The Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) fulfills federal requirements for assessing the English language proficiency of English language learners (ELLs) in kindergarten through grade 12 in four language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. TELPAS assesses students in alignment with the Texas English…

An important topic in writing research has been the use of cohesive features. Much of this research has focused on local and text cohesion. The few studies that have studied global cohesion have been restricted to first language writing. This study investigates the development of local, global, and text cohesion in the writing of 57 language (L2)…

In our society, which is full of images, visual representations and visual experiences of all kinds, there is a paradoxically significant degree of visual illiteracy. Despite the importance of developing specific visual skills, visual literacy is not a priority in school curriculum (Spalter & van Dam, 2008). This work aims at (1) emphasising…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and validity of a modified version of Buschke's missing scan methodology, the Missing Scan Task (MST), to assess working memory capacity (WMC) and cognitive control processes in preschool children 3-6?years in age. Forty typically developing monolingual English-speaking children between…

Purpose: Factor analysis is a useful technique to aid in organizing multivariate data characterizing speech, language, and auditory abilities. However, knowledge of the limitations of factor analysis is essential for proper interpretation of results. The present study used simulated test scores to illustrate some characteristics of factor…

Background: The effect of assisted reproduction technology (ART) on language development is still unclear. Moreover, different techniques are introduced at rapid pace and are not always accompanied by extensive follow-up programmes. Aims: To investigate the language development of 3-10-year-old children born following ART using intracytoplasmic…

This study examined the relationship between child language skills and parent and child gestures of 58 youths with and without an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Frequencies and rates of total gesture use as well as five categories of gestures (deictic, conventional, beat, iconic, and metaphoric) were reliably coded during the…

This resolution builds on the National Council of Teachers of English's (NCTE's) longstanding policies on students' rights to their own languages, resolutions opposing practices that denigrate home or heritage languages, policies supporting the unique learning needs of the individual, resolutions supporting inclusion of exceptional students, and…

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of various realistic levels of talking-head on students' emotions in pronunciation learning. Four talking-head characters with varying levels of realism were developed and tested: a nonrealistic three-dimensional character, a realistic three-dimensional character, a two-dimensional character, and…

Even though the majority of Colombian professors are also involved in research, they have limitations in their English language skills that separate them from the rest of the scientific society. Evidently, these limitations have become an obstacle in the awareness of professors' modest, but no less important, research work. In order to carry out…

While great attention has been given to the growth of international students at U.S. institutions, there is a gap in the literature examining support for this student population within residence halls. To address the gap, this quantitative study evaluated an international roommate-pairing program (IRP) by comparing the residential experience of…

Being able to accurately spell in Standard English requires efficient coordination of multiple knowledge sources. Therefore, spelling is a word-formation problem-solving process that can be difficult to learn. The present study uses Triple Word Form Theory as a conceptual framework to analyse Standard English spelling performance levels of…

This paper investigates the level of anxiety due to learning English as a foreign language. It tries to answer these questions: (1) Is anxiety a factor in hindering English proficiency? (2) Does anxiety lead to fear of communication? (3) Which type of anxiety is high among tertiary level female Saudi students? The Foreign Language Anxiety…

The National Center Test is a test that high school graduates take in order to be matriculated into the majority of universities in Japan. Its English section (NCT), though, is scheduled to be replaced by commercially available private English tests of four skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing) due to the fact that NCT currently measures…

Background: Children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) are reported to have socio-communicative impairments. Although many of these children are diagnosed with intellectual disability (ID) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), these populations are seldom used as control groups. Hence, information regarding syndrome-specific…