Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is now common in extra-curricular language learning, but, more recently, teachers have increasingly sought ways to utilise MALL as a communicative classroom tool. Research into the extent that MALL can transform a whole communicative language course, and learners' impressions of such courses, is scarce.…

Studies and research reveal that most English language learners (ELLs) encounter challenges when they write an academic paper in English due to lack of grammar. As most international universities require passing international tests as TOEFL, IELTS, GMAT, GRE, and other tests with high level, most international students fail to achieve this…

IELTS is used as a screening gatekeeper and plays a crucial role in Omani students to meet job requirements. This paper reports on Omani English-major undergraduate students' reflections on their experience of the reading section of Academic IELTS. The main aim of the study was to elucidate their difficulties and coping strategies to inform…

The use of group-based, task-oriented, peer interaction formats in classroom and public L2 speaking tests has grown in recent years. However, these assessments have received comparatively little attention when compared to other formats such as the oral proficiency interview (OPI). In order to better understand the local exigencies of this…

The revived interest in the notion of 'evaluative judgement' in higher education is motivated by commitment of researchers and practitioners to effectively implement learning-oriented assessment and cultivate this high-order cognitive ability to develop students' capacity for self-regulated learning. Recent studies have examined the affordances…

For the full implementation of strategic goals of public administration, as well as a worthy representation of the interests of the state at the international level, civil servants must have high foreign-language professional competencies. Practical issues of educational and training programs in the field of development of these competencies are…

The present study sought to investigate the effects of Summary Writing (SW), Picture Writing (PW), and Topic Writing (TW) tasks on the accuracy and complexity of Iranian intermediate EFL learners' writing performance. To this end, of 61 students majoring English Literature in Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran, 43 (10 males, 33 females) of them…

This empirical study examines the extent to which 'face', i.e. (audio visual dialogues), affects the listening comprehension of advanced Jordanian EFL learners in a TOFEL-like test, as opposed to its absence (i.e. a purely audio test) which is the current norm in many English language proficiency tests, including but not limited to TOFEL iBT,…

In recent years, the use of English corpora to instruct grammar in writing classes has become increasingly popular. In English for Specific Purposes classes, such a novel approach is critically important since it not only allows teachers to achieve a profound understanding of which syntactic structures should be instructed, but it also increases…

Two groups of English as a second language students engaged in a fourteen-week repeated reading (RR) treatment: (1) a 3x group (n = 16), which engaged in three readings per session, and (2) a 5x group (n = 15), which engaged in five readings per session. Reading rate and background knowledge were measured at five points to assess the effect of…

The impacts of task characteristics on second language (L2) writing require further exploration. This study examined the effects of increasing task complexity on L2 argumentative writing. Upper-intermediate L2 learners performed two writing tasks with varying degrees of complexity in relation to the number of elements and the degree of reasoning.…

Described as a "galloping" phenomenon now considered "pandemic" in proportion, the use of English as the lingua franca medium of instruction (EMI) at higher education institutions (HEIs) across the globe is today considered the most significant trend in educational internationalisation. Japan is no exception and a growing…

Translanguaging and trans-semiotizing research has problematized the static view of language and argued that meaning making is a dynamic, material, social, and historical process across multiple timescales in complex eco-social systems. The second author proposed the concept of trans-semiotizing as an alternative lens to study language teaching…

The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the Reciprocal Teaching Procedure (RTP) on reading comprehension of intermediate Iranian EFL learners in Iran. Two intact groups were chosen non-randomly, one as the control group and the other as the experimental group. Then an IELTS reading test was administered to both groups as…

Future second language (L2) self-images have proven integral to L2 motivation, prompting several attempts to purposefully develop learners' ideal L2 selves over the past decade through the use of vision-building techniques. Some of these 'vision interventions' have reported successfully enhancing learners' L2 self-images and motivation; other…