The purpose of this state-of-the-art review is to provide a general overview of recent research on time distribution and second language (L2) learning with special implications for classroom settings. Several studies have been performed to examine how to best distribute the hours of L2 practice to maximize learning by comparing conditions that…

The question of whether second languages (L2s) are best learned implicitly or explicitly has been a topic of much empirical discourse, with the majority of studies pointing to the benefits of explicit instruction when learning L2 grammar rules. However, given the focus on grammar, it is unclear how generalizable these findings are to other…

This study aimed to analyze the effect of game-based learning (GBL) through the use of Genially in English as a foreign language (EFL) online instruction. The participants were 61 EFL undergraduate students, who were distributed into an experimental group (32 students), and a control group (29 students). Their ages ranged from 22 to 56 years old,…

It is difficult for most of the second language learners in Malaysia to function proficiently in English language due to limited vocabulary knowledge. It has also been challenging for TESL graduates to fit in as ENP teachers due to the lack of specialized vocabulary knowledge in nursing field. Thus, a course books has always been a highly…

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become an inseparable part of people's lives. For children the use of ICT is as natural as breathing and therefore they find the use of ICT in school education as normal as the use of textbooks. The purpose of this review study is to explore the efficacy of computer games on language learning…

Raters of Georgia's (USA) state-mandated college-level writing exam, which is intended to ensure a minimal university-level writing competency, are trained to grade holistically when assessing these exams. A guiding principle in holistic grading is to not focus exclusively on any one aspect of writing but rather to give equal weight to style,…

This mixed methods classroom research examined if accountability groups in the lower proficiency levels of a university intensive English program would improve students' language acquisition. Students were assigned partners for the study period with whom they completed assignments inside and outside of class, as well as set goals for use of…

This experiment investigated whether individual differences in written language proficiency among university students predict the early stages of lexical retrieval tapped by the masked form priming lexical decision task. To separate the contributions of sublexical facilitation and lexical competition to masked form priming, the effects of prime…

This study examines the effect of the translation of traditional scientific vocabulary into plain English, a process referred to as Anglicization, on student learning in the context of introductory microbiology instruction. Data from Anglicized and Classical-vocabulary lab sections were collected. Data included exam scores as well as pre and…

Research has indicated that the keyword method of vocabulary learning facilitates students' performance on comprehension-demanding tasks as well as test of definition recall. When conditions and undergraduate subjects within conditions were equated with respect to their initial levels of definition recall, the comprehension advantage of keyword…

Describes three experiments exploring the learning of new words by university students. Among the findings are (1) students can learn word spellings while reading them in context, and (2) instructions to learn words and additional representations of a word facilitate learning. (HOD)

The keyword and context methods of learning new vocabulary were compared using university students as subjects. The keyword method was substantially better for recall of definitions when provided, but it was not significantly better on the free recall task. (LMO)

Advocates the use of Hoerspiele (radio plays) in intermediate German college courses to facilitate the transition from spoken vocabulary to reading vocabulary. A statistical comparison is given between the vocabularies of spoken language, Hoerspiele, modern short stories and newspapers, showing that Hoerspiele have more words in common with spoken…

In these studies, the structured content overview positively affected students' upper and lower level comprehension scores as compared to either vocabulary preteaching or control (no prereading) treatments. Vocabulary preteaching appeared to be more important with science than with history materials. (Author/SJL)