This study examines the knowledge representation of Japanese university students assessed using grammaticality judgement tests (GJTs) and a metalinguistic knowledge test (MKT). The study also investigates the role of automatised and non-automatised explicit knowledge in general L2 language proficiency. Participants were 87 late learners of English…

This study aimed to develop a Vietnamese word recognition test for Taiwanese undergraduate students and to investigate students' performances at different learning stages. The formal test consists of 100 words as test items. With each word, test takers were asked to select the correct Vietnamese word form corresponding to the pronunciation they…

One of the biggest challenges for EFL (English as Foreign Language) students to learn English is the lack of practicing environments. Although language researchers have attempted to conduct flipped classrooms to increase the practicing time in class, EFL students generally have difficulties interacting with peers and teachers in English in class.…

The present research investigates the effect of self-regulatory strategy instruction on Iranian EFL learners' metadiscoursal writing abilities. To this purpose, 50 Iranian EFL intermediate learners were all native speakers of the Persian language learning the English language in an institute were selected via convenience random sampling.…

Research employing psycholinguistic techniques to assess the on-line processing of collocation by native and non-native speakers has flourished in the past few years. This line of research aims (among other things) at exploring actual performance in real time as opposed to the traditional paper-and-pencil testing techniques that have been…

This article explores the issue of identifying guessers -- with a specific focus on multiple-choice tests. Guessing has long been considered a problem due to the fact that it compromises validity. A test taker scoring higher than they should through guessing does not provide a picture of their actual ability. After an initial description of issues…

This systematic review investigated how successful children/adolescents with poor literacy skills learn a foreign language compared with their peers with typical literacy skills. Moreover, we explored whether specific characteristics related to participants, foreign language instruction, and assessment moderated scores on foreign language tests in…

This study addresses the role of domain-general mechanisms in second-language learning and knowledge using an individual differences approach. We examine the predictive validity of implicit-statistical learning aptitude for implicit second-language knowledge. Participants (n = 131) completed a battery of four aptitude measures and nine grammar…

Test preparation has been shown to affect educational test scores to varying degrees. In language testing, however, there are no cross-regional studies that consider the effects of gender and age on test preparation practices. This study represents an attempt to remedy this situation. Questionnaire respondents to a global survey were tasked with…

This study investigated the effect of consistent freewriting practice on written fluency development. Thirty-nine first-year university students completed 70 10-minute freewriting activities over the course of an academic semester. Written fluency, measured as words produced per minute (wpm), increased from a mean of 19.5 wpm to 30.1 wpm over a…

The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) to investigate the effects of Data-Driven Learning (DDL) framed within the Involvement Load Hypothesis (ILH) on Thai learners' use of academic collocations and 2) to examine how Thai learners utilized the involvement load (IL) components (need, search, and evaluation) to master academic collocations. It is…

The linguistic relativity hypothesis has focused on the influence of grammar in language on speakers' cognition. Previous studies show that speakers of languages with grammatical number (e.g., English) are more aware of the number of objects. Additionally, recent studies reveal that bilinguals who speak languages with different grammatical…

This qualitative case study aimed to examine pre-service teachers' and teacher educators' interactions during their English grammar lessons via the WhatsApp platform. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) model was employed to categorize the WhatsApp interactions based on social, cognitive and teacher presences. Participants wrote their reflections for…

In most universities in South Africa, English is still preferred as the medium of instruction. However, most schools in South Africa have adopted a home-language education approach. Those school students then have a lower English proficiency compared to other students from English schools. Providing these students with instructional assistance…

Research on second language (L2) writing suggests that student engagement with automated writing evaluation (AWE) feedback is influenced by various individual and contextual factors. Little attention, however, has been given to the role that students' digital literacy can play in this process. Increasingly, digital literacy is becoming…