Purpose: According to the interpersonal synergy model of spoken dialogue, interlocutors modify their communicative behaviors to meet the contextual demands of a given conversation. Although a growing body of research supports this postulation for linguistic behaviors (e.g., semantics, syntax), little is understood about how this model applies to…

In the realm of collaborative learning, extracting the beliefs shared within a group is paramount, especially when navigating complex tasks. Inherent in this problem is the fact that in naturalistic collaborative discourse, the same propositions may be expressed in radically different ways. This difficulty is exacerbated when speech overlaps and…

Background and purpose of the study: STEM learning often involves a multitude of complex and abstract concepts and ideas that can be challenging for students to comprehend. Research suggests that the oral and visual representations in video lectures can maximize students' cognitive infrastructure, helping them to organize knowledge more…

In STEM hands-on learning activities, collaboration with group members can be a significant motivator for students' engagement. This research is based on the 6E Learning by DeSIGN™ model and explores the impact of incorporating reflective strategies on students' learning performance, motivation, and participation in collaborative STEM learning…

The present study continues research that takes non-serious language more seriously (Cekaite and Aronsson 2005) by focusing on a central second language (L2) Metaphoric Competence factor, Metaphor Language Play (MLP). For willing learners, MLP offers a diversity of benefits (Bushnell 2009; Bell 2012a) despite being one of the most challenging…

In their first three years, children begin to maintain topics and add new information in conversation. In turn, caregivers create opportunities for language learning. Compared to children with no family history of autism (typical likelihood, TL), the younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at elevated likelihood (EL)…

Examining the impact of reading instruction on writing can help to refine the theoretical models to better explain how skills in reading support skills in writing and inform the development of literacy curricula that leverage the synergies between reading and writing instruction. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to investigate if the…

Current L2 utterance fluency literature tends to operationalize disfluency as isolated, individual features. However, disfluency features often co-occur at one location or across multiple locations in one utterance. This study explores the co-occurrence of L2 disfluency features in a speech corpus from 71 L1 and L2 speakers of English across…

Measurement of language learners' development in speaking proficiency is important for practicing language teachers, not only for assessment purposes, but also for evaluating the effectiveness of materials and approaches used. However, doing so effectively and efficiently presents challenges. Commercial speaking tests are often costly, and beyond…

This study explores the underlying component reading skills that explain reading comprehension challenges faced by learners in multilingual settings who are instructed in a language in which they may or may not have oral language proficiency. Using data collected in the Philippines, Rwanda, and Kenya, we apply a two-step latent class analysis to…

This study investigated differences in adult-child language interactions when parents and their three-to-four-year old children engage in wordless book reading, text-and-picture book reading and a small-world toy play activity. Twenty-two parents recorded themselves completing each activity at home with their child. Parent input was compared…

Background: Research has demonstrated that distinct oral language skills contribute unique variance to text comprehension in students from second grade onward. This study examined these relationships for kindergarten students whose comprehension is often assumed to be determined by word decoding skills. Method: Eighty-eight kindergarten students…

When the written language that children learn to read and write is distinct from the oral language they acquired as their mother tongue, they may encounter substantial challenges. The linguistic distance between two varieties of the same language could have an impact on the literacy acquisition journey. The present study focuses on Arabic, a…

This study examines the impact of instructor-led (IL) versus self-access (SA) web-based pragmatic instruction on novice second language learners' (n = 28) awareness and oral production of Spanish apologies. Two sections of a second-semester Spanish course were assigned to either the IL or the SA group. The web-based resource "Dancing with…

In early childhood classrooms, little time is spent writing (Gerde et al., "Early Childhood Research Quarterly," 31, 34, 2015), and students receive limited supports to enhance their writing skills (Bingham et al., "Early Childhood Research Quarterly," 39, 35, 2017). In early childhood, when students experience rich writing…