This article examines how tertiary language learners of German engaged with the novel "Blutbuch" (2022) by Swiss author Kim de l'Horizon. Celebrated as the first nonbinary novel in German literature, excerpts of this autofictional text were taught in a 3-week unit, which was part of a semester-long German course targeted at university…

Second language acquisition (SLA) research emphasizes the role of imagination in language learning, with learners often envisioning themselves engaging with native speakers. However, learners' language preferences may differ from those of native-speaker communities. For example, while regional language is used in native-speaker communities to…

This paper expands on discursive approaches to language policy by incorporating the notion of the lived experience of language (Busch, 2015). More specifically, I analyse young people's lived experience of language education policy by focusing on students in Luxembourg who are educated in a language that is not their main or home language. Indeed,…

Language-specific (i.e. the ideal L2 self) and plurilingual selves are now at the forefront of scholarly inquiry in L2 motivation research. Yet, there is a lack of empirical studies examining how language learners reframe their sense of self as speakers of an L2. This study draws on a questionnaire (N = 162) and on semi-structured interviews (N =…

Research has shown that world language learners' listening comprehension skills develop at a slower pace than reading or speaking skills, possibly because a systematic approach to developing listening skills is often neglected in classroom contexts. To address this issue, the present study investigated whether listening skills can be improved…

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…

This study is the first to investigate subject-level variability in sociolinguistic evaluative judgements by 30 adult L2 German learners and explore whether the observed variability is characterizable as a function of individual differences in proficiency, exposure, and motivation. Because group-level estimates did not paint an accurate picture of…

The ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview--computer (OPIc) employs a self-assessment instrument to determine the nature of the speaking prompts to which the test taker will respond and, thus the difficulty of the test. Grounded in research demonstrating varying levels of accuracy in self-assessment among language learners, this study examines the…

Building up on studies that have revealed L2 transfer of imperfective meaning from one Romance language into another [Salaberry, M. R. (2005). Evidence for transfer of knowledge of aspect from L2 Spanish to L3 Portuguese. In D. Ayoun & R. Salaberry (Eds.), "Tense and aspect in romance languages: Theoretical and applied perspectives"…

This study investigates the use of overt and null subjects in Bulgarian in child heritage speakers with L2 German. The alternation of overt and null pronominal subjects in null-subject languages like Bulgarian depends on grammatical and discourse conditions and contrasts with German. Oral narratives were elicited in Bulgarian, comparing the…

The German government requires all migrants without sufficient German language proficiency to enroll in integration courses. Many of these migrants had few prior experiences with formal education, yet, regardless of degree of literacy in any language, they are placed in classes based on language proficiency. How well do government-approved…

This study investigates for the first time the comprehension of rhetorical questions (RhQs) in bilingual children. RhQs are non-canonical questions, as they are not used to request information, but to express the speaker's belief that the answer is already obvious. This special pragmatic meaning often arises by means of specific prosodic and…

The 2025 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages was held in Kansas City, Missouri on March 13-15. This year's theme, "Global Goals, Global Languages," highlighted the partnership of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals) and language curricula. The Global Goals were created to address…

German university degrees, at least in some countries, offer students only German literature courses in addition to language courses. Linguistics is often not a core component of German degree programmes. As a result, students who are not familiar with basic linguistic terminology do not know how languages work, including their mother tongue, or…

There is a scarcity of research into the relationship between speech perception and production from a multilingual perspective. The present exploratory study investigates longitudinally the acquisition of rhotic sounds in 24 adolescent learners who have the same language repertoires (English, German, Polish), with English being their L2, and…