This study investigated the mode of directness of requests and refusals and the background variables that explain this production in two trilingual populations in Israel (i.e. native speakers of Arabic for whom English is an L3, and Hebrew, an L2, and native speakers of Hebrew for whom English is an L2 and another language is their L3). Data were…

This paper studies one ultra-Orthodox group--Habad community, exploring its members' attitudes towards four languages: Hebrew, Loshen Koydesh (LK), English, and Yiddish, and focusing on usage, affection for the language, ascribed importance, and holiness. Research questions were: (1) What are the attitudes of Habad members towards these languages?…

The present study examined visual word recognition processes in Hebrew (a Semitic language) among beginning learners whose first language (L1) was either Semitic (Arabic) or Indo-European (e.g. English). To examine if learners, like native Hebrew speakers, exhibit morphological sensitivity to root and word-pattern morphemes, learners made an…

The present study explores the vocabulary development of bilingual children when neither of their languages has a minority language status. With both languages having high relative prestige, it is possible to address the impact of exposure variables: age of onset, length of exposure, and frequency of exposure (FoE) to both languages. Parents of 40…

This paper explores the role that languages and literacy practices play in Ethiopian immigrant families transposed to Israel as part of Israel's family language policy, by examining parental perspectives on their respective L1 and L2 usages, in both parents' and children's lives, as well as by examining the home literacy provisions supporting…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of integrating blogging into the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum on students' performance in expressive writing. Previous studies have shown that integrating blogging into EFL learning raises students' motivation and develops their linguistic and social skills as a result of…

Due to frequent exposure of Israeli pupils to political violence, it was meaningful to conduct research on ways to promote the expression of emotions in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom in conflict-ridden contexts. Drawing, as a tool for emotional health, may serve to reduce general anxiety, as well as foreign language learning…

This article examines various voices in a triangulated needs analysis project aimed at reevaluating the curriculum of a graduate level EAP program. Previous work (Elisha-Primo, et al., 2010) presented students' voices; this article focuses on department chairpersons and graduate advisors, and graduate EFL instructors with respect to the perceived…

Test anxiety often interferes with a reliable evaluation of language learning, frustrating teachers and students alike. Most researchers have found a significant inverse relation between anxiety and written test performance. Although this situation leads to a distortion of test scores, suggestions for treating and coping with test anxiety have…

In the last two decades, higher education institutions have invested significant resources to internationalise, due to economic, political, academic and cultural pressures. Students play a dual role in this process: as customers, selecting institutions based on respective reputations (including the international dimension) and as outputs of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors predicting academic proficiency (AP), the specialised domains required for performing academic tasks, among Russian speaking (L1) immigrants currently studying Hebrew as a second language (L2) and English as a third language (L3) in Israeli schools. Specifically, the study examined the…

A debate centers on whether the native accent is acquired early in life or whether it can be acquired at any time. This study investigated factors that may affect native accent acquisition in a second language. Participants in this study were 50 Russians who immigrated to Israel, 17 males and 33 females. Their age on arrival was 5 to 25 years.…

A theoretical model featuring the relationship between identity and language orientations within the broader constellation of variables impacting immigration and acculturation processes was proposed within the framework of the current study and its applicability was tested with regards to 152 immigrant university students from the Former Soviet…

This study focused on the role of bilingual versus monolingual preschool education in the development of lexical knowledge in Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2) among second-generation Russian-Hebrew speaking immigrants in Israel. The study was designed as a longitudinal and comparative study. The lexical knowledge of children was measured three times…

This research investigates the extent to which indices of social justice and democratic rights are expressed in Israel in the crucial national English matriculation exam, as perceived by Palestinian Arab high school pupils studying for these exams and their English teachers. The research employed Critical Theory as a paradigm, case study as a…