Focusing on the teaching of listening strategies to second language (L2) learners, this study sought to revisit Renandya and Farrell's (2011) claims that explicit listening strategy instruction for lower-proficiency learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) is a fruitless endeavor. As such, we implemented a quasi-experimental study to…

EFL teacher-educators and teachers are seen as ignorant of teaching aural skills for referring to resource shortages is a common mechanism for their scapegoating. It hinders students' opportunity to boost oral proficiency in the abundance of their smartphones in the classrooms to learn aural and oral skills. Hence, Moodle 3.0, a learning…

While the use of intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) has exploded in recent years, little is known about their use to promote English as a foreign language (EFL) development. Thus, this study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the in-class use of the IPA, Alexa, among second language (L2) English students to support improvements…

Foreign language education has now been implemented at the elementary school level across Europe, and early foreign language education has gained traction following language policies set by the European Commission. The long-term effects of an early start, however, have not received ample scientific scrutiny. The present study assessed early…

This paper reports a study comparing the effects of vocabulary instruction on recognition and recall through provision of either an L1 equivalent or an L2 (French) definition. Instruction was in the context of a focus-on-meaning listening activity. The study employed a quasi-experimental design, involving 262 Year 9 learners of French in seven…

The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of Story Telling and retelling and higher order thinking for "E"nglish "L"anguage and "L"iteracy "A"cquisition (STELLA) on the English oral proficiency of elementary students in Mainland China and Taiwan, where English is taught as a foreign…

Three components have been introduced for foreign language learning anxiety in the literature: Test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation and communication apprehension. This study teases out the first of the three components with special focus on listening comprehension test to investigate the correlation between listening test results and foreign…

Introduction: This study explores the relationship among three variables--cognitive load, foreign language anxiety, and task performance. Cognitive load refers to the load imposed on working memory while performing a particular task. The authors hypothesized that anxiety consumes the resources of working memory, leaving less capacity for cognitive…

This study investigates the impact of a five-week intermediate Spanish course on the listening comprehension ability of 48 participants in short-term study abroad programs, and compares these groups with 92 peers enrolled in a similar course on the home campus. While both on-campus and study abroad groups experienced similar gains in listening…

Alternative programs for teaching French as a second language in Ottawa and Carleton schools were evaluated. The study included a cross-sectional replication of previous French listening comprehension testing of grade 4-8 students in the core French program, French proficiency testing of grades 10 and 12 primary and late entry immersion students,…

Designed to serve newly arrived, immigrant pupils in the Cleveland Public Schools, the English-as-a-Second-Language project aims to help participants acquire enough English proficiency for adequate functioning. The project uses a pull-out model in which, for about 30 minutes daily, small groups of students are given additional reading, language,…