The current study focuses on the effect of the target language on learner emotions and attitudes/motivation. More specifically, it investigates whether the status and prestige of English results in more positive learner emotions and attitudes/motivation compared to less prestigious languages other than English (LOTE). Statistical analyses of a…

As plurilingual/multilingual research advances, factors that contribute to or hinder individual's flexible language use are still underexplored. Questions such as "Why do some people identify as plurilingual and pluricultural while others do not?" and "What factors contribute to high levels of plurilingual and pluricultural…

Three experiments explored how retrieval practice and corrective feedback affect a third language (L3) vocabulary learning. In the first two experiments, Chinese-English bilinguals without prior French language experience studied English (Second Language, L2)--French (L3) word pairs in repeated studying or retrieval practice without (Experiment…

Using a structural equation modeling approach, this study investigates the structural relationships between second language (L2) oral proficiency and interest in learning the target language (L2 interest), in the presence of potential mediating variables (i.e. perceived importance of speaking, out-of-class contact with L2 resources). It also…

This study responds to calls for more research on motivations for learning languages other than English (LOTEs) in the new era dominated by global English. In particular, it focuses on the role of societal contextual factors surrounding the status of English and the status of the LOTE as an L2/L3, as factors which may offer a more nuanced…

Placement tests are used to support a particular need in a local context--to determine the best starting place for a student entering a specific programme of language study. This brief report will focus on the development of an innovative placement test with self-directed elements for our local needs at a university in Canada for students studying…

Grounded in self-based and community-oriented concepts of motivation research into learning world languages, this study investigated stereotypes about native-speaker and non-native-speaker teachers of German that 110 novice learners of French, German, Russian, and Spanish had encountered. It furthermore analyzed how participants rated the accuracy…

Past work has suggested that L1 readers retrieve idioms (i.e., "spill the tea") directly vs. matched literal controls ("drink the tea") following unbiased contexts, whereas L2 readers process idioms more compositionally. However, it is unclear whether this occurs when a figuratively or literally biased context…

The current study investigates how foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and attitude/motivation (AM) of 360 learners of English, German, French and Spanish in a Kuwaiti university was shaped over the course of one semester by three teacher behaviours: frequency of using the foreign language (FL) in class,…

The significance of the body in learning and speaking a foreign language is an under-researched topic in a field characterized by a strong focus on cognition and sociolinguistics. This paper is designed to contribute to a newly emerging line of inquiry addressing the move away from the pure linguistic approach towards a more humanistic…

We investigate whether second language (L2) learners of English rely on first language (L1) transfer and atomicity in the acquisition of the count/mass distinction by examining L1-French and L1-Chinese learners of English. Atomicity encodes whether a noun contains 'atoms' or minimal elements that retain the property of the noun. As a semantic…

This article articulates how the instructor of a French for the Professions course at the U.S. Air Force Academy designed her course by using students' inputs, in particular in the area of assessment. It highlights students' perspectives and contributions, as well as the instructor's deliberate actions to incorporate their voices as expressed in…

To teach English as a second foreign language at university levels provides the educator or professor an excellent occasion to compare the first and second languages by a series of analogical activities that not only highlight the similar forms and structures of them, but more important still, oblige students to comprehend these forms and…

This article analyses a specific strategy designed to include generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools in students' written assignments. While we recognise that GenAI tools represent a challenge for teachers in terms of their classroom use and the development of digital literacy among students, we believe that banning them is not a viable…

This research study provided a basic understanding of pedagogical translanguaging and its importance in a multilingual classroom environment from the perspective of foreign language class students. The qualitative study, employing interpretive phenomenological analysis, investigated students' viewpoints on pedagogical translanguaging in a…