Since the release of advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT in the winter of 2022, educators have been challenged to integrate AI in educational contexts without adequate preparation. This multimethod study aims to provide valuable insights into how students and teachers can make effective, responsible use of AI tools for writing.…

Second language learners constitute a significant and expanding portion of the global population and there is a growing demand for tools that facilitate language learning and instruction across various levels and in different countries. The development of large language models (LLMs) has brought about a significant impact on the domains of natural…

The digital transformation in educational assessment has led to the proliferation of large-scale data, offering unprecedented opportunities to enhance language learning, and testing through machine learning (ML) techniques. Drawing on the extensive data generated by online English language assessments, this dissertation investigates the efficacy…

During the last 60 years, the United States (US) has experienced a rapid growth of MLLs (multilingual learners), also known as ELLs (English Language Learners) or English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. These students represent a large segment of the public education population, and there is an academic achievement gap between MLLs and…

This dissertation investigates how bilinguals use their two grammars to comprehend written intra-sentential codeswitches. I focus on adjective/noun constructions in Spanish and English where I manipulate the congruence of grammatical word order in the two languages across the codeswitch boundary. This allows me to test three codeswitching…

A number of studies in mobile learning research have shown that the use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and many different types of technology within language learning contexts can potentially influence learning of students, particularly the younger generation. In the current study, two participant groups -- EFL teachers and parents…

This experimental study, and partial replication of Sun and Hu (2020), examined how and to what extent direct (i.e., hands-on corpus use) or indirect (i.e., hands-off corpus use) online data-driven learning (DDL) modules were able to assist Chinese writers from an English as a foreign language (EFL) context in using more appropriate hedging (i.e.,…

As critical approaches to Heritage Language (HL) instruction are increasingly more widespread, it is now more pertinent than ever to conduct research on Spanish linguistic variation that reveals systematicity and refutes hegemonic notions of 'incorrectness'. This variationist study examines the use and distribution of the Preterite and Imperfect…

With authentic English input and multimedia features, English storybook apps have the potential to be used as an effective learning tool for parent-child shared reading practice in families in English as a second or foreign language settings. This cost-effective educational technology may be particularly beneficial for those children from low…

The purpose of the current study is to explore Korean middle school students' perceptions and the results of their vocabulary test scores related to vocabulary development utilizing Quizlet language learning software. 520 Korean EFL middle school students in all grades were divided into two groups in each grade: the Quizlet group as an…

The present project is a research-based and practice-tested online synchronous curriculum for English language learners with the Russian language mother tongue. The curriculum's theoretical component is grounded in Vygotsky's, Leont'ev', and Engestrom's "Cultural Historical Activity Theory" as well as in scholarly papers on the influence…

In phonetics research, language alternation--including code switching (speaker-initiated) and cued switching (researcher-prompted)--can be used as a tool to investigate various aspects of speech production and perception in bilingual or multilingual speakers (Bullock & Toribio, 2009a). Studies on the production of voice onset time (VOT) during…

Middle Eastern students represent the fastest-growing international student population in the United States, with the majority coming from Saudi Arabia. While some studies have examined the academic challenges faced by international students, few have examined the academic writing difficulties encountered by Saudi international graduate students.…

Storytelling is universal and is popular in many cultures where it is a medium people use to preserve their beliefs, social values, wisdom, and cultural experiences as well as transfer them from one generation to another. In American Samoa, over 90% of students are classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) and literacy rates are very low,…

Based on Afflerbach and Cho's (2009) theoretical model of Constructively Responsive Reading on the Internet (CRRI model), this study aims to explore the patterns of reading strategies that 40 proficient, college-level, Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners use while reading online. It also seeks to identify the strategies' relations…