Do your students think a triangle can be constructed from any three given line segments? Do they believe that a transformation affects only the pre-image--not the whole plane? Do they understand that examples--no matter how many they find--cannot prove a conjecture but one counterexample is sufficient to disprove it? "What tasks can you…

Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) methods were used to capture the knowledge and skills, represented by action and decision steps, of expert English teachers when they recall and describe how they provide expository writing instruction at the eleventh-grade level. Three semi-structured CTA interviews were conducted to elicit and capture the…

This book focuses on theory, research, and practice related to "lexical input processing" (lex-IP), an exciting field exploring how learners allocate their limited processing resources when exposed to words and lexical phrases in the input. Unit 1 specifies parameters of lex-IP research among other levels of input processing as well as…

Prior research suggesting that longer bilingual experience benefits inhibitory control and monitoring has been criticized for a lack of control over confounding variables. We addressed this issue by using a propensity-score matching procedure that enabled us to match early and late bilinguals on 18 confounding variables--for example, demographic…

This study explores the views, perceptions and suggestions of teacher trainees regarding L1 use in foreign language classes and search for their awareness of the issue. A qualitative research design was employed. The data were gathered by means of 5 open-ended questions. The findings revealed that most of the participants preferred mostly target…

This study investigated the effect of speech and thought presentation on the comprehension and appreciation of English prose fiction by Turkish students. A total of 42 students from the English Language Teaching Department of Çukurova University participated and submitted a questionnaire about their reading habits and self-image in terms of being…

This paper reports on an experimental study investigating alternative communication modes to English as a Lingua Franca. The purpose was to examine the effectiveness of different modes of communication and to gain insight in communication strategies used by interlocutors to solve referential conflicts. Findings show that ELF may not necessarily be…

Researchers are increasingly interested in working memory (WM) training. However, it is unclear whether it strengthens comprehension in young children who are at risk for learning difficulties. We conducted a modest study of whether the training of verbal WM would improve verbal WM and passage listening comprehension and whether training effects…

Governments in Australia claim that standards-based reforms to schooling will result in greater use of assessment for and as learning. This study analyses the assessment practices that evolved within the planned curricula for senior secondary schooling in the Northern Territory of Australia during standards-based reforms. Case-study methodology…

This paper examines the process of acquiring L2s that are closely related to the L1 through data on how adult French speakers learning L2 Spanish in a formal setting develop knowledge and use of past tenses in this L2. We consider the role of transfer and simplification in acquiring mental representations of the L2 grammar, specifically in the…

This study compares the effect of using corpus-based materials and activities for the instruction of pragmatic routines under two conditions: implementing direct corpus searches by learners during classroom instruction and working with teacher-developed corpus-based materials. The outcome is compared to a repeated-test control group. Pragmatic…

While learners' engagement has been recognized as important for second language (L2) learning in task-based language teaching (TBLT), how engagement is manifest in learners' L2 use during task performance and how tasks can be designed to facilitate better engagement have not received enough attention in the L2 research. This study investigates the…

We examined the relationship between morphological awareness and word reading skills in syllabic Hiragana and morphographic Kanji. Participants were 127 Grade 1 Japanese-speaking children who were followed until Grade 2. The results showed that Grade 1 morphological awareness was uniquely and comparably associated with word reading skills in both…

This study reports on investigating students' English translation performance and their use of reading strategies in an elective English writing course offered to senior students of English as a Foreign Language for 100 minutes per week for 12 weeks. A courseware-implemented instruction combined with a task-based learning approach was adopted.…

Data collection methods constitute a major area of concern in interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) research, since there is no easy way to collect the type of data that is relatively 'naturalistic' while at the same time allowing for researcher control. Further, current ILP research also suffers from the shortage of studies making use of self-report…