The purpose of this comparative study is to determine whether the linguistic input approach based on Krashen's (1989) comprehensible input (CI) and supported by Kolb's (2015) experiential learning (ELT) and Siemens' (2005) connectivism theory (CT) to improve eighth graders' Spanish speaking and writing linguistic proficiencies. Previous research…

For many people, learning a second language as an adult is a challenging endeavor. Much interest in the study of adult second language learning has concerned the type of input that learners receive in their second language, with findings suggesting that second language learners are often exposed to a register of speech called 'foreigner talk' that…

Students studying in beginning level foreign language classrooms often lack the opportunity to speak spontaneously (Kogan, 2023). Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is a pedagogical approach to language instruction that advocates for the use of tasks to develop learners' second/foreign language (L2) abilities. Games can act as tasks that prepare…

This longitudinal case study investigated the developmental trajectories of two participants enrolled in an ITA oral communication course at Purdue University. The course provides language support to the ITA population who play a crucial role in higher education programs in the U.S. (Gorsuch, 2016). Over four months (i.e., one semester), I…

This study examined how L2 English speakers interpreted the notion of native English speakers (NESs) and nonnative English speakers (NNESs) and whether nativeness would influence their self-perception and speech production. It aimed at filling the following research gaps. First, limited studies have explored how L2 English speakers view the other…

Although a number of studies have been conducted to explore how various individual difference (ID) factors such as aptitude, motivation, and anxiety contributing to L2 learners' speech performance over a period of time of L2 learning, only a few examined the effect of the three ID factors on learners' L2 speech performances based on classroom…

Speech remediation by identifying those segments which compromise the quality of speech content can be performed by correctly identifying portions of a recording which can be deleted without diminishing from the overall quality of the speech, but rather improving it. Speech remediation is especially important when it is heavily disfluent as in the…

This study revisited L2 morpheme development order among Korean young learners of English. Taking into account the spirit of the current English curriculum in South Korea, the current study examined L2 morpheme development from two different perspectives: accuracy and fluency aspects. In the field of second language development, many studies have…

Individuals with lower proficiency in a second language tend to produce more disfluent speech patterns in the second language. Speech disfluencies refer to interruptions in the forward flow of speech and are distinct from the colloquial use of "fluency," to characterize knowledge of a language. Prior research indicates that some speech…

Despite an emphasis on oral communication in most foreign language classrooms, the resource-intensive nature (i.e. time and manpower) of speaking tests hinder regular oral assessments. A possible solution is the development of a (semi-) automated scoring system. When it is used in conjunction with human raters, the consistency of computers can…

Practice is necessary for developing oral English proficiency, but many Chinese learners of English lack the self-confidence to practice oral English; furthermore, students' self-confidence deficiency is perpetuated by insufficient oral English proficiency. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to discover pedagogical practices that break…

Despite the benefits of performance-based oral communication tests, a plethora of variables, as illustrated in Ockey and Li's (2015) model of oral communication assessment, can create construct-irrelevant variance in test scores. In relation to human participants in the oral communication tests, previous studies mostly focused on the direct effect…

While recent research has shown that multimodal feedback and use of formulaic sequences (FS) are effective in improving student performance on writing tasks, there is a dearth of studies on the impact of these aspects on computer-based academic speaking assessments. This dissertation seeks to fill this gap by examining the impact of both…

Learning to speak a foreign language (L2) can be a challenging feat, made all the more challenging when done in only 50 minute, daily increments in class. Oral asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC) provides learners with opportunities to practice spoken communication and evaluate their practice outside the classroom. In this…

This dissertation investigates lexical borrowing in Spanish in New York. English-origin lexical material was extracted from a stratified sample of 146 Spanish-speaking informants of different ages, national origins, classes, etc., living in New York City. ANOVAs and Pearson correlations determined whether lexical borrowing frequency and the type…