To respond to recent calls for examining oral fluency from a broader social and communicative perspective, the current study aimed at investigating the effects of task communicative function on second language (L2) and first language (L1) speakers' fluency. Designing tasks that represent three different communicative functions (congratulations,…

Students who have remained classified as English Learners (ELs) for more than six years are often labeled "Long-term English Learners" (LTELs). The present study examined the English Language Development (ELD) test scores and demographic information in a group of 560 students identified as LTELs. Despite assumptions that these students…

Humans are born storytellers as they use oral narratives as a vehicle to share their experiences. This study aimed to study how female Egyptian speakers formulate their personal experiences in oral narratives in the English Language. A need of this study was felt because not much is known how Arab EFL speakers build their oral narratives when its…

Many language proficiency tests include group oral assessments involving peer interaction. In such an assessment, examinees discuss a common topic with others. Human raters score each examinee's spoken performance on specially designed criteria. However, measurement models for analyzing group assessment data usually assume local person…

Motivation and anxiety are two crucial factors influencing learning outcomes, yet limited empirical research on expectancy-value theory can be found within previous literature about Chinese undergraduate students studying English as a foreign language (EFL). Moreover, few studies have examined the interaction between motivation and skill-specific…

This study explores whether English-dominant (ED) speakers and speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL) perceive the same degrees of formality in combinations of (in)formal greetings (Hi/Dear) and address forms (informal First Name/Ms. Last Name) with (in)formal nouns, verbs, and adjectives (Latinate/Germanic). It also explores which of…

This study explored the potential of adopting speech-to-text recognition (STR) technology for English as a foreign language (EFL) oral training in class at the university level. An action study method was set to investigate the effects of implementing STR app tasks for EFL oral training with 27 students in one class for one semester at a…

Complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) as measures of language proficiency have been used extensively in assessing second language production in English language studies related to task-based language teaching. The present review adds the following critical elements to the existing body of literature: (i) Provides synthesis and critical analysis…

The present study adopted a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach to explore the impact of e-tandem on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' speaking skills (i.e. speaking fluency and coherence, lexicon, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation) and willingness to communicate (WTC). To this end, two classes at a language…

The main aim of this study was to investigate how oral fluency is assessed across different levels of proficiency in the Test of English for Educational Purposes (TEEP). Working with data from 56 test-takers performing a monologic task at a range of proficiency levels (equivalent to approximately levels 5.0, 5.5, 6.5, and 7.5 in the IELTS scoring…

This study examines language demands in undergraduate university mathematics classes with a view to better preparing and supporting international and other culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in the United States universities. We observed and analyzed the language demands of 13 entry-level mathematics classes across two large…

Even though corpora have transformed language education, the majority of corpus-related research focuses on the teaching of writing. Via a systematic review of previous studies and a survey of language corpora available, this study aims to ascertain whether and to what extent the teaching of speaking, especially of conversation skills, to EFL…

Facilitating the transformation of vocabulary from receptive to productive can be challenging for second language (L2) teachers. Although some studies have focused on understanding activities that promote productive vocabulary in written modes (e.g., Teng & Xu, 2022), little is known about the effect of activities on productive vocabulary in…

This paper explores the development of an intelligent translation system for spoken English using Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) models. The fundamental principles of RNNs and their advantages in processing sequential data, particularly in handling time-dependent natural language data, are discussed. The methodology for constructing the…

A significant number of students experience anxiety when asked to speak in English. This unease, often rooted in factors such as shyness, lack of confidence, uncertainty, and a lack of motivation, can hinder their active participation during English oral exams. One of the most important goals that every English language teacher should strive to…