Vocabulary learning strategies have been frequently viewed as a practical tool to facilitate the acquisition of words and enhance comprehension and production in communication. Previous research suggests that vocabulary learning strategies are a multidimensional construct. This study attempts to validate a vocabulary learning strategies…

This study investigates the effects of three word-focused exercise conditions on vocabulary learning. The exercises were developed based on the involvement load hypothesis. This study also explores how individual differences (e.g. second-language English proficiency level and working memory) affect vocabulary learning outcomes. A total of 180…

This study explored the mobile language learning experiences that Taiwanese high school English language teachers created. A total of 119 valid mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) lesson plans from 36 senior high schools in the national mobile learning (m-learning) programme in Taiwan were analysed via content analysis. The results showed…

Growing a large vocabulary is one of the most important tasks of language learners and yet research reports on low levels of lexical knowledge for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. In EFL contexts, textbooks are a vital source of exposure to English and the words that are worth learning. The New Concept English textbook series is…

Single word items have usually been the unit of analysis for measuring L2 learners' vocabulary size, for designing word lists and for estimating word coverage of reading texts. However, what is lost in these estimates is the consideration of multiword expressions, such as idioms. To empirically test the assertion that the knowledge of single word…

This study examined whether the reading passages in the new series of English-language textbooks for high-school students in Vietnam fostered reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading by looking at four factors: the number of unfamiliar words in the texts, the importance of these words for text comprehension, the…

Narrow reading has not received much attention from researchers regarding its contributions on L2 learners' background knowledge, vocabulary knowledge, and writing styles. This study therefore investigated the effect of narrow reading on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' vocabulary learning. Twelve graded readers were selected and…

John Read is about to retire as Professor in Applied Language Studies at the University of Auckland. He previously taught applied linguistics, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at Victoria University of Wellington, the SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, the University of Texas El Paso,…

The ways that Iranian universities prepare their students for their future academic and professional lives are changing. Many universities have launched innovative practice in the use of technology in teaching and learning, aiming to present student learners with an engaging experience. The adoption of an innovation necessitates considering the…

With the largest number of English learners in the world, the influence of the English language teaching (ELT) reform in China cannot be underestimated. This article explores the implications of the actual use of English in China's workplace for ELT reform in the context of English as a lingua franca (ELF). On the basis of cross-validated data…

In higher education, understanding discipline-specific vocabulary can be challenging. Insufficient vocabulary can be a major challenge for students as they begin their university studies. This study examined university undergraduate English language learners' discipline-specific vocabulary retention when they used an in-house developed mobile app,…

In recent years, the use of English corpora to instruct grammar in writing classes has become increasingly popular. In English for Specific Purposes classes, such a novel approach is critically important since it not only allows teachers to achieve a profound understanding of which syntactic structures should be instructed, but it also increases…

A great deal has been written about what English as an International Language (EIL) actually is (e.g. Alsagoff et al., 2012; Matsuda, 2012; McKay and Brown, 2016; Sharifian, 2009), ranging from a view of EIL as the many varieties of English that are spoken today to the use of English by second language speakers of English. Thus, EIL is viewed both…

This study examined classroom routine and interactional patterns of Grade 5 English Language reading comprehension lessons through delineating the speech act functions of instructional discourse that was based on Malcolm's sociolinguistic model (Malcolm, 1979a; Malcolm, 1979b; Malcolm, 1982; Malcolm, 1986). It also evaluated the classroom…

This article provides preliminary validity evidence for the shorter Mandarin version of the Vocabulary Size Test (VST) under the content aspect, technical quality, substantive and generalizability aspect of Messick's (1995) construct validity framework. The shorter version with 177 Chinese university students in three proficiency levels indicates…