Nonverbal behavior can impact language proficiency scores in speaking tests, but there is little empirical information of the size or consistency of its effects or whether language proficiency may be a moderating variable. In this study, 100 novice raters watched and scored 30 recordings of test takers taking an international, high stakes…

Pragmatic markers perform important communicative functions, but they can be difficult to learn in a second language because of their multifunctionality and lack of salience during communicative events. This study has two goals: (1) to describe the communicative functions of the pragmatic marker "I mean" in academic discourse; and (2) to…

Examines the relationship between anxiety and native-language skill and foreign-language aptitude measures among high school foreign-language learners using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). Findings suggest that skill in one's native language may affect aptitude for learning a foreign language and that the FLCAS may provide an…