This study aims to examine a) whether vocabulary knowledge, captured in the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT), is related to the performance on the five types of reading comprehension items tested in TOEFL, i.e., Guessing Vocabulary, Main Idea, Inference, Reference, and Stated Detail; and b) whether EFL learners with different levels of vocabulary…

This article serves as an introduction to this second special issue of System on "Beliefs about Second Language Acquisition (SLA)" held by learners and/or teachers of foreign languages in a variety of contexts all over the world, and it compares and contrasts the empirical studies included in the issue. In sharp contrast to the first special…

A key aspect of the acquisition of grammar for second language learners involves learning how to make appropriate connections between grammatical forms and the meanings which they typically signal. We argue that learning form/function mappings involves three interrelated principles. The first is the Given-to-New Principle, where existing world…

The question of which words students should learn and in what order has traditionally been regarded as a matter for teachers and materials writers rather than the learners themselves. Research has focused on using word-specific criteria such as frequency and range of meaning to help teachers make choices about what items to teach to which students…

The study analyzes a strand of online discussion messages entitled "a Tale of Blue Rain Cafe" from an online community of English learners on the Chinese mainland. The strand of messages was part of the collective reflection made by members of an English learning club on their participation. Using sociocultural learning theory, the paper…

Self-access and language advising are relatively recent and increasingly common types of language support offered in schools and tertiary institutions around the world. There is a great deal of anecdotal support for the positive contribution of such support to student learning. Self-access and language advising hold strong potential as…

This paper reports on the development of a self-access center (SAC) within a university context, and focuses on the kind of support mechanisms provided to learners to enhance their self-directed learning (SDL) skills. After providing background information on the center and its counseling service, the paper shows how changes in the university…

This article describes a programme of autonomous language learning (ALMS) introduced at Helsinki University Language Centre in 1994. The programme was developed to encourage students to become actively involved in their own learning in terms of deciding what they need and wish to learn, setting goals and objectives, achieving these objectives, and…

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) has been fruitfully applied in L2 research that examines second and foreign language learning. This paper considers the applicability of the ZPD to interlanguage pragmatics instruction and research. First, the ZPD is defined [Vygotsky, L.S., 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher…

This paper makes connections between the research reported in this issue the broader area of second language studies focusing on learner language, interaction, individual differences, linguistic analysis, and language learning and teaching. Theoretical, empirical and ethical challenges posed by technology-based second language studies are…