Language learning activities involving time-pressured repetition of similar content have been shown to facilitate improvements in fluency. However, concerns have been voiced about whether these gains might be offset by reduced levels of grammatical accuracy. This descriptive study tracked the oral proficiency of 32 Japanese university students…

Higher education institutions often pair native speakers with English as a second and foreign language learners to encourage oral conversation practice. Born out of such circumstances, the current investigation, drawing upon the activity theory perspective, examined the plausibility of native-speaking conversation partners providing oral…

The present study aims at investigating the effect of noticing on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' speaking accuracy. For so doing, 32 Iranian EFL students were selected and randomly assigned to two conversation classes namely, control and experimental groups. Before the treatment both groups had a speaking pre-test. During 32…

This article presents the quantitative and qualitative results of a nationwide survey of the perceptions of faculty, alumni, and students regarding the contribution to the undergraduate Spanish major curriculum of various types of courses and experiences. Quantitative results indicated that all participants valued the importance of study abroad as…