With the present study I investigated the sources of score variance and dependability in a local oral English proficiency test for potential international teaching assistants (ITAs) across four first language (L1) groups, and suggested alternative test designs. Using generalizability theory, I examined the relative importance of L1s (i.e., Indian,…

In this article, we report the results of a study undertaken at the University of Cyprus (2017-2020) in the framework of the research project MapCyArS financed by the Leventis Foundation. The study concerns the design and development of an assessment test to evaluate proficiency in Cypriot Arabic (CA), a severely endangered language spoken in…

Self-regulation, an increasingly focus of social-emotional learning curriculums for over twenty years according to Zimmerman (2008), provides students with the ability of "setting goals, selecting strategies, and self-monitoring their effectiveness" as opposed to waiting for others to redirect their behavior (p. 166). Prekindergarten…

Children's oral language proficiency (OLP) is integral for developing literacy skills. Storytelling or retelling is often used by parents and educators to elicit children's OLP, yet it is less commonly used for assessment purposes. Leveraged by natural language processing and machine learning, this study examined the extent to which computational…

Many bilingual preservice teachers in Texas are not able to get certified because of language limitations. Although they have grown up listening and speaking their native language at home, with family and friends, many face challenges when using academic language in a formal setting. There is a mismatch between their language level and their…

Courses: Introduction to Rhetoric and Communication, Basic Course, Public Speaking, Classical Rhetoric. Objectives: To re-establish disciplinary commitment to civic education in perilous democratic times through "imitatio."

This longitudinal study explores the effects of time and proficiency pairing on the amount and purpose of L1 use in task-based peer interaction by EFL primary school learners. Most of the studies available to date on L1 use in peer interaction involve adult learners, and we have little empirical evidence on the role played by the L1 in child peer…

This study aimed to examine the impacts of computerized dynamic assessment (C-DA) and rater-mediated assessment on the test anxiety, writing performance, and oral proficiency of Iranian EFL learners. Based on Preliminary English Test (PET) results, a sample of 64 intermediate participants was chosen from 93 students. Running a convenience sampling…

Extensive oral tasks or monologues of different types (e.g., presentations, storytelling) are often used as second language acquisition tasks in the fields of language learning and language testing. Pre-task planning time is a common provision to test-takers who may use different strategies to prepare their response. High-stakes tests, such as the…

This study explored the effectiveness of integrating peer assessment (PA) and non-scripted role-play (NSRP) activities in enhancing the oral performance of Thai EFL high school students. Conducted at a public secondary school in Bangkok, the research involved 31 Grade 12 students and utilized a mixed methods approach. Over nine weeks within the…

Within the same learning context, learners' outcomes in terms of oral fluency vary greatly. This study tracked the relative contributions that first language (L1) and initial second language (L2) fluency skill and working memory (WM) made to L2 fluency development. We assessed the performance of French-speaking Grade 6 learners' (n = 47, mean age:…

In Ethiopia, English plays a crucial role in education, business, and government communication, serving as a compulsory subject and the medium of instruction from the ninth grade onwards. Despite its importance, English proficiency remains a significant challenge among both students and teachers, particularly in secondary schools. This study…

While it is common for deaf children to be bilingual in a spoken and signed language, studies often attribute any delays in language acquisition to language deprivation, rather than as a result of cross-linguistic interaction. This study compares the production of simple sentences in three languages (Palestinian Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and…

Ascertaining the value of a study abroad experience on facilitating language development has long been a goal of Second Language Acquisition scholars. There is currently a plethora of studies regarding the topic, yet, despite this, the evidence remains inconclusive and contradictory. This systematic review evaluates the impact of study abroad…

The present study contributes to our understanding of the effects of age and type of linguistic input in the acquisition of Spanish as a second language in adulthood. I examine the Spanish syntax (word order) of three groups of speakers, monolingual Spanish speakers from Mexico and two bilingual English-Spanish speakers born and raised in the…