Formal English language education in Taiwan now starts at Year 3 in primary school, with an emphasis on communicative proficiency. In addition to formal education, attending English cram schools after regular school has become a common phenomenon for Taiwanese students. The main purpose of gaining additional reinforcement in English cram schools…

This research focuses on speaking proficiency and successful second language speakers' traits using a survey and an interview. The participants in the study were in a short intensive course between four and six months, depending on the language they studied. The successful learner was defined as someone who received 1+ or above on the Interagency…

This research focuses on speaking proficiency and successful second language speakers' traits using a survey and an interview. The participants in the study were in a short intensive course between four and six months, depending on the language they studied. The successful learner was defined as someone who received 1+ or above on the Interagency…

Pedagogical proponents of both communicative language teaching and the postmethod philosophy argue for the importance of considering learners' needs in classroom planning. This requires understanding learners' attitudes toward a variety of classroom realities. The present study reports on the attitudes of 131 adult, international learners of…

This study investigated the relationship between out-of-class L2 use and proficiency gains in learners of English as a second language (ESL) in an intensive English language program. In contrast to previous studies on this topic, which have found weak, non-existent or even inverse relationships between out-of-class language experience and L2…

In this longitudinal study we investigated whether different distributions of instructional time would have differential effects on the acquisition of English by young (aged 11-12 years) French-speaking learners. Eleven classes of Grade 6 students (N = 230) in two versions of a similar intensive English as a second language program were followed…

Seventy-eight native English speakers rated the foreign-accented speech (FAS) of 24 international students enrolled in an Intensive English programme at a public university in Texas on degree of accent, comprehensibility and communicative ability. Variables considered to potentially impact listeners' ratings were the sex of the speaker, the first…

Although several studies have been conducted that investigated the attitudes of English as a second language (ESL) students towards their nonnative-English-speaking (NNES) ESL teachers, few scholars have explored the influence of teacher-contact time and other relevant variables on students' responses. This article reports on a study conducted in…

Thirty-seven post-secondary students were studied over one semester in intensive English-as-a-Second-Language or degree programs, with a focus on their English language development and adaptation to Canadian life and study. Data were gathered through ongoing informal contact and pre- and post-administration of a detailed questionnaire, an English…