Adult L2 learners are often encouraged to acquire new words through reading in order to promote language proficiency. Yet preparing suitable reading texts is often a challenge for teachers because the chosen texts must have a high percentage of words familiar to specific groups of learners in order to allow the inference of word meanings from…

Although a substantial amount of professional literature argues for the potential benefits of content-based instruction, limited research exists on how this type of instruction actually is appropriated, understood, and carried out in practice by foreign language teachers. This study examines the role of two sixth grade Spanish teachers' discursive…

An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of two response modes on acquisition and retention rates of letter naming fluency performance (LNF) by six kindergarten English Language Learners (ELLs) performing below the average letter naming level and slope of other ELL classmates. With equal amounts of practice opportunities,…

This case study examines the patterns of participation of one US-educated refugee student in a university intensive English program (IEP). Specifically, I illustrate how the focal student used her advanced oral proficiency and prior experience with US educational norms and practices to engage in various interactional behaviours, such as shifting…

Teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students must serve as language models for their students. However, preservice deaf education teachers typically have at most only four semesters of American Sign Language (ASL) training. How can their limited ASL instructional time be used to increase their proficiency? Studies involving deaf and hard of…

University graduates across Europe face increasing professional language and intercultural demands. In France, foreign language competence is to be assessed for incoming undergraduates and Master's graduates are required to demonstrate "mastery" of at least one foreign language. Institutions are responsible for defining…

This study investigated the responses of two groups (n = 85) of EFL learners toward their experience with extensive reading in a three-month EFL college reading class in which two novels (narrative) and fourteen expository texts were the main reading text. Using a three-part survey questionnaire and the follow-up interviews, this study attempted…

This paper discusses culture-specific learning strategies of 177 students learning Greek as a second/foreign language in an academic setting. The study reports on descriptive statistics of the data collected through implementation of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and processed in order to determine frequency of learners'…

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence American music immersion (AMI) in Taiwanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and to determine if AMI is a predictor of vocabulary acquisition and American lifestyle literacy improvement during online, multimedia music study. The results of this study suggest that…

This study highlights the complexities associated with learning a heritage language (HL) abroad, specifically with regard to identity, expectations, and beliefs about language and language learning, by examining the ways that HL learners talk about themselves. These are important topics to study because perceptions of language learning have been…

The issue of identifying reading difficulties and disabilities in English language learners (ELLs) is a complex one. It is an area that draws on the diverse disciplines of first- and second-language acquisition, literacy, English language learning, and reading, including differences and disabilities research. This literature review aims to…

This article reports on findings obtained from an online survey answered by 97 foreign language department chairs. The Web survey was pilot tested for validity and reliability and obtained a Cronbach's reliability coefficient of .80. The results suggest that student learning outcomes assessment in American undergraduate foreign language education…

This paper reports on a longitudinal study designed to assess the progress made by UK foreign language undergraduate students during the residence abroad (RA) component of their degree. The article first of all places the study within the international research context, and then describes the data collation procedures and methodology employed. It…

The Hispanic population of the United States is quite diverse and with each passing year, due to (im)migration patterns, more and more students are entering language classrooms with some degree of familiarity with the language. However, because of the tendency toward intergenerational loss of Spanish, the linguistic proficiency covers the…

This study investigated the effects of second language (L2) proficiency differences in pairs and patterns of interaction on L2 learning, making use of both qualitative and quantitative data. We designed the study in such a way that four different "core" participants interacted with higher and lower proficiency "non-core"…