Vocabulary learning is often perceived as boring by learners, especially for those who grew up in the digital age. This paper reports a study of the usefulness of online games in vocabulary learning for some undergraduate students. Three teachers and 100 engineering students participated in a quasi-experimental study for approximately nine weeks.…

This article discusses the usefulness of using generic strategy inventories to assess language learning strategies (LLSs) across contexts. A review of the LLS research is presented with a critique of extant studies in relation to classification of strategies, methodological issues, and the predictability of language performance. The present…

Although we have entered into the 21st century, most institutions of higher learning have not yet realized a routine integration of technology into regular classroom pedagogical practices. This article highlights two of the main concerns of university-level foreign language faculty with respect to incorporating technology into everyday classroom…

The purpose of this article is fourfold: first, to report on a university-wide survey assessing demand among bilingual undergraduates for foreign language study in a management university in Singapore; second, to determine those factors influencing students' foreign language choice and also those influencing decisions not to pursue foreign…

The present study on second language (L2) reading and individual difference variables (IDVs) examines learners' self-assessed ability level and enjoyment and the effects of these factors on two different measures of comprehension. The investigation controls for topic familiarity differences by gender and the study utilizes the authentic short…

This article discusses cross-cultural oral interviews and how they can be used in the foreign language classroom to help students understand the differing, often culture-specific perspectives of language use among people speaking another language. By conducting interviews, or by teaching students the interview process, instructors can provide…

While the use of corpora and concordancing in the language-learning environment began as early as 1969 (McEnery & Wilson, 1997, p. 12), it was the work in the 1980s of Tim Johns (1986) and others which brought it to public attention. Important developments occurred in the 1990s, beginning with publications advocating the use of corpora and…

Research into the teaching and learning of language and content in mainstream classrooms research tends to treat content as a fixed body of knowledge to be (re)constructed by learners. There is little research which seeks to understand how language and the curriculum are constructed and related in interaction by learners. In this paper, I report…

Much of the content-based language teaching (CBLT) literature describes the benefits to be gained by integrating content with language teaching aims and rejects the formal separation between "content" and "language" as a pedagogic necessity for language learning. This paper looks at interactions in classrooms in English schools…

In this article, the author explores the issues surrounding modern foreign language learning focusing largely on the French language. The structure of this article is as follows. First, the author briefly examines the links between Britain and France from an historical perspective, following an examination of current official policy in both…

The state of ESL in Canada has been a looming, mishandled entity. Canadians espouse the benefits of diversity and have politically correct policies concerning racism and equity for the linguistically disadvantaged, but in reality something has gone terribly wrong. This article outlines specific myths and delusions that plague educational…

In a series of 5 experiments, we investigated whether the processing of phonologically assimilated utterances is influenced by language learning. Previous experiments had shown that phonological assimilations, such as /lean#bacon/ [right arrow] [leam bacon], are compensated for in perception. In this article, we investigated whether compensation…

With President George W. Bush's unprecedented call in January 2006 to expand the foreign language capacity of the United States, it has become clear that languages other than English (LOE) are of great interest to public policy in the United States. Yet the language capacity of the United States remains poorly documented. The 2000 General Social…

Many mainstream content teachers are encountering, for the first time, K-12 students who are in the process of learning English as a second language (English language learners or ELLs), and this new population presents a significant challenge. Teachers are already familiar with many of the techniques available to help their ELLs comprehend…

One of the most controversial issues in foreign language (FL) teaching is the age at which language learning should start. Nowadays it is recognized that in second language contexts maturational constraints make an early start advisable, but there is still disagreement regarding the problem of when to start or the best way to learn in foreign…