Although research interest in second language (L2) teachers has grown, novice L2 teachers remain understudied, especially writing teachers. Existing research on L2 writing teachers has largely centred on cognitive development, often overlooking crucial personal and socio-contextual aspects. Utilising a narrative case study approach, this study…

The field of second language acquisition (SLA) research had long been governed by a paradigm that prioritized cognition over emotion. Recently, increased attention has been drawn to the role of "perezhivanie" in language development as Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT) brought together emotion and cognition, thereby offering an…

Learning English as a foreign language (EFL) beyond the classroom is challenging in non-native English-speaking developing countries with limited resources. However, learning English beyond the classroom occurs in an informal way to support language learning for many autonomous or independent adult learners. This paper explores the habit of…

Although the notion of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has been widely promoted in language classrooms, few empirical studies report how social media, such as Instagram, could be used as a virtual learning platform to engage students in learning how to communicate interculturally. Framed within the global Englishes (GE) concept as the…

Utilizing a structural equation modeling approach, this article aims to examine the dynamics between Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE) and Intercultural Competence (ICC). Altogether, 1490 Chinese college students from different types of universities in China answered the self-developed and validated IDLE-ICC questionnaire. The results…

This article investigates the significance of the use of multilingual language assistants (MLAs) in second language teaching for adult migrants with limited formal schooling. Norton's theories of investmentand critical pedagogy serve as an analytical backdrop. An emic perspective is adopted, with interviews with nine adult learners taking centre…

With the growing interest in integrating information and communication technology in the EFL classroom, the present study investigated the impact of electronic first language (L1) translations and second language (L2) definition glosses on incidental vocabulary learning and retention among Moroccan EFL learners. In total, 172 first-year university…

The teaching of the grammar of a second/foreign language has always been an issue that different teaching methods have considered. Studies in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) have shown that mere exposure to meaningful second language input is not enough for learners to reach proficiency in the target language. At beginner…

This study investigates the differential effects of a task-based inside-school intervention and an outside-school project intervention on the development of speaking skills of 56 beginner second language (L2)-learners. The study extends previous research by looking at development across multiple occasions instead of two (i.e., a pretest and…

Today the world of social media has immersed in the world of education and influencing the world of the students' activities. It is inevitable that students in many levels of education have been using social media in their life either as students or as interactants in the certain community. Therefore, it is interesting to see the existence of…

Since the end of the 20th century, autonomous learning has become a popular research topic in education and has received much attention from researchers. The acquisition of Chinese as a second language requires learners to practice autonomous learning and develop their language learning ability. The present study used the theory of autonomous…

The rationale behind this special issue is to underscore the importance of studying instructional materials in context--that is, how materials and textbooks are used by teachers and learners. Research on teaching materials needs to reach beyond traditional 'armchair' analyses and evaluations to appreciate the place of instructional materials in…

Time has contributed to most of our daily activities. In the field of understanding how the human brain reacted to specific learning processes, the neuroscientist supports the impact of having multiple learning sessions with the retention of knowledge. Spaced Learning is a product makes out of human's lack of capacity in retaining information and…

This paper proposes the replication of Bird's (2010) and Serrano's (2011) studies, which examined distribution of practice effects in second language acquisition (SLA). These studies, which took place in authentic classroom contexts, produced conflicting results regarding the degree to which the learning of a second language (L2) benefited from…

Informal digital learning of English (IDLE) is an increasingly important subfield of inquiry in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) for its concentration on the language learning practices of the digital native EFL students in out-of-class contexts. Attention in mainstream research of IDLE has been directed to (meta)cognition, learning…