The impact of task complexity on integrated writing performance is under-researched. This study purports to investigate the effect of graph complexity and planning time on graph writing performance as well as graph description strategies. Ninety-six EFL learners of English were assigned into three groups to examine the effect of three planning…

The first purpose of this empirical study was to assess and validate the Academic Writing Self-Efficacy Belief Questionnaire (AWSEBQ) framed by social cognitive theory. The second purpose was to evaluate the predictive effects of different aspects of self-efficacy beliefs on academic writing performance. Data were collected from 743 learners at a…

Foreign language educators have developed measures to assess the proficiency of U.S. high school learners. Most have compared language learners to clearly defined criteria for proficiency in the language (criterion-referenced assessment) or to the performance of other monolingual English speakers (norm-referenced assessment). In this study, the…

Research has demonstrated that students in dual-language immersion programs perform as well as, or better than, their peers in core academic content areas by late elementary school. However, the extent to which immersion education fosters bilingualism has received less attention in the literature. Using data from a four-year efficacy study of…

This study compared the Mandarin performance of elementary immersion program students and high school world language program students in the same school district. A cross-sectional design was employed to gather information on Mandarin proficiency of fourth and fifth graders and Level 4 and Level 5 (AP Chinese) high school students who took the…

This article reports on an extensive survey administered to advanced heritage language (HL) learners to examine their language behaviors, attitudes, and backgrounds. To date, there have been no detailed categorizations of advanced HL learners to guide classroom instruction and curriculum design. Thus the present study is a first attempt to fill…

This study compares 27 sixth grade students who have been learning Spanish since kindergarten with 5 who have had Spanish for only 1 year using a battery of Spanish oral and written tests. The students who started early out performed the new students in listening, speaking, and writing Spanish. Those who started early also displayed a positive…

Observed effects of dialogue journaling through electronic mail on the language produced by learners of Spanish as a second language, compared with the paper-and-pencil version. The electronic version was found to have a positive effect on the amount of language generated and on students' attitudes towards learning the target language but did not…

Examined effects of computers on writing efficiency and quality among intermediate learners of Japanese. Subjects corresponded with Japanese peers by email and took computer and hand-written tests. Response times, accuracy rates, and t-units were compared. Results suggest learners benefited from computer writing. (VWL)