In the sphere of second or foreign language (L2) pedagogy, empirical evidence has increasingly spotlighted the role of learners' metacognitive strategies as formidable predictors of their willingness to engage in L2 communication (WTC). Nonetheless, the interrelationship among learners' metacognitive strategies, self-efficacy, and intrinsic…

This study examined nontraditional students using linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC) of their reflective writing assignments. Participants included 364 adult students enrolled in a degree completion program. Data comprised a multiweek reflective writing assignment and demographic data, linguistically and statistically analyzed. The study…

The past decade has witnessed a surge of research interest in diverse emotions that foreign/second language (L2) learners experience. However, research on L2 boredom is just starting. The current study focuses on foreign language learning boredom (FLLB) and foreign language enjoyment (FLE), and examines how they are associated with a wide range of…

Previous studies have indicated that social media has been used by students to develop speaking skills. Nevertheless, precisely how guided social media (GSM) (usage determined by the instructor) and unguided social media (USM) (freely chosen by students) activities in speaking courses affect their speaking skills and willingness to communicate…

This study investigated the motivation and motivational orientations along with the most prominent problems the students of non-English majors (SNEM) encounter in learning oral English skills (OES). To this end, a mixed method design was applied in this study by using a questionnaire to elicit quantitative data and a stimulated recall to generate…

Given much importance associated with willingness to communicate (WTC) in foreign language learning, many researchers have carried out studies to explore antecedents of second language (L2) WTC. To contribute to this research domain, this study sought to test a model of ideal L2 self, growth language mindset, boredom and WTC among English major…

Motivation to learn languages other than English (LOTEs) has been underrepresented in second language (L2) motivation research. This study investigated and compared the motivational profiles of first-year and second-year students majoring in Spanish, grounded on the proposition of bifurcating ideal and ought selves into "Own" and…

Learners' interaction with lecture materials has remained underexplored despite the growing body of studies on the use of materials. The current study explored the actions EFL learners employed during the use of lecture materials in tertiary classrooms in China through the lens of a transactional view. This empirical study involved forty-two…

While research on motivation has attracted a great deal of attention in relationship with L2 success, studies dealing with motivation on Languages Other than English and, particularly, on regional languages is scarce [Dörnyei, Z., & Al-Hoorie, A. H. (2017). The motivational foundation of learning languages other than global English:…

Drawing from Expectancy-Value Theory, this study explored the extent to which the interaction between learning motives for and self-efficacy in learning English as a foreign language (EFL) predicted deep language learning strategies by involving 693 undergraduates from mainland China in a survey. Stepwise multiple regression indicated that (i) as…

This study investigated the issue of L1 use in the L2 classroom from the students' perspective. Specifically, the focus of this study was on the characteristics of learners who desired L1 classroom support in their L2 learning. For the purposes of the study, a convenience sample of 380 Japanese university-level EFL participants completed a series…

Despite the growing body of studies on collocation learning in SLA research, there are hardly any studies taking the perspective of the individual learner or studies that have examined the effect of individual differences. This study--a qualitative component of a mixed-methods longitudinal project--presents an in-depth exploration of the intro-…

The world of education must continuously adapt to technological developments to increase learning quality, notably in the use of information and communication technologies in the learning process. In today's world, where everything is becoming increasingly interconnected and globalized, speaking more than one language is an increasingly important…

Growth language mindsets (i.e., beliefs that language ability can be improved) are found to sustain learners' motivation and resilience in challenging situations. Considering that migrants who are speakers of languages other than the dominant ones often face challenging daily communications, we examined important but understudied questions of…

Twenty-six learners of English enrolled in an MA course were asked to give the metaphors which they think best capture the essence of their learning experience so far. Their metaphors tell how English learning had introduced them to a brand new world and, once they were inside it, led them to a seemingly endless series of new discoveries. The…