This article presents selected results from a large-scale, mixed-methods, federally funded investigation of US-based language study-abroad alumni of all ages, which included a nationwide survey (N = 4,899) followed by professional life history interviews with 54 participants. Here, we focus on three questions heretofore unaddressed: (a) How do…

The use of students' first language (L1) in additional language (L2) instruction has been a recurring theme in language education research. While research has documented the amount of L1 use and its purposes in L2 instruction, little research has investigated the multifaceted motives that influence language choices at the micro level of social…

Language learners are often required to negotiate classroom participation in pair and group work; therefore, willingness to communicate (WTC) could be a key determiner of second language (L2) success. Classroom WTC is volatile and influenced by interlocutor-related variables, such as reciprocal identities, group membership and atmosphere, and peer…

Chinese immersion programs have been increasingly popular in US schools. However, we have insufficient data on young English-speaking children's acquisition of Chinese as a second language in these programs, and specifically on social contextual variables systematically promoting or hindering Chinese language use. Taking a variationist…

Around the globe, beginner sign language programs have seen surging enrolments in recent years. Yet relatively few learners progress to higher-level sign language study. In this article, we explore factors shaping retention and attrition among a cohort of 70 beginner Australian Sign Language (Auslan) students studying in a vocational education…

Heritage language (HL) learning is often facilitated by consistent exposure to the HL in family language policy (FLP). However, when children develop a preference for the majority language, family members may negotiate their use of both languages to establish a stronger emotional bond with their children while providing rich HL input. This article…

This study considers the relative benefits for vocabulary learning of exposure to two types of texts--literary or nonliterary--used with two teaching approaches. These approaches were termed "functional and creative", respectively. In the former, learners' attention was drawn to factual information and linguistic features in order to…

The present study takes a variationist perspective to explore the varietal repertoires of adult learners of German as a second language (L2), that is, their variable use of standard German, Austro-Bavarian dialect, and mixture varieties. Forty L2 learners completed a virtual reality task involving interactions with dialect-speaking and…

For many children in Flanders, Belgium, the language of instruction is not their first language. Allowing children to use their heritage languages in the classroom has been argued to have functional and socioemotional benefits. In two exploratory studies, we introduced a multilingual task in four classrooms across three linguistically and socially…

This study explored the role of feedback-seeking behaviors (FSB) in how English-as-a-second language (ESL) learners benefit from written corrective feedback (WCF). Seventy-six learners enrolled in an ESL writing course at a major university in the United States completed an FSB questionnaire, wrote a narrative essay, received WCF on their essays,…