This study investigated the relationship between student characteristics (gender, major), and the problems they face when learning Turkish language skills at university level in Kazakhstan. Participants included 120 Kazakh students from three faculties (Law, Philology, and Engineering). They completed a 28 item Likert-type questionnaire which also…

An important question in the field of English language teaching and learning is 'What is the relationship between research and second language (L2) instruction?'. A second question is 'What should the relationship be?'. This keynote speech explores these two questions. The speech provides a general overview of some of the important insights that…

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) were first introduced to the wider public in 2008, with the first language MOOCs appearing in 2012. Following the initial hype, a number of problems with the way MOOCs had been conceived and implemented have emerged from research and practical experiences. In this article we revisit some of the arguments for and…

In this short article I try to present a taxonomy of sources of difficulty, in particular complexity. I emphasize how these factors interact with each other and with individual differences and treatments, before illustrating some of these interactions and the methodological issues involved in studying them with examples from the empirical studies…

In this "Try This" article, students learn about collaborative mind mapping. A mind map is a type of graphic organizer that allows for short ideas to be written and linked to related ideas on a "map." A central idea is placed in the middle of the paper with related ideas connected to the central idea as well as to other ideas.…

This method case reports on part of a doctoral investigation into the process of metaphorical language production in second language learners' writing with a combination of computer keystroke logging and stimulated retrospective interviews. The case describes the research procedure and methodological considerations behind each decision in detail.…

Education has undergone unregulated changes in terms of learning and teaching in this Industrial Revolution 4.0. Along with this, technological advancement has unlocked multiple ways for educators and learners to apply online resources in their teaching and learning process. It is vital to get more attention in the expansion of learners' skills,…

This paper applies the theories of linguistic distance and translanguaging to analyse the pedagogy of teaching vocabulary and grammar in English to Malay-English bilinguals who are struggling to read in English. More specifically the paper explores how the teacher tried to create cross-linguistic transfer and how the students display…

This article presents findings of a larger research project regarding effective leadership practices in language immersion programs. The purpose of this study was to discover actions, knowledge, and skills that immersion leaders of successful programs exhibit. Using a basic qualitative model, immersion leaders, teachers, and parents at three…

The purpose of this study is to investigate Indigenous pupils' achievement in Mathematics with Bilingual (Bahasa Melayu and Temiar) versions of mathematics tests. Both tests were based on Mathematics computation and word problem items. This study involved eight Orang Asli (Indigenous) primary students from eight schools in the district of Sungai…

This paper will discuss how intercultural communication (ICC) and Spanish classes at the Sydney Institute of Language and Commerce (SILC)-Business School at Shanghai University were adapted to be conducted virtually during COVID-19. The platforms used included Zoom, WeChat, and pre-recorded videos of lessons. While the Spanish course met for short…

The elicited imitation task (EIT), in which language learners listen to a series of spoken sentences and repeat each one verbatim, is a commonly used measure of language proficiency in second language acquisition research. The "TOEFL® Essentials"™ test includes an EIT as a holistic measure of speaking proficiency, referred to as the…

This report describes the development of efficient second language (L2) writing assessment tasks designed specifically for low-proficiency learners of English to be included in the "TOEFL® Essentials"™ test. Based on the can-do descriptors of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages for the A1 through B1 levels of…

The Malaysian government has long recognized the significance of mastering the English language among its citizenry. The government has planned, and subsequently, implemented many policies to ensure Malaysians master the English language. Although civil servants have a strong desire to master the English language to perform their duties more…

Word-initial stops in Mandarin and English show a distinctive phonological categorization but a similar phonetic realization along the VOT (Voice Onset Time) continuum. Previous research reported that native Mandarin adults produce measurably longer long-lag VOTs than native English adults. The present study examined whether and how the difference…