This study examined the semantic features of the simulated mini-lectures in the listening sections of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) based on automatized semantic analysis to explore the content validity of the two tests. Two study corpora were utilized, the IELTS…

Applied linguists and Communication scholars have mainly adopted different yet complementary approaches to research on language and health communication. Using discourse-analytic (DA) approaches such as conversation analysis and corpus analysis, applied linguists tend to focus on describing and explicating health messaging techniques in naturally…

This study aimed to examine the potentials of the NLP approach in detecting discourse markers (DMs), namely okay, in transcribed spoken data. One hundred thirty-eight concordance lines were presented to human referees to judge the functions of okay in them as a DM or Non-DM. After that, the researchers used a Python script written according to the…

E-learning systems are transforming the educational sector and making education more affordable and accessible. Recently, many e-learning systems have been equipped with advanced technologies that facilitate the roles of educators and increase the efficiency of teaching and learning. One such technology is Automatic Essay Grading (AEG) or…

Multi-word expressions are formulaic language universals with arbitrary and idiosyncratic collocations. Their usage and mastery are required of learners of a second language in achieving naturalness. However, despite the importance of multi-word expressions to mastering a second language, their syntactic architecture and colligational…

This article discusses the function of a particular feature of sign language--mouth action--as it is expressed in various discourse contexts. Specifically, we examine forms of mouthing and mouth gesture as they are used in signed narrative and expository texts, highlighting the signers' choices during the production of these two text types. We…

Until now, there has been very little unified analysis of metadiscourse across speech and writing. Drawing on a reflexive metadiscourse model, this article conducts a multidimensional analysis of metadiscourse across 10 spoken and written registers in a corpus of 626 texts. Two metadiscourse dimensions, participants' interaction and discourse…

This study aims to investigate the linguistic strategies used in public health communication during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the regulations stipulated by the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) of Thailand. A corpus of 1.4 million words was retrieved from Thai online mainstream news media written in Thai, and…

This study quantitatively measures the variation in language derived from a targeted set of digital game mechanics. Mechanics refer to the design elements of a game that make up the overall gameplay experience, determining player actions and the degree of language interaction. A corpus was compiled by extracting the language files from two popular…

This study aims to investigate the complaining strategies used by Facebook users on Zain Facebook page (Zain Jordan). It also aims to identify the most and least frequent strategies used by Facebook users and to examine the similarities and differences between complaining strategies found on Zain Jordan and those found in other studies in terms of…

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have mission statements as a matter of course. This article analyses 127 mission statements from UK HEIs, comprising 76.048% of the mainstream UK higher education sector. The statements were divided into the categories of Russell Group; Other; and Specialist Institution. A mixed methods research approach was…

Despite writing and speaking being related activities, their end-products are entirely different. However, previous studies have not shown consistency in terms of grammar use in these two modes. Accordingly, in the present study, I aim to define the syntactic characteristics in these two modes with large-scale data and organized research designs.…

Although digital advances have enabled hundreds of universities to offer massive open online courses (MOOCs) to millions of students worldwide, the high dropout rate on these MOOCs indicates a disjunct between the potential of the offer and the success of its uptake. Many studies point to issues relating to interpersonal connection as a major…

Virtually all researchers understand the requirement of presenting their studies in peer-reviewed English-medium journals. Russian scientific writers understand this necessity too; however, evidence suggests that these particular researchers are under-performing relative to similar non-native English speakers. The considerable challenge Russians…

This study examined the forms and functions of reformulation markers (RMs) in the three disciplines of philosophy, economics, and biology to see whether there is any disciplinary variation regarding these linguistic devices and their functions in essays written by undergraduate students. To this purpose, two corpora of university students' essays…