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 qualitative case study explored the nature of teaching for transfer of one EAP writing teacher who taught an undergraduate-level academic writing course in the US. The findings of this study revealed that the teacher believed in the importance of teaching for transfer and addressed various dimensions of transfer, such as (a) transfer between…

There are two broad approaches to the research and teaching of second-language (L2) pronunciation--'bottom-up' and 'top-down'--which roughly align with structural and communicative approaches to language teaching. A bottom-up approach, explicitly focusing on de-contextualised linguistic forms, is structuralist and predominated in the second half…

This study investigated the impact of metacognitive pedagogical sequence on development of less-proficient Thai EFL listeners' L2 listening metacognition and listening comprehension achievement over a semester. Sixty-four university students who were enrolled in a listening course participated in a quasi-experimental study. Both the intervention…

Developing students' communicative competence became the primary goal of the current College English Curriculum Requirements in 2004 in China. There has been increasing concern, however, that this goal has yet to be realized, particularly in relation to the teaching of writing. This study investigated the potential of a Systemic Functional…

This article describes how semi-communicative bilingual drills were implemented in a four-month course in pedagogical English for a group of ten Polish adult learners. When the course was over, the learners were asked to evaluate the procedure by filling in a questionnaire. The learners expressed overwhelming approval for bilingual drills in terms…

This research explores international English majors' experiences and perceptions of the characteristics of an effective English-as-a-medium-of-instruction (EMI) course. Through an analysis of the triangulated data collected through questionnaire surveys, classroom observations, interviews and correspondences between 45 students and their lecturer…

Recently a dichotomy has developed in the field of TESOL between native English speaker teachers (NESTs) and non-native English speaker teachers (NNESTs) with some in each camp promoting one over the other, but this only separates rather than unifies our profession. In this article I suggest that it is not in anybody's interests to continue with…

This article describes the gathered experience in using corpora in an IELTS preparation course. The practice demonstrates an attempt to reduce negative washback effects occurring when preparation courses just concentrate on the test format neglecting the importance of development of learners' language skills and general study skills. Some…

The diversity of opinion about pedagogy within ELT (English Language Teaching) makes it essential that its professional discourse is sufficiently inclusive. However, this often fails to occur because ELT professional discussion is frequently too "Orwellian" in nature, i.e. behaves in a manner resembling the political structures in the…

In the 4/3/2 activity learners deliver the same talk three times under increasing time pressure. The activity is intended first and foremost to foster fluency, but accuracy and complexity have also been said to benefit from this activity. The present study investigates whether immediate repetition of monologues under increasing time pressure…

Since listening is a crucial component of language competence and fundamental for successful communication as well, its development has been gradually given much attention from language teachers and researchers. This study is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of two pre-listening supports, i.e. question preview and topic preparation on the…

The study aimed at exploring the psychological as well as educational outcomes of strategies awareness and use. We set out to examine the effect of reading strategic investment on language achievement and problem solving ability (PSA). The participating EFL learners were heterogeneous in terms of reading instruction; two of the intact groups had…

This study investigated whether enhanced extensive reading contributed to significant gains on the incidental acquisition of English prepositions. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) secondary school students in Korea ("N" = 12) received enhanced extensive reading instruction for one semester in an after-school program. Pre-and…

Krashen (2004) has advocated that narrow reading, i.e., reading a series of texts addressing one specific topic, is an effective method to grow vocabulary. While narrow reading has been championed to have many advantages for L2 vocabulary learning, there remains a relative dearth of empirical studies that test the impact of narrow reading on L2…