This study proposed a three-tier test to help students learn English grammar. To reduce students' anxiety, game-based learning was incorporated into the three-tier test, where personalization was also implemented to accommodate students' different needs. More specifically, we developed a Personalized Entertaining Three-Tier Test (PET3), which…

We developed the Scaffolding English E-assessment Learning (SEEL), where instant feedback and scaffolding hints were provided, to facilitate students to acquire the knowledge of English grammar. On the other hand, an empirical study was conducted to investigate how cognitive styles (i.e. Holists vs. Serialists) affected learners' reactions to the…

This research applied a web-based dynamic assessment system, GPAM-WATA system, to help low English achievers to perform self-directed learning of junior high school English grammar. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. A total of 124 seventh graders from four classes participated in this research. Participants were randomly divided into the…

Embedded questions (EQs) are islands for filler--gap dependency formation in English, but not in Norwegian. Kush and Dahl (2022) found that first language (L1) Norwegian participants often accepted filler-gap dependencies into EQs in second language (L2) English, and proposed that this reflected persistent transfer from Norwegian of the functional…

This study sought to identify the challenges and needs of TOEFL iBT candidates in achieving C1 level scores in the speaking and writing sections of the exam. To this end, the researcher employed a mixed-method approach to collect data from a population of 46 students, both male and female, between the ages of 22 and 30. The participants were…

An effective diagnostic test can play a key role in language learning, allowing strengths and weaknesses in students' linguistic development to be identified and addressed. This paper describes the online Cambridge English diagnostic test, assessing English grammatical knowledge at A2 level. As most language tests focus on proficiency or…

This study attempts to explain a systematic phenomenon that has been described in interlanguage grammars crosslinguistically: Null-Prep, which consists of omitting the obligatory preposition in certain movement constructions. We propose that Null-Prep is not related to lack of knowledge of "wh"-movement, as previously assumed, but to…

Inflectional affixes expressing the same grammatical category (e.g., subject agreement) tend to appear in the same morphological position in the word. We hypothesize that this cross-linguistic tendency toward "category clustering" is at least partly the result of a learning bias, which facilitates the transmission of morphology from one…

In two visual-world eye-tracking experiments, we explore the extent to which conflicting first-language (L1) based grammatical parses influence second-language (L2) learners' on-line and off-line interpretation of sentences in the L2. We used cross-linguistic structural priming to potentially boost competition from the L1 grammar during the…

This article reports on two studies, testing how three different types of input (skewed first, skewed random and balanced) affect second language (L2) learning of English present counterfactual (IF-Is) and past counterfactual (IF-IIs) conditionals, two constructions differing in complexity. The experiment included a proficiency test, a pretest, a…

VocQGen is an automated tool designed to generate multiple-choice cloze (MCC) questions for vocabulary assessment in second language learning contexts. It leverages several natural language processing (NLP) tools and OpenAI's GPT-4 model to produce MCC items quickly from user-specified word lists. To evaluate its effectiveness, we used the first…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a real-time multidimensional computerized adaptive test (MCAT) using data from a previous paper-pencil test (PPT) regarding the grammar and vocabulary dimensions of an end-of-term proficiency exam conducted on students in a preparatory class at a university. An item pool was established through four…

In the realm of language proficiency assessments, the domain description inference and the extrapolation inference are key components of a validity argument. Biber et al.'s description of the lexicogrammatical features of the spoken and written registers in the T2K-SWAL corpus has served as support for the TOEFL iBT test's domain description and…

Although group dynamic assessment (GDA) has been gaining attention over the recent decade, its applicability in online context has been left rather underexplored. Hence, the current study examined the effects of GDA on developing EFL learners' written grammatical accuracy in the online context of 'Telegram'. To this aim, 60 Iranian EFL students…

The lack of opportunities to practice the English language outside the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom can prevent English language learners (ELLs) from promoting their language proficiency to high standards. This lack makes the progress from one level of English to the next one a hard mission for Arab students. Subsequently,…