The importance of meaning-based teaching of the writing skill as an end in itself has mostly overlooked due to the common traditional grammar-based approaches used in writing instructions within the English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of collaborative meaning-focused and grammar-focused…

This study examined the differences in perceptions of the value of feedback for improving English speaking performance between students who received video feedback and those who received written feedback and their preferences for written or video feedback. A total of 43 English as a foreign language students participated in this study to produce a…

Lexical richness makes an important contribution to L2 writing quality. To explore its importance, the study aims to identify and explain how lexical richness manifests in argumentative essays written in the final exam of reading and writing class by thirty-five undergraduates. The lexical richness consists of four interrelated elements: lexical…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of no planning and online planning on complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in L2 spoken and written tasks. The study was designed into 2x2 with two independent variables: planning conditions (no planning and online planning) and task modality (speaking and writing). First, 80 Korean EFL…

Given the growing importance of English as a lingua franca, this study examines which context (classroom instruction in the students' home country vs. studying abroad in an English-speaking country) better facilitates the acquisition of English by learners of different ages: children, adolescents and adults. Participants (N = 197) completed…

The triad dimensions of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) has been widely used for assessing second language performance and development. Unlike accuracy and fluency, the construct of Chinese syntactic complexity has not been comprehensibly conceptualized or operationalized. Moreover, not tailored to the typological differences such as the…

Following one of the new challenges suggested by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, a treatment was developed to enhance pragmatic competence, since this competence is not easy to acquire by non-native speakers. Within this context, we focused on pragmatic awareness in the workplace, an area of expertise in growing demand…

Many teachers of foreign languages struggle with finding alternative ways of exposing their students to the target language. At Kent Gardens Elementary School (KGES) in McLean, Virginia, many students participate in an immersion program from first grade to sixth grade. These students spend half of every school day immersed in French while learning…

Undoubtedly, different learning contexts offer different opportunities for foreign language practice. This article focuses on context effects, and reports on the findings of the "Study Abroad and Language Acquisition" (SALA) project, which has examined in depth the impact of two learning contexts, SA within the European Community Action…

This case study focuses on the feedback that is provided by tutors to learners in the course of synchronous online teaching. More specifically, we study how trainee tutors used the affordances of Visu, an experimental web videoconferencing system, to provide negative feedback. Visu features classical functionalities such as video and chat, and it…

The study was conducted to find out effectiveness of contextual an, structural method of teaching vocabulary in English at secondary level. It was an experimental study in which the pretest posttest design was used. The population of the study was the students of secondary classes studying in Government secondary schools of Rawalpindi District.…

Presents evidence that content-based instruction at the intermediate level of English language proficiency not only enhances performance at that level but may also help to facilitate English-as-a-Second-Language students' subsequent performance in the college academic mainstream and increase their likelihood of earning a college degree. (27…

In this study of German as a foreign language, formal classroom experience is compared with informal use of German outside the classroom focusing on three syntactic features: main clause word order (subject-verb-object, or SVO), topicalization (subject-verb inversion), and subordinate word order (subject-object-verb, or SOV). T tests and…

Describes the results of using field-specific written materials in a language laboratory setting to teach oral skills in a support course for international teaching assistants for the purpose of promoting automaticity in oral production and raising the intelligibility of students through the improvement of fluency and pronunciation. (25…

Describes the use of secret student/student dialog exchange journals with English-as-a-Foreign-Language students at Tamkang University in Taiwan. This activity helps develop students' fluency and expressive language and increases their awareness of an audience. (Author/VWL)