This study examined the linguistic dimensions of comprehensibility and perceived fluency in the context of L2 argumentative speech elicited from 40 Japanese-speaking learners of English. Their speaking performance was judged by 10 inexperienced native speakers of English for comprehensibility and perceived fluency, and was also objectively…

This study explored the effect of differing levels of interactivity in a VR language learning system on learner oral task performance. 30 participants were divided into 15 pairs which undertook two spot-the-difference tasks. One in a static-VR system, the other in an interactive-VR system which required them to move objects into the correct…

It is general practice to use rater judgments in speaking proficiency testing. However, it has been shown that raters' knowledge and experience may influence their ratings, both in terms of leniency and varied focus on different aspects of speech. The purpose of this study is to identify raters' relative responsiveness to fluency and linguistic…

Previous studies demonstrated that the continuation task has great language learning potential and that various task-related factors may affect the extent to which the potential can be exploited (e.g. Wang & Wang, 2015). This study investigates the effect of one understudied factor, the linguistic complexity of the input text, on English as a…

Seedhouse (2004) suggested that L2 classroom interaction can be understood in terms of sub-varieties or L2 classroom contexts. These are the 'interfaces' between pedagogy and interaction in which a particular pedagogical focus combines with a particular organisation of the interaction. However, Conversation Analysis does not see such organisations…

Although repetition is at the core of many different approaches to language learning, either implicitly or not, using this pedagogic practice in the additional language classroom is still negatively perceived by some teachers (Bygate and Samuda, 2005). For contemporary research, on the other hand, the use of repetition is not incongruous with…

While the research on pretask planning has concentrated on its effects on learners' task performance in terms of fluency, accuracy, and complexity, its possible influence on the overall discourse level, such as discourse management and coherence, has been largely ignored. The present study addresses the inadequacy by uncovering the potential…

With the development of language corpora, linguists have been able to identify how often specific words, phrases, and expressions are used, and in which contexts. However, applications of corpora in the wider domain of language teaching have remained limited. This article presents an approach to utilizing corpora, combining principles from…

This study examines the significance of using leveled texts in the improvement of second language learners? word recognition skills, accuracy and fluency. For this purpose, the research explores students? readings levels, word identification and decoding skills, reading accuracy and reading fluency before and after the leveled reading program. In…

This study investigates the influence of a grammatical reconstruction task on talk and subsequent individual writing. In a South Korean university, two classes alternated learning conditions, between 'read-summarize-write' and 'read-reconstruct-write'. In the summarize condition, small groups collaborated to create a summary of the reading; in the…

Tasks with different design factors may dissimilarly affect oral production, and thus can be adopted for different pedagogical purposes. However, the functions of task types are not fully explored. To address this gap, this study investigates the influence of content familiarity and task repetition on sixty English as a foreign language learners'…

Most research focusing on the challenges that international teaching assistants (ITAs) encounter in U.S. classrooms employs a linguistic perspective. The present study furthers that research by examining other challenges unique to ITAs, through the lens of an intercultural competence framework. Through individual interviews with 15 ITAs, the study…

The literature on task planning abounds with studies in laboratory or classroom contexts; however, the contribution of task planning to the testing context has remained a largely uncharted area of enquiry. The current study is primarily focused on exploring the impacts of pressured vs. unpressured on-line task planning conditions on EFL students'…

This study investigates learner engagement in pedagogic task performance by triangulating multiple sources of data to gain insight into the cognitive and affective processes that take place on a range of tasks and how they engage learners of different target languages. The study provides a detailed analysis of 4 learners' second language (L2)…

Grammar teaching is a highly researched area within applied linguistics. Views on what is effective when dealing with grammar shift from approach to approach. Since language teaching is a complex field, research and classroom practice have both challenged commonly held conceptions of what is effective. In fact, methods in English language teaching…