The current research aimed to examine the relationships among three key aspects of the language learning process, namely, foreign language boredom (FLB), English language engagement (ELE), and academic buoyancy (AB), utilizing data collected from 2,992 Chinese language learners. In order to strengthen the accuracy and robustness of the results, we…

Recent evidence suggests that Chinese foreign language (FL) learners' positive emotional experiences are conveyed not only by the prevalent emotion of foreign language enjoyment (FLE), but also by the culture-specific emotion of foreign language peace of mind (FLPOM) which describes an inner state of peace and harmony. This study seeks to…

Teacher professional development (PD) has been shown to have numerous benefits, such as greater self-efficacy, higher motivation, and enhanced wellbeing (e.g., Kimura, 2014; Polin, 2023; Wang & Chen, 2022), and teaching additional languages is certainly no exception. However, the extent to which teachers are willing and able to engage in PD…

This study explores the complex relationships between language learning motivation, vocabulary learning strategies, and two components of second language vocabulary knowledge (i.e., vocabulary size and depth), within the framework of self-regulated learning. Responses to questionnaires were gathered from 185 secondary-level Korean adolescent…

This study investigates task-specific emotions, examining how they arise and impact performance in a second language writing task through the lens of control-value theory and a positive psychology (PP) perspective. Participants were 206 secondary English-as-a-foreign-language learners from rural China. They completed an English argumentative…

This study seeks to delve into the potential role of divergent thinking, a component of creativity, in second language learning. Specifically, we compare the use of lexical organization and production strategies of two groups of more and less creative EFL learners in year 12 through an automatic vectorial semantic analysis of their retrieval in…

This meta-analysis synthesized the effects of the English medium instruction and content and language integrated learning (EMI-CLIL) approach on secondary-level students' English learning. The dataset included 44 samples (N = 7,434) from 38 primary studies. The results revealed EMI-CLIL's overall effectiveness for the development of English…

There has been much research on the connections between second language (L2) writing and learner motivation. However, few studies have focused on contexts in which L2 learning is mandatory, rather than elective. This technical action research-based study evaluated a project in which teenage learners in Argentina were engaged in creative writing…

This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design to examine the beliefs of Vietnamese EFL students concerning oral corrective feedback (CF) and the role of some individual differences in these beliefs. The data consisted of questionnaires completed by 250 Vietnamese high school students and follow-up interviews with 15…

This study investigates whether potential differences in the weight of out-of-school and in-school learning environments affect the acquisition of L2 English by teenagers in two geographical contexts, more and less English-rich, and with less and more linguistic distance to English, respectively. Participants were two groups of 14-15-year-olds,…

Teacher conceptions of assessment influence their implementation of learning-focused assessment initiatives as advocated in many educational policy documents. This mixed-methods study investigated Chinese secondary school teachers' conceptions of L2 assessment in the context of an exam-oriented educational system which emphasizes English grammar,…

This study investigates how different form-focused instruction (FFI) timing impacts English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' grammar development. A total of 169 Chinese middle school learners were assigned to four conditions randomly: control, before-isolated FFI, integrated FFI, and after-isolated FFI. The three experimental groups received…

Past research has often shown a lack of student output in English medium instruction (EMI) classes (e.g., An et al., 2021; Lo & Macaro, 2012) and this study seeks to identify possible reasons. Guided by literature on wait time (Rowe, 1986) and teacher higher-order thinking questions (Chin, 2007), this study explores whether these two…

The aim of the paper is to present the findings of an empirical study which contributes to the ongoing research into gender effects on second language acquisition by exploring a biological influence on L2 pronunciation learning. One of the most frequent arguments used to vindicate single-sex education is that there are substantial sensory and…

In many countries, English as a foreign/second language (L2) teaching has become compulsory in urban and rural public schools. In rural areas, the challenges for the implementation of this state-sanctioned policy have been explored among L2 teaching specialists. However, this mixed-methods study considered a different teacher group and examined…