected through questionnaires from 323 Chinese undergraduate EFL learners and complemented by semi-structured interviews with 24 learners representing high, medium, and low levels of oral and written L2WTC. Unexpectedly, the results indicated that trait-like factors (perceived communicative competence and foreign language anxiety) negatively impacted both forms of L2WTC, whereas the influence of context-specific factors (teacher support and classroom environment) was more complex. Teacher support positively affected oral L2WTC but had a limited impact on written L2WTC. The positive aspects of the classroom environment, such as its flexibility and technological use, enhanced both oral and written L2WTC, though technical difficulties and a lack of peer connection also emerged as barriers to communication. These findings provided new insights for research in online learning environments and further suggested strategies to promote positive factors while mitigating negative ones to enhance oral and written L2WTC.