Vocabulary acquisition, after being neglected for centuries, aroused people's attention from the second half of last century. At that time, people began to realize, instead of grammar, vocabulary occupies the central role in language acquisition (Gass & Selinker, 1994). Compared with intentional vocabulary acquisition, incidental vocabulary…

This research tends to ascertain several traditional and socio-cultural barriers to English language learning in Saudi Arabia and to explore more ways than before for making teaching and learning more effective. The findings of four quantitative and qualitative surveys conducted in this regard reveal a unique traditional and socio-cultural milieu,…

This article documents the findings of a study concerning the perspectives on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in the monolingual context of Jaén. The research has involved the design, validation and administration of two sets of questionnaires to 745 informants (692 students and 53 teachers) within eight secondary schools with a…

The role of written corrective feedback (WCF) in the process of acquiring a second language (L2) has been an issue of considerable controversies over past decades. This article intends to provide a critical review of the increasing number of WCF studies thus far and to inspire new perspectives for future research. It starts by briefly tracing the…

Metacognition appears to be a significant contributor to success in second language (SL) and foreign language (FL) learning. This study seeks to investigate empirical research on the role metacognition plays in language learning by focusing on the following research questions: first, to what extent does metacognition affect SL/FL learning? Second,…

Language anxiety has become a great concern in second and foreign language learning research over the last three decades, and is a topic that triggers significant differences of opinions. As the first theory that emphasises the specific nature of foreign language anxiety, Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's theory of foreign language anxiety has been…

Truscott (1996) questions the practicability of grammar correction, and he believes that written corrective feedback (WCF) is not only a waste of time, but even harmful to the students as well. This has led to a great deal of discussion and research on WCF in second-language (L2) writing. Ferris (1999) is the representative opponent of Truscott's…

A dictionary is an important device for both: EFL teachers and EFL learners. It is highly needed to conduct effective teaching and learning. Many investigations were carried out to study the foreign language learners' habits in the use of their dictionaries in reading, writing, testing and translating. This paper is shedding light on this issue;…

This systematic review aims to explore the effect of NGSS on students' academic excellence. Specifically, considering increased cultural diversity, it is appropriate to identify student's science-related values, respectful features of teachers' cultural competence, and underlying challenges and detect in what ways these objectives are addressed by…

Since the implementation of the 2001 curriculum reform and the release of the 2004 college English requirements, learner autonomy has become one of the most important research themes in the field of ELT in China, especially college English, reflecting the tendency of a learner-centered teaching approach. In this paper, I have reviewed 39 studies…

Translation and language teaching techniques which take language learners' first language (L1) as point of reference for teaching the second language (L2) have been long discouraged on the ground that these teaching techniques would end in the fossilization of L2 structure forms in the learner's Interlanguage system. However, in recent years, the…

Learners' beliefs about foreign language learning have been stressed in educational research because they are regarded as fundamental to learners' progress (e.g. Altan, 2012; Russell, 2009; Rieger, 2009; Kormos & Csizér, 2008;). This paper deals with the results of a research project conducted among first-year English language majors studying…

This paper explores the philosophical underpinnings of three major educational research paradigms: scientific, interpretive, and critical. The aim was to outline and explore the interrelationships between each paradigm's ontology, epistemology, methodology and methods. This paper reveals and then discusses some of the underlying assumptions of…

This state of the art article overviews the literature on discrepancies between foreign language teacher and learner beliefs. In the first section, the author draws the reader's attention to the significance of discrepancies between the L2 teacher and L2 learner perceptions and provides a synopsis of both practical-anecdotal and empirical evidence…

With the attention paid to the English learning strategy training in China, more and more researchers and experts conduct empirical experiments in English classroom to test the reliability or apply the language learning strategies into learning and teaching practice. In this study, it shows distributing research on English learning strategy…