Considering the controversy about the nature of ergativity, the issue of whether a case morpheme is theta assigning or just structural case-marking, the present study tried to provide an evidence for either side or both. To this aim, the acquisition and use of ergative verbs were studied and possible explications of the errors were presented.…

At a time when language programs around the United States are in crisis--the University of Rhode Island's Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures is realigning its curriculum to emphasize proficiency and intercultural competence within a strong liberal arts context. The result of the department's recent initiatives? More than…

This paper describes a project-based oral activity trialled with Year 1 and Year 2 students of the Spanish Degree Programme at the University of York. The objective of the activity aimed to develop students' speaking confidence through the completion of an authentic task based on the concept of authentic assessment. This task was implemented…

This study seeks to investigate the effect of pre-service foreign language teachers' interactions on their continuing professional development (CPD), using a theoretical instructional design framework consisted of the three presence indicators of a Community of Inquiry (CoI) model and the Jigsaw teaching technique. The investigation was performed…

This study aims to determine lifelong learning dispositions of faculty members who teach foreign languages in terms of gender and academic title variables. Although it was intended to reach the whole population which consisted of 62 faculty members who teach in the faculties of English Language and Literature, German Language and Literature,…

The present study aims to explore Turkish EFL students' major writing difficulties by analyzing the frequent writing errors in academic essays. Accordingly, the study examined errors in a corpus of 150 academic essays written by Turkish EFL students studying at the Department of English Language and Literature at a public university in Turkey. The…

This paper explores the unique contribution of content modules towards the development of criticality (Barnett, 1997) and intercultural competence (Byram, 1997) in Modern Languages (ML). It draws upon the findings of a PhD study investigating the implications of the division between language and content, as experienced by German Studies students…

In contrast to the waning interest in learning languages other than English (LOTEs) worldwide, mainland China is pursuing to diversify LOTE education because of the 'Belt and Road Initiative.' In response to language policy shifts, individual stakeholders in local contexts such as universities have to take actions to initiate LOTE programs or…

A wide variety of technologies combined with traditional classroom methods can make learning easier in the digital age. This paper studied undergraduate students' learning performance and satisfaction after they had studied in a blended setting and investigated if variables of learner characteristics and course features would be predictors for…

A considerable body of research has grown up on learners' perceptions of computer-assisted language learning, clearly a key consideration for curriculum designers and teachers involved in the planning and deployment of technology. This article aims to contribute to this work by focusing specifically on learners of English for Specific Purposes…

Vocabulary knowledge is considered important in second and foreign language learning because learners' insufficient vocabulary has been consistently reported as a significant problem in their achievement of second-language (L2) learning. Despite of numerous vocabulary studies, few of them have implemented a learner-centered and interactive…

Individual differences are theorised as being key predictors of students' lecture attendance. Understanding students' (lack of) motivation for studying is an essential first step in supporting these individual differences and potentially increasing class/lecture attendance. The current study explored the role of students' deficits in motivations…

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) commissioned this Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) with a view to understanding what is known from the research literature concerning learning a foreign language (FL) and its impact on students' wider academic outcomes. The key questions addressed examine: (1) the research identifying what approaches to…

This study represents program-level action research. A U.S. university Spanish language program had a goal for students to reach the ACTFL (2012) Intermediate Mid level after 2 years. An empirical question that resulted after regular end-of-year testing was whether the students were doing their best on assessments. To investigate this, 253…

Changing public demands and decreasing enrollment numbers have challenged the traditional concept of teaching languages, cultures, and literatures in the U.S. Although nationwide enrollment numbers in German programs have been declining, "global" German Studies programs such as the ones at the University of Connecticut and the University…