Second language (L2) utterance fluency is crucial for speaking proficiency assessment. The measurement of L2 utterance fluency relies heavily on silent pause identification. However, empirical studies establishing specific silent pause thresholds for L2 monologic speaking are scarce, and even fewer exist for L2 dialogic speaking. This study thus…

Indonesia's linguistic landscape is among the most diverse in the world, yet its many indigenous and minority languages face increasing marginalization amid the widespread use of Bahasa Indonesia and English. This study examined university students' perspectives on language diversity and the preservation of heritage languages within the context of…

The current study examined the extent to which first language (L1) utterance fluency measures can predict second language (L2) fluency and how L2 proficiency moderates the relationship between L1 and L2 fluency. A total of 104 Japanese-speaking learners of English completed different argumentative speech tasks in their L1 and L2. Their speaking…

Studies have shown that raising L2 learners' metaphor awareness contributes to the acquisition of figurative language, which fosters students' development of language skills. However, the instruments measuring metaphor awareness, in the majority of relevant research, did not seem to have undergone proper methodological procedures for checking…

This research project is set in a Pakistani undergraduate translation studies class. Pakistan is an ex-British colony where English is taught in a linguistic neo-imperial context. Teachers often endeavor to lessen the palpable struggle of students by introducing activities that put less emphasis on grammatical correctness and more on fostering…

This study employed a mixed-methods approach to explore the attitudes of second language (L2) learners and L2 teachers toward the use of learners' first language (L1) in L2 classrooms. Interview data were collected from Japanese college students (n = 91) and their English teachers (n = 9) to identify salient themes related to the reasons for…

A writer's L1 is generally believed to influence their L2 English writing significantly. However, the extent to which L1 backgrounds influence Asian learners' L2 English writing has not been wholly elucidated due to the lack of data covering various learners in Asia. Therefore, this study analysed more than one-million-word essays written by 2,318…

There has been little research investigating the effects of notetaking on foreign language (FL) learning, and no studies have examined how it affects vocabulary learning. The present study investigated the vocabulary written in notes of 86 students after they had listened to a teacher in an English as a foreign language (EFL) class. The results…

This study explored the impacts of translingual practices on English as an additional language (EAL) writing education in a non-English as a medium of instruction (non-EMI) context at a Chinese university. The findings highlighted the benefits of translingual practices in enhancing students' comprehension, easing cognitive challenges, and…

Linguistic diversity is growing in Higher Education, driven by factors like internationalization and digitalization. This trend necessitates a reevaluation of language practices within academic communities. Language Centres play a crucial role in modelling effective practices and reshaping these practices to address the multilingual needs of…

Dative alternation between prepositional and double object datives has been a popular topic in second language (L2) acquisition, but only few studies deal with discourse constraints such as the "given-before-new" principle, or given-new (GN) ordering, which describes the tendency to place given information before new information. The…

This study explores how preservice English teachers in China perceive and leverage their Chinese and English linguistic repertoires in ELT methodology training, and how a reflective understanding of their use of these repertoires can contribute to their development as teachers. To understand how their practices and conceptualizations of language…

In most universities in South Africa, English is still preferred as the medium of instruction. However, most schools in South Africa have adopted a home-language education approach. Those school students then have a lower English proficiency compared to other students from English schools. Providing these students with instructional assistance…

The article presents a pedagogical experience with a course of undergraduate students from various programs. The main objectives were to improve their oral skills in English, increase their self-confidence, reduce language-specific anxiety, and provide individual prospective feedback. An action research design was employed, adhering to the…

Language learning activities involving time-pressured repetition of similar content have been shown to facilitate improvements in fluency. However, concerns have been voiced about whether these gains might be offset by reduced levels of grammatical accuracy. This descriptive study tracked the oral proficiency of 32 Japanese university students…