This paper presents the results of a comparative investigation into the learning styles and strategies of effective and ineffective language learners. Subjects for the study were one hundred and ten undergraduate university students in Hong Kong. They were categorized as "more effective" or "less effective" learners, on the…

This paper reports on a small-scale study into the effects of uncoded correction (writing the correct forms above each error) and coded annotations (writing symbols that encourage learners to self-correct) on Colombian university-level EFL learners' written work. The study finds that while both coded annotations and uncoded correction appear to…

This study examines the nature of small-group discussion and explores how it fosters oral academic discourse socialization in a TESOL postgraduate course. The participants included four native-English speaking and six non-native English Speaking postgraduate students at a state university in the U.S. The findings revealed that small-group…

This paper attempts to contribute to a fuller understanding of the nature of language learner agency by considering it as a complex dynamic system. The purpose of the study was to explore detailed situated data to examine to what extent it is feasible to view learner agency through the lens of complexity theory. Data were generated through a…

This article discusses the production of English speech sounds by advanced Cantonese ESL learners in Hong Kong. A total of forty university students participated in the study, which included three speech production tasks investigating participants' production of target English speech sounds in isolated words, minimal pairs and passages. The…

This study examines the second language (L2) written and oral performance of three groups of Spanish-speaking university students after being exposed to English in different contexts. One group of learners was spending some time abroad (Erasmus students in the UK), and two groups were following classroom instruction in two different types of…

Truscott's (1996) indictment on error correction in second-language (L2) writing has ignited much discussion and research on the appropriateness of written corrective feedback (WCF) in L2 contexts. Out of this has emerged a body of research that suggests that WCF can positively impact the linguistic accuracy of student writing. However, these…

For some language educators, communicative-style language teaching, by definition, entails viewing the use of the learners' first language (L1) as counterproductive to the learning process or as an unfortunate but sometimes necessary recourse. However, recent research has shown that L1 use can serve important cognitive, communicative, and social…

The literature on formulaic language lacks sufficient research on how L2 learners make progress in native-like formulaicity of their target language. This study analyzed the use of formulaic sequences (FSs) by 56 Chinese university English majors in their prepared monologues at the beginning and end of a three-year period and compared the student…

What personality factors make for a successful hybrid L2 learning experience? While previous studies have examined online learning in comparative terms (i.e. Which format is better: in class or hybrid?), this study examines certain personality and cognitive factors that might define the ideal hybrid language learner. All informants studied…

Suprasegmentals have been emphasized in ESL/EFL pedagogy since the advent of communicative language teaching. However, it is still unclear how individual suprasegmental features affect listeners' judgments of non-native speakers' accented speech. The current study began to specify relative weights of individual temporal and prosodic features for…

The purpose of this study is to investigate L2 learners' knowledge of complex word part analysis ("word-building"), with particular reference to two issues: suffix acquisition and to the use of word families as a counting tool. Subjects were two groups of EAP students in a Thai university. Results suggest that (1) the use of word…

The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of explicit interventional treatment on developing pragmatic awareness and production of spoken requests in an EAP context (taken here to mean those studying/using English for academic purposes in the UK) with Chinese learners of English at a British higher education institution. The study employed…

This study investigated the impact of Student Team Achievement Divisions (STAD) and Group Investigation (GI), which are two techniques of Cooperative Learning, on students' reading comprehension achievement of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). After administering an English Language Proficiency test (Fowler and Coe, 1976), 90 homogeneous…

One of the effects of the growing importance of global English in professional contexts has been the rise of ESP teaching at all levels. Despite the concurrently increasing demand for ESP teachers, pre-service teacher education programmes in Europe have so far largely neglected this important area. In order to address the professional needs of…