As information and communication technologies develop in China, language tests are shifting from conventional paper-and-pencil testing to computerized testing. The aim of this study is to investigate Chinese test-takers' adaptability to computerized language exams, including their performance across testing modes and their perception of the…

In recent years, growing interest is shown in Technology-aided formative assessment (TAFA) and language learning. Research has shed light on the experimentation and effectiveness of various TAFA tools, focusing on their pedagogical advantages in assisting the teaching of particular linguistic skills (reading, writing, spelling, etc.). Taking an…

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, distance teaching brought on unforeseen challenges around the world, including classroom-based assessment practice. However, little attention has been paid to teachers' assessment practice and their identity as assessor in the new teaching situation. This study examines Chinese K-12 in-service EFL…

Drawing from a larger CIPP program evaluation ("Context, Input, Processes, Products") comprised of 11 analyses of the ETS online teacher training course titled "Teaching Academic English with the TOEFL iBT® Test" (TAE), this paper triangulates three qualitatively different data sets and seeks to understand how participants…

The outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019 had soon become a pandemic, leading to the lockdown of schools all around the world. To mitigate the negative impacts brought by COVID-19, the educational institutions of all levels have inevitably shifted from face-to-face teaching to online teaching. For English language teaching, fully synchronous online…

This paper reports a study investigating business English teachers' belief about online assessment using Q methodology. To address the common practice that teachers had to conduct online assessment during COVID-19 period and with performance assessment as theoretical foundation, this paper studied 22 Chinese business English teachers' belief when…

This article reports on an experimental study on the acquisition of prepositional relative clauses in second language European Portuguese by Chinese native speakers. It focuses on the role of resumption, mandatory in prepositional relative clauses in Chinese (the native language of the learners) and non-conventional in European Portuguese (the…

This study reports syllable position effects on second language (L2) Portuguese speech perception, revealing that L2 segmental learning may be prone to an influence from the suprasegmental level. The results show that first language (L1) Mandarin learners had diminished performance on the discrimination between the target Portuguese liquids (/l/…

This article reports on two studies, testing how three different types of input (skewed first, skewed random and balanced) affect second language (L2) learning of English present counterfactual (IF-Is) and past counterfactual (IF-IIs) conditionals, two constructions differing in complexity. The experiment included a proficiency test, a pretest, a…

The effects of question or task complexity on second language speaking have traditionally been investigated using complexity, accuracy, and fluency measures. Response processes in speaking tests, however, may manifest in other ways, such as through nonverbal behavior. Eye behavior, in the form of averted gaze or blinking frequency, has been found…

Although previous studies have examined the impact of online formative assessment on second language learners' writing development, scant attention has been paid to how writing teachers engage with online formative assessment and the influencing factors. By exploring three English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) writing teachers' engagement with…

This paper reports on the results from a multiple-case study of how EFL school teachers in China coped with online assessment for 10 weeks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We looked into the online assessment practices of seven teachers from seven regions of China, through individual interview, teachers' journals, instructional designs for online…

This study explored the role of written languaging (WL) in response to automated written corrective feedback (AWCF) in L2 accuracy improvement in English classrooms at a university in China. A total of 254 freshmen enrolled in intermediate composition classes participated, and they wrote 4 essays and received AWCF. A half of them engaged in WL…

English is required as the official working language for oceangoing seafarers across the world. In China, much time and effort has been dedicated to improving maritime students' Maritime English (ME). However, low English proficiency is still one of the main barriers for Chinese seafarers to compete in the international maritime labor market.…

We report 2 self-paced reading experiments investigating the longevity of structural priming effects in comprehending reduced relative clauses among adult Chinese-speaking learners of English. Experiment 1 showed that structural priming occurred both when prime and target sentences were immediately adjacent and when they were separated by 1 or 2…