The present dissertation reports two experiments that examine implicit and explicit language learning methods and their impacts on early vocabulary, grammar, and phonological acquisition, in addition to working memory, proactive/reactive control, and fluid intelligence, as well as learner motivation. Experiment 1 investigated adult L2 acquisition…

Predicting learning and human behavior in general is a challenging endeavor. Machine learning driven predictive modeling have been an increasingly popular means to understand disparities in student performance. With more than a handful of approaches to predictive modeling, the current literature of predicting learning is plagued with issues such…

Lexical inferencing is considered a listening strategy that is commonly employed by advanced EFL (English as a Foreign Language) listeners and a factor that contributes to successful listening comprehension. However, investigations of the factors that influence inferencing success in listening as well as how much each factor contributes to success…

The present study investigates the time course of acoustic cue integration in the processing of the Korean three-way laryngeal stop contrast by native Korean listeners and English second language (L2) learners of Korean. As such, this study seeks to understand how native listeners and L2 learners weight and integrate fine-grained acoustic…

Increasingly, educators seek to teach and assess historical thinking. In the post-secondary environment, historical thinking skills are typically taught alongside historical fact, however there is a paucity of research on the relationship between historical thinking skills and knowledge of historical fact. The purpose of this study was to…

Learning in a multimedia environment puts many demands on a learner's limited working memory, but this can become even more demanding as the level of distraction increases in a lesson. What has not been investigated much in previous literature is whether higher levels of distraction in lessons are more harmful to some learners than others. This…

Guided by Dynamic Systems Theory (DST) and multidimensional perspectives on individual differences (IDs) in instructed second language (L2) learning (e.g., Larsen-Freeman, 2014; Sun & Zhang, 2020), this longitudinal mixed-methods study focuses on three conceptually different categories of L2 learners' IDs: working memory (WM), motivation, and…

According to cognitive psychologists, consistent practice (i.e., tasks with a high degree of similarity) of a skill leads to the development of automaticity, with the degree of automatization being increased if the practice also involves exact repetition. Practice is skill specific, meaning that practicing one skill does not automatize related…

Second language acquisition has been observed to be variable in its outcome such that, unlike native speakers, all second language learners do not achieve total success. Second language acquisition is made of macro and micro processes. External and internal (e.g., age, individual differences) factors are assumed to affect language processing in…

Despite the importance that learners must place on using prosody appropriately in EIL interaction, pragmatic functions of prosody have been largely disregarded in teaching materials and classroom instruction (Nikolic, 2018). Moreover, with a recent change in classroom paradigms instigated by the global development of educational technologies and…

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group study was to determine if there is a difference in mathematical fact fluency among third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students with varying practice methods and spacing intervals while controlling for pre-test scores. The study filled the literature gap by examining the…

The tantalizing prospects of learning benefits from multimodal conditions on second language (L2) learning in general, and L2 vocabulary development in particular, have important implications. Indeed, opening a language learning app on any device provides the immediate experience of simultaneous input modalities, and a wide range of input types.…

Students with learning disabilities (LD's) in inclusion classrooms often face both academic and social difficulties (Alesi, Rappo, & Pepi, 2014; Clever, Bear, & Jovonen, 1992; Lavoie, 2005; Madge, Affleck, & Lowenbraun, 1990; McIntosh, Vaughn, Schumm, Haager, & Lee, 1993; Mercer & Pullen, 2009; Nowicki, 2003). Research on…

This dissertation explored the lived experiences of undergraduate and graduate students with learning disabilities and learning-affected disorders within the context of the college writing classroom. Utilizing a critical incident technique (CIT) framework, the dissertation inquired about the writing processes, learning styles, decisions regarding…

Cognitive scientists and psychology researchers have given growing attention to evidence of the testing effect, that is, the improvement of students' recall through memory-retrieval practice in the form of quizzes and exams. While laboratory experiments consistently show dramatic positive effects on learning through the testing effect,…