Despite the long-term and intensive English learning educations they received, Chinese college students still have to struggle to make an even 2 minutes professional English presentation. Through more than 10 years English study, their vocabulary and language knowledge are enough for delivering an intermediate level English presentation. By…

This study explores the impact of using mobile phone applications, namely Telegram Messenger, on teaching and learning English in an ESP context. The main objective is to test whether using mobile phone applications have an impact on ESP learners' performance by mainly investigating the influence such teaching technique can have on learning…

For the growing group of adult migrants, flexible solutions for second language (L2) acquisition are increasingly important, while concerns about the efficacy of online language learning abound. This study on the L2 situation in Flanders has 4 key aims: analyzing adult learner profiles in fully online Dutch beginners' courses; comparing learner…

This study investigated whether the application of video clips with small groups or with individual teaching-learning activities improved the speaking skills of young EFL learners the most; accordingly a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test design was done. The instrument used in this study was a test in the form of an oral test or…

Speaking is an important skill that needs to be mastered as it is the best way to communicate with other people in order to deliver opinions and express ideas, but the fact is that secondary school students' ability in speaking English is low in Malaysia. It is caused by several factors such as lack of vocabulary, poor pronunciation, weak grammar…

The present study incorporates a student response system (SRS) as a means to engage students in a flipped classroom and promote active learning. While the effectiveness of such systems with regard to student learning has been well documented in disciplines that are dominated by lecture-based instruction, no studies have compared the effectiveness…

Assessing speaking skills is regarded as a complex and hard process compared with the other language skills. Considering the idiosyncratic characteristics of EFL learners, oral proficiency assessment issue becomes even more important. Keeping this situation in mind, judgements and reliability of raters need to be consistent with each other. This…

The Early Childhood Development Manager in Mpumalanga is faced with the problem of providing evidence-based guidance of the best facilitation approach in the Grade R context. An investigation on the effect of facilitation, i.e. play-based or formal instruction, on Grade R performance scores in English Additional Language (EAL) learning was…

This article analyzes whether the distribution of the hours of classroom practice has any effect on students' foreign language gains by comparing two types of EFL (English as a foreign language) programs: one in which the hours of instruction are distributed in long sessions over a short period (intensive course) and another in which the students…

Educational blogs have drawn the growing interest of researchers and language teachers due to the user-friendly interfaces as well as the powerful archiving features. The purpose of the current study is two-fold: (1) to examine the effectiveness of extensive speaking practice on speaking performance in voice blogs, and (2) to examine learners'…

No empirical studies exist comparing the effectiveness of the two prevalent foreign language methodologies, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS), at helping students achieve second language acquisition. In turn, the purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to…

A study compared the results of administration of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Service (ACTFL/ETS) oral proficiency interview and those of two laboratory-administered Modern Language Association tests, one in the listening mode and one in the speaking mode. The comparative study was undertaken to…

The validity of written cloze tests for measuring oral skills was evaluated by comparing cloze test scores with recorded interviews. It was concluded that the tests may be a good indirect measure of oral ability. The advantages of these tests include ease of construction, administration, and scoring. (MSE)

A booklet intended for classroom use in beginning and intermediate German instruction provides students with a series of authentic McDonald's fast food restaurant placemats with which to review and reinforce adjective endings. Specific objectives are for students to: read and discuss each of the German McDonald's trayliners, complete a series of…

This document is an outline of a conference presentation on developing and implementing authentic oral assessment instruments. Among the topics covered are the following: alternative, authentic, direct, descriptive, portfolio, and performance assessments. A detailed comparison and contrasting is undertaken of alternative and performance…