This study investigated the differences between the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview - Computer (OPIc) among Spanish learners at a U.S. university. Participants (N = 154) were randomly assigned to take both tests in a counterbalanced order to mitigate test order effects. Data were analyzed using an…

This article explores the meaning, form, and pronunciation of narrative tenses for intermediate English language learners, addresses common learner issues, and proposes solutions through a combination of literature review and classroom-based activities. Challenges include differentiating between tenses, correct usage, and pronunciation of past…

This book traces and summarizes theoretical insights and empirical findings on the topic of whether or not anxiety for language learning could be a causal variable for individual differences in language learning. The author brings together three decades of research to show that first language (L1) skills and second language (L2) aptitude are…

Background/purpose: As Vietnam expands its tourism industry and integration into ASEAN, English proficiency has become crucial for hotel front-desk staff. This issue not only affects the tourism workforce but also how educational programs, particularly English for Specific Purposes (ESP), prepare their students for this demand. This study examines…

Machine and prompt-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) learning has made significant evolution profusely. In education, it has revitalized researchers and educators to scout out subsequent advantages for optimizing learning results. Chiefly, Generative AI has exhibited substantial potential as a tool for language augmentation. This study aims to…

Although research indicates that deliberate practice is indispensable for achieving high levels of proficiency and expertise in a range of disparate fields, this type of practice has largely been overlooked in the second language acquisition literature. To bridge this gap, and advocating for a more intentional and goal-directed approach to second…

The primary goal of this project is to assess the students' improved communication skills after applying five interactive strategies to an experimental group of subjects. This class will be compared with a control group of other participants, and in their class, the interactive approaches are not emphasized and practiced openly. The target…

The field of vocabulary instruction has witnessed the emergence of three models that operationalize the construct of elaborate processing and thus help predict the effectiveness of vocabulary learning activities: Involvement Load Hypothesis (ILH), Involvement Load Hypothesis Plus (ILH Plus), and Technique Feature Analysis (TFA). However, no…

Interactional Competence (IC) is an important subcomponent of oral proficiency, but many computer-mediated oral English assessments fall short in assessing this construct mainly due to technological limitations. Spoken Dialogue Systems (SDSs) have shown promise in assessing L2 oral communication, yet further investigation is needed on their…

For me, 'language learner autonomy' denotes a teaching/learning dynamic in which learners plan, implement, monitor and evaluate their own learning. From the beginning they do this as far as possible in the target language, which thus becomes a channel of their individual and collaborative agency. By exercising agency in the target language they…

The objective of the current study is to investigate the development of awareness of dialectal differences in Spanish by second language learners in a formal language learning classroom setting in the United States. Sensitivity toward different regional varieties of a language forms part of socio-linguistic--and ultimately,…

Due to their experience of managing two languages, it has been suggested that bilinguals could receive more practice in the domain of working memory (WM) leading to a WM bilingual advantage. Although some studies have shown that bilinguals can outperform monolinguals in WM tasks, the studies investigating WM capacity in bilinguals provide…

This dissertation explores first language (L1) transfer and second language (L2) transfer processes and models, such as the full transfer/full access model (FT/FA), the representational deficit/interpretability hypothesis, and the feature reassembly hypothesis (FRH). The typological proximity model (TPM), the cumulative enhancement model (CEM),…

Reading aloud is recommended as a simple technique to measure speaking ability (Hughes & Hughes, 2020; Madsen, 1983). Reading aloud is currently used in the Pearson Test of English and a couple of other international English as a second language proficiency tests. Due to the simplicity of the technique, it can be used in conjunction with other…

Research on the relationship between students' language learning motivation (LLM), language learning strategies (LLS), self-efficacy beliefs (SEB), and achievement in non-European languages has been both limited and overwhelmingly cross-sectional, often with little attention paid to their multilingualism. Combining complex dynamic systems and…