We examined the effect of cultural familiarity and question-preview types on the listening comprehension of L2 learners. The results showed that the participants who received the full question-preview format scored higher than those receiving either the answer-option preview or question-stem preview, despite a statistically nonsignificant…

This case study evaluated the impact of synchronous and asynchronous E-Language Learning activities (ELL-ivities) in an E-Language Learning Environment (ELLE) at Virtual University of Pakistan. The purpose of the study was to assess e-language learning analytics based on the constructivist approach of collaborative construction of knowledge. The…

The purpose of this research was to investigate female Arab college students' use of and perceptions about social networking sites (SNSs) as an English language learning environment. A mixed methods approach was adopted for data collection and analysis. First, a questionnaire was used to explore the extent to which participants (n = 182) were…

The present study examined visual word recognition processes in Hebrew (a Semitic language) among beginning learners whose first language (L1) was either Semitic (Arabic) or Indo-European (e.g. English). To examine if learners, like native Hebrew speakers, exhibit morphological sensitivity to root and word-pattern morphemes, learners made an…

This study explored South Korean university students' perceptions of different English varieties and their speakers, student attitudes towards the learning of English and its varieties, and the role of these attitudinal variables in the learning of English as a foreign language. One-hundred-one students who were enrolled in four sections of a…

This study compares learners' writing in an impromptu, timed writing (ITW) exam and in a process-based, timed writing (PBTW) exam to investigate the differences between these two types of assessments. A secondary objective of this study is to examine the test takers' attitudes towards the two exams. Forty participants taking ESL writing classes…

Listening is an essential skill for English as a Foreign Language learners studying in English-speaking universities to succeed in various fields of study. To comprehend subject material and improve listening effectiveness, learners are generally advised to develop strategies which help them process the target language in specific contexts.…

When teachers and school librarians choose picture books for multilingual children, they often base their choice on an evaluation of linguistic comprehensibility, content familiarity and cultural appropriateness. This means that postmodern picture books may be excluded. This paper presents a case study of multilingual children's encounter with a…

The aim of this pioneering study was to define and describe motivation for the acquisition of interlanguage pragmatic competence. Interlanguage pragmatic motivation was investigated from two perspectives: (1) general pragmatic motivation, displaying L2 learners' motivation to acquire pragmatic strategies, pragmatic routines, politeness strategies,…

The last decade has witnessed an increasing research trend on foreign language reading anxiety as a skill related to but distinct from foreign language anxiety. However, sources of foreign language reading anxiety have rarely been investigated. Thus, the current study responds to the study by (Saito, Horwitz, & Garza, 1999) and extends the…

With the growing popularity of digital technologies and computer-mediated communication (CMC), various types of interactive communication technology are being increasingly integrated into foreign/second language learning environments. Nevertheless, due to its nature, online communication is susceptible to misunderstandings and miscommunications,…

In line with expanded conceptualizations of validity that encompass the interpretations and uses of test scores in particular policy contexts, this report presents results of a comparative analysis of institutional understandings and uses of 3 international English proficiency tests widely used for tertiary selection--the "TOEFL iBT"®…

This paper reports the compilation of a corpus of Taiwanese students' spoken English, which is one of the sub-corpora of the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI) (Gilquin, De Cock, & Granger, 2010). LINDSEI is one of the largest corpora of learner speech. The compilation process follows the design criteria…

Familiarity with the cultural features of the target language society and interest in learning those cultural features are the key factors to determine language learners' level of pragmatic comprehension. To investigate this issue, this study attempted to assess the relationship between attitude toward incorporating target language culture into…

With 73 students at an Iranian university, the present study investigated teacher's effect in topic familiarization in L2 reading context. The participants--Group B with and Group A without the presence of a teacher--experienced four pre-reading treatments and read four passages of unfamiliar topics, after which they were tested on comprehension…