The present preliminary study empirically investigated Spanish heritage language (HL) speakers in Spanish for native speakers (SNS) college courses. It focused on their attitudes and motivation to improve their HL and on their varying linguistic competences in that language. A well-established second language acquisition (SLA) motivational model…

This study examines the social construction of proficiency and the discursive practices prevalent in linguistically diverse schools that afford or constrain participation in language learning communities. Drawing from discourse studies, positioning theory and a sociocultural framework, this study analyzed data from audio recordings and…

The present paper intends to investigate the lexical gap-filling behaviour of primary and secondary Spanish learners of English. When there is a mismatch between the learners lexical knowledge and their communicative needs, then a lexical gap arises. Learners resort to different mechanisms to compensate for that lack of lexical knowledge.…

Increasing numbers of overseas students are applying to study at universities in Australia. Many students who meet all of the university's academic entry requirements except English language proficiency are offered pathway programs which prepare them for their tertiary studies. To date, much of the research relating to international students…

Gardner's (1983) Multiple Intelligences Theory (MIT) has been found to have profound implications in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) in that it provides a way for teachers to recognize learners' individual cognitive and affective differences by providing favorable motivational conditions for learning. However, little investigation…

The present investigation consists of two studies examining the effects of cross-language transfer on the development of phonological awareness and literacy skills among Chinese children who received different amounts of English instruction. Study 1 compared Chinese students in regular English programs (92 first graders and 93 third graders) with…

This study examines heritage-language (HL) experience and identity of 12 adults of mixed-heritage backgrounds through in-depth autobiographical interviews. Each participant has an English-speaking American parent and an HL (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, or Vietnamese)-speaking immigrant parent. The interviews explored each participant's…

The goal of this study is to describe the acquisition rate for gender acquisition in Spanish and to show whether individual variability and language contact may affect this rate. The participants were intermediate second language Spanish (first language English) learners in the study abroad and at-home contexts over a 4-month period. The…

To date, assessment validity research on non-native English speaking students in the United States has focused exclusively on those who are presently English language learners (ELLs). However, little, if any, research has been conducted on two other sizable groups of language minority students: (a) bilingual or multilingual students who were…

The current concern about low levels of English proficiency among international students who graduate from degree courses--that students' English language skills are not being developed during their higher education experience--reflects negatively on the quality of Australian higher education and its graduates. More careful selection of students…

Recent studies of heritage speakers, many of whom possess incomplete knowledge of their family language, suggest that these speakers may be linguistically superior to second language (L2) learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. This study reexamines this claim by focusing on knowledge of clitic pronouns and word order in 24 L2 learners…

We describe an exploratory study carried out within the University of Milan, Department of English the aim of which was to analyse features of the spoken English of first-year Modern Languages undergraduates. We compiled a learner corpus, the "Role Play" corpus, which consisted of 69 role-play interactions in English carried out by…

The present study investigated the influence of concept mapping as a post-reading strategy on EFL learners' critical thinking ability. The study utilized a pretest-posttest control and experimental group design. To do so, thirty six EFL learners at upper intermediate and advanced levels were randomly assigned to experimental (n=18) and control…

Recently ELT has witnessed the debate between the proponents of non-interventionist and interventionist views towards SLA. The former, also known as zero option, sees L2 acquisition as an incidental process leaving no role for instruction (Krashen, 1981; Prbhu, 1987), while the latter considers instruction effective and even crucial for some…

In January 2010, the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) identified Central Falls High School (CFHS) as one of the state's persistently lowest-achieving schools. The Central Falls School District (CFSD) and the Central Falls Teachers Union (CFTU) considered the transformation model but could not come to an agreement initially around…