Background/purpose: The study investigated the potential effects of classroom environment on foreign language learning in the first three grades in Kuwait from teachers' perspectives. Materials/methods: To achieve the study's objectives, an electronic questionnaire was distributed to a sample of EFL teachers in Al-Jahra, Kuwait, during the…

Purpose: This study aims to examine how language background and grade level influence the voiceless sibilant fricative production of two groups of children enrolled in a Mandarin-English bilingual school in Canada. One group of children was exposed to Mandarin at home as heritage language (HL), and the other group had little to no exposure to…

Executive functions (EF) have long been recognized as critical factors in accounting for individual differences in literacy development. However, their role in second language (L2) learning, particularly in non-alphabetic languages such as Chinese, has not been fully explored. This study endeavored to examine the role of EF in word reading among…

Writing can be a challenging task for students--especially for those who have grown up as second language (L2) learners. In particular, planning and structuring written content can be especially difficult for them. For this reason, the effects of a combined strategy instruction intervention consisting of a graphic organizer and storytelling on the…

Reading and writing are enormously valuable, influencing every area of life beyond school. However, reading and writing difficulties are on the rise, especially among second-language students. The primary objective of this study is to design a classroom intervention that simultaneously promotes reading and writing and is easy to implement. In a…

Foreign language anxiety has influenced reading achievement in English as a second language learning (ESL). However, less is known about how foreign language anxiety affects Chinese students learning English as L2 and the interplay between foreign language anxiety and cognitive-linguistic factors on L2 reading performance. This longitudinal study…

Against the backdrop of rapidly growing attention to FL learners' emotions, the present study investigated learners' classroom emotions (anxiety, boredom, and enjoyment), literacy outcomes (reading and writing proficiency), and a largely neglected factor in FL emotions research to date -- maternal education as a proxy for socio-economic status.…

This study examines the implementation of CEFR Basic User-level descriptors within a systematic instructional design framework to support learner-centered instruction and formative assessment in Korean elementary English education. Focusing on Grades 3 and 4, the study aligned CEFR's four communicative functions--reception, production,…

Recent investigations have suggested that both metacognition and emotions play important roles in second language (L2) learning. However, the majority of these studies focused on negative emotions, such as anxiety, or considered high school or university students, neglecting primary school age students, which is frequently the starting period in…

Metacognitive knowledge is essential to vocabulary learning and reading. However, there have been few longitudinal studies investigating how the breadth of vocabulary knowledge mediates the relationship between metacognitive knowledge and reading over time in a foreign language context. This study involved 361 primary school students, who were…

Mathematical modeling involves using mathematics to represent, analyze, and make predictions or decisions about real- world situations. Garfunkel and Montgomery (2016) elaborate on six components of the mathematical modeling process, including identifying the problem, making assumptions and identifying variables, doing the math, analyzing and…

This study examines the intricate relationships between home language use, oral language skills (phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and receptive vocabulary), and literacy skills (word reading and spelling) in English and Chinese among young bilinguals. The sample includes 249 first-grade and 263 third-grade bilingual students in…

Research has established the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and children's reading development. However, the theoretical mechanisms underlying the association between them have yet to be fully understood. Moreover, few previous studies exploring the mechanisms tapped both first language (L1) and second language (L2) at the same time. In…

This study evaluated the feasibility of the Knowledge, Language, and Inquiry (K.L.I.) intervention, designed to support Grades 3-5 multilingual students classified as English learners (ML-ELs) in building content knowledge, language skills, and reading comprehension through inquiry-based small-group instruction. Feasibility was examined across…

This study evaluated the feasibility of the Knowledge, Language, and Inquiry (K.L.I.) intervention, designed to support Grades 3-5 multilingual students classified as English learners (ML-ELs) in building content knowledge, language skills, and reading comprehension through inquiry-based small-group instruction. Feasibility was examined across…