This dissertation investigated the acoustic and articulatory correlates of lexical stress in Mandarin second language (L2) learners of English, as well as in first language (L1) speakers. The present study used a minimal pair respective to stress location (e.g., OBject versus obJECT) obtained from a publicly available Mandarin Accented English…

Individual differences factors (IDs) play significant roles in second language (L2) learning. Compared to the general field of SLA, however, little is known in the L2 writing domain regarding the influence of learner factors in L2 writing achievement. Therefore, in this study, I aimed to extend the IDs research in L2 writing by closely examining…

The influence of tests and assessments on learning and teaching is known as the washback effect. The purpose of this study is to investigate the washback effect of self and peer assessment in Arabic writing as a second language. The study was conducted on high school advanced Arabic learners at an Islamic school in the USA. The study examines the…

This study sought to understand the experiences of female 11th-graders in English classes that used Google Classroom applications during emergent e-learning due to COVID-19. Teachers and students used Google Classroom in place of face-to-face learning in Palestine as required by the Ministry of Education. A qualitative approach with…

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to compare the performance of six cognitive diagnostic models, including a general model (GDINA), two non-compensatory models (DINA and NC-RUM), and three compensatory models (ACDM, DINO, and CRUM), at test level to find the best model for describing the underlying interaction among the listening…

A great deal of research has focused on tasks, particularly for adult second language learners. In this paper we provide an account of studies that have investigated children and tasks -- an age group that have received far less attention. We consider, in particular, the impact of tasks on children's language learning, how their design features…

Migrants arriving in a country are not always welcome. Similarly, the arrival of new technologies can be perceived as a blot on the familiar landscape of established educational practices. This paper seeks a productive synergy between migrants' educational requirements with respect to learning the language of their host society; their valuable and…

The field of language testing has made great strides in measuring language use. It is a monolingual construct, however, that anchors standardized language testing operations and classroom practices. Language use and performance research, see for example the MLJ special issue of 2011, demands that language testing operations also consider…

The author presents strategies for successful team-bonding games along with descriptions of games and suggestions for building a collaborative atmosphere before, during, and after the games.

Research investigating incidental vocabulary learning through listening to songs has primarily relied on participants' self-report surveys on listening behaviors and its relationship with their vocabulary knowledge (Kuppens, 2010). Only one experimental study has investigated vocabulary learning gains from listening to songs (Medina, 1993). From…

Icebreakers are first-day activities that are meant to give students and the teacher an opportunity to get to know one another. They are helpful activities for taking a class full of strangers and turning them into friends (or at least acquaintances). However, icebreaker activities tend to be short and limited in the extent to which students can…

L1 and L2 writers attend to different aspects of the formulation subprocess of writing. L2 writers devote more time and attention to low-level aspects such as grammar correction and spelling (Barbier 1998; Fagan and Hayden 1988; Whalen and Ménard 1995), leading to better spelling performances than L1 writers (Gunnarsson-Largy 2013). In…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to understand how creative writing practices affect the written expression skills of B2 level students. Method: In this study, a pretest-posttest control group semi-experimental model was used. While creative writing practices were implemented in the experiment group, instruction in alignment with the…

Erlam & Ellis (2018) published, in "Canadian Modern Language Review", an experimental study that investigated the effect of input-based tasks on the acquisition of vocabulary and markers of plurality by adolescent near-beginner learners of L2 (second language) French. The present paper reports an approximate replication of the…

Success in an increasingly globalized world sets requirements for versatile communication skills and understanding about other cultures. One of the keys to success is versatile language skills, on which the European Commission spoke out as early as in 1995, recommending that every European citizen should learn two foreign languages in addition to…