Background: For over 30 years, parental reports have been used to study the vocabulary of children under 4 years of age. Research exploring parental checklists as a measure of vocabulary in older children is very limited. Typically, authors of parental checklists report the reliability of the developed tools but do not explore validity in terms of…

This article describes a new questionnaire, the "Diagnostic Inventory for Self-Regulated Language Learning" (DISLL), for assessing self-regulated learning strategies of students of English as an additional language. We discuss self-regulated learning models, evaluate existing questionnaires for assessing language learners' self-regulated…

This multisite study replicates Webb, Newton, and Chang's (2013) study on the effect of repetition on incidental learning of multiword units (MWUs). Even though more researchers have started to investigate MWUs, most data have been collected from university students. Furthermore, the large effect of MWU repetition on learning reported by Webb…

Performing a stay in a country where the L2 is the official language can provide the perfect immersion for L2 development (traditional study abroad). In the case of English learners, internationalization and the role of English as a lingua franca make it unnecessary to perform the stay in an English-speaking country. Hence, an increasing number of…

The involvement load hypothesis (ILH), which predicts the lexical learning potential of tasks, assumes that writing sentences (SW) and compositions (CW) using novel target words (TWs) lead to similar lexical gains. However, research on the issue is scarce and contradictory. One possibility is that the higher cognitive load of CW hinders learning…

Word knowledge and the speed of word processing in monolingual children and adults are influenced by word properties, such as the age of acquisition (AoA), imageability, and frequency. Understanding how different properties of words contribute to the ease of processing by bilingual children is a critical step for establishing models of childhood…

Purpose: The objective of this study was to compare vocabulary size and composition in 2-year-olds learning Polish or English as measured by the Language Development Survey (LDS; Rescorla, 1989). Method: Participants were 199 Polish toddlers (M = 24.14 months, SD = 0.35) and 422 U.S. toddlers (M = 24.69 months, SD = 0.78). Results: Test-retest…

We propose a previously unexamined factor instrumental in learning vocabulary accounting for the differences between learning a native and a foreign language: the development of critical thinking in adolescence. We hypothesize that the difficulties experienced in foreign vocabulary development result from the learner's readiness to question new…

Technology has been called to the rescue on a number of occasions, be it in large classes, under-resourced contexts, after earthquakes or other natural disasters. The COVID-19 pandemic which struck the whole world in Spring 2020 afterwards necessitated a sudden shift from face-to-face to distance teaching. With no preparation, no training and very…

Teaching English as a foreign language in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) context requires certain particular skills from teachers. The usual group comprises students with different proficiency levels, learning experiences, and diverse course expectations. Thus, ESP teachers need to achieve broad goals because they need to both develop…

In this study we explored factors that determine the knowledge of L2 words with orthographic neighbours in L1 (cognates and false cognates). We asked 150 Polish learners of English to translate 105 English non-cognate words, cognates, and false-cognates into Polish, and to assess the confidence of each translation. Confidence ratings allows us to…

Following the integration of an online homework tool--MyEnglishLab (MEL)--into their English courseware products, Pearson sought to explore how one of these products, Speakout, was being implemented with MyEnglishLab and perceptions about the impact it was having on learning. Speakout is a comprehensive eight-level General British English course…

This study examines learners' perceptions of the helpfulness of various multimedia components embedded in digital flashcards for explicit, informal foreign language vocabulary learning. Advanced learners of English (N = 59) studied 48 new words using digital flashcards on smartphones. After ten days, the learners completed perception surveys. The…

The author explores the interdisciplinary use of music in teaching English as a foreign language to children in the context of function, genre, character and expression, trying to decipher the role and influence of music on various contexts of language learning, such as memory and concentration span, and takes under consideration a wide variety of…

The aim of the present paper is to show how captioned tactile jigsaw flashcards (CTJF) can be used in teaching English vocabulary to children with special educational needs. The idea of the following technique, inspired by Montessori's Three Period Lesson (1964, 1967a, 1967b), was presented by this author and colleague Dorota Beltkiewicz in March…