While the use of machine translation (MT) in the classroom has been explored from various perspectives, the relationship between language proficiency and MT use regarding learners' behaviors and beliefs remains unclear in the research literature. This study focused on four Japanese learners with various language proficiencies from a fourth-year…

This study investigates the effectiveness of using Google Translate as a translingual CALL tool in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing, keyed to the perceptions of both more highly proficient Chinese English major university students and less-proficient non-English majors. After watching a 5-minute passage from a movie, each cohort of…

Bilinguals recognize words with shared morphology and phonology cross-linguistically (i.e., cognates) faster than words that do not have these characteristics. Moreover, higher phonological overlap in cognates enhances the effects, which suggests that phonology eases word recognition. However, it is currently unclear whether words compete purely…

The purpose of this article is to present qualitative and quantitative tools to assist teachers and authors of examination materials in their preliminary assessment of text complexity/difficulty according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The qualitative scales were compiled specially for this study, based on previous…

Research writing is an important part of doctoral study. Previous studies suggest that students who speak English as an additional language (EAL) may experience difficulties in writing a thesis in English. This study investigated the nature of the writing challenges experienced by EAL doctoral students. Drawing on data collected from individual…

Cognitive factors have been recognised as important in the interpreting process, but whether they could serve as valid components of interpreting aptitude still awaits further investigation. This study explores the predictive value of cognitive fluency in the simultaneous interpreting (SI) performance of trainee interpreters. Cognitive fluency…

The perfective aspect marker in Chinese is partly functionally similar to inflectional suffixes in Indo-European languages but is non-inflectional and lexical in nature, lying thus at the semantics-syntax interface. This provides us with the opportunity to compare directly the syntactic and semantic constraints during second language (L2) sentence…

This paper investigates the effect of using L1 translations versus L2 definitions on the learning and testing of L2 vocabulary recognition knowledge. For this study, 48 Japanese L2 learners of English studied 200 lexical items from the academic word list (AWL) over a 10-week period. To support their learning, the participants were provided with…

This paper outlines and details historical L2 curriculum development for segments of China's State education system over a ten-year period beginning with the start of the Sino -- Foreign joint programs classes in 2011. A two-year post assessment from 2015-2017. Tracking students continuing test results for both the CET (College English Test)…

This study explores English for specific purposes learners' understanding of technical words in a previously-developed technical word list in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The principal aim was to estimate what kind of technical terms pose problems to TCM learners and might therefore merit special attention in instruction. Of particular…

The present study uses a mixture Rasch model to examine latent differential item functioning in English as a foreign language listening tests. Participants (n = 250) took a listening and lexico-grammatical test and completed the metacognitive awareness listening questionnaire comprising problem solving (PS), planning and evaluation (PE), mental…

This study aims to further the understanding of first language (L1) lexical transfer within the context of L1 Chinese learners of English. Previous transfer research has often focused on a small subset of grammar errors, without examining how lexical choices, especially in collocations and multi-word units (MWU), might have been influenced by L1…

The present study aimed at characterizing what skilled or more proficient ESL college writing is in the Philippine setting through a contrastive analysis of three groups of variables identified from previous studies: resources, processes, and performance of ESL writers. Based on Chenoweth and Hayes' (2001; 2003) framework, the resource level…

This instructional paper examines the lack of L2 English skills demonstrated by Chinese post-secondary education students and the results of empiric testing to determine what key language functions were missing from a student's tool box when exiting their primary education phase.The identification of these skills and ability gaps allowed for…

This study explores the relationship between Iranian EFL juniors' self-efficacy beliefs and their employed vocabulary learning strategies. The participants were 50 juniors studying English Translation at University of Sistan & Baluchestan. The self-efficacy and vocabulary learning strategies questionnaires were administered to identify the…