This edited volume brings together 10 cutting-edge empirical studies on the realities of English language learning, teaching and testing in a wide range of global contexts where English is an additional language. It covers three themes: learners' development of interactional competence, the organization of teaching and testing practices, and…

In vocabulary research there has been a shift from focusing on single words to considering multiword sequences, such as collocations. Despite the general consensus among language researchers that collocation is essential to effective language use in real-world communication, particularly oral communication, language-testing researchers have made…

In this study, framed within a sociocultural theory of mind, we explore the role of languaging in mediating between students' understanding of a grammatical concept and their written production of the forms related to that concept. The development of scientific concepts, in this case of the concept of voice in French, involves the use of language…

A program designed to improve the oral second language skills of high school students in second-year Spanish is reported. Initial analysis attributed the students' low level of oral Spanish skills to lack of motivation and insufficient practice of oral language. Three major interventions were implemented: incorporation of more oral practice of…

This study investigated: (1) whether there is a gender effect in the speech of Japanese learners of English as a Second Language; (2) whether the effect is positive if the interlocutor is female; (3) whether there are associations of gender effect with specific features of speech; and (4) in which linguistic features of learner speech the gender…

Papers reporting research on Spanish second language learning include: "Discourse Features of Spanish Oral Production at the Novice Level" (Rebecca Jo Bearden); "A Discourse Approach to the Assessment of Foreign Language Oral Proficiency" (Dale April Koike, Fanny Hinojosa); "Acquisition of Spanish Definite Articles by English-Speaking Learners of…

Papers on applied linguistics and language pedagogy include: "A Genre Analysis Study of 80 Medical Abstracts" (Kenneth Anderson, Joan Maclean); "Oral Classroom Testing in an Adult French Community Class" (Sheena Davies, Aileen Irvine, Jacqueline Larrieu); "Whose Relevance? Interpretation of Hybrid Texts by a Multiple…