This article reports on a mixed methods study that examined the effect of reference of comparison (self-referential vs. normative) and regulatory focus (promotion-focused vs. prevention-focused) on willingness to communicate (WTC) among learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). One hundred female English learners were randomly assigned to…

Pragmatic competence is an essential element of communicative competence, which makes it relevant for speakers of all ages, including young language learners (YLLs). Despite the recognized importance of pragmatics, research of textbooks for adult second language (L2) learners to date has found them lacking in their approach to this key aspect of…

The acquisition of communicative competence in second and foreign languages requires the incorporation of verbal and non-verbal elements. Notwithstanding, few studies have performed empirical research into the acquisition of non-verbal signs. This research studies the learning of emblematic gestures for students of Spanish in the USA using an…

This study aimed to investigate whether and how willingness to communicate, communication in English anxiety, behavioural inhibition and action predict perceived second language (L2) fluency. The study also looked at whether L2 proficiency moderates the strength of relationships between these affective factors and L2 perceived fluency. One hundred…

It is commonly agreed that learner target language output and spoken interaction are essential to communicative language learning. This video-based classroom observation study of five lower secondary schools in Norway investigated how second language (L2) English and third language (L3) French teachers responded to their students when they spoke…

One of the main reasons for studying a foreign language is communicating with others, but many students do not feel confidently enough when trying to develop their speaking skills. Among adolescents' frequent activities are that of listening to music while paying attention to song lyrics. We hypothesize that these musical experiences could…

This study explored second language (L2) competence in discontinuous discursive formulaic sequences, namely Chinese correlative connectives (CCCs; e.g. yinwei . . . suy 'because . . . so'), in relation to the determinants of formulaic sequence acquisition by scrutinizing L2 Chinese learners' performance on two controlled tasks. Mixed-effects…

This study examined how secondary teachers (junior and senior high school teachers) of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Japan participated in collaborative action research and engaged in their professional development over four years. In particular, little is known as to how EFL teachers challenge their beliefs and implement innovative…

Course materials play a vital role in the foreign language classroom. Relatively little attention has been paid, however, to analyzing the activities that foster oral interactional ability in course materials for English as a foreign language (EFL). For the purpose of this study, a coding scheme was designed that focuses specifically on the…

Within the context of an ongoing reform of the curriculum for English as a foreign language (EFL) in China, we present the implicit association test (IAT) as a new way to measure Chinese EFL teachers' implicit attitudes to a communicative language teaching (CLT) curriculum and to compare their attitudes to traditional language teaching (TLT)…

As a compulsory classroom subject in an environment in which it is rarely used, English as a foreign language might seem to have very little connection to students' present or future lives. There may be a disconnect between various circulating messages about English, and experiences of little day-to-day English use. This article presents…

The past 40 years have witnessed significant developments in ELT research, reflecting the changes in learners' language needs and the extensive development of various language learning/teaching methods in different times and places. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic and comprehensive account of changing ELT methods (oral-structural…

Willingness to communicate (WTC) reflects an intersection between instructed second language acquisition and learner psychology. WTC results from the coordinated interaction among complex processes that prepare second language (L2) learners to choose to use their L2 for authentic communication. Prior research has revealed considerable complexity…

The New Zealand school curriculum was last revised in 2007, at which time a new emphasis was placed on culture in language teaching. The practice of intercultural language teaching is implicit in the curriculum document and explicit in the curriculum guide, which features a set of principles for intercultural communicative language teaching…

Communicative language teaching and language teaching research suggest forms for desirable and effective grammar teaching. This study investigates to what extent these suggestions are integrated into teaching materials. On the basis of prior studies, we developed a list of both qualitative and quantitative criteria to determine the position of…