This paper reports on the results of a quantitative study that was aimed to measure the use of socio-cultural strategies in learning English writing among a group of 155 Chinese university English major students. This quantitative survey was informed by the socio-cultural theory that holds that L2 learning is a mediational process in which a…

Language assessment is a vital part of the process of learning and teaching a foreign language. Language learners need to be provided with the best methods to measure how much they are acquiring the target language and to select the most authentic tasks of testing for them. As it has been recommended to use multiple assessment instead of…

This study is intended to explore the influence of partners' L2 proficiency on test-takers' performance and on their interaction patterns in paired oral assessment, and it tries to analyze the underlying causes on the basis of Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and Storch's patterns of interaction. An experiment including…

Even though there is plenty of published information about the advantages of peer review, little can be found on what the beneficiaries (i.e. the students) feel about this method and what they might expect from it. In this paper, we present an analysis of the perceptions of 44 students at one of the largest universities in Ecuador, who had just…

The paper is a brief review of three great philosophers' tenets and their implications on foreign language education. Based on the recurring themes, namely, Noddings "teaching with care", Dewey's "learning by doing" and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, the paper highlights the importance of care and love, interaction, practical…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that trigger language anxiety among Saudi learners in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. The factor of anxiety is especially found among learners while developing proficiency in over all communication and speaking skills as felt by the EFL teachers. The study also seeks to answer…

Research has accumulated important knowledge over recent decades on how licensed language teachers develop and learn from cognitive and socio-cultural stances. Yet, relatively little evidence exists on how non-licensed-in-English language teachers (NLELTs) grow professionally in their communities. Similarly, few studies have yet investigated the…

Researchers have long grappled with situating the stance of interaction in SLA, but it is only recently that interaction has begun to receive consideration from SLA quarters. Delving into the nature of interaction and the prerequisite of interaction in real world, in general, and in classroom, in particular, the authors hold that based on…

In recent years, interdisciplinary studies have become one of the most inspiring and productive of human pursuits so that it can provide a format for connections and conversations giving rise to new knowledge. Such a wedding interest has also been gleaned in issues of English in Education from New literacy perspective and emerged an overgrowing…

Dynamic assessment originates in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Practicing dynamic assessment necessarily requires the development of ZPD. This study aimed to investigate the effect of peer-assisted mediation vs. tutor-intervention within dynamic assessment framework on writing development and the attitude of Iranian intermediate EFL…

The discussion and analysis focuses on the ways colonialist discourse, in this case Maugham's short story "Footprint in the Jungle," positioned the colonized natives into European colonialist socio-cultural hierarchy. This study examines Maugham's depictions of non-white communities--Malay, Chinese and Indian. Hence, we look at how this…

This study was framed in the sociocultural theory to look into the evolution of L2 learners' beliefs about the general English course during a term. One hundred ninety-eight male and female university students and their general English course teacher were randomly selected as the participants of the study. Data were gathered through the…

Based on a widely held belief that immersion provides the best language learning opportunities, a large number of Asian students go to English-speaking countries to improve their English language skills. These strongly motivated learners arrive in a new country with a bag of expectations, learner beliefs, and imaginations about the new community…

What we know through language is whether the way things are or the ways the things are constructed through anthropological tradition and socio cultural shaping. Actually at the very outset, it is not very clear the settling point of this query. However, we can very well understand the point why a critical understanding of…

As an area of classroom research, Interaction Analysis developed from the need and desire to investigate the process of classroom teaching and learning in terms of action-reaction between individuals and their socio-cultural context (Biddle, 1967). However, sole reliance on quantitative techniques could be problematic, since they conceal more than…