This case study builds on Bourdieu's theory of practice to explore the ways in which two rural lower-class EFL learners--Andy and Xu--developed contrasting digital literacy trajectories in non-instructional and naturalistic settings. This study also seeks to examine how different online literacy trajectories impact rural lower-class students'…

This study investigates persuasive strategies used in the writings of Iranian university students in the field of teaching English as foreign language (TEFL). The study utilized the 7 principles of persuasive strategies presented by Cialdini (The psychology of persuasion, Quill William Morrow, New York 1984; Pre-suasion: A revolutionary way to…

The aim of the current study is to investigate self-regulated learning skills of EFL learners in online English course in distance education. It also aims to explore the relationship between the learners' self-regulated learning skills, their age and gender. With this aim, the Self-Regulated Online Learning Questionnaire (SOL-Q) was conducted in…

As part of its ambitious Belt and Road initiative, the Chinese government, cognizant of the fact that establishing strong people-to-people bonds locally, regionally, and internationally will be key to the initiative's success and that languages will play a pivotal role in facilitating this, has called for the diversification of language programmes…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore the importance of individual learner differences and the effect differentiated instruction (DI) has on learners' levels of engagement. Design/methodology/approach: The author carried out this research using a small-scale action research (AR) study. Findings: The findings suggest that in acknowledging…

This study attempted to investigate the relationship between EFL learners' motivation and internal locus of control under the framework of self-determination theory. In addition, the study examined the relation between EFL learners' age and gender regarding their motivation and internal locus of control. To this end, a convenience sample of 115…

This study investigates the relationship between attitudinal and non-attitudinal variables that impact digital technology use by EFL students in Vietnam. An adapted questionnaire was administered to 1,005 students from different tertiary courses. The results showed that students have a positive attitude to the use of technology and sometimes apply…

The present study investigates the preferences of students regarding the principles for the effective design of instructional videos to identify factors that influence engagement. A questionnaire was distributed to 232 students enrolled in online liberal arts classes at a private university in South Korea. Frequency analysis was conducted to…

The focus of this study is to explore the relationship between the linguistic and cultural learning processes that four female Chinese university exchange students perceived in Japan over one academic year. Two data collection instruments were employed: participants' diary entries and follow-up interviews with the four participants during the…

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between attitudes towards cheating, academic self-confidence, and general language ability among Iranian EFL learners. One hundred and thirty-nine university EFL students participated in this study. Findings showed that attitudes towards cheating negatively correlate with academic…

The purpose of this research is to analyze whether university students would be willing to engage in distance foreign language (FL) course design, and if the knowledge of their preferences could be used to present guidelines for course designers. Student engagement is seen as crucial to graduates' achievement in HE, especially in online courses,…

In the current second language pedagogy, understanding factors that contribute to learners' willingness to speak English in classrooms is fundamental for teachers. The aims of this present study are (1) to find out the extent to which Indonesian EFL learners are willing to speak English in classrooms and (2) to investigate the factors that…

The objectives of this study are to elicit perceptions that Chinese users of English have towards a selection of world English varieties; to determine the effects of speaker gender and visual primes (ethnic faces) on perceptions; and also to reveal how these two factors interact with each other. In the present experiment, 278 respondents were…

Despite undeniable advances in research on language learning strategies in the last several decades, empirical investigations of actions and thoughts that learners engage in to better understand and use grammar structures in different contexts, or grammar learning strategies (GLS), remain scarce. Moreover, there is a paucity of studies examining…

This study investigated the status of pragmatic awareness among Saudi EFL learners and the differences in pragmatic awareness between Saudi male and female EFL learners. The participants in the study consisted of 28 male and 28 female language learners whose proficiency levels ranged from intermediate to advanced. The instrument used for this…