English ditransitive verbs show a complex alternation between the double object construction (DOC, (1)) and prepositional object datives (POD, (2)). This dissertation examines the acquisition, representation, and learnability of the dative alternation among L2 English learners, presenting experimental data from participants with L1 backgrounds of…

Despite evidence of the acculturation benefits of social media engagement with mainstream culture, there is limited understanding of what motivates or demotivates ethnic minorities' social media engagement with mainstream culture. Adopting the theoretical construct of investment, this study interviewed 31 ethnic minority secondary school students…

Researchers over the past years have proven the positive effects of using information and communication technology in learning. This research work considers the digital nature of modern students associated with educational technologies and their importance in learning English through the medium best known to modern students. A review of related…

The study evaluated the lexical utility of English 1 and English 2, English language textbooks, which are supervised, produced, and distributed by Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board. These are officially recommended (compulsory) textbooks for all public sector schools. The study calculated total number of words used (tokens) in the books along…

This article explores the teaching of English poetry in two Gauteng high schools, one a suburban, former Model C school and another in Soweto. Both schools are attended predominantly by Black learners for whom English is not their first language. Nine in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with educators at the two schools. The choice…

Directed motivational currents (DMCs) encapsulate a unique motivational phenomenon. DMCs are highly positive, potent motivational experiences which can carry individuals or groups forwards to achieving valued goals at both a remarkable rate, and with a perceived feeling of seemingly 'effortless effort'. Although research into DMCs began under a…

Introduction: In the past decades, studies have been conducted to explore the role of anxiety in the learning of Western languages such as English, French, and Spanish. However, when it comes to the predictive relationship between anxiety, motivation, attitude, and Chinese achievement, the findings are inconclusive. This study aims to test a model…

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the flipped classroom model on students' self-efficacy and the difference in self-efficacy between males and females using this model. In order to accomplish this, 66 advanced participants were selected from a private English language institute. They were divided into two equal groups, namely…

This two-phased study explored a corpus-driven, curriculum-based approach to assessing proficiency development of Mandarin Chinese in US universities. In Phase I, we developed an elicited imitation (EI) test based on the Chinese curriculum at a large US university. This test demonstrated higher psychometric qualities to (1) place L2 learners into…

Chinese character learning requires various reading subskills, such as radical awareness and character knowledge. Radical awareness refers to learners' ability to identify, analyze, and apply semantic radicals in compound characters. Previous studies have shown that radical awareness and character knowledge facilitate learning semantically…

Mobile technology melds the mobile learner's authentic real and virtual worlds, enabling increasingly untethered personalized, learner-determined language learning opportunities. This article introduces an evidence-based framework founded upon cumulative findings from a number of the authors' recent and ongoing research projects. This framework…

Reading plays a significantly important role in every student's academic development, especially when they have to work over a great number of foreign language materials for their professional subjects (McDonough & Shaw, 2013). Strengthening English reading ability is necessary for students to promote individual ability in university…

Given the controversies surrounding the critical period hypothesis on second-language (L2) learning outcomes, this study focuses on the phonological aspect of language acquisition--the strength of the foreign accent in L2. Drawing on data from a large-scale representative data set on immigrant adolescents in Germany--CILS4EU-DE--we first…

Assessing student knowledge and success during and after teaching and learning is an embedded part of education since it offers important specifics for teachers. This action research was undertaken to inquire about students' and teachers' attitudes to portfolio assessment in their English courses. Two methods were employed, including a student…

Studies on learner identity and studies on meaningful literacy seem to have gone on parallel tracks with little intersection between the two, leading to a lack of understanding regarding the impact of meaningful literacy on learners' identities, particularly as writers in a foreign language environment. In this context, this article reports on a…