Few studies have explored the effects of non-digital gamification on K-12 students' speaking skills, leaving a gap in understanding the effective gamified features for enhancing foreign language speaking. This action research study aimed to improve students' speaking skills through various non-digital gamification activities. The sample consisted…

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,…

This paper investigates the implementation of a reading program designed for third grade elementary school classrooms in Austria. Using a mixed-methods approach, lesson types were identified, respective class compositions analyzed, and the effects on students' reading gains examined. The results show that the lesson types seem to reflect learner…

This article considers students in Grades 3 and 4 and their parents' views regarding learning English as a modern foreign language (MFL) in the primary school, through questionnaires in the Muscat region and AL Dahira region, and interviews with students. This study found that Omani people are interested in language learning. Parents were willing…

This paper focuses on the positive outcomes and the challenges that teachers experienced after the introduction of the English primary curriculum reform of grades 3 and 4 in Omani state schools. Three focus group interviews were conducted with English teachers (n = 15) in three regions (Muscat, AL Sharqia South and AL Dahira regions). Although the…

Using kindergarten up to fourth-grade data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (2010--2011 cohort), we investigated systematic variability in English language learners' (ELLs; n = 303) mathematics growth as well as relations of kindergarten language growth and working memory (WM) to ELLs' mathematics growth. Using growth mixture modeling,…

The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of preschool experience on academic achievement, with specific reference to English language learning outcomes of Grades 1, 2 and 3 students in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Data from a representative sample of 402 students covering all three grades, from Bahrain public elementary schools were…

Background: Developing higher-order comprehension skills of learners in primary schools is a challenge that faces many countries. South Africa is no exception. Primary school learners in South Africa have particularly low literacy and comprehension skills: many learners struggle to read for understanding. There is little published scholarship that…

The present study aimed to examine the contributions of two separate Pinyin skills and oral vocabulary to Chinese word reading of 70 third graders in a U.S. Mandarin Immersion program where Pinyin was introduced at Grade 3. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that Pinyin initial-final spelling--the skill to spell Chinese syllables using Pinyin…

This study investigates how Swedish learners make sense of and perceive English instruction and the process of foreign language learning in a target language-only primary school classroom. In small group discussions, 26 learners aged 9-10 were audio recorded while discussing questions related to their language learner beliefs and their classroom…

The purpose of this study was to examine how classroom language contexts characterized by peer language skills and proportions of dual language learners (DLL) influenced English language development for DLL and non-DLL children. Participants were 2,131 children from 135 classrooms across preschool through Grade 3. Children were classified into…

This study investigated the prevalence and stability of latent classes among elementary-aged English learning (EL) children whose first language is Spanish. To this end, EL children (N = 267) in Grades 1, 2, and 3 at Wave 1 (Year 1) were administered a battery of vocabulary, reading, math, and cognitive measures (short-term memory, working memory,…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the impact of a literacy-infused, inquiry-based science curriculum on English learners' (ELs') English oral language expressive skills as measured by the Woodcock Munoz Survey-Revised subtests: Picture Vocabulary and Verbal Analogies (Woodcock-Munoz-Sandoval, Ruef, & Alvarado, 2005). In…

The strength of English learners' second language reading is closely associated with academic success. Using qualitative research methods and verbal protocols, this study examines four elementary-level English learners' uses of reading strategies and describes how each English learner employs these strategies while reading both culturally relevant…

The present study examined the roles of different dimensions of syntactic skills in predicting reading comprehension within and across two languages with contrasting structural properties: Chinese and English. A total of 413 young Cantonese-English bilingual students in Hong Kong (202 first graders and 211 third graders) were tested on word order…