In this article, we investigate the integration of concept-based pragmatics instruction, grounded in Vygotskian sociocultural psychology, in an intact second-semester French class (n = 13) over the course of an academic term. Our focus is on learners' appropriation of the concepts of self-presentation, social distance, and power with respect…

An experiment was conducted to examine how different response modes for practice questions and the presence or absence of cues influenced students' self-efficacy beliefs, perceived cognitive load, and performance in language recall and recognition tasks. One hundred fifty-seven 6th grade students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions:…

Social media has created new possibilities for digitally native students to engage, interact and collaborate in learning tasks that foster learning processes and the overall learning experience. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this article discusses experiences and challenges of using a social media-enhanced collaborative learning…

In the era of globalization, the number of students studying abroad is increasing dramatically. Accordingly, there is an increasing interest among researchers in students' language gains in the study-abroad (SA) context. To deepen our understanding of second language (L2) reading acquisition in different contexts, it is necessary to examine…

This paper reports an action research study aimed at understanding how to sensitize young English language learners towards caring for the environment. The pedagogical intervention in a 5th grade class consisted in the use of creative writing strategies to express learners' ideas. Three stages were followed: "recognizing facts,"…

Despite the growing popularity of paired format speaking assessments, the effects of pre-task planning time on performance in these formats are not yet well understood. For example, some studies have revealed the benefits of planning but others have not. Using a multifaceted approach including analysis of the process of speaking performance, the…

Studies undertaken since the introduction of Web 2.0 have focussed mainly on open educational resources (OERs) such as email, blogging and virtual learning environments. No consistent efforts have been undertaken to study the use of social networking sites as a tool for learning in the second language classroom. This study examined the use of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between teachers' beliefs about their teaching methods and their sense of self-efficacy. The study also examined the effects of these characteristics on students' satisfaction and academic achievement. Participants included 16 instructors and 255 intermediate students (121 males and 127…

Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) through animated stories bears many prospects for an effective and meaningful language instruction as animated stories can help to contextualize the new language providing audiovisual input along with the story narration. In this study, the role of animated stories in teaching EFL (English as a Foreign…

This study critically examines the literacy levels of undergraduate students in Pakistan to compare and contrast the proficiency levels, particularly reading and writing of their mother tongues versus Urdu and English, and to study real and perceived vitality of local/regional mother tongues vis-à-vis Urdu and English. The research investigated…

The metacognitive awareness and reading strategy use by Korean university students in Korea was investigated. The relationships between reading strategy use, self-rated English proficiency, and self-rated reading proficiency were examined. Differences in reading strategy use were also explored by gender and academic classification. Problem-solving…

Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) has received much attention recently, serving as a lens to examine the ways in which teachers integrate technology into teaching. Questionnaire instruments have been developed to examine teachers' TPACK. However, teacher-perceived TPACK may not fully reflect their real practices in classrooms. To…

Although researchers have called for the investigation of local vernacular learning and teaching practices in various ELT (English language teaching) contexts, studies conducted in the Periphery are fewer in number. This study attempts to understand English learning experiences of a group of students from the Periphery, who were studying English…

This study details the development of six second language learners in an English listening course that focused on developing their bottom-up listening skills. The research employed longitudinal multi-case studies to chart the development of these lower proficiency-level Taiwanese university learners, and their progress in the course was analysed…

Evaluating language materials is very useful for language teachers, and one essential consideration in evaluating language materials is obtaining the teachers' views on its value (Tomlinson, 2003). Thus, this study aimed to explore Palestinian English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' attitudes towards the different aspects of the English…