The early language environments of low-income Hispanic children can be negatively affected when their Spanish-speaking caregivers face racism, assimilation pressure, and/or misinformed advice based on English-only ideologies. This article reports on the design and efficacy of Háblame Bebé, a language-promoting phone application that encourages…

The present volume collects papers from InnoConf19, which took place at the University of Southampton on the 28th of June 2019. The theme of the conference was 'Treasuring languages: innovative and creative approaches in HE'. The contributions collected in this peer-reviewed volume aim to reflect on best practice in higher education. They showcase…

Technology has developed immensely and its role in the aspects of learning a language has grown bigger and bigger. Among the university level students, WhatsApp at present is getting into the frontline as one of the most widespread online social networking platforms concerning to language learning. The research work undertaken tries to understand…

Social networking applications such as WhatsApp have been extensively used for language research; however, they have rarely been applied for language assessment purposes. To explore the efficiency of WhatsApp for assessment purposes, 30 Iranian English learners doing self- and peer-assessments on WhatsApp are studied. The changes and the reasons…

This study explores the use of language learning apps as a didactic tool for vocabulary building in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. It was developed through a mixed-methods approach, with a concurrent design in order to collect, analyze and validate qualitative and quantitative data. Although there was controversy on the use of…

"WhatsApp" is a potentially influential informal learning tool that may be used on the go. This study examines its potential utility in EFL writing with special reference to gender. The treatment encompasses a "WhatsApp"-based instructional program designed specifically to help develop writing performance, along the aspects of…

Mobile devices have become widely used in K-12 education settings for teaching diverse students. We comprehensively reviewed 11 studies published between 2005 and 2016 that examined the use of mobile devices for teaching K-12th grade English language learner students in the United States. We also examined the methodological quality of the studies.…

Encouraging learners to engage in learning activities outside of formal class time is an ongoing challenge for language teachers. It has been argued that the social aspect of technologies can used as a support for learning, but how to achieve this remains a challenge. There is evidence that from a theoretical perspective, social networking appears…

In the digital age, online courses have progressed as popular modes of learning that provide interactive and collaborative learning in educational settings. The open education movement is enabled by the internet and combines the sharing of ideas, resources, and practices among all people in order to advance ideas and knowledge to a new generation…

There has been considerable interest in cognitive load in recent years, but the effect of affective load and its relationship to mental functioning has not received as much attention. In order to investigate the effects of affective stimuli on cognitive function as manifest in the ability to remember foreign language vocabulary, two groups of…

Postsecondary international students who are also English language learners face a number of challenges when studying abroad and often are provided with services to support their learning. Though some research examines how institutions can support this population of students, few studies explore how technology is used to support language…

This article presents the state of the art in WISELAV, an on-going research project based on the metaphor Languages Are (like) Visuals (LAV) and its mapping Words-In-Shapes Exchange (WISE). First, the cognitive premises that motivate the proposal are recalled: the power of images, students' increasingly visual cognitive learning style, and the…

Is a smart phone a toy or a tool? Students cannot get enough of it -- after all, social media notifications and viral videos do take time to reflect on -- while teachers, quite understandably, are dismayed to see an excellent educational tool used purely for entertainment. This paper posits that these two concepts are not mutually exclusive. It…

Willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language class has been shown to be transient and situation-dependent. Previous studies mostly elicited data from learners' self-reports through interviews or diaries, and the data analyses were largely confined to the medium of language, marginalizing other semiotic resources such as gesture or…

According to Dudeney, Hockly, and Pegrum (2013) coding is a deeper skill subsumed under the four main digital literacies of language, connections, information, and (re)design. Coders or programmers are people who write the programmes behind everything we see and do on a computer. Most students spend several hours playing online games, but few know…