The place of grammar instruction in second or foreign language (L2) pedagogy has always been highly controversial and although there is currently consensus that such pedagogic intervention is beneficial, numerous questions remain as to how it should most propitiously be conducted. Different theoretical perspectives have resulted in a wide array of…

Evidence that L2 learners of Spanish overgeneralize indirect object pronouns (OPs) to direct object contexts with human referents and direct OPs to indirect object contexts with nonhuman referents has been provided by Zyzik (2006), Malovrh (2008), and Olsen and Juffs (2022). However, the effect of instruction on this phenomenon has not been…

Chinese directional complement (DC) constructions, as a subtype of Chinese multiword sequences, are challenging to acquire for second language (L2) learners. However, little is known about L2 Chinese learners' acquisition of figurative DCs and their comprehension of literal and figurative DCs. This study investigated whether the acquisition of…

Research investigating the effect of study abroad on the development of grammatical accuracy has produced conflicting results. Using corpus linguistics research methods--yet to be used more extensively in SLA research--this study investigated students' acquisition of grammatical accuracy and lexical development during study abroad in China on data…

In response to shifting sociocultural constructions of gender and the emerging visibility of non-binary subject positions, grammatically binary linguistic systems, such as French, are being challenged, subverted, and adapted. This paper describes and analyzes formal, structural, and ideological aspects of how contemporary French speakers are…

While many elementary-level children in the United States still do not have access to a second/additional language (L2), an increasing number are educated via Foreign Language Exposure (FLEX) tracks. Our two-semester study examines elementary-level L2 learners' engagement, emerging L2 Spanish vocabulary use, and awareness of the arbitrary nature…

Research on incidental focus on form (FonF) has established associations among the nature of learner error, corrective feedback (CF), and effectiveness of CF measured through uptake. In this line of research, the analysis of learner error has been limited to errors with grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and spelling (nonformulaic). Consequently,…

This study investigated the effect that the salience of an L2 form has on learner noticing and production of the form. The study also explored the effects that task type (output vs. input) has on form noticing and production. The study targeted three Arabic forms: a low salient form (the future tense) and two salient ones (time telling and time…

Hundreds of millions of language learners around the globe study a second language with popular apps such as Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, Busuu, and Babbel. This study examined the effectiveness of one app, Babbel, for developing both receptive linguistic knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, as well as oral communicative ability in Spanish as a second…

The acquisition of morphosyntax presents challenges for learners of all second/foreign languages. This cross-sectional study investigated English-speaking learners' morphosyntactic accuracy in the symmetrical subject-verb agreement type (in subject-initial sentences) and in the asymmetrical subject-verb agreement type (in verb-initial sentences)…

While a growing body of research has addressed the outcomes of K-12 foreign language (FL) study, relatively little is known about the relationship between teachers' practices and students' proficiency development (Hlas & Hlas, [Hlas, A. C., 2012]; Tschirner & Malone, [Tschirner, E., 2012]). To fill this gap, the current study, set in a…

In this essay, I review one of the conclusions in Lindseth (2016) published in "Foreign Language Annals." That conclusion suggests that explicit learning and practice (what she called form-focused instruction) somehow help the development of implicit knowledge (or might even become implicit knowledge). I argue for a different…

This ethnographic study of a beginning-level German course at an Australian university examined the student experience of learning second language (L2) grammar in a flipped classroom. Students accessed explicit grammar instruction and completed grammar exercises prior to attending face-to-face classes; during class, the structures were briefly…

Lindseth (2016) reported that direct instruction and practice using the German verb-inversion rule resulted in higher accuracy in an oral test for college students, supporting the hypothesis that explicit linguistic knowledge can become implicit linguistic knowledge. It is quite likely, however, that the conditions for the use of conscious…

This study examined to what extent English-speaking learners of Arabic demonstrated varied metalinguistic knowledge of a salient feature (head-direction) vs. an unsalient feature (definiteness) in the Arabic construct state. In addition, it examined whether this knowledge was utilized in form-focused task performance. In the target construction,…