Academic self-concept, a central psychological construct that powerfully explains learners' varied motivations and learning behaviors, needs to be further explored to deepen our understanding of language learner psychology. Drawing on self-reported learning histories, this study investigates the English self-concept of successful English as a…

The interactionist approach to second language acquisition has yielded a plethora of studies confirming the positive impact of interaction and corrective feedback on second language (L2) development. Nevertheless, only a few studies have attempted to investigate the development of L2 prosody using the interactionist approach. The current study…

Recent studies have shown that the frequency effect, although long used as a guide to word difficulty, fails to explain all variance in learner word knowledge. As such, a "more than frequency" conclusion has been offered to explain how lexical sophistication accounts for word difficulty. This study presents a multiple regression model of…

The present study seeks to determine whether superior musical hearing is correlated with successful production of second language (L2) intonation patterns. Fifty Polish speakers of English at the university level were recorded before and after an extensive two-semester accent training course in English. Participants were asked to read aloud a…

In a dynamic system, time-dependent links "between" affective factors can provide more information than the level of response "within" a single isolated system. In the present study, influenced by the positive psychology movement and the complex dynamic systems theory in the domain of second language acquisition, first, we…

Working with peers in small groups is conducive to learning, and collaborative learning has been widely adopted in second language classrooms. Leadership, defined as the initiative taken to influence others in a group, plays a significant role in successful teamwork, but has not received due attention in research on collaborative peer work. To…

Working memory (WM) is essential to vocabulary learning. However, limited attention has been paid to young beginner learners' vocabulary development under various task conditions from the perspective of WM. This study investigates how two types of WM--complex WM and phonological short-term memory--may influence two instructional approaches (i.e.,…

While perennial in the research landscape, empirical work investigating second language (L2) study emotions has proliferated in the past ten years (Dewaele, 2019). Nevertheless, this article argues there is space for more holistic yet detailed, social yet individual perspectives when conducting such research. As one avenue, the paper explores the…

The current research aimed to examine the relationships among three key aspects of the language learning process, namely, foreign language boredom (FLB), English language engagement (ELE), and academic buoyancy (AB), utilizing data collected from 2,992 Chinese language learners. In order to strengthen the accuracy and robustness of the results, we…

Despite the growing recognition of the impact of affective factors on second/foreign language (L2) learning, there remains a paucity of knowledge regarding academic burnout in L2 learning. Moreover, the intricate interplay between L2 burnout, maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and negative L2 emotions remains inadequately explored. Given…

The current study focuses on the effect of the target language on learner emotions and attitudes/motivation. More specifically, it investigates whether the status and prestige of English results in more positive learner emotions and attitudes/motivation compared to less prestigious languages other than English (LOTE). Statistical analyses of a…

The present study investigates the impact of meaningful input on L2 learners' vocabulary use and their fluency in oral performance (immediate and repeat tasks), as well as whether the effects are mediated by learners' prior vocabulary knowledge and working memory. Ninety university students learning English as a foreign language were randomly…

Adopting a sequential mixed-methods approach, the current inquiry examined English major students' perceptions of the role of teacher confirmation and teacher credibility in enhancing their academic engagement in the Chinese context. In doing so, through WeChat messenger, three scales were provided to 1168 English major students chosen from…

This study investigated how the inclusion of model texts as a feedback technique affected students' task motivation and engagement in writing tasks. Adopting a longitudinal design, 60 English as a foreign language (EFL) children (aged 11-12) were divided into three groups: a treatment group, a long-term treatment group, and a control group. The…

The present study aimed to explore the association between 302 (93 males and 209 females) English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' perceived teacher support (i.e., personal support and academic support) and their reading motivation. This inquiry also sought to assess the potential mediating influences of second or foreign language (L2)…