Automated assessment using Natural Language Processing (NLP) has the potential to make English speaking assessments more reliable, authentic, and accessible. Yet without careful examination, NLP may exacerbate social prejudices based on gender or native language (L1). Current NLP-based assessments are prone to such biases, yet research and…

Students are required to master effective sentences to support their writing skills. However, students often struggle with comprehending and constructing effective sentences due to their limited proficiency and competence. This research examines the comprehension of effective sentences through grammaticality judgment tests and its implications for…

Years of teaching experience have long been taken as an important indicator of teacher and school quality in primary and secondary schools. However, research on the effects of teacher years of experience on student outcomes has shown mixed results. To investigate the source of variation causing these mixed results, this study examined a broad…

This article explores French L1 speakers' attitudes toward French L2 speakers' negation use. Negation in prescriptive grammars calls for a pre-verbal ne and a post-verbal element like "pas." Although orally "ne" deletion is frequent, it is rarely or never taught. One common, albeit meagerly supported, explanation is that L1…

Violations of normality and homogeneity are common in educational data. When this occurs, the use of parametric statistics may be inappropriate. A generalized form of nonparametric analyses based on the Puri and Sen L statistic provides an alternative approach. Using a chi-square distribution, this technique is easy to apply and has significant…

Multilingualism is often associated with advantages for acquiring additional languages. Theoretical approaches explain these advantages by assuming a Common Underlying Proficiency or a Metalinguistic Awareness. At the State Europe School in Berlin, students from different language backgrounds receive instruction in German and a partner language…

Discourse markers (DMs) are linguistic forms characterized by their use as conversation organizers or pause fillers (Fox Tree, 2010). Although used frequently in both speech and writing, DMs are not often taught in L2 classrooms, despite incorrect usage causing potential misunderstandings (Polat, 2011). Additionally, L2 learners have been observed…

This study used survival analysis to examine the patterns and factors associated with time to achieving designated score criteria on a test of English as a foreign language. This was modeled using an extension of the Cox regression model, with two criterion score levels defined as achieving a TOEFL iBT® total test scale score at or above the…

This study was an attempt to investigate Iranian EFL learners' private speech across proficiency levels and gender while doing reading comprehension tasks. Moreover, it was an attempt to examine the different forms of private speech produced by Iranian English learners. Six forms of private speech were coded and analyzed: affective markers,…

This study aims to investigate the linguistic organisation and coherence of personal narratives among children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) to provide insight into their communication skills in everyday contexts. A cohort of 10-year-old Croatian-speaking children diagnosed with DLD (n = 50, M = 10;8) and their gender-matched…

This longitudinal mixed methods study investigated the relationship between self-reported L1 and L2 willingness to communicate (WTC), observed (actual) L1 and L2 WTC behaviour, and academic achievement, as well as gender differences. Whereas early studies on WTC have focused on examining WTC as a trait, a few later studies have examined WTC as a…

Effective listening comprehension skills are an important prerequisite for the academic success of primary school students. However, the assessment of listening skills in the instructional language appears to have received only scant attention in the literature. Therefore, the goal of the present study was twofold. Firstly, a comprehensive…

This study investigated the relationship between balanced multilingualism and working memory. Specifically, it reports on the relationship between balanced proficiency in speaking, reading and comprehension (across three languages), and verbal and visuospatial working memory in young South African adults. Information about participants' language…

This study investigated the factors, such as students' foreign language enjoyment, their foreign language classroom anxiety, the teacher's language choice (English-only instruction versus English instruction with limited legitimate Japanese support), and demographics that affect improvement in English proficiency in EFL communicative classes.…

This paper investigates the relationship between multilingualism, code-switching, target language contact and pragmatic and grammatical awareness in learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Participants (N = 144) were university students enrolled in English language courses at a German university. The study employed a cross-sectional…