This study investigated cognitive factors that might influence Chinese EFL learners' argumentative essay writing in English. The factors that were explored included English (L2) language proficiency, Chinese (L1) writing ability, genre knowledge, use of writing strategies, and working memory capacity in L1 and L2. Data were collected from 136…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify factors impacting second language oral proficiency of native English speaking secondary students in public schools in Texas that had chosen to complete at least two years of traditional classroom Spanish instruction. Further, the study sought to determine the effectiveness of the traditional…

Prior research investigating the relationships between immigrants' linguistic abilities in the target language of the host country and their settlement experiences has done so largely from the perspective of language proficiency. Instead of language proficiency per se, we investigated this relationship from the perspective of a competency-based…

This interview study of seven highly proficient Korean users of English examines the role of the "ideal second language self" as a motivator in the learning of English as a global language. It explores their perspectives on the cultural associations that English holds, the degree to which a "global identity" is a part of their…

Professor Elana Shohamy was born in New York and moved to Israel at a young age. It was an interesting time for the country and the Hebrew language. In this article, Professor Shohamy shares her keen insights into her experiences growing up in Israel. She obtained her teacher's certificate from David Yelin Teacher's College in Jerusalem,…

The present investigation intends to make a comparison between integratively motivated students of English at Islamic Azad University of Shiraz and their instrumentally motivated peers in terms of their oral performance. To this end, 35 junior students (15 males and 20 females) were selected out of 54 initial participants based on their scores on…

Analyzing three waves of data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey, this article explores the process of language assimilation among second-generation Latinos. Although previous studies have focused on the shift from mother tongue to English across immigrant generations, few have examined change in language proficiency over time…

This study investigates how motivation and interaction shape the speaking proficiency of study abroad (SA) and classroom or at home (AH) language learners. The author administered a motivation questionnaire, language contact profile, and pretest and posttest simulated oral proficiency interview. The data reveal that SA and AH students had similar…

This article considers whether the use of specific communication strategies can improve learners' English proficiency in communicative tasks. Japanese college students (n= 62) participated in a 12-week course of English lessons using a communicative approach with strategy training. To investigate the influence of specific strategy use, their…

The influence of immigrant-background adolescents' heritage language (HL) proficiency and use of the language on parent-adolescent relationships and ethnic identity was investigated in a sample of 414 adolescents from Latin American and Asian backgrounds. HL proficiency, but not language use, was positively associated with the quality of…

"Decoding"--converting the written symbols (or graphemes) of an alphabetical writing system into the sounds (or phonemes) they represent, using knowledge of the language's symbol/sound correspondences--has been argued to be an important but neglected skill in the teaching of second language (L2) French in English secondary schools.…

Receptive foreign language proficiency is usually measured with reading and listening comprehension tasks. A novel approach to assess such proficiencies--viewing comprehension--is based on the presentation of short instructional videos followed by one or more comprehension questions concerning the preceding video stimulus. In order to evaluate a…

Academic language is a vital part of content-area instruction and is one of the most pressing needs faced by English Language Learners (ELLs). The fundamental challenge ELLs in all-English instruction face is learning academic content while simultaneously becoming proficient in English. Because of this challenge, the authors, as educators, do not…

The low level of literacy and lack of language proficiency possessed by some immigrants from low socioeconomic status backgrounds create communication barriers in the healthcare setting, thus interfering with their ability to access appropriate medical care and their subsequent participation in medical research. Adding pictorial descriptions to…

This article considers the problematic question of student plagiarism, its causes and manifestations, and how it is addressed in academic environments. A literature survey was conducted to establish how higher education institutions approach these issues, and a twofold investigation was conducted at the University of Cape Town. Data was gathered…