The United States government is perennially in need of employees with proficiency in critical foreign languages to communicate with foreign counterparts and maintain relationships worldwide. In order to fulfill this need, the government devotes significant resources training federal employees to advanced levels of language proficiency through…

Language learning is an important necessity of today's globalized society. Therefore, it is vital to provide the most effective methods for learning a foreign language. Through understanding how foreign language learning, cognitive load theory, learning modalities, and participants' physiological sex relate to one another, more effective…

This study investigated the effect of LWR and the level of passage difficulty on L2 reading comprehension. Five upper intermediate ESL students were exposed to four different treatment combinations of silent reading and LWR with low and high intrinsic load reading passages. Reading comprehension was measured by immediate recall protocol. Under the…

The present quantitatively-driven mixed methods study aimed at exploring the effect of musical input as a mode on intermediate L2 learners' knowledge and retention of difficult words. The data were collected in two phases. In the experimental phase, quantitative data were collected from 40 learners. An innovative method was used for the purpose of…

The current study focused mainly on the role of the linguistic complexity of IELTS writing Task 2. In other words, it investigated the differential effects of two interrelated linguistic complexities of writing Task 2 on the three levels of discourse representation and what IELTS candidates perceived through analyzing IELTS writing topics both at…

The mobile phone has become an indispensable device for communication and managing everyday life among newly arrived migrants. Learning a new language is a crucial aspect of integration and professionalization in a foreign country, and the phone is a tool that is also used by migrants also for language learning. The purpose of this study is to…

Instruction in second language (L2) English phoneme pronunciation almost invariably includes a focus on improving the learners' use of their articulatory organs to pronounce the relevant sounds. However, the pronunciation of many English sounds also relies on effort from the abdominal region, and under-utilization of this region can often…

Learning to read in English is difficult for adult English language learners due to their diverse background, their level of experience with literacy in their first language, and their reason and desire for wanting to learn to read in English. Teachers of adult language learners must consider the educational and language experiences of adults…

Adult Japanese speakers often experience difficulty learning English /r/-/l/. Previous research has reported the effectiveness of using perception-based high-variability identification training with natural speech stimuli on improving Japanese speakers' perception and production of /r/-/l/. Recent studies have also shown the effectiveness of using…

Languages spoken in larger populations are relatively simple. A possible explanation for this is that languages with a greater number of speakers tend to also be those with higher proportions of non-native speakers, who may simplify language during learning. We assess this explanation for the negative correlation between population size and…

Over the past few decades, the field of second language acquisition (SLA) has seen a remarkable increase of interest in the study of instructed second language acquisition (ISLA), which "investigates second language (L2) learning or acquisition that occurs as a result of teaching" (Loewen, 2014, p. 2). Research insights gained from this…

The present study aimed to identify Turkish language sounds that Arabic native speakers experience pronunciation difficulties with when learning Turkish and make various suggestions on how to resolve this problem. Qualitative research method and observation technique were used in the study. The data were collected in 2016 and the second half of…

Knowledge of the target specialized language should be of use to English for specific purposes teachers who teach pronunciation. Knowledge of the target learners' first language (L1) should also be useful when these teachers use contrastive analysis, error analysis or interlanguage theory. However, as far as teaching the pronunciation of the…

An Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) may be evaluated either during the interview procedure (direct-method) or from a tape-made oral interaction (semi-direct method). Such variety in methods of assessment can influence test takers' scores extensively. However, it is not conclusive whether such differences are due to test format or something else.…

This study draws on Sociocultural Theory to explore how 12 adult EFL learners engaged in pair work, how their willingness to engage was demonstrated in pair activities, and what other factors influenced that willingness. Six pairs engaged in seven different activities and were interviewed after all activities were completed. Each pair's type of…