Most students of English as a foreign language (EFL) lack sufficient opportunities to practice their English-speaking skills. However, the recent development of social-networking sites (SNSs) and mobile learning, and especially mobile-assisted language learning, represents new opportunities for these learners to practice speaking English in a…

In a recent article, Boers, Demecheleer, Coxhead, and Webb (2014) deplored the lack of effectiveness for the learning of verb-noun collocations of a number of exercise formats which they sampled from EFL textbooks and put to the test in a series of quasi-experimental trials. The authors called for further investigations into possible improvements…

In an attempt to facilitate and foster idiom retention and recall, this study investigated the effect of pictorial and etymological treatments on Iranian undergraduate students' idiom learning. The paired-samples experimental design was used to study 26 students who had registered for the Use of Idioms course at the University of Bojnord (UB). One…

The article presents the main ideas of concept of foreign language discursive competence formation among university and secondary school students by means of intercultural dialogue. The concept includes fundamental principles, activity stages of educational process, and criteria of foreign language discursive competence formation. Innovation of…

This study explores different variables leading to proficiency in English as a second language. Level of English on a placement exam taken upon entering a private university in Mexico was correlated to several variables. Additionally, participants (N = 218) were asked their perception of their own proficiency. A linear regression and a one-factor…

L2 vocabulary is commonly conceptualized in terms of a size or depth of one's total lexical knowledge and tested discretely with selection-type items. Concerns exist, however, regarding L2 users' ability to cope with unknown vocabulary, especially in the context of academic reading. This motivated the creation of a test which measures the ability…

The contribution of phonological memory to syntactic abilities has been demonstrated in various populations, but its relationship to metasyntactic abilities, defined as the ability to control syntactic aspects of language, remains largely unexplored. This study therefore aims to examine the contribution of phonological memory in the completion of…

This study applied a quasi-experimental design to investigate the influence and predictive power of learner motivation for achievement, employing a mobile game-based English learning approach. A system called the Happy English Learning System, integrating learning material into a game-based context, was constructed and installed on mobile devices…

This study aims at comparing the benefits of using videos instead of audios for improving students' listening skills. This experimental study used a pre-test and post-test control group design. The sample, selected by cluster random sampling resulted in the selection of 32 second year high school students for each group. The instruments used were…

Listening comprehension is essential to L2 learning. Pupils who are able to demonstrate L2 listening skills are able to demonstrate proficiency in other language skills. Due to the relatively unappreciated role of listening in language development, educators and language experts have been actively promoting the equal or emphasized enhancement of…

An increasing number of studies on the use of tools for automated writing evaluation (AWE) in writing classrooms suggest growing interest in their potential for formative assessment. As with all assessments, these applications should be validated in terms of their intended interpretations and uses. A recent argument-based validation framework…

This article analyses how language laws favouring French improved the vitality of the Francophone majority relative to the declining Anglophone minority of Quebec. Part one provides a review of Canadian Government efforts to provide federal bilingual services to Francophones and Anglophones across Canada. Using the ethnolinguistic vitality…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of two instruction methods for teaching polysemous English prepositions ("at, in, on") and to explore learners' perception on learning tools used in the instruction when learning polysemous words. The first study investigated the effectiveness of schema-based instruction…

This article is an attempt to formulate and design a comprehensive rationale in formulating standard of communicative competence of English for Indonesian learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The study focuses on the perceptions of teachers and students on what communicative competence means, and how they perceive each component of the…

Experience with a second language (L2) has been shown to facilitate learning of a third or subsequent language (L3) (Sanz 2000). However, little is known about how much L2 experience is needed before benefits for L3 development emerge, or about whether effects depend on type of L3 instruction. We report two experiments investigating initial…