Focusing on the relationship between linguistic, cognitive, socioemotional factors in writing English for academic purposes (EAP), this study investigated whether topic familiarity as an important cognitive factor of task complexity influences different levels of emotionality and linguistic complexity in EAP writing and whether there are…

Listeners have been shown to judge second language (L2) users more negatively than L1 speakers on measures of language proficiency and even on personal qualities. However, less is known about what factors affect listener judgment which this study seeks to explore. In the study, one first language (L1) English speaker recorded her spontaneous…

Understanding the effects of second language writers' topic familiarity on their subsequent writing performance has been a subject of great interest to researchers in second language acquisition and TESOL. However, prior studies have tended to suffer from multiple methodological limitations (e.g., no interrater reliability, limited or no control…

This controlled experimental study investigated the interaction of variables associated with rating the pronunciation component of high-stakes English-language-speaking tests such as IELTS and TOEFL iBT. One hundred experienced raters who were all either familiar or unfamiliar with Brazilian-accented English or Papua New Guinean Tok Pisin-accented…

Online learning is a growing trend in education during the corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the difficulties that online majors in non-English languages have when attempting to acquire English. The subject of this study involved using the questionnaire method for as many as 412 students and…

The present study presents an experiment in which online acronyms, formed from common fixed phrases or formulaic expressions, and in common usage in English medium computer-based communication, were presented to Korean university-level learners placed into either a control group or treatment group which was given instruction into the expansions…

Foreign-born (first-generation) South Asians face a growing diet-related chronic disease burden. Little is known about whether the adult US-born (second-generation) children of South Asian immigrants can provide unique insights as changemakers in their parents' dietary behaviors. This study aims to assess how second-generation South Asians…

The purpose of this study was to explore five developmental patterns of English letter-name knowledge for emergent bilingual children. We considered five patterns demonstrated by English monolingual children: visual similarity effect, uppercase familiarity effect, first name/first initial effects, consonant-order effect, and frequency effect. We…

The current study aimed to identify the most and the least important situational properties of second language willingness to communicate (L2WTC) in an EFL context. After reviewing the related literature, 24 influencing factors were identified and then they were prioritized. 180 TEFL students participated in the study to answer the research…

In communication between first (L1) and second (L2) language users, the default has long been for L2 speakers to assume most, if not all, responsibility for adjusting their speech to accommodate their interlocutor. This not only places an undue burden on the speaker, but also furthers the assumption of listener passivity in communication. One…

The study explores the attitudes of undergraduate Flagship students in the United States towards Arabic-accented speech in English. It examines the Familiarity Principle among these students and analyzes their attitudes based on socio-intellectual status, aesthetic quality, and dynamism of Arabic-accented speech. The study also discusses the…

Learner engagement is crucial for ensuring the quality of learning experiences, and yet the study of 'task engagement' has received relatively little empirical attention in the language education domain. This article reports on a study exploring the factors contributing to learners' engagement and disengagement during task performance in an…

This study examines four learner engagement dimensions (behavioural, cognitive, emotional and social) in pedagogical task performance and provides insights into the effects of two task types (information-seeking and direction-giving) and topic familiarity on learner engagement in a semester-long English course. A total of 28 foreign language…

Past work has suggested that L1 readers retrieve idioms (i.e., "spill the tea") directly vs. matched literal controls ("drink the tea") following unbiased contexts, whereas L2 readers process idioms more compositionally. However, it is unclear whether this occurs when a figuratively or literally biased context…

While the potential of Dynamic Assessment (DA) and its variants (Computerized Dynamic Assessment (CDA) and Group Dynamic Assessment (GDA)) for EFL classrooms has been recognized, there is a lack of research on its practical implementation compared to the well-established field of Summative Assessment (SA). Thus, the objective of this qualitative…