This study explored the influence of speech rate (normal vs. fast), sentence length (short vs. long), and second language (L2) oral proficiency on listening comprehension in L2 Spanish. Thirty-one native English-speaking learners enrolled in upper-level Spanish courses were aurally exposed to 8 sentences of each type of speed--length matrix, for a…

At the end of every school year, particularly as students move on to middle or high school, educators throughout the nation face the same question: To reclassify or not to reclassify English Language Learners (ELLs)? The reclassification decision is tricky because it sometimes feels as if there is an inevitable tradeoff between specialized…

Few studies have compared the nature of negotiation of meaning across face-to-face (FTF) and synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) modes with mixed-proficiency dyads. Such comparisons can help identify important strengths and weaknesses of each mode. Therefore, this study explored whether FTF and SCMC modes differ in terms of…

This study proposed an innovative automated approach to differentiation of the vocabulary proficiency of Chinese speakers. A robust K-means algorithm was designed to compare the oral proficiency between L1 and L2 Chinese speakers regarding lexical richness and how relatively effective the various lexical measures were in performing the…

Most researchers have studied students' academic self-concept within native language and mathematics, indicating the multidimensional nature of academic self-concept. However, there is a shortage of studies that examined the twofold multidimensional structure of verbal self-concept within the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model of two…

One of the most important skills to acquire in learning a foreign language is speaking. It is however, viewed as one of the most difficult. This study involved the observation of non-English major students in the foreign language department of Nanjing Tech University. Its aim was to assess critically the factors that affect the speaking…

The current study investigated advanced L2 learners' linguistic development before, during, and after a nine-month stay abroad, the extent to which contextual changes (home-abroad-home) influenced the nature and magnitude of development, and the ways in which relationships among different linguistic elements changed over time. Participants were 56…

The paper is basically a meta-analysis of the topic indicated in the title. It expounds the notion of context as an integral component in the process of teaching communication. In making an attempt to comprehend and subsequently produce a message, inevitably, it is the cohesive grasp of context that determines the rate of success in attempts to…

This study's goal was to determine if appropriately designed, completely virtual formats of language courses are able to engender in students speaking ability progress comparable to that fostered within traditional face-to-face (F2F) classrooms. The study further sought to clarify language learners' perceptions of online Japanese courses. The…

The Turkish students who study at Russian universities continue learning Russian at the main departments. The main difficulty which foreign students face while learning Russian is scientific style. Those who teach Russian as a foreign language admit that foreign students are often unprepared to learn specific vocabulary. The article covers a…

The present study investigated the production of English passive constructions among Thai learners as syntactic asymmetry of the construction in question in Thai and English can be attested. In this study, English verbs were categorized into two types: Verb Type 1 and Verb Type 2. The former refers to those that can naturally occur in Thai…

This study frames intensive English language programs (IEPs) in institutions of higher education as potential vehicles for social justice among marginalized international students. In this study we examine the differences in academic achievement between international students who enter a university through an English proficiency test and those who…

Language teachers' self-efficacy beliefs have previously been defined as these teachers' beliefs in their abilities to support language learning in various task-, domain- and context-specific cognitive, metacognitive, affective and social ways (Wyatt, 2018a, 2018b). Nevertheless, although this definition suggests a link between learning and…

The review of the literature indicated that a notably smaller number of nontraditional students persist to graduation than do traditional students. There is a significant body of scholarship regarding the experiences of nontraditional students; however, only a few studies have specifically examined persistence. Sparse research exists on the…

This study investigates the effects of individual differences in working memory and different lengths of planning time on oral responses from an integrated listen-to-speak task, both in isolation and in conjunction with one another. Previous studies on planning time in a second language assessment context have largely neglected to incorporate the…