The present study examined the relative effects of discourse-based and sentence-level grammar instruction on the learning of English present perfect in academic writing, using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design. Participants were 37 multilingual graduate students enrolled in different sections of an ESL-writing course at a U.S.…

The commercial Sinhala-medium FM radio practice of code-mixing between Sinhala and English is criticised by some of the mainstream Sinhala-speaking groups of Sri Lanka as unrestrained and thus causing the degeneration of the native language of Sinhala. Regardless of this disapproval, this new style of code-mixing has now spread into the FM media…

This study draws on conversation analysis to explore the pedagogical possibility of using audiovisual depictions of authentic disagreement sequences from L2 interactions as sources for an awareness-raising activity in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. Video excerpts of disagreement sequences collected from two ESL classes were used…

This paper examines the resulting qualitative transformation of two students' metapragmatic awareness following a semester abroad in southern France--one of whom had access to a concept-based pragmatics instruction programme (expert-mediation), while the other followed a standard semester programme. The larger study from which these cases are…

In this study, we compare the first and the last sessions from an online oral proficiency course aimed at doctoral students conducted in the virtual world Second Life. The study attempts to identify how supportive moves made by the teacher encourage learners to engage with language, and what type of linguistic behaviour in the learners leads to…

Explores the role of language awareness in the teaching and learning of languages within the framework of educational reform in Spain. Three different types of discourse are compared: the official curriculum, teachers' views obtained in interviews, and teachers' classroom practices. (Author/VWL)

Classroom communication is best characterized as social activity wherein interpersonal relationships are created, maintained, and even changed through teacher-student interactions. A close analysis of some discourse features suggests that what differentiates the way teachers interact with more successful and less successful students is the extent…