The present research aimed to find out whether digital short stories can improve language learners' listening skills. The purpose of this study was to figure out student teachers' perceptions of digital short stories' implementation into language classrooms. Specifically, the current research aimed to investigate whether digital short stories are…

Despite the frequent occurrence of yes/no questions in naturalistic talk-in-interaction, there is widespread concern that yes/no questions only allow predetermined answers and limit L2 learners' performance in language assessment contexts. Drawing upon audio-recordings of role-play conversations between an L1 American English speaker and 104 L2…

Sociolinguistic research on language attitudes has revealed that non-standard accented speakers are usually perceived more negatively than members of the dominant speech community. Few studies, however, have examined whether a speaker's ethnicity, evidenced by nonlinguistic factors such as appearance, may play a role in listeners' perception of…

This article reports on a qualitative study that investigated English learners' attitudes toward English as an International Language (EIL). Four major findings were identified in the current study. First, majority of the participants thought that English belongs to all its users, regardless of being its native speakers or not. Second, lack of…

Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities and driven by neoliberal market economy agendas, has spread across the globe. One example of TNHE is Qatar's Education City where six prestigious American international branch campuses (IBCs) all administer their degrees through English medium…

In this digital era, online intercultural exchange has gained increased popularity in language and culture education. However, concerns arise over its productiveness and efficacy in engaging participants cognitively. In addition, there is a paucity of research on out-of-classroom synchronous online exchange projects, let alone those involving…

This study investigated the level of cultural intelligence among international students and whether significant statistical differences could be found in their cultural intelligence at the level (a = 0.05) due to the students' gender and the nationality. To achieve the study aims, a cultural intelligence scale were adopted (Yordonova, 2011). The…

Teaching in Vietnam recently, I had opportunities to work with some amazing students and teachers. Being in such a position lent itself well to cultural exchanges inside and outside the classroom. However, it was clear to me, to my colleagues, and I believe to the majority of students that there was a need to dig deeper--to move beyond the…

The effects of repeated oral reading and timed reading on L2 oral reading fluency were examined among Japanese university students (N = 50) over 12 weeks. Three quasi-experimental groups were used in the study. Group 1 practiced two types of reading: Repeated oral reading with chunking practice and timed reading. Group 2 did timed reading only.…

The present paper attempts to study the realization of refusal responses to invitations and requests among Yemen EFL learners in equal, higher and lower social status. It also aims to find out the pragmatic failure resulted from negative pragmatic transfer. In order to do so, refusals of 40 Yemeni EFL (20 high and 20 low proficient) learners were…

The current study is on second language acquisition (SLA), and the focus is on the process of visual word recognition in English by Arab learners of English as a second language (ESL). Arab ESL learners have poor performance in their visual word recognition in English, which has been explicated in terms of their poor spelling knowledge of English…

With a shift toward understanding the goals of foreign language learning as development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC; Thorne, 2010), telecollaborative interaction with geographically distant partners has been seen both as a pedagogical tool that can play a significant role in promoting intercultural negotiation abilities and…

This article explores learners' uses and opinions regarding the design and implementation of an approach for developing intercultural knowledge and skills via an online voice-based telecollaboration tool. The participants were 14 pre-service teachers taking an intercultural course for English teachers at a Russian university. For three weeks, they…

This paper, through the use of Joycean narrative inquiry, offers a qualitative narrative analysis of two types of language input the South Korean community was exposed to when the doors opened to a large number of western teachers in 1993 (i.e., General American and Received Pronunciation). Specifically, this paper provides examples of lexical…

Through recent educational initiatives that incorporate native English speakers (NESs) in achieving English proficiency, Colombia has seen an increase in NESs working as teachers or teaching assistants. This interpretive study uses qualitative methods to understand how NESs stimulate intercultural exchanges and awareness between Colombians and…