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…

Although several researchers have demonstrated that foreign language (FL) learning experience has a limited effect on the short-term development of second language (L2) fluency, recent studies have suggested that learners can gain long-term (over one year) benefits from FL learning experiences. As a part of the present study, 50 Japanese…

This study explored a way to help Japanese university students write longer essays while maintaining grammatical accuracy. Participants were three groups of students enrolled in a one-year EFL course in different academic years (N = 111), and the number of words they wrote in 30 minutes and the number of errors made per 100 words were compared. To…

The current study examined the extent to which first language (L1) utterance fluency measures can predict second language (L2) fluency and how L2 proficiency moderates the relationship between L1 and L2 fluency. A total of 104 Japanese-speaking learners of English completed different argumentative speech tasks in their L1 and L2. Their speaking…

This study investigated the effect of consistent freewriting practice on written fluency development. Thirty-nine first-year university students completed 70 10-minute freewriting activities over the course of an academic semester. Written fluency, measured as words produced per minute (wpm), increased from a mean of 19.5 wpm to 30.1 wpm over a…

This study explored two assessment approaches to oral performances: analytical complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) indices and human raters' evaluations. CAF indices are frequently used in second-language speaking (L2) research; however, because tasks are communicative and goal-oriented, the degree to which students achieve such communicative…

This experiment tested gains in spoken fluency and ability to complete a dictation listening task accurately among 33 Japanese L1 English language users. Both a control group (N = 17) and an experimental group (N = 16) studied Anki vocabulary cards each week for 10 weeks and described three picture stories that contained the vocabulary words every…

In EFL contexts where students' chances to use English are limited to the classroom, minimizing their use of L1 to develop fluency in English is often encouraged in instruction. However, recent studies have reported that students' partial use of L1 in code-switching or translanguaging offers various pedagogical advantages. This research examines…

Japanese learners of English are often described as having good English grammar but lacking in fluency. However, with the changes to a more communication-focused English curriculum in the last few decades, this is no longer the norm. This paper will first review the reactions to communication-focused English instructions in Japan and other parts…

Teacher cognition has attracted increased attention among second language (L2) researchers and practitioners, likely because of its potential consequences for classroom practices, such as teaching and assessment. Prior research has revealed links between teacher beliefs about pronunciation teaching and teachers' own experience (e.g. amount of…

Despite an emphasis on oral communication in most foreign language classrooms, the resource-intensive nature (i.e. time and manpower) of speaking tests hinder regular oral assessments. A possible solution is the development of a (semi-) automated scoring system. When it is used in conjunction with human raters, the consistency of computers can…

This study reports on how project-based language learning in which L1 Japanese EFL learners created short videos affected L2 oral proficiency. Students took short speaking tests before and after the class, and the fluency, complexity and accuracy of the pre- and posttests were measured to see which, if any, of these three aspects of proficiency…

While the use of automated writing evaluation software has received much attention in CALL literature, as Frankenberg-Garcia (2019) notes, empirical research on predictive text and intelligent writing assistants is lacking. Thus, this study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the impact of Grammarly, an intelligent writing assistant…

The study is the second in a series of mixed-methods studies on the integration of The Sims 4, a life-simulation game, into language classrooms. In this study, the researcher explores the effect of game-based language learning (GBLL) on students' English communicative competence from three aspects, interaction, fluency and content, in a Japanese…

This study explored the effect of differing levels of interactivity in a VR language learning system on learner oral task performance. 30 participants were divided into 15 pairs which undertook two spot-the-difference tasks. One in a static-VR system, the other in an interactive-VR system which required them to move objects into the correct…