This conceptual article argues that although imagination is a highly important dynamic of the mind with strong potential to assist language development, imagination alone does not work by itself. Instead, a strategic framework is needed to support imagination by connecting it with playful teaching and amusing content. The article begins by…

For decades, the majority of educational research has been preoccupied with understanding as a "product"--as various "learning achievements" and "subject mastery" to be measured and subsequently represented as statistics or test scores. This preoccupation is also observed in the field of second language education,…

This study investigated the effectiveness of online forum-based collaborative learning versus traditional instructional methods for vocabulary acquisition among English as a foreign language learners. Twenty-one first-year translation and interpreting students participated in a comparative study examining two distinct vocabulary teaching…

This study investigates the effect of interactive games on improving reading comprehension skills and attitudes toward games among Iranian learners of English as a foreign language. In this quantitative study, the participants in the control group received reading comprehension instruction through traditional models of teaching reading while the…

In the twenty-first-century working professionals need to possess strong Interactional Competence to handle professional communication in intercultural contexts (PCIC). However, the relationship among the three PCIC constituents -- culture, workplace and interaction -- is undertheorized in current research. This leaves PCIC practitioners…

The last few years have amplified the use of digital technology in the second language (L2) classroom due to the emergence of COVID-19. Students were forced to study online, and, as a result, changing the interaction among students became crucial. While most English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) classrooms have since…

This book responds to the expansion of dual language immersion (DLI) programs into secondary contexts, examining the effectiveness of these programs and highlighting areas for improvement in the curriculum. Focusing on Mandarin Chinese DLI in Utah secondary schools, it presents the views of teachers, parents and students on the newly implemented…

The study examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced gamification on learning outcomes and motivation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. A mixed-methods approach and quasi-experimental design were employed to compare the effectiveness of three instructional strategies: adaptive learning paths, conversational agents,…

For many language learners, listening represents a major source of anguish, with apparent success in the confines of the classroom failing to be mirrored in the ordinary interactions of daily life. One contributing factor may be the continued reliance on listening texts and activities that position the learner as a bystander rather than a…

This study reports on EFL teachers' self-reported teaching practices aimed at stimulating students' language awareness. It investigates whether, and to what extent, awareness-raising practices are currently implemented in EFL secondary education in the Netherlands, how these practices can be characterised, and how awareness-raising practices can…

In the field of applied linguistics, Diane Larsen-Freeman is widely recognized, among her numerous contributions, as the originator of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST). Over the years since her seminal publication (Larsen-Freeman, 1997), CDST has evolved into a meta-theory that guides the field's thinking on a variety of developmental…

Aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) research is of both theoretical and practical interest to second language (L2) learning, since it provides insights into the processes linking learner-internal individual difference factors and learner-external contextual variables including instructional approach--variables that jointly determine L2 outcomes.…

This study demonstrates how conversation analysis can illuminate the interactional practices through which the Present-Attention-Co-construction-Extension (PACE) approach to grammar instruction, which involves a guided, inductive co-construction of grammar rules with learners, is realized in the classroom. The data consist of three whole-class…

Many studies have examined the factors that influence second language interaction, such as task type and communication mode, i.e., face-to-face and computer-mediated communication through online mode. However, there is a paucity of research that has investigated the effects of task type on negotiation of meaning (NoM), a specific type of…

With much empirical evidence of a beneficial role of interaction in second language (L2) development, researchers have become interested in investigating specific aspects of interaction (e.g., negotiation for meaning, corrective feedback (CF), modified output, noticing, etc.) that likely influence the extent to which interaction benefits L2…