This classroom study evaluates the effectiveness of pre-teaching communication strategies before learners undertake an information-gap speaking task. A convenience sample of 67 first-year students taking mandatory English classes at a private Japanese university was subject to one of two instructional approaches. The experimental group (n=37)…

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the use of data-driven learning (DDL) in L2 writing instruction. This paper examined whether and to what extent DDL activities could enhance the writing complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) of 30 Thai EFL learners. The presentation of DDL in this study was hands-on concordancing with the…

Language learning activities involving time-pressured repetition of similar content have been shown to facilitate improvements in fluency. However, concerns have been voiced about whether these gains might be offset by reduced levels of grammatical accuracy. This descriptive study tracked the oral proficiency of 32 Japanese university students…

Writing and its role in English as a foreign language (EFL) context has been one of the primary areas of focus for many years. The present study examined the effects of mobile-based concept mapping on EFL learners' writing fluency and motivation. To fulfill the objective, 70 upper-intermediate level Persian EFL learners were assigned into one…

Whereas scholars have extensively researched the pedagogical potential of 4/3/2 activities (i.e. increasing time pressure in task repetition) for enhancing second language (L2) fluency, its impact on L2 accuracy remains unclear. To help L2 learners improve both fluency and accuracy, the present study examined the effects of adding accuracy…

This study aimed at investigating the impact of story-based extracurricular tasks on enhancing the speaking skills of EFL learners. The parameters of grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and fluency were examined. A pre-test/post-test one shot case study design was adopted. A sample of 20 students, enrolled in the common first year program at Jouf…

The present study explored the impact of flipped classroom on English as a foreign language (EFL) students' global writing performance and writing complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) through a quasi-experimental research design. In so doing, two intact classes were selected from an Iranian university as the participants of the study and they…

Owing to the complex nature of the English Grammar, teachers of English language and linguistics face many challenges when teaching Grammar. Besides, it is difficult for students to master grammar structures though English teachers in Albania try hard to make grammar teaching as engaging as possible but through the traditional grammar teaching…

It is contended that Lusophone universities are to a certain degree deprived access to American and European scholarships in the 21st century. We examine the validity of this statement, focusing on the barriers scholars often face when accessing scholarships using English. To explore the constraints English language imposes on Mozambican lecturers…

This study explores the effect of collaborative writing (CW) and peer feedback (PF) practices on subsequent individual writing assignments. Two groups of university students in a Spanish as a foreign language course experienced both CW and PF (Group 1 CW then PF; Group 2 PF then CW), and pre and posttests were analyzed for syntactic complexity,…

This study examines students' perceptions of the Guided Use of Machine Translation (GUMT) model and their perceptions of GUMT's impact on their foreign language (FL) writing. Adapted from O'Neill (2016, 2019b), GUMT model activities were developed and implemented in an upper-elementary Korean as a FL course at a large southwestern U.S. university.…

Fluency development is one of the prominent components of a well-balanced language course. In particular, speaking fluency interests second language (L2) researchers who have continuously tried to look for the finest approach for helping L2 learners attain a certain level of fluency to achieve effective communication. To this end, the primary…

The role of practice has been largely overlooked in second/foreign (L2) pragmatics research. Furthermore, very few studies have directly compared the effects of different "practice contexts" (e.g. practice in a telecollaborative context versus practice in a face-to-face context) on L2 learners' pragmatic competence (e.g. in compliment…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of self-disclosure and strategies for communication competence on perceptual ratings and performance evaluations of undergraduate students who do and do not stutter by professors who require oral presentations. Method: Two hundred thirty-eight college instructors who require oral…

Previous research has documented positive effects of pre-task planning on task-based performance, commonly analyzed in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency, in an L2. However, the sources of planning have rarely been examined in the research of task-based language teaching. The present study explored EFL learners' oral performance across the…