Almost every course in higher education involved some form of multicultural group work activities and these have resulted in numerous problems for undergraduates due to the attitudinal and cultural differences. This study aims to find out the undergraduates' attitudes as well as the effect of cross-cultural differences towards multicultural group…

Several researchers (e.g., Allen & Paesani, 2010; Maxim, 2009; MLA Report, 2007) argue that the language-literature divide limits language development in many foreign language departments and that the speaking skill is the most affected by this common two-tiered curriculum (Swender, 2003). This study investigates the implementation of the…

Responding to Donato and Brooks's (2004) call for undergraduate students to have more opportunities to engage in discourse at the advanced proficiency level, collaborative dialogues provide students with a situation conducive to language production and learning (Swain, 1997). As most of the research on collaborative dialogues has focused on the…

This study compares two leadership styles, emergent leader (EL) and assigned leader (AL), to explore effective leadership in second language (L2) group work. ELs were spontaneously chosen by the group, while ALs were pre-assigned by teachers before the task. The study involved 45 university students, who were divided into seven EL groups (n = 21)…

As globalization continues to grow, there is an increasing need for skilled interpreters. However, the interpreting skills of many students are still deficient: firstly, they are incapable of understanding the source language clearly; secondly, they are incapable of expressing standard English accurately. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to…

Differentiated second/foreign language (L2) instruction (DI) has received growing attention in pedagogical research. Yet, as a cornerstone of inclusive education, the DI is still under-documented. In this study, we integrated diagnostic assessment (DIA) and collaborative language learning in a differentiated (tiered) oral tasks intervention and…

During the rapid shift to remote teaching and learning that came with the COVID-19 pandemic early in 2020, for many students and instructors, important interactions and collaborative learning took place via online platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Our study focuses on the impacts of remote learning on first-year English as an additional…

Task-based language teaching research has investigated the impact of planning on task performance, but little has been reported on the processes that take place while planning is undertaken. This study builds on previous planning research by providing a detailed analysis of four Japanese university learners' collaborative pre-task planning (two…

Developing effective oral business English (OBE) curricula requires clearly understanding student needs. This study evaluated the speaking needs of Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) undergraduates majoring in business English for specific purposes (ESP), aiming to inform the design of a teaching module that bridges the gap between…

The current study tried to investigate the impact of cooperative learning (CL) on improving Iranian intermediate EFL learners' oral proficiency motivations toward learning English. To fulfil this objective, 90 participants were selected and divided into two equal groups; one experimental and one control group. Then, the sample's speaking skills…

The literature on international student participation in Anglo-Western universities is predicated on an assumption of underachievement. Reductive understandings prevail with English language competence and cultural background highlighted. Drawing from a case study of group work in a first-year module in a management course at an internationalizing…

University bilingual science courses are on the rise because of the internationalisation of higher education. These courses are legitimate and desirable scenarios for the promotion of bilingual written scientific argumentation (BWSA) as part of bilingual scientific literacy. The problem is that very little evidence is available on how to foster…

This study was conducted to examine how a collaborative social annotation tool can be used to support collaborative learning in translation instruction for EFL students. Participants were 100 undergraduate students who were English majors in a southeast university in China. An experiment with crossover design was carried out to examine the…

Spanish learners engaged in two-way interaction gap tasks where, through social interaction, they identified and defined low-frequency vocabulary. Participants (referred to as actors to differentiate them from task partners) completed two such tasks. Each time, they collaborated with different partners of varying degrees of Spanish proficiency and…

This article examines visiting Chinese undergraduate students' engagement with the linguistic landscape (LL) in the city of Edinburgh as they participated in a University summer school. A pedagogical approach was taken involving capturing LL on display during a 'camera safari'; reflecting on questions through dialogic discussion and in writing and…