The current study investigated task effects on listener perception of second language (L2) comprehensibility (ease of understanding). Sixty university-level adult speakers of English from 4 first language (L1) backgrounds (Chinese, Romance, Hindi, Farsi), with 15 speakers per group, were recorded performing 2 tasks (IELTS long-turn speaking task…

Romanized transliteration is widely used in internet communication and global commerce, yet we know little about its behavioural and neural processing. Here, we show that Romanized text imposes a significant neurocognitive load. Readers faced greater difficulty in identifying concrete words written in Romanized transliteration (Romanagari)…

Strong correlations between high levels of poverty and low education outcomes have prompted interventions aimed at raising literacy levels in communities characterised by poverty within Kenya, as in other countries. However, interventions aimed at improving literacy only in the languages of instruction (LOI) may not be the best option for students…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which performance on the TOEFL iBT speaking section is associated with other indicators of Japanese university students' abilities to communicate orally in an academic English environment and to determine which components of oral ability for these tasks are best assessed by TOEFL iBT. To…

This study challenges the assertion that an increase in L1 glossing results in more L2 reading comprehension. The results of this study, a quantitative meta-analysis, indicate that there is a significant difference (p = 0.04) in L2 reading comprehension between groups based on how much L1 glossing is provided. It was found that the group with the…

Although the simple view of reading and other theories suggest that listening comprehension is an important determinant of reading comprehension, previous research on linguistic transfer has mainly focused on the role of first language (L1) decoding skills in second language (L2) reading. The present study tested the assumption that listening…

This paper sketches a comprehensive framework for modeling and interpreting language contact phenomena, with speakers' bilingual strategies in specific scenarios of language contact as its point of departure. Bilingual strategies are conditioned by social factors, processing constraints of speakers' bilingual competence, and perceived…

In his 2007 study "Effects of Textual Enhancement and Topic Familiarity on Korean EFL Students' Reading Comprehension and Learning of Passive Form," Lee demonstrated that learners were better able to correct written sentences that contained incorrect English passive forms after exposure to texts flooded with enhanced (versus…

The goal of the current study was to examine bilinguals' phonological short-term and working memory performance in their native/first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Korean-English bilinguals were tested in both Korean (L1) and English (L2). Short-term memory (STM) was measured via a nonword repetition task, where participants repeated…

In this paper a particular context where receptive multilingualism at work can be observed is discussed. The Swiss armed forces underwent a series of quite dramatic downsizing measures, which lead to a situation with increased amount of mixed groups and linguistically mixed situations regarding the first/native language of officers and the…

This study investigates constraints on ultimate attainment in second language (L2) pronunciation in a direct comparison of perceived foreign accent of 40 late L2 learners and 40 late first language (L1) attriters of German. Both groups were compared with 20 predominantly monolingual controls. Contrasting participants who acquired the target…

We investigated the relationship between Chichewa (L1) and English (L2) literacies in Malawi. Through our use of hierarchical linear modeling, we found that cross-language literacy transfer between Chichewa and English did occur, but that the pattern and the strength of the relationships varied depending on the literacy domain (i.e., reading or…

This article explores the language use and language attitudes as reported by a number of multilingual teenagers with a Swedish background in European Schools and international schools in Europe. Special attention is given to the concepts of Third Culture Kids and elite bilingualism in relation to teenagers' multilingualism. This study is based on…

Social networking sites (SNSs) have become a major form of communication in today's day and age whereby language use has been impacted in various areas especially in that of learning and teaching. Young users use literally half their week engaging in SNSs communication, thereby giving rise to a brand of internet slang which is entirely their own.…

The development of opportunities for teachers' professional development in plurilingual and intercultural education is a key issue in language teacher education and "intercomprehension" (IC) can provide a potential portal for the development of teachers' intercultural sensitivity. Particularly relevant to this is the creation of powerful…