This article adopts learning-behavior tracking as a research methodology within conversation analysis for second language acquisition to investigate its applicability to track and document how learning opportunities through collaborative repair work are brought about and whether they lead to second language (L2) word learning. To this end, the…

Extramural exposure, through activities such as watching TV, gaming, networking, and online reading, has become an important source of vocabulary acquisition in English as a foreign language, particularly when learners' first language (L1) has many cognates with English. Our study examined extramural vocabulary acquisition of 10th-grade L1…

Study abroad (SA) is touted for providing language learners with regular exposure to a second language (L2) in naturalistic settings. However, few studies have examined how interaction occurs in situ. This study analyzed 13 hours of naturalistic dyadic conversations self-recorded by 15 US-based undergraduate sojourners studying abroad for one…

This data-driven study framed in the interactionist approach investigates the influence of social graph topology and peer interaction dynamics among foreign exchange students enrolled in an intensive German language course on second language acquisition (SLA) outcomes. Applying the algorithms and metrics of computational social network analysis…

This study investigates second language (L2) interactional competence in Mandarin Chinese, with a specific focus on dispreference organization in refusals. Twenty-eight L2 Chinese learners at 3 proficiency levels (A2, B1, and B2) and 10 native speakers each participated in 3 role plays. We found that learners at different levels clearly differed…

This longitudinal study of 17 American learners of French lies at the intersection of 2 complementary fields of inquiry in second language acquisition (SLA): language variation and change (LVC) and language acquisition during study abroad. Studies in LVC examine the nature and use of linguistic features that have more than 1 possible realization…

In studying the relationship between word recognition and reading development, a distinction is made between analytic and holistic processing of words. These strategies are often assessed in a length effect in an alphabetic language or in a stroke-number effect in a logographic language. Analytical processing is associated with a robust length or…

This article argues for a reconceptualization of the concept of "corrective feedback" for the investigation of correction practices in everyday second language (L2) interaction ("in the wild"). Expanding the dataset for L2 research as suggested by Firth and Wagner (1997) to include interactions from the wild has consequences…

Target varieties for language learning are contentious in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics. Debates centre on the nature and utility of alternative norms. Approximation to 'native speaker' practices is the hallmark of language education. Thus, policy and pedagogy frequently orient toward achieving native-like production. While many…

This study explored teachers' beliefs about pronunciation instruction in Spanish as a second language (L2). An online survey was used to collect data from 100 participants, grouped into 4 categories based on their previous training in principles and methods of pronunciation instruction. This article reports results from 15 survey items which…

This study investigates the role of proficiency in the acquisition of conventional expressions as a pragmalinguistic resource in second-language (L2) Chinese. One hundred and four undergraduates, including 57 learners of Chinese as a foreign language at 3 levels of university instruction and 47 native speakers completed an aural-oral discourse…

This article presents a linguistic ethnographic study of a Panjabi complementary school in Birmingham, UK. Researchers observed classes for one academic year, writing field notes, conducting interviews, and making digital audio recordings of linguistic interactions. Sets of beliefs about the production and deployment of certain linguistic signs…

This article reports on an experimental study addressing the second language acquisition of Mandarin temporality. Mandarin Chinese does not mark past, present, or future with dedicated morphemes; the native English of the learners does. It was hypothesized that, in their comprehension, learners would utilize the deictic pattern of expressing…

Despite years of research on vocabulary learning and teaching, relatively little is known about strategies for effective mastery of vocabulary in less commonly taught languages. The current study focuses on English native speakers studying Modern Standard Arabic to identify effective ways to present and learn new vocabulary using tasks varying in…

Adopting a functional perspective that views grammar as a rich resource for making contextualized meanings in a culture- and language-specific way, the article reconsiders the role of explicit grammar instruction in developing communicative abilities of second language learners. It draws on two distinct but complementary research frameworks,…