Research has demonstrated that features of lexical and lexicogrammatical use are important predictors of productive second language (L2) proficiency (e.g. Kyle et al. 2018). While some features of lexical use have been studied with L2s other than English (e.g. Tracy-Ventura 2017), multivariate lexical and lexicogrammatical approaches in these L2s…

Drawing on recent scholarship integrating usage-based linguistics (UBL) and conversation analysis (CA) in the investigation of second language development, this paper reports on a microanalysis tracing one adult learner's recurring, increasingly frequent, and diverse use of the multiword expression "det er sant" (it/that is true) (DES)…

Lexical coverage, i.e. the extent to which words in a text are known, is considered an important predictor of reading comprehension, with studies suggesting 98% lexical coverage leads to adequate comprehension. However, no studies to date have examined how the various lexical coverage percentages suggested in the literature are reflected by the…

The present study assesses linguistic and geographic diversity in selected outlets of SLA and multilingualism research. Specifically, we examine over 2,000 articles published in specialized top-tier journals, recording the languages under study and their acquisition order, author affiliations, the country in which the research was conducted, and…

L2 learner engagement is an emerging but critical construct in the field of psychology of language learning and teaching. However, research on L2 learner engagement has suffered from the inconsistent operationalization of the multidimensional structure of the construct and the conceptual overlap among its different components, making research…

There is a prevailing belief that second language (L2) textbooks should strive for authenticity, aiming to accurately and reliably represent natural language use. However, assessing the authenticity of language textbooks is not a straightforward task, as it requires both a comparison between instructional texts and real-world language use and a…

The present study continues research that takes non-serious language more seriously (Cekaite and Aronsson 2005) by focusing on a central second language (L2) Metaphoric Competence factor, Metaphor Language Play (MLP). For willing learners, MLP offers a diversity of benefits (Bushnell 2009; Bell 2012a) despite being one of the most challenging…

Authorial voice is often identified as a key trait of successful writing in English rhetoric and composition, leading to research on its construction, development, and assessment in various types of written texts. Using Hyland's (2008) interactional metadiscourse framework, existing studies have also examined the use of particular voice-related…

Gamification of behavioral experiments has been applied successfully to research in a number of disciplines, including linguistics. We believe that these methods have been underutilized in applied linguistics, in particular second-language acquisition research. The incorporation of games and gaming elements (gamification) in behavioral experiments…

Measuring lexical diversity in texts that have different lengths is problematic because length has a significant effect on the number of types a text contains, thus hampering any comparison. Treffers-Daller et al. (2018) recommended a simple solution, namely counting the number of types in a section of a given length that was extracted from the…

Besides explicit inference of word meanings, associating words with diverse contexts may be a key mechanism underlying vocabulary learning through reading. Drawing from distributional semantic theory, we developed a text modification method called reflash to facilitate both word-context association and explicit inference. Using a set of left and…

This cross-sectional study addresses for the first time the non/linear association between individual learner differences of social, proficiency-related, and socioaffective nature (length of residence [LoR], varietal proficiency, exposure, and socioaffect) and differential outcomes in L2 sociolinguistic repertoires against the backdrop of the…

Research has established positive associations between informal digital activities and vocabulary knowledge. However, understanding how different types of digital activities relate to various aspects of vocabulary knowledge is limited. This study examined how the purpose of informal digital activities and strategic engagement during and/or after…

This study investigates the impact of Filipina domestic workers (FilDWs), a marginalized group in Hong Kong (HK), on HK children's language development. It focusses on FilDWs' influence on the second language (L2) English of bilingual HK primary school children attending an English Medium of Instruction school. The elements investigated are L2…

Flow reflects an optimal balance of challenge and skill, which is exhilarating and addictive. The current study investigates the role of three learner emotions (enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom) on the proportion of class time in flow among 165 Arab and Kurdish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in both in-person and online classes.…