Over the past few years, research has shown that stakeholders involved in CLIL develop positive views and attitudes alongside with higher motivation towards the foreign language (Czura, A., K. Papaja, and M. Urbaniak. 2009. Bilingual education and the emergence of CLIL in Poland. In "CLIL Practice: Perspectives from the Field," ed. D.…

Ofsted's 2021 Curriculum Research Review outlines a language pedagogy predicated on an exclusively cognitivist approach to language learning, which relies on three 'pillars of progression': phonics, vocabulary and grammar. The review makes a brief acknowledgement of the importance of motivational factors, including 'pupils' positive views of…

Recent research has established that it is academically advantageous for students to adopt an incremental view of their intelligence and that this is a key marker of a student's level of self-efficacy. The self-efficacy of students following Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) courses in UK secondary schools is known to be low. Interventions have been…

Although much has been discussed about the use of reading aloud (RA) outside China, it has been one of the least investigated learning/teaching behaviours in ELT in China. The paper reports the results of a series of semi-structured interviews, in which learners and teachers were invited to identify the reasons and problems in the use of RA in…

The acquisition of English language skills may be supported by instructing learners in the use of language learning strategies (LLS). Researchers have presented different taxonomies of LLS but evidence of their validity is controversial. The goal of the study is to test an Estonian version of Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning…

The aim of this study is to explore whether latent classes, i.e. subgroups of students, representing specific motivational profiles can be found among learners of different foreign languages (L2s) in Finnish comprehensive schools. The focus is on whether motivational profiles are different for learning a compulsory foreign language (English) or an…

Video viewing can be a valuable resource to expose students to large quantities of input so they can improve their vocabulary and content comprehension. Most studies so far have used short clips and have not explored in much detail the effects of individual differences (IDs) such as aptitude, listening skills and vocabulary size. This paper aims…

This article discusses issues related to oral assessment of school knowledge of L2-educated students. In particular, it examines benefits and disadvantages of students being tested in their L1 (their dominant language) and in their L2 (their language of instruction). The study draws on the data from 37 high school students studying in a content…

Research on writing development in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) settings is still inconclusive. This study intends to make a contribution in this respect by presenting longitudinal findings on the development of written complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) in secondary education CLIL and non-CLIL learners. Participants in the…

This study compared two groups of high school students in their learning of a third-year Mandarin level 3 class under two conditions: an intensive four-week (85.5 hours) summer program and a 22-week (88 hours) regular semester program. Students in both conditions had been classmates through four semesters of Mandarin instruction and had similar…

Bilingual programmes in which an L2 is used as the medium of instruction are becoming popular in different parts of the world, and content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is one variant of such programmes. Recent research on CLIL has gradually shifted from product-oriented (i.e. evaluating the effectiveness of CLIL in terms of language and…

Research on language learning strategies (LLS) has pointed to a significant association at a general level between learners' gender and their choice of LLS. To explore this generality further, we conducted a study on gender and strategy use with Sri Lankan learners (N = 886) of English as a second language (ESL) in five different learning…

Recent literature that examines the implementation of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in classroom settings has reported various challenges related to educational cultures, classroom management, teacher cognition and learner perceptions. To facilitate the smooth transition of TBLT from laboratory settings to classroom contexts, measures need…

Although some earlier studies reported female and child superiority in learning a second language (L2), current research has been inconclusive as to whether, and why, this might be the case. Using a socio-cultural paradigm, this study addresses how motivation, gender and age relate to the attainment of a native-like accent for young Kurdish…