With the goal of enhancing the competitiveness of students in the workplace, nearly two-thirds of technical universities in Taiwan have adopted a variety of standardized English proficiency tests as exit requirements, including the widespread use of TOEIC. However, employers still name "insufficient English proficiency" as one of the…

This contribution examines how the diverse language resources that teachers and learners bring to the classroom can support the process of language learning. It draws on a range of linguistic ethnographic data collected at a French language course that was attended mostly by Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Luxembourg. Drawing on the analysis of…

This study examines test-takers' views on a computer-delivered speaking test in order to investigate the aspects they consider most relevant in technology-based oral assessment, and to explore the main advantages and disadvantages computer-based tests may offer as compared to face-to-face speaking tests. A small-scale open questionnaire was…

The application of interactive learning is directed towards increasing the quality of communication in the teaching process. The focus of the research in this paper is the influence of the communicative approach on the quality of the teaching process, and the purposeful interaction that has been both the method and the aim of the communicative…

Explanation and justification require cognitive ability which selects and organises relevant information in a logical way, and linguistic ability which enables speakers to encode the information with linguistic knowledge. This study aims to investigate the development of Chinese oral explanation and justification in Singapore primary students. The…

This commentary argues that the OET research raises inescapable contradictions in trying to separate "language" from "communication" within a weak performance test and advocates for reconceptualizing the legitimate domain of "language" more widely, reclaiming the full potential of the communicative competence…

This paper discusses the essentials of engineering discourse in the structure of the ESP training at Southern Federal University (SFU) (Taganrog, Russia). The purpose of this paper is to justify critical rethinking of existing programs of technical students training in foreign languages at SFU taking into account the increasing role of engineering…

The research reported here investigated the relationship between students' use of language learning strategies and their English proficiency, and then interpreted the data from two models in information-processing theory. Results showed that the students' English proficiency significantly affected their use of learning strategies, with high-level…

With the global spread, the English language has become a lingua franca and a component of basic education in many Asian countries, making Asia one of the regions in the world with the largest number of English speakers. However, due to the rich cultural diversities of Asian societies, using English as a lingua franca in Asia implies that speakers…

The changing of the English profile to English as an International Language (EIL) has broadened the definition of competent users of English around the world to include the ability to shuffle between English in local contexts (Canagarajah, 2013). However, Thai EFL learners continue to show an inability to understand and use English in…

In search of ways to better the foreign language proficiency levels of their citizens, governments frequently announce macro foreign language policies. In Turkey, the latest education reform in 2013 lowered the onset of foreign language learning to the second grade. The piloting of the latest foreign language policy is in progress to transform the…

Research has identified the essential proficiencies students should possess to be successful, but they are often not incorporated in the ESOL classroom. As a result, many teachers lack access to adequate instructional strategies to guide ELs to academic success. We argue in this article that, to provide a strong foundation and a bright future for…

This dissertation reports on a qualitative longitudinal study that explores the original conceptualization of drama-based instruction (DBI) in the L2 classroom among ten K-12 teacher-candidates in a language teacher preparation program. It gives particular attention to two case study participants as they continued to (re)conceptualize drama-based…

This book is relevant for language testers, listening researchers, and oral proficiency teachers, in that it explores four broad themes related to the assessment of L2 listening ability: the use of authentic, real-world spoken texts; the effects of different speech varieties of listening inputs; the use of audio-visual texts; and assessing…

Paired speaking tasks are now commonly used in both pedagogic and assessment contexts, as they elicit a wide range of interactional skills. The current study aims to offer an investigation of the interaction co-constructed by learners at different proficiency levels who are engaged in a paired speaking test, and to provide insights into the…