The present study was designed to examine the ways power relations influence politeness strategies in disagreement. The study was an attempt to find out whether different power status of people influences the the choice of appropriate politeness strategies and speech act of disagreement by Iranian EFL learners, in a university setting. A Discourse…

Beliefs of in-service English teachers about grammar learning/teaching and the influence of such beliefs on their classroom practices remain relatively unexplored. More precisely, this study explores English teachers' beliefs about grammar learning and teaching. It throws light on the teachers' actual practices in the classrooms of 7th -12th…

The use of virtual environments to support as well as to complement language teaching and learning processes is becoming a recurrent practice and sometimes policy in several educational institutions. This paper reports the results of an inquiry carried out at the language center of a private university in Bogotá. Those results intended to describe…

To improve vocabulary learning and teaching in ELT settings, two questionnaires are designed and directed to more than 100 students and teachers in one of China's key universities. The findings suggest that an enhanced awareness of cultural difference, metaphorical competence, and learners' autonomy in vocabulary acquisition will effectively…

Complement constructions vary significantly in English and Persian. There are more complementation structures in English than in Persian and a complement structure in Persian might have more than one equivalent in English. Producing complement structures (CSs) in English is very difficult for native speakers of Persian, especially in an EFL…

In this article, the author explores the idea that reading proficiency in a second language involves comprehending the second culture and using it to interpret the world view of the second language. Using cognitive theory, the author examined the relevance of prior knowledge of Chinese language and idioms to understanding text written in Chinese.…

The present study investigated the effect of online peer feedback through blogs on Turkish EFL students' writing performance and their perceptions. Data were collected by using: a) Turkish EFL Students' Background Survey, b) interviews at the beginning and end of the term, c) first and revised drafts, and d) end-of-semester Questionnaire. The…

Students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) entering U.S. schools in grade 9 face a tight timeline to simultaneously learn English and graduate from high school in four or five years. This study focuses on student outcomes and progress indicators for the cohort of ninth graders new to WCPSS in 2008-09 who had limited English proficiency. Based…

The overwhelming weight of emphasis in language analysis in the teaching of English for Accounting (ESP) has been a concern for teachers of English at the College of Finance and Customs (CFC). In the ESP course, the teaching materials teach students to recognize the surface form by means of the specialist texts. The difficulties the students and…

It is widely agreed that much second language vocabulary learning occurs while the learner is attentively engaged in the process of reading and interpreting the texts encountered. It is also argued that to understand vocabulary learning linguists cannot limit the investigation of the process of vocabulary learning to word meaning (Gass, 1999).…

Automated scoring has the potential to dramatically reduce the time and costs associated with the assessment of complex skills such as writing, but its use must be validated against a variety of criteria for it to be accepted by test users and stakeholders. This study addresses two validity-related issues regarding the use of e-rater® with the…

Interaction in English as an International Language (EIL) setting provides myriad opportunities for negotiation of meaning, arguably beneficial for language acquisition. The present study aims at finding out how meaning is negotiated in EIL interaction among two groups of postgraduate TESOL international students from two Asian countries,…

This paper focuses on the views of twenty-six pre-service and eight in-service English teachers in Hong Kong concerning the information technology courses in their teacher education programmes. The findings of the study show that while both software applications and technological integration in teaching are highlighted in the course outline, the…

In Nebraska, pursuant to Nebraska statutes 79-1014, districts must submit a Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Plan by mid October of each year as specified by statute. The LEP plan is meant to specifically address the needs of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students and will be used in calculation of state funding for the following fiscal school…

The present study examines the effect of self-evaluation on Spanish oral performance of nine second-language university students in an intermediate conversation course. Participants were asked to submit multiple drafts of digital video recordings of themselves practicing language functions throughout a semester. Participants also reflected on…