In language programs, it is crucial to place incoming students into appropriate levels to ensure that course curriculum and materials are well targeted to their learning needs. Deciding how and where to set cutscores on placement tests is thus of central importance to programs, but previous studies in educational measurement disagree as to which…

Previous studies have shown that learner individual differences have important impacts on L2 accuracy development. The present study examines a learner variable (i.e. extraversion versus introversion) and its effects on incidental focus on form. Twenty-eight ESL students in two classes (an advanced and an upper-intermediate class) and their…

This study first briefly describes an instructional approach to teaching grammar known as X-Word Grammar and then compares its effectiveness in assisting students in achieving grammatical accuracy with traditionally taught grammar. Two groups of L2 pre-college students were taught using curricula and practice procedures in two different grammar…

Language teachers constantly create, adapt and evaluate classroom materials to develop new curricula and meet their learners' needs. It has long been argued (e.g. by Stenhouse, L. [1975]. "An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development." London: Heinemann) that teachers themselves, as opposed to managers or course book writers,…

This study is an attempt to clarify the incremental and multidimensional nature of foreign language vocabulary development and its relation to the participants' reading and writing performances and general language ability of English as a foreign language (EFL). With this principle aim, the current study investigated the relationship between…

This article illustrates one professor's experiment with using Snapchat in a university EFL classroom. Snapchat has become impossible to ignore and this study proves that it can be beneficial to students. This study shows how the use of Snapchat can engage students and encourage them to practice English outside the classroom.

Fluency is an essential part of a language learner's skills. Despite various studies on fluency, little is known about the effects of different pedagogical methods on the development of written fluency. In this paper, we examine how different pedagogical methods affect the development of second language learners' written fluency. Participants in…

The challenges of gaining access to opportunities to use the target language in contexts of study abroad, international education, and migration are well documented. In this Sydney-based study, these are reconceptualized as challenges of access to English in an English-speaking but increasingly multilingual, city. The notion of "context"…

Research on the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in language learning has ascertained heretofore various potentials ranging from metacognitive domain to skill-based practices. One area in which the potentials of ICT tools requires further exploration is self-regulated language learning, an active, constructive process in…

Learner perceptions toward and utilization of L1 glossed feedback in an automated writing evaluation (AWE) program were investigated in an Intensive English Program (IEP) class. This small case study focused on two Chinese students who responded to weekly surveys, semi-structured interviews, and screen capture videos of their revisions over a…

This article compares second language test-takers' performance on an academic listening test in an audio-only mode versus an audio-video mode. A new method of classifying video-based visuals was developed and piloted, which used L2 expert opinions to place the video on a continuum from being content-deficient (not helpful for answering…

Nonverbal behavior is an area of recent interest in second language acquisition (SLA). Some researchers have found that teachers' nonverbal behavior plays a role in second language (L2) learners' learning. Furthermore, corrective feedback during L2 interaction can also be facilitative of L2 development; however, little is known about how nonverbal…

Given the influx of internationals immigrating to the United States (US), English language learners (ELLs) are now the fastest growing group of students in the country with 65% of them being born in the US (DaSilva, Combs, & Moll, 2012). According to Kanno and Cromley (2013) the quantity of ELLs in the K-12 setting in the US is estimated to…

This paper strives to explore the impact of Native Language use on Foreign Language vocabulary learning on the basis of empirical and available data. The study is carried out with special reference to the English Language Programme students in Buraydah Community College, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. The Native Language of these students is…

Adopting retrospective verbal report, or RVR as the instrument, this study reports an analysis of the perceptions of native-English-speaking (NES) and non-native-English-speaking (NNES) students, who apologised to their instructors in coursework-related situations. Sixty NESs from different levels and disciplinary areas and 63 NNESs (Arabic and…