Second language (L2) learners can assess their oral skills with some accuracy. A question is whether learners can reliably use self-assessment to track their language gains over time. During the spring of two subsequent years, 80 university L2 Chinese learners completed an oral skills self-assessment based on the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements…

This study examines a Chinese language programme in an Ivy League institution through the lens of Tracking to re-conceptualise the achievement gap between Chinese heritage language learners (CHLLs) and non-heritage language learners. Like most prestigious universities in the U.S., Chinese language learners in this case study are put on one of two…

This study compared the narratives of three groups of advanced speakers of Spanish with different learning backgrounds. The first group was made up of heritage speakers; the second group was composed of missionaries that had recently returned from a two-year sojourn in a Spanish-speaking country; and the third group comprised students who had…