Gamification of behavioral experiments has been applied successfully to research in a number of disciplines, including linguistics. We believe that these methods have been underutilized in applied linguistics, in particular second-language acquisition research. The incorporation of games and gaming elements (gamification) in behavioral experiments…

Police call-takers need to gather as much data as is needed, as quickly as possible, to determine whether and what action should be taken. On analysing 514 calls to a UK centre handling emergency (999) and non-emergency (101) calls, we find that the call-taker's first substantive question already carries a diagnosis of the merits of the caller's…

Studies on vocabulary acquisition in second language learning have revealed that a large amount of vocabulary is learned without an overt intention, in other words, incidentally. This article investigates the relevance of different lexical processing strategies for vocabulary acquisition when reading a text for comprehension among 24 advanced…

There is currently an explosion in the number and range of new devices coming onto the technology market that use digital sensor technology to track aspects of human behaviour. In this article, we present and exemplify a three-stage model for the application of digital sensor technology in applied linguistics that we have developed, namely,…

In the past decade, language memoirs, linguistic autobiographies, and learners' journals and diaries have become a popular means of data collection in applied linguistics. It is not always clear however how one should go about analyzing these data. The aim of this paper is to offer a critical review of analytical frameworks applied to second…

Although acquisition criteria are a fundamental issue for SLA research, they have not always been adequately defined or elaborated in the literature. This article critically scrutinizes one such criterion, the emergence criterion, proposing an explicit, operational definition. After discussing emergence as a theoretical construct, the article…

Examined the differences between compliment responses collected with two different data collection procedures: naturally occurring data analyzed through conversation analytic methodology, and elicited data collected via a discourse completion task (DCT). The DCT was designed to evoke the same discourse context and preceding context observed in the…

An empirical study of the speech act of definition in science lectures found that definitions signposted the logical/discourse structure of the lecture, helped to maintain comprehension as discourse progressed, and were often clustered together in discourse. (14 references) (Author/CB)

Drawing on the results of sociolinguistic research in three ethnically different communities in Wellington, New Zealand, this paper explores and illustrates the process of language shift and language revival. Members of the Greek, Tongan, and Chinese communities were interviewed; and data were collected on their language proficiency, patterns of…

A study in interlanguage pragmatics investigated the effect of three types of rejoinder (positive, negative, absent) on non-native informants' choices of strategies to perform complaints, requests, and apologies. Results show strategy choice differentially affected by rejoinder type, suggesting that findings from studies using different production…

Reports a study in a Chinese context of second language (L2) learner variables' relationship to English achievement. Findings reveal that six variables had direct effects on achievement, three of which existed previously, i.e., sex, and primary language and L2 proficiency; and three that were formed by clusters of strategies relating to vocabulary…