Digital game-based vocabulary learning (DGBVL) integrates key game elements such as Challenges, Rewards, Human-Computer Interactions (HCI), Multimedia, and Fantasy. Although the overall effectiveness of digital games in enhancing English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) vocabulary knowledge development is well-established, the specific roles of…

Although digital game-based vocabulary learning (DGBVL) has received increasing attention in the past two decades, the impacts of DGBVL on the depth of word knowledge are still not well understood, especially in regard to productive vocabulary learning and DGBVL's long-term efficacy. This study leverages a quasiexperimental research design to…

Previous research has established that phonetics has been marginalized within language teaching, proving to be particularly challenging for learners in EFL contexts. This paper presents EPSSML (https://www.usc.gal/multimlab/), an e-learning platform designed within Mayer's (2008, 2009) Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning to instruct English…

This study examines how English-as-lingua-franca (ELF) learners employ semiotic resources, including head movements, gestures, facial expression, body posture, and spatial juxtaposition, to negotiate for meaning in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment. Ten ELF learners participated in a TaiwanSpain VR virtual exchange project and…

It is unclear whether corrective feedback (CF) provided by L2 computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) tools must be 100% accurate to promote an acceptable level of improvement in pronunciation. Using a web-based interface, 30 native speakers of Chinese completed a pretest, a computer-based training session to produce nine sound contrasts…

Existing research shows that identical cognates are read more quickly than noncognates. However, most studies focused on words presented in isolation or embedded in sentences. To address this gap, our exploratory eye-tracking study is the first to investigate the processing of cognates and noncognates in English subtitles. First, we tested whether…

Interactive digital tools increasingly used for language learning can provide detailed system logs (e.g., number of attempts, responses submitted), and thereby a window into the user's learning processes. To date, SLA researchers have made little use of such data to understand the relationships between learning conditions, processes, and outcomes.…

Augmented reality (AR) technology has been used to successfully improve traditional literacy. However, there has been a paradigm shift in literacy education from traditional literacy to multimodal literacy. Little research has explored how students establish effective multimodal meaning-making using AR technology. This study is an investigation of…

Empirical evidence remains sparse about how videos enhanced with first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) subtitles influence cognitive load in L2 learners. To address this point, 25 Korean undergraduate students were exposed to six short videos: baseline, L1-subtitled, and L2-subtitled videos at both high and low difficulty levels (determined…

One of the main goals of the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course is to facilitate the development of learners' reading comprehension and reflective skills in English, which can be developed with appropriate instruction. However, in EFL courses, many students are inactive in reflecting on their reading and are disengaged from learning. To…

This study investigated second language (L2) comprehension across nine episodes of the same TV series and explored whether comprehension improves through regular classroom viewing. 121 intermediate and advanced EFL learners viewed the series under two conditions: captioned and uncaptioned. Significant differences in comprehension across episodes…

This study investigated negotiations for meaning as conditions for second language (L2) learning in the context of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft (WoW) (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004). Varonis and Gass's (1985) and Smith's (2003a) models were used to identify negotiation episodes during on-task and off-task…

This study examined the effects of pretask training to promote peer collaboration, encourage learning opportunities, and foster individual L2 writing development in web-based L2 collaborative writing (CW) tasks. The participants were 48 students from two junior English composition classes at a Taiwanese university. One class (n = 24) was assigned…

Using the single-group pre-posttest design, this exploratory study examined whether L2 learners of English can learn a speech act by experiencing perlocutionary effects of the act as feedback (observing their interlocutor's reactions to their choice of speech act expressions). Sixty undergraduate English learners at a university in China played a…

The importance of argumentative writing has long been recognized. However, many foreign language learners struggle to make effective argumentation and use appropriate language in argumentative writing. In this study, we proposed a blended learning design to address students' problems with argumentation and language use in argumentative writing…