In a world in which rampant misinformation and partial truths can spread like wildfire, adult English as a Second Language (ESL) conversation classes can become fertile ground for unplanned discussions about unexpected information. When a student introduces new information, it can lead to repair-driven side sequences in which student explanations…

Language learning activities involving time-pressured repetition of similar content have been shown to facilitate improvements in fluency. However, concerns have been voiced about whether these gains might be offset by reduced levels of grammatical accuracy. This descriptive study tracked the oral proficiency of 32 Japanese university students…

Higher education institutions often pair native speakers with English as a second and foreign language learners to encourage oral conversation practice. Born out of such circumstances, the current investigation, drawing upon the activity theory perspective, examined the plausibility of native-speaking conversation partners providing oral…

This study's goal was to determine if appropriately designed, completely virtual formats of language courses are able to engender in students speaking ability progress comparable to that fostered within traditional face-to-face (F2F) classrooms. The study further sought to clarify language learners' perceptions of online Japanese courses. The…

Technology-enhanced language learning, or TELL, has played a major role in boosting EFL learners' speaking skills in recent years. The use of online technological methods such as vlogging and uploading videos to popular social networks such as YouTube, in particular, has been recommended as a tool to hone students' conversation skills in addition…

This research was aimed at assessing the implementation of ZHA approach and students' opinion of the strategy. ZHA was carried out at the end of every "Konversation 2"(speaking) course class at the German Language Education Study Program at State University of Malang (PSPBJ UM). This research utilized the descriptive, qualitative…

The present study aims at investigating the effect of noticing on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' speaking accuracy. For so doing, 32 Iranian EFL students were selected and randomly assigned to two conversation classes namely, control and experimental groups. Before the treatment both groups had a speaking pre-test. During 32…

The study examines interactional practices for initiating topic in naturally occurring conversation using Conversation Analysis (Button & Casey, 1984, 1985, 1988-1989 to name a few) as a methodological tool. The data of the current study is comprised of 14 hours of conversation-for-learning (Kasper & Kim, 2015) data between one American…

The present study examined the impact of trained peer feedback on Spanish as a second language (L2) in terms of language performance, nature of feedback, and perceptions of peer feedback in speaking tasks. Participants in the study included 17 intermediate L2 Spanish learners enrolled in a conversation course that incorporated peer feedback…

The paper describes development of the educational online web communication platform for teaching and learning foreign languages. The main objective was to develop a web application for teaching foreigners to understand casual fluent speech. The system is based on the time bank principle, allowing users to teach others their native language along…

Continuing a theme introduced in the 6/73 issue, utterance types productive of active response (agreement, confirmation, emphasis, supplement, information, appraisal, position-taking, offering of proof) and designed to lead to ability to make free conversation are suggested. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This case study investigated spontaneous interpersonal communication in a high school Spanish classroom, using instructional conversation as a framework for analysis. Instructional conversations are collaborative, extended verbal exchanges in which students develop a coherent topic, supported by the teacher's contingent questions and feedback. The…

Briefly outlines the rationale for a transactional approach to language teaching. (PM)