Top-down models of reading emphasize methods and techniques that promote active reading which involves utilizing contextual clues to guess vocabulary meaning. This study aims at analyzing the correlation between EFL students' general reading proficiency and guessing patterns, and identifying the types of contextual clues actually used by EFL…

Research in second language speech has often focused on listeners' accent judgment and factors that affect their perception. However, the topic of listeners' application of specific sound categories in their own perceptual judgments has not been widely investigated. The current study explored how listeners from diverse language backgrounds weighed…

A factor analytic study of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was undertaken to determine the component abilities that underlie performance on the test for several major language groups: African, Arabic, Chinese (non-Taiwanese), Farsi, Germanic, Japanese, and Spanish. Evidence was found that three major factors underlie performance…