The Test-of-English-for-International-Communication (TOEIC) is an important proficiency test for achieving the benchmark of future employment for English language learners worldwide. However, game-based apps for acquiring TOEIC vocabulary have remained scarce. Therefore, an empirical study was conducted to examine the effects of the self-developed…

In a globalized world, the ability to speak English has become increasingly significant. A large number of students who are learning English as foreign language face obstacles in acquiring and storing vocabulary. Children with learning disabilities are especially at risk because of a limited power of retention and motivational struggles. Having an…

This meta-analysis investigated the overall effects of glossing on L2 vocabulary learning from reading and the influence of potential moderator variables: gloss format (type, language, mode) and text and learner characteristics. A total of 359 effect sizes from 42 studies (N = 3802) meeting the inclusion criteria were meta-analyzed. The results…

We investigated how grapheme familiarity and grapheme-phoneme correspondence (GPC) congruence affect adult learners' ability to make use of orthographic input (OI) during phono-lexical acquisition. Native English speakers, with no Russian experience (naïve) or learners of Russian, heard auditory forms, saw pictured meanings, and saw written input…

This article reports on a classroom-based study that examined perceptual mismatches in the interpretation of task-based ELT materials in the Chinese university context. The study looked particularly into the micro-evaluation of the task-based English lesson. Based mainly on qualitative analysis, findings showed that there was a general agreement…

The first stage in the learning process is the perception of the learning input by the student. This perception, which develops due to many factors in the learning process, has also great importance in skill acquisition. Therefore, the perception of basic language skills by the students, determining how the students make sense of the skills may…

Loanwords in Japanese that share form and meaning with English words are referred to as "Japanese-English cognates" (e.g., [Japanese symbol omitted] "radio") and are of fundamental concern for researchers concerned with vocabulary learning and instruction. This concern is reflected in the growing body of research into…

Various studies have discussed learners' attitudes and achievement in CALL and MALL (Kiernan & Aizawa, 2004; Lu, 2008; Huang & Lin, 2011, but there has been little research into a combination of these with paper-based materials to date in terms of their attitudes and the factors leading to decisions about which to use. Research has…

This paper highlights some of the vocabulary tests available, and reports the reliability of the modified Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) (Rosszell, 2007). Although there is no consensus as to what actually constitutes vocabulary knowledge, the notion that it is made up of receptive knowledge (words recognised or known when seen or heard) and…

Few dictionary studies have examined the effectiveness of freely available online dictionaries (FAOD) offered by search engine companies. This experimental study examines the effectiveness of one FAOD, Naver.com, as an aid to vocabulary acquisition for a group of 87 intermediate-level Korean university students aged 19 to 28 (mean 21.9). The VKS…

This study focuses on teaching Chinese for Special Purposes (CSP) and explores how terminology used in Chinese commercial contracts can be taught using a contrastive terminology analysis. Firstly, we outline the contextual differences that exist between commercial contracts drafted in Chinese and those drafted in English. Secondly, we describe the…

Research in literature reports the importance of L2 vocabulary and syntactic knowledge on the learners' reading comprehension. In this regard, the current study investigated the role of vocabulary knowledge that is disunited into depth and breadth dimensions and syntactic knowledge in the reading comprehension scores of an advanced cohort of…

Although researchers argue that studying semantically related words simultaneously (semantic clustering) inhibits vocabulary acquisition, recent studies have yielded inconsistent results. This study examined the effects of semantic clustering while addressing the limitations of previous studies (e.g., confounding of semantic relatedness with other…

Cross-linguistic lexical similarity in the form of cognates and loanwords has been shown to positively impact second language learning and use, as well as performance on tests of lexical knowledge, even when the learners' languages differ in script. The present study utilizes Japanese cognate frequency, as an indication of cognate knowledge, to…

The present study attempted to investigate the effect of multimedia glosses on EFL students' vocabulary acquisition and retention. Forty-five EFL students were divided into two groups: control (n=22) and experimental (n=23). A vocabulary test was administered to both groups in order to ensure that they were equivalent. Then, all participants…