This article uses a logistic probability distribution approach to examine the effect of lecture attendance, aptitude test results, individual heterogeneity and pedagogic intervention on student performance for first-year microeconomics and second-year macroeconomics modules at a leading South African university. The research was motivated by the…

This study investigated whether second language (L2) learners can develop predictive processing of determiners after a brief exposure to a novel language, and whether this depends on learners' awareness for the target structure and their cognitive aptitudes. One hundred L2 learners received auditory exposure to a miniature language based on Fijian…

Recent studies of second language (L2) construction learning using artificial linguistic systems have begun to closely examine the role of individual differences, including personality. In such studies, adult participants learn form-meaning mappings after exposure, with scores on generalization tests as a standard criterion for learning. This…

Faith-based adult English as a second language (ESL) programs provide beneficial services to the underserved adult English language learner (ELL) population in the United States (Chao & Mantero, 2014). However, these programs face a critical training dilemma, often lacking qualified volunteer instructors and the time or resources to train…

Dynamic assessment has been recognized as a nonbiased approach to evaluating language learning potential among children who do not have equal access to the target language. However, it remains to be determined whether the graduated prompting approach of dynamic assessment is feasible in foreign language (FL) learning contexts as FL learners may…

Reading is an indispensable tool in the academic world. Most, if not all, activities in varied collegiate courses entail the act of reading. There are many contributing factors that affect one's ability to read and comprehend text materials effectively. Two of the many factors are the reader's vocabulary size and their reading motivation. This…

The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate how new educators respond to pedagogical tasks that require them to use and reflect upon their Teacher Language Awareness (TLA). TLA is defined as a teacher's ability to use, analyze, and teach language--an increasingly important part of teachers' knowledge base given high numbers of English…

This paper suggests six areas of vocabulary research which the author believes would be fruitful for future research. They include (1) developing a practical model of vocabulary acquisition, (2) understanding how vocabulary knowledge develops from receptive to productive mastery, (3) getting lexical teaching/learning principles into vocabulary and…

The number of individuals undertaking IELTS has continued to grow in recent years, standing at approximately 3 million candidates per year in 2016. As a result, this high-stakes, high-pressure test has become firmly entrenched as a global gatekeeping institution, regulating the international flows of people for migration and academic study. This…

The myriad of possibilities brought about by the advent of Web 2.0 in terms of communication and interaction have revolutionised educational practices over the past few years. One of the most promising educational approaches resulting from this revolution is online intercultural exchange or telecollaboration, which has been reported to contribute…

This study examined the effects of two types of pre-listening activities: bottom-up and top-down on Iranian elementary EFL learners' listening comprehension performance. By TOFEL (PBT) test, 90 learners were selected as elementary ones for this study. They were randomly assigned to two experimental and one control groups each consisting of 30…

Multilingualism is widespread in the world today and English is, in many cases, one of the languages in the multilingual speaker's repertoire. English as a lingua franca (ELF) is used by multilingual speakers who can also communicate in other languages and use their multilingual and multicultural resources in creative ways. This paper aims at…

This study investigated the difference between EFL students' preferred learning styles (PLS) and EFL teachers' preferred teaching styles (PTS) in Saudi Arabia. The participants in this study were 130 EFL students and 102 EFL teachers. Felder and Silverman's learning/teaching style model was employed to identify students' learning styles as well as…

As teachers worldwide struggle to serve an ever-increasing number of children and their families who do not speak the dominant language, the authors present a research-based scenario illustrating practices in Hungarian preschools.

Addressing themes from the Douglas Fir Group's (2016) transdisciplinary framework, this paper bridges boundaries between cognitive and social disciplines by showing how social contextual factors can affect the psycholinguistic development of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in learner language. Sociolinguistic and sociocultural frameworks…