This paper presents IdiomsTube (https://www.idiomstube.com), the first-ever computer-assisted language learning tool for facilitating the learning of English idiomatic expressions from YouTube videos. The web-based tool is designed to automatically (1) assess the speech rate and lexical difficulty level of any learner-chosen English-captioned…

Ambridge argues that there is widespread agreement among child language researchers that learners store linguistic abstractions. In this commentary the authors first argue that this assumption is incorrect; anti-representationalist/exemplar views are pervasive in theories of child language. Next, the authors outline what has been learned from this…

This study consists of a categorisation of the vocabulary of chemistry, focusing on the terminological difficulties students face when learning this subject. Therefore, this classification intends to provide chemistry teachers an awareness of the language barriers students must overcome in their understanding of this scientific discipline. Two…

Multimodal learning refers to teaching strategies that involve multiple sensory systems simultaneously. Teachers can create materials for students with different learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic reading, and writing). Multimodal learning keeps students engaged, encourages them to apply what they learn in real-life situations,…

Currently, a relatively large number of spoken and written conventionalized expressions have been collected, catalogued, and systematized. In language pedagogy, a clear implication is that teaching grammar and vocabulary is likely to be more complicated than working with syntactic rules and single-word items. Old and new insights associated with…

This article examines the acquisition of Spanish idioms in a classroom setting that was supplemented with explicit instruction over a 10-week period. The research design manipulated two variables: prior lexical knowledge and idiom organization. Sixty-five second language (L2) learners completed pre- and posttests that measured their ability to…

There is a growing awareness of the importance of academic vocabulary, and more generally, of academic language proficiency, for students' success in school. There is also a growing body of research on the nature of the demands that academic language places on readers and writers, and on interventions to help students meet these demands. In this…

The Matthew effect is often used as a metaphor to describe a widening gap between good and poor readers over time. In this study we examined the development of individual differences in reading and cognitive functioning in children with reading difficulties and normal readers from Grades 1 to 3. Matthew effects were observed for individual…

Although there exists a number of studies that have shown the benefits of applying the cognitive linguistics notion of motivation to foster comprehension and retention of conventional English metaphors, relatively little attention has been paid to EFL learners' productive use of metaphor in speech and writing. Using data gathered in a…

Vocabulary learning and teaching has been one of the main issues in ESL/EFL learning and teaching research. EFL teachers in China, in particular, are grappling with the effective vocabulary teaching methods. This paper is doing part of this job in a different way. It discusses three principles based on Cognitive Linguistics (CL), namely the study…

Metonymy is an important means for people to know the world and enrich the language; and it is a way of thinking used widely in people's daily life. This paper illustrates firstly the cognitive nature of metonymy in terms of its definition, classification and contiguity notion. Based on this, the author then studies the meaning extension and…

This study examines the relationship between creativity and tolerance of ambiguity. Participants were parents and their adolescent children. Three measures of creativity were used: a divergent thinking task, a story-writing task and self-evaluation of creative attitudes and behavior. Participants completed two self-report measures of tolerance of…

A mixed methods study was conducted to examine female juvenile delinquents' opinions and reactions on nine language-based literacy activities. Forty-one participants ranging in age from 13 to 18 years responded to a survey consisting of nine multiple-choice items and one open-ended question concerning the usefulness of activities. Quantitative and…