The production-oriented approach (POA) is a nascent language-teaching approach that considers the aptitudes of Chinese learners. This study compared POA with task-based language teaching (TBLT) and presentation-practice-production (PPP) theoretically and empirically. A four-quadrant model and a theoretical comparison table are proposed to clarify…

This research examines the impact of online help-seeking strategies--both adaptive and peer-based--on promoting self-regulated and collaborative learning skills, as well as language learning outcomes, among Chinese EFL learners in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environments. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study triangulates…

This paper presents the results of a retrospective study that investigates the cognitive effects of learning a foreign language in late adulthood. The learner group, consisting of 21 L1 Chinese speakers who have been learning to read Arabic for 2 years and 4 months, were compared to the matched group on their performance on a series of cognitive…

Recent second language (L2) reading studies have examined how characteristics of an individual learner and word-specific linguistic properties jointly predict successful L2 word-meaning inference, i.e., a learner's ability to guess the meaning of an unknown word. Semantic transparency is one such word-specific property. Each constituent morpheme…

An increasing number of adults learn more than one foreign language simultaneously. While the cognitive benefits of using multiple languages from birth have been studied extensively, little is known about possible cognitive benefits of learning multiple languages simultaneously in adulthood. Among the cognitive abilities which play a role in…

As China is playing an active role in the World's politics, economy, and cultural circles, being able to communicate in English has become one of the basic life and work skills and a key for global access and integration. High mobile technology penetration, together with the proliferation of mobile learning applications, have made it possible for…

This edited book documents practices of learning-oriented language assessment through practitioner research and research syntheses. Learning-oriented language assessment refers to language assessment strategies that capitalise on learner differences and their relationships with the learning environments. In other words, learners are placed at the…

This paper explores the attitudes of teachers, as adult learners, towards learning to do animation. A part of popular culture which second-language students enjoy, until recently, animation has been technically too demanding for non-specialists to learn. Adult learners can experience e-learning as transformative, but also as a barrier. Thus,…

Using an experimental approach, this study examined the relative effectiveness of varying the use of songs (lyrics and music) on vocabulary acquisition, language usage, and meaning for adult ESL students in the People's Republic of China. While the use of songs is generally enthusiastically endorsed by ESL teachers, few empirical studies have…

"Adult Language Learners: Context and Innovation" presents instructional practices that are particularly successful with adults. Adult language learners are goal oriented and direct their learning to fulfill particular needs or demands: to advance their studies, to progress up the career ladder, to follow business opportunities, to pass…

Presents 30 adult Chinese immigrant women's accounts of their experiences with, and perceptions of, learning English as a Second Language in Canada. Results from interviews with two age groups of adult women reveal the complexity of adult second-language acquisition, which involves factors pertaining both to the learners, and to the social context…

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Conference on Education and New Developments 2015-END 2015, taking place in Porto, Portugal, from 27 to 29 of June. Education, in our contemporary world, is a right since we are born. Every experience has a formative effect on the constitution of the human being, in the way one thinks, feels and…

Among the 59 papers are: "Comparisons in Performance of Adults and High School Seniors on the 1988 Tests of General Educational Development (GED)" (Baldwin, Whitney); "Research Writing" (Baskett, Garrison); "Popular Education in Latin America" (Beder); "Framework for the Study of Ethical Issues in Adult…

For the thirtieth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the National AECT Convention in Anaheim, California. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

This document contains 123 papers from an international conference on vocational education and training (VET) for lifelong learning in the information era. The papers focus on the following themes: (1) societal and ethical issues; (2) human resource development and personnel training; (3) international issues; (4) information technology in VET;…