The recent decades have witnessed a remarkable increase in the body of research that examine the relationship between humour and language acquisition. This study, however, uses the microanalytical approach of Conversation Analysis (CA) to investigate the impact of the teachers' competent use of the first language (L1) as a source of humour on…

This article investigates how lexical and syntactic differences in L1 and L2 grammatical gender affect L2 predictive gender processing. In a visual-world eye-tracking experiment, 24 L1 Russian adult learners and 15 native speakers of German were tested. Both Russian and German have three gender classes. Yet, they differ in lexical congruency, that…

This article explores the applications of research on native spoken language into second language learning in the concept of subordination. Second language (L2) learners' ability to integrate subordinate clauses is considered an indication of higher proficiency (e.g., Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005; Tarone & Swierzbin, 2009). However, the notion…

Orthographic forms (spellings) can affect pronunciation in a second language (L2); however, it is not known whether the same orthographic form can affect both L2 pronunciation and metalinguistic awareness. To test this, we asked 260 speakers of English--first-language (L1) English speakers, L1 Italian and L2 English sequential bilinguals, and L1…

This article provides an overview and critical analysis of "The English Language Learning Progressions (ELLP)" (Ministry of Education, 2008). Identifying main themes through critical policy analysis, this review seeks to place "ELLP" in context through a comparison with "The English Language Learning Framework: Draft"…

This qualitative case study through Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA) investigated the reading process of three Chinese-Mandarin-speaking college English learners (ELs) of varied English language proficiency. In the conversations that occurred during the oral reading of selected texts, the researcher explored students' perceptions about reading…

Code-switching is related to the shift between the first and second languages done by the speakers in conversational contexts. Based on the theories of code-switching, second language learners frequently apply their first language when communicating with others to deliver the messages clearly, maintain group solidarity, and avoid unintended…

Usage-based approaches to language acquisition explain language development as a gradual process of generalizing constructions through language experience. This study investigated second language learners' development of constructional knowledge from the perspective of usage-based language development. A total of 169 Korean EFL students at five…

The differences and similarities in the word recognition and reading comprehension skills of monoliterate Albanian-Greek (ML2), biliterate Albanian-Greek (BL2) and monolingual (L1) children in grades 3-6 were examined in two cross-sectional studies. Participants completed standardized and experimental tasks measuring cognitive, oral language and…

This article reports on a small-scale qualitative study designed to explore lecturers' and students' experiences of teaching and learning on a recently-implemented MSc programme in Biomedical Sciences taught in the medium of English at an Italian university. A focus group format was employed to interview twelve students on the programme, and…

Studies on L1 and L2 productions from the same participants might contribute significantly to language acquisition process. In this study, the researchers investigated read speech pausing patterns in coordinating conjunctions produced by Turkish, Swahili, Hausa, and Arabic speakers of English. The data for the study was collected in two phases; in…

Families are their children's first educators. From birth, families nurture their children to be healthy and successful in school and in life. Head Start and Early Head Start program staff share these goals and partner with families as they work to meet these goals. There are unique ways in which these partnerships matter for children who speak…

Whether children in migrant households maintain proficiency in their heritage language (HL) may affect their attachment to their cultural heritage, while the extent to which they acquire proficiency in the new language of their destination strongly conditions their success in the country's educational and occupational institutions. In this paper,…

The current study examined lexical aspects of second language (L2) speech attainment in the foreign language (FL) classroom setting (i.e., several hours of target language input per week). A total of 72 second-year university students with 7 years of FL study and no experience abroad participated in the study. Their spontaneous speech was analyzed…

The present article aims to focus on the perception and expression of emotions by Polish immigrants to England and Ireland. The informants of the study were 72 Polish-English bilinguals living in England and Ireland from 1 to 324 months. Data analysis discussed emotional expression in the L2 as well as perception of such emotional statement as I…