Possessive determiners (PDs) "his" and "her" are challenging for L2 learners to acquire, and this difficulty has been attributed to several factors, including negative L1 transfer effects (White et al., 2007). What researchers have not yet considered is how PDs are acquired by learners whose L1 predicts positive transfer…

This study investigates how task complexity affects native speakers' and second language (L2) learners', and experts' perceptions of task difficulty in writing tasks. It also explores how task complexity influences English native speakers' and L2 learners' linguistic complexity in their writing. Ninety participants performed one simple and one…

This study employed a mixed-methods approach to explore the attitudes of second language (L2) learners and L2 teachers toward the use of learners' first language (L1) in L2 classrooms. Interview data were collected from Japanese college students (n = 91) and their English teachers (n = 9) to identify salient themes related to the reasons for…

In English language teacher education, we must offer opportunities for future educators to critically engage with topics surrounding the globalization of English, neocolonialism, and standardized notions of language, such as 'native speaker' proficiency. Critical language awareness (CLA) pedagogies, pedagogical approaches that facilitate students'…

Previous research has noted an increased attention to language form as one of the many benefits of collaborative writing (CW). Although prior studies have investigated different variables (e.g. proficiency, pre-task modelling) to promote attention to form (often operationalized as a language-related episode, LRE), one crucial yet underexplored…

Safaliba is an Indigenous Ghanaian language spoken by 7-9,000 Ghanaians in a nation-state of 29 million people with 73 indigenous languages, none of which are spoken by a majority of Ghanaians. Government schools in Safaliba towns and villages are mandated to utilize Gonja and English instructional reading materials from the Ghana Education…

Despite the increasing use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI), teachers who teach at EMI schools encounter significant challenges, such as difficulties in teaching content-subjects in English and students' limited understanding of content presented in English. To examine the extent of these challenges, six early-full and 14 late-partial…

The present study investigated how Cantonese speakers learning English as a second language (L2) would comprehend English irony and whether their L2 proficiency and use would moderate their irony processing. Thirty Cantonese speakers with differing English proficiency (intermediate vs advanced) were asked to complete an irony comprehension task in…

Many educators in immersion contexts support a policy of strict separation of languages in the classroom as the ideal model for second language acquisition and are reluctant to make connections between the dominant language, the target language and pupils' home languages. This can result in missed opportunities for drawing on pupils' entire…

Research in metadiscourse has foregrounded the multiple ways in which writers build a relationship with readers through internal discourse. Yet, few studies consider the relationship between the texts writers create and the metalinguistic thinking which informs their decision-making as writers. This paper draws on data from a larger study which…

We investigated how native and fluent users of English segment continuous speech and to what extent they use sound-related and structure-related cues. As suggested by the notion of multi-competence, L1 users are not seen as ideal models with perfect command of English, and L2 users not as lacking in competence. We wanted to see how language…

Framed by the concept of critical language awareness, this study validated a survey to assess teachers' ideological beliefs and attitudes toward English learners (ELs)/multilingual learners (MLs) in content classrooms. Employing exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the study identified three major constructs of teachers' beliefs and attitudes from a…

Schools are increasingly using content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approaches to education, whereby the teaching of subject content and an additional language occurs in an integrated manner. While language and learning are inextricably linked and the rewards of CLIL many, integrated teaching requires a specialised professional…

Research on language acquisition has long examined the native/non-native English-speaking teacher (NEST/NNEST) debate, particularly in relation to how teachers are perceived. Despite this body of research, the point of view of the parents has been disregarded, as well as the analysis of crucial variables such as students attending extracurricular…

As Spanish heritage language (SHL) programs grow nationwide, SHL program directors (PD) are tasked with negotiating the intricacies of either building an SHL program from scratch or carving space for a program that, unlike second language (L2) programs, are not institutionalised. Considering the evidence of deeply embedded dominant language…