This article presents a theoretical review of and methodological guidelines for the study of two key notions in second language acquisition research, complexity and difficulty. The term "complexity" has gained considerable currency over the past decades and has taken on a wide range of meanings. We argue for a more restricted…

This paper explores family multilingualism through the lens of language ideologies upheld by parents within three Chinese transnational families living in Luxembourg. Following a linguistic ethnographic approach throughout the inquiry and analysis process, this study provides illuminating insights into the Chinese parents' language ideologies…

Background and Aim: Recently, there has been a lot of interest surrounding the term gestalt language processor (GLP) which is associated with Natural Language Acquisition (NLA): a protocol intended to support the language development of autistic people. In NLA, delayed echolalia is presumed raw source material that GLPs use to acquire language in…

This study investigates the efficiency of "segmented ludicization" in language learning, i.e., the method considering learners' cognitive processing in ludicized learning experiences. This method transforms traditional didactic environments into playable procedures involving intervals for learners' knowledge digestions and retrievals.…

Embedded in a Systemic Functional understanding of education as an initiation into knowledge structures and specific activities, both of which are fundamentally mediated by language, this paper addresses one of the critical concerns around CLIL: a possible mismatch between students' cognitive level and their L2 proficiency. The focus is on acts of…

Construct validity and building validity arguments are some of the main challenges facing the language assessment community. The notion of construct validity and validity arguments arose from research in psychological assessment and developed into the gold standard of validation/validity research in language assessment. At a theoretical level,…

In 2020, 21.5% of US preschoolers spoke a language other than English at home. These children transition into English-speaking classrooms in different ways, often handling foundational concepts in two languages. Critically, some knowledge may be dependent on the language of learning. For instance, both bilingual children and adults typically…

While "transfer" remains the dominant yet controversial metaphor for describing how learning from one context affects learning in another, writing scholars propose numerous alternatives better aligned with current models of learning in "consequential transitions," "boundary crossing," and "threshold…

A review of literature suggested that language teacher cognition had been used interchangeably with teachers' knowledge and beliefs, and examined as a static entity to map out the "what" aspect of teachers' minds. More recently, it has evolved to be thought of as being interactive, dynamic, and situated. However, the relationship between…

Does language have a role to play in conceptual development, and if so, what is that role? Understanding the contents of another person's mind parallels the development in early childhood of mental state language. Does the conceptual understanding get reflected in and drive the language development, or does the language allow the representation of…

This review describes a computational approach for modeling the development of speech motor control in infants. We address the development of two levels of control: articulation of individual speech sounds (defined here as phonemes, syllables, or words for which there is an optimized motor program) and production of sound sequences such as phrases…

Semantic composition in language must be closely related to semantic composition in thought. But the way the two processes are explained differs considerably. Focusing primarily on propositional content, language theorists generally take semantic composition to be a truth-conditional process. Focusing more on extensional content, cognitive…

Purpose: Writing is an essential skill that secondary students need to establish for success in their further education, careers, and lives. However, most secondary students in the United States do not achieve the level of writing proficiency expected to ensure academic and future success. One approach that is emerging more in the research…

This paper examines how research in second language acquisition has approached the study of cognitive individual differences in the process and product of L2 writing from a theoretical and empirical perspective, paying special attention to the three empirical studies included in this special issue. The paper is divided into three sections. The…

One approach to understanding how the human cognitive system stores and operates with quantifiers such as "some," "many," and "all" is to investigate their interaction with the cognitive mechanisms for estimating and comparing quantities from perceptual input (i.e., nonsymbolic quantities). While a potential link…