This cross-sectional study examined the effect of general proficiency and study-abroad experience in production of speech acts among learners of L2 English. Participants were 25 native speakers of English and 64 Japanese college students of English divided into three groups. Group 1 (n = 22) had lower proficiency and no study-abroad experience.…

English Language Learners (ELLs) are a dynamic and rapidly growing population within the California school system. In this age of greater accountability, teachers need access to the tools necessary for effectively reaching this growing subpopulation of students. In this study, A Developmental English Proficiency Test (ADEPT), a language assessment…

The modern world is becoming increasingly digitalised and this is affecting the way in which humans not only live but also learn. In South Africa, the majority of students entering universities are from disadvantaged backgrounds and come from schools and communities in which they were not exposed to the same technologically rich environments as…

This article describes the development and validation of a Vietnamese bilingual version of the Vocabulary Size Test--a test which measures written receptive vocabulary size. The test can be used to measure the English vocabulary size of Vietnamese learners of English. A learner's total vocabulary size is calculated by multiplying their test result…

Several studies on L3 lexicon, and recently also some on L3 syntax, have convincingly shown a qualitative difference between the acquisition of a true L2 and the subsequent acquisition of an L3. Some studies even indicate that L2 takes on a stronger role than L1 in the initial state of L3 syntax (e.g. Bardel and Falk, 2007; Rothman and Cabrelli…

The study reported in the present paper focused on the expectations of and concerns about the impending semester-long study abroad of students from a prestigious Chinese university. Data were collected via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Analyses of 33 questionnaires and 15 semi-structured interviews yielded the following main…

The aim of this case study is to describe the implementation of the Laureate English Program (LEP), the consequent decision to roll out blended learning across the network, and the Laureate-Cambridge University Press research partnership. Phase 1 of the research was completed in September 2012. The goal of this first phase was to gain a general…

Blended learning has been described as a pedagogical approach that combines effectiveness and socialization opportunities of the classroom with the technologically enhanced active learning possibilities of the online environment (Dziuban, Hartman, & Moskal, 2004). It has also been depicted as an approach that combines traditional learning with…

"Jogi yuhak" (early study abroad) has become a prominent educational and linguistic investment strategy for middle-class Korean families to raise their children as global elites, allowing them to attain multilingual competence through transnational educational migration. Singapore, a newly emerging center of "jogi yuhak",…

In this paper we present a comprehensive model of instruction for providing consistent, high quality teaching to L2 students. This model, the SIOP Model (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol), provides an explicit framework for organizing instructional practices to optimize the effectiveness of teaching second and foreign language learners.…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine sentence-recognition performance for a large, diverse group of nonnative speakers of English on the recently developed Basic English Lexicon (BEL) sentence materials and to determine whether BEL sentence lists are equated in difficulty for this population. Method: The BEL sentences were presented…

This paper investigates native speaker (NS) and non-native speaker (NNS) interaction in the workplace in computer-mediated communication (CMC). Based on empirical data from a 10-month email exchange between a medium-sized British company and a small-sized Italian company, the general aim of this study is to explore the nature of the intercultural…

Given the emerging focus on the intercultural dimension in language teaching and learning, language educators have been exploring the use of information and communications technology ICT-mediated language learning environments to link learners in intercultural language learning communities around the globe. Despite the potential promise of…

Despite considerable effort, progress in "closing the gap" in literacy and in school retention in Indigenous communities is very slow. The reasons for continuing problems are many and various and are generally known at social and environmental levels. In this paper, I identify and emphasize the importance of proximal factors in…

In this study, I investigate the use and integration of iPads in an advanced German conversation class. In particular, I am interested in analyzing how students learn with this new technology and how it affects the development of their oral proficiency level. Overall, my results suggest that iPads are well suited to practice listening and speaking…