This research presents a longitudinal study of learner uptake in a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environment. Over the course of 3 semesters, 10 second language learners of German at a Canadian university used an online, parser-based CALL program that, for the purpose of this research, provided 2 different types of feedback of varying…

This article describes a critical service-learning initiative in which college students of Spanish taught in an after-school Spanish class for young heritage language (HL) speakers at a local elementary school. We contextualize the program within broad curricular revisions made to the undergraduate Spanish program in recent years, explaining how…

Using a reactive approach to focus-on-form, this study explored the types of feedback and strategies that L2 learners used to draw attention to linguistic problems in a Spanish-American telecollaborative exchange. Data from the readily available transcripts of online postings were utilised and analysed to report the findings. The results showed…

This article presents the findings of a study that investigated (1) the extent to which written corrective feedback (CF) can help advanced L2 learners, who already demonstrate a high level of accuracy in two functional uses of the English article system (the use of "a" for first mention and "the" for subsequent or anaphoric mentions), further…

The present paper investigates the language learning strategy use and learning style preferences of Greek university students in order to find out the possible relations that hold between degrees of plurilingualism, strategy use and learning styles. The subjects were 1555 Greek undergraduates from a number of disciplines, learning foreign…

This study investigated second language metalinguistic knowledge, or explicit knowledge about the second language, in English-speaking university-level learners of German and Spanish. The status of metalinguistic knowledge in relation to the individual difference variables of language-learning aptitude, working memory for language, and…

This study investigates to what degree, and in what manner, the L1 and L2(s) influence spoken French L3. The analysis is divided in two parts. The first examines the cross-linguistic lexemes of 30 Swedish learners, divided into three groups according to previous exposure to French. The results show that proficiency in the L3 is crucial: the least…

English and Arabic have different word formation processes with which translation students must be familiar. Results of a needs-assessment questionnaire showed that junior translation students almost had no knowledge of English word formation processes such as compounding, derivation, back formation, conversion, extension, blending, clipping,…

Existing research indicates that instructed learners' L2 proficiency and their metalinguistic knowledge are moderately correlated. However, the operationalization of the construct of metalinguistic knowledge has varied somewhat across studies. Metalinguistic knowledge has typically been operationalized as learners' ability to correct, describe,…

In this paper, we describe and evaluate two state-of-the-art systems for identifying and correcting writing errors involving English articles and prepositions. Criterion[superscript SM], developed by Educational Testing Service, and "ESL Assistant", developed by Microsoft Research, both use machine learning techniques to build models of article…

This study investigates the challenges that non-native pre-service English teachers (Haluk, Gaye, Selin, Oznur and Serkan) experience in their target language use when they do their practicum in actual language classrooms. This study found that the common difficulties the student teachers encounter related to certain grammatical structures,…

This study describes the grammar-related behaviours of three experienced non-native teachers of English working in state secondary schools in Catalonia and investigates what beliefs may explain, from the teachers' point of view, these behaviours; it also examines what factors in their turn determine these beliefs. The results uncover three…

The Problem: The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the information structure of native-English speaking (NES) ESOL teachers in giving explanations in a grammar class at an Intensive English Program (IEP) at a university in southern California Method: This mixed-method study employed a sequential-exploratory design. Six grammar…

This study investigates ESL learners' semantic awareness of English words by attempting to estimate a threshold beyond which ESL learners can be said to have reached native-like semantic knowledge. The "Vocabulary Levels Test," originally designed by Nation (1990) and later revised and expanded by Schmitt (2000), was used to operationalise this…

With the goal of assisting predominantly low-socio-economic status and minority undergraduate education majors to achieve necessary competence in the use of oral and written Standard English, an innovative action research initiative was incorporated into an introductory education class at a comprehensive urban university in the northeastern part…