This article examines factors that promote active multilingualism. For this purpose, the "Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test" was used with 48 children. Their results were linked to a parental questionnaire designed to evaluate the children's linguistic input in their immediate environment. The study shows that, besides a minimum amount of…

Languages differ in their preferences for particular intensifying constructions. While intensifying adjectival compounds (IACs) (e.g. "ijskoud, ice-cold") are productively used to express intensification in Dutch and English, in French this construction is hardly productive. Consequently, French-speaking learners may encounter…

English is presumed as the globally dominant language in the scientific world, and academics are expected to attain written and verbal competencies in academic English to a visible, accessible academic portfolio that represents them as individuals as well as their institutions. The present study was meant to investigate perceived English for…

This study examines the English vocabulary development of 43 very young child English as a foreign language (FL) learners (age 3.2-6.2) in China. They were tested twice for vocabulary breadth (reception and production) and semantic depth (paradigmatic and syntagmatic vocabulary knowledge). The development of the English vocabulary knowledge…

In this thesis, I present three related papers that collectively investigate the instructional supports on screen and in the media viewing context that influenced English and heritage language vocabulary knowledge in DLLs. In study 1, I examine how specific pedagogical approaches used in educational media might benefit DLLs. In study 2, I…

In this paper the incidental language acquisition of 11-year-old Flemish children (n = 30) who have not received any formal English instruction is investigated. The study looks into children's English proficiency and the learner characteristics that can be associated with it. In order to measure the children's English proficiency, a receptive…

This study investigated how task-based learning (TBL) developed the verbal competence of Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) by employing qualitative and quantitative analyses. We compared the impromptu oral presentations on reading texts of 76 intermediate EFL learners given respectively in the beginning and the end of the…

Increasing attention paid to learner-centered pedagogy in recent years has highlighted the examination of intelligence and language learning strategies (LLSs) among others. This study explores EFL learners' perceived use of language learning strategies across various intelligence types as reflected in Gardner's 1983 Multiple Intelligences Theory.…

An attempt is made is this paper to examine the validity of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) scale through a comparison of the scaling of speaking tasks and speech performances by the scale and by a Rasch analysis of judgments made by "naive" persons. The results of the multi-faceted Rasch analysis seem…

This measure is designed to identify, assess, and diagnose the oral language capability of English and Spanish speakers, and to prescribe corrective or improvement activities. Part One provides minimum criteria to identify children who might need training in a second language. Part Two is designed to assess the child's primary or home language and…

This study was designed to outline possible forms of guided self-assessment in adult language learning and to suggest steps that might be taken in order to further develop methods judged to be suitable for use within the European unit/credit scheme for foreign language learning by adults. The report includes a review of relevant literature and…