Since the late 1990s the notion of a plurilingual and pluricultural competence as elaborated by Coste, Moore and Zarate (1997) has had a strong impact on the didactics of languages. Several plural approaches have been developed which aim at developing competences in several languages and/or cultures (Melo-Pfeifer & Reimann, 2018; Reissner,…

This paper suggests six areas of vocabulary research which the author believes would be fruitful for future research. They include (1) developing a practical model of vocabulary acquisition, (2) understanding how vocabulary knowledge develops from receptive to productive mastery, (3) getting lexical teaching/learning principles into vocabulary and…

Language researchers and teachers have long been interested in the timing of learning, and the distributed practice effect, whereby greater inter-session intervals result in longer retention, is well-known (Kim & Webb, 2022). Many L2 studies have focused on the intentional learning of lexis (Edmonds, Gerbier, Palasis, & Whyte, 2021),…

Increased English learner accuracy can be achieved by leading students through six stages of awareness. The first three awareness stages build up students' motivation to improve, and the second three provide learners with crucial input for change. The final result is "sustained language awareness," resulting in ongoing…

There is little dispute that formulaic sequences form an important part of the lexicon, but to date there has been no principled way to prioritize the inclusion of such items in pedagogic materials, such as ESL/EFL textbooks or tests of vocabulary knowledge. While wordlists have been used for decades, they have only provided information about…

Lexical errors are a determinant in gaining insight into vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary use and writing quality assessment. Lexical errors are very frequent in the written production of young EFL learners, but they decrease as learners gain proficiency. Misspellings are the most common category, but formal errors give way to semantic-based…

In recent years, many children from Eastern European orphanages have been adopted by families in the United States. When children begin life with their new families, they experience an abrupt language shift in which the learning of their native language halts as the learning of the new language commences. Without the support of their native…

Many states have begun the process of developing or adapting English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards to align with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the forthcoming Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This need stems not only from a desire to ensure that "all" students receive the rigorous and systematic education…

Academic language is a vital part of content-area instruction and is one of the most pressing needs faced by English Language Learners (ELLs). The fundamental challenge ELLs in all-English instruction face is learning academic content while simultaneously becoming proficient in English. Because of this challenge, the authors, as educators, do not…

The purpose of this article is to briefly describe the design and piloting of a branched, online placement and credit examination that measures receptive as well as productive and creative language abilities in the heritage language of college students entering the Spanish for Heritage Learners Program at the University of Houston, a major…

In China many non-English majors, who often score high on English exams that emphasize reading comprehension and grammar, have difficulty finding the English words they need to express their ideas in speaking and writing. This problem is not unusual, and it is often difficult for students to use their receptive reading and listening vocabulary for…

Online technology and streaming video have the potential to generate tremendous interest and motivation in ESL/EFL students. Unfortunately, as the basis for a task-based language teaching (TBLT) program, such technology often places students in a passive position and limits inter-student communication. This paper describes a successful TBLT course…

Discusses the elements of the language learning process, i.e., language experience, the learner, mental processes, comprehension, learning, the capacities the learner brings to the process, and the conditions for learning and elaborates on their implications for second language teaching. What must occur before the learner moves across the gap…

Reasons that students have trouble developing their reading skills in Russian include: (1) reading comprehension is regarded as unimportant; (2) teachers discourage the surmising of meaning; and, (3) it is difficult to remember Russian words unless their elements (roots, prefixes, and suffixes) are recognized. (SED)

Although testing language has traditionally taken the form of testing knowledge about language, the idea of testing communicative competence is becoming recognized as being of great importance in second language learning. Communicative language tests are intended to be a measure of how the testees are able to use language in real life situations.…