Despite the fact that the influence of learning experiences on foreign language learning motivation has been widely acknowledged and emphasised, there are hardly any studies concentrating on these learning experiences. Hence, the aim of this study is to map the language learning experiences of former and current language learners in order to…

The analysis carried out between October 2014 and February 2015 by a team of researchers from the University of Westminster with support from colleagues from across the EU identified the linguistic communities across the 28 EU member states as recognized (or not) by the country's legislation and the linguistic rights of these communities in…

Emotions are a fleeting experience, sometimes lasting only moments before dissipating. Prior research in SLA has either ignored emotions, underestimated their relevance, or has studied them as a relatively stable individual difference variable. In contrast, the present study takes an idiodynamic approach to examine the rapidly changing…

Media consumption is commonly seen as a major way of appropriating languages and cultures. Availability and accessibility of material are essential conditions for developing plurilingual cultural practices. Transnational circulation of cultural goods has reached a particular intensity in today's world but is still marked by deep language…

Noticing plays an important role for second language acquisition. Since the formulation of the output hypothesis (Swain, 1985), it has been proven that producing output can lead to noticing. Studies on noticing have revealed little focus on grammar, and an in-depth investigation of grammar noticing has not been conducted so far. Studies into…

The role of self-regulation in general learning has been investigated for some time now. Its significance and contribution to second language (L2) listening, however, has yet to be discussed extensively with empirical support. This article reports a case study involving four college EFL students in China over a six-month period of self-regulated…

The fact that L2 willingness to communicate (WTC) can fluctuate over different time scales is no longer disputed as numerous studies have proved a dynamic rather than trait-like character of the concept (cf. MacIntyre & Legatto, 2011; MacIntyre, Burns, & Jessome, 2011; Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2014). The changes in the intensity…

We report on a small scale study carried out in Austria, Italy and Poland which investigated the attitudes of university teachers engaged in teaching their academic subject through the medium of English. The data consisted of 25 teacher interviews. We focused on the topics of internationalisation of universities, on policy and resourcing, and on…

The article reports the findings of a retrospective study which looked at Hungarian learners' attitudes towards Russian people, the Russian language and teachers of Russian. Mixed-methods sequential explanatory design (Ivankova, Creswell, & Stick, 2006) was applied which combines the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data…

This article presents the findings of an innovative qualitative study involving one CLIL (content and language integrated learning) student and one student in a parallel, non-CLIL strand at high school level in Sweden. The aim of the study was to investigate differences in students' beliefs about language. The success of second (L2) and foreign…

Teacher education represents an essential step to raise awareness of the sociolinguistic changes brought about by the current pluralization of English and by its lingua franca role. Within the pre-service teacher education programs run at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Verona, Italy, part of the English language…

In recent years increased attention has been given in applied linguistics to the learning processes of various groups of special needs (SN) students, especially to those whose achievement is impeded by dyslexia or other learning difficulties. However, students with sensory impairment, particularly those who are Deaf or severely hard of hearing…

In this qualitative study the author focuses on age effects on young learners' L2 development by comparing the L2 learning processes of six young learners in an instructed setting: three who had started learning English as L2 at age 6/7 and three who had started at age 9/10. Both earlier and later young beginners were followed for three years…

The present study uses oral interviews with foreign language learners in search of influential factors in their language learning histories. The sample for the study was drawn from a larger sample of intermediate/advanced learners of English as a foreign language with a minimum of 10 years of exposure/instruction. The sample includes 6 early…

Motivations of Maori heritage language learners are explored within this qualitative study. "Te reo" Maori (the Maori language) is currently classed as endangered (Reedy et al., 2011), which calls for the exploration of the motivational experiences of Maori heritage language learners. A total of 19 interviews with beginner, intermediate…