This study examines the role of transcription and ideation, the dimensions in the Simple View of Writing, as predictors of narrative and expository writing of English language learners (ELLs). Data were collected from sixth-grade primary school ELL students (N = 56) in Taiwan. Two writing samples, a narrative and an expository, were collected and…

Research on mode in computer-mediated communication and language learning has primarily focused on mode-as-channel of communication such as audio- or videoconferencing. However, increasingly sophisticated technological tools now facilitate communication in multiple ways so that learners can convey and respond to peers and screen-based resources,…

This study quantitatively measures the variation in language derived from a targeted set of digital game mechanics. Mechanics refer to the design elements of a game that make up the overall gameplay experience, determining player actions and the degree of language interaction. A corpus was compiled by extracting the language files from two popular…

Background: The majority of children with cerebral palsy (CP) experience challenges in functional communication from a young age. A pivotal aspect of functional communication is language comprehension. A variety of classification systems and questionnaires are available to classify and describe functional communication skills in children with CP.…

Communication strategies (CSs) have been generally viewed as ways in which learners may circumvent, and ideally overcome, communicative difficulties. However, over 40 years of research in this area has been largely confined to theory and experimental studies, and it is not clear to what extent CS research has filtered into contemporary second…

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic largely disrupted the continuity of educational delivery. Online learning was the prompt response by educators. However, this comes with a big question on the conduct of assessment. Running examinations traditionally is vulnerable to high security risks and administration costs. A precise mechanism to…

In this study, we examined burst length and its relation with working memory, attentional control, transcription skills, discourse oral language, and writing quality, using data from English-speaking children in Grade 2 (N = 177; M[subscript age] = 7.19). Results from structural equation modeling showed that burst length was related to writing…

This study explores the perspectives of the two authors, who have very different language backgrounds, reflecting the subtleties of first and additional language development. We distinguish between a 'literacy-track' (i.e. starting from written language) and an oracy track (starting from spoken language). We draw on duoethnography for our dialogic…

The goal of the present study is to explore bilinguals' intercultural style of requesting in a workplace setting and thereby contribute to the understanding of bilingual pragmatic competence. The relatively unexplored intercultural style hypothesis suggests that bilinguals show a unique pragmatic pattern related to but distinct from the contact…

Many educators teach an increasing number of newcomer students such as immigrants, refugees, or asylum-seekers. These students need to acquire a new language as well as content in the language arts and other disciplines. This study explores how to share new ideas in literacy and language teaching and learning with teachers of newcomers while…

Learning to walk allows infants to travel faster and farther and explore more of their environments. In turn, walking may have a cascading effect on infants' communication and subsequent responses from caregivers. We tested for an "inflection point"--a dramatic shift in the developmental progression--in infant communication and caregiver…

We collaborated with Early Head Start (EHS) coaches to qualitatively explore the feasibility delivering a professional development approach designed to enhance the quality of conversations in infant-toddler (I/T) classrooms and family child care homes. First, we reviewed empirical literature about oral language discourse skills in infants and…

Educators and researchers agree that oral language is fundamental to students' reading acquisition. It is not clear how best to conceptualise oral language within models of reading -- as one's overall understanding of spoken language, or as individual skills, each with unique contributions to children's reading comprehension. In our longitudinal…

Purpose: Developmental functional modules (DFMs) are biological modules that are defined by their structural (morphological), functional, or developmental elements, and, in some cases, all three of these. This review article considers the hypothesis that vocal development in the first year of life can be understood in large part with respect to…

Previous research has documented positive effects of pre-task planning on task-based performance, commonly analyzed in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency, in an L2. However, the sources of planning have rarely been examined in the research of task-based language teaching. The present study explored EFL learners' oral performance across the…