Do assimilationist restrictions on a minority language lead to greater national unity or a more rebellious minority population? Under what conditions might short-term backlash to language assimilation evolve into greater national unity in the long term? While much of the literature on ethnic politics implicitly treats language simply as an…

The dissertation presents a pioneering investigation into child speech among Bikolano children. It aims to address the underdescription and underdocumentation of Child Bikol as spoken in the Philippines. Bikol, an Austronesian macrolanguage, often coexists with more dominant languages, making Bikolano children both emergent multilinguals and…

Research on language and cognitive processes in bilinguals over the past few decades has underscored the activation of words in the first language (L1) during comprehension and production of the second language (L2) (e.g., Dijkstra, Van Jaarsveld, & Ten Brinke, 1998; Van Heuven, Dijkstra, & Grainger, 1998; Hermans, Bongaerts, De Bot, &…

Prior research has extensively explored audiovisual speech perception and literacy skills in various linguistic contexts. Studies have shown that children's ability to integrate auditory and visual speech cues plays a crucial role in language acquisition and development (Erdener & Burnham, 2013; Lalonde & Werner, 2021). Furthermore,…

Language teachers in China often use picturebooks as complimentary teaching materials to standard textbooks for language instruction. However, research shows that current applications of picturebooks in Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms mainly focus on helping students develop linguistic competence, with little attention on…

There has been increasing L3 research on L3 transfer selectivity, especially concerning which factor triggers crosslinguistic influence during L3 acquisition. According to Slabakova's (2016) Scalpel Model, every linguistic property has distinct and unique input factors regarding L3 acquisition such as high/low frequency or positive/negative input.…

In English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication, in which English is used as a common language among interlocutors of different first languages, successful communication often features communication strategies that enhance mutual understanding and relationship management. Although prior research suggests that including such strategies in English…

Many studies evidence the flexibility of speech perception in the first language (L1), which allows rapid adaptation to unfamiliar foreign accents. Two influential studies by Bradlow and Bent (2008) and a follow-up study by Baese-Berk et al. (2013) found that increased variability as a function of the number of talkers and accents facilitated the…

Language forecasting, i.e., predicting the future state of a language, has long been regarded with a fair amount of skepticism. This is partly due to language change often being considered sudden, random, unpredictable, and viewed as the result of complex interacting factors that are not well understood (e.g., Keller 1994:72; Bauer 1994:25; Labov…

This phenomenological study explores the experiences of machine translation (MT) use among Chinese undergraduates in a Chinese-foreign, English medium instruction (EMI), joint degree program in southern China. Advancements in MT technology have raised questions about its application in academic settings, particularly in foreign and second language…

Enabling learners to successfully use their second language (L2) in meaningful ways is a critical goal of instruction. Ultimately, most learners want to meet the L2 demands of the contexts in which they will use the language. To accomplish this, learners must develop linguistic knowledge and apply it in a manner that is contextually appropriate…

This dissertation examines the linguistic behavior of code-switching in three groups of highly proficient Cantonese-English bilinguals. Code-switching refers to alternating between two or more languages within the same sentence or between two sentences. While traditional research on bilingualism often compares bilingual speakers against…

Writing in English is considered an important skill for ESL learners, and qualified teachers are needed in order to provide the students with written corrective feedback (WCF). Much previous research on WCF has looked at its overall effectiveness, with less attention paid to the teachers' perceptions of WCF methods and expected outcomes when they…

Millions engage in learning a Second Language (L2) using their mobile devices with a wide range of success. Concomitantly, there exists a growing interest in research on the effects of mobile-assisted language learning and predictors of learner outcomes (e.g., Loewen et al., 2020; Sudina & Plonsky, 2023). However, few of these apps and studies…

This dissertation explored the aspect of Indigeneity as a significant consideration in English Language Teaching (ELT); and thus makes a critical contribution to the literature in ELT/TESOL and applied linguistics. This body of knowledge benefits from privileging Indigenous ways and Indigenous knowledge in research practices, making explicit…