Recent evidence suggests that Chinese foreign language (FL) learners' positive emotional experiences are conveyed not only by the prevalent emotion of foreign language enjoyment (FLE), but also by the culture-specific emotion of foreign language peace of mind (FLPOM) which describes an inner state of peace and harmony. This study seeks to…

This cross-sectional study seeks to compare levels of emotional resonance in Arabic and English and identify the effects of sociobiographical factors, the history of English language learning and the current use of English on the development of emotional resonance of English among 141 bi- and multilingual Arab pupils and students in Saudi Arabia.…

Processing of emotional meaning is crucial in many areas of psychology, including language and music processing. This issue takes on particular significance in bilinguals because it has been suggested that bilinguals process affective words differently in their first (L1) and second, later acquired languages (L2). We undertook a series of five…

This study is an exploratory analysis of examinee behavior in a large-scale language proficiency test. Despite a number-right scoring system with no penalty for guessing, we found that 16% of examinees omitted at least one answer and that women were more likely than men to omit answers. Item-response theory analyses treating the omitted responses…

The purpose of this research is to analyze whether university students would be willing to engage in distance foreign language (FL) course design, and if the knowledge of their preferences could be used to present guidelines for course designers. Student engagement is seen as crucial to graduates' achievement in HE, especially in online courses,…

This practice report describes a 12-week stand-alone course designed to address the challenges university students face in foreign language classes. Adopting principles of transformative language learning, course content, activities and resources were designed and implemented to dispel myths and preconceptions regarding language instruction,…

Professor of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Robert DeKeyser is from the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Maryland. His research builds bridges between the theory of second language acquisition with major concerns in cognitive aspects such as implicit and explicit learning mechanism, age differences, and…

The paper discusses how learner engagement in language learning settings has been conceived of and investigated in the past decade. Whilst a cognitive focus used to predominate in research on language learners' engagement, the importance of affective (and social) factors is increasingly recognised. The paper interrogates 'engagement' in the…

This study is aimed at investigating the level of teacher-written feedback self-efficacy among Malaysian secondary school teachers and the influence of teachers' age, gender, qualifications and teaching experiences on their written feedback self-efficacy. Bandura (1986) had mentioned that of all the different aspects of self-knowledge, none is…

Do learners of a second language (L2) need frequent contact with native speakers of that language in order to master its phonology? What if they hear audio recordings of native speakers and receive immediate corrective feedback about their perception? We used a randomized controlled experiment with 135 Chinese speakers (with English as their L2)…

The efficiency of training of students of Philology Departments depends on the level of their communicative skills, that is, their abilities to participate in spontaneous discussion. This arises the issue of training these skills in the English majors. The research intends to determine and analyse the psychological background of Training English…

This study examined English Learners' (ELs) self-efficacy beliefs in a U.S. university setting by using a survey, interviews, and focus group discussions. The results identified that ELs from different disciplines had positive self-efficacy beliefs about their overall English learning, and self efficacy was related to ELs' age, years of English…

This study examined and compared different written corrective feedback techniques used by English as a second language (ESL) teachers in three different educational contexts and levels (primary, secondary, and college) in Quebec, Canada. In particular, it examined whether there were any differences in the types of errors made, the kind and degree…

This paper argues for the replication of two studies, both of which consider feedback and working memory. In the first part of this paper, we discuss the role of interaction-based research and working memory research in second language acquisition research. We then describe two studies that have unified these two areas in recent published articles…

When learning English, learners might face a challenging task in mastering pronunciation due to differences in both languages such as sound-to-letter correspondence, size of phoneme inventory, allophonic realization of sounds, place and manner of articulation, among others. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review both theoretical and…