Vocabulary research provides valuable information on the construct of word knowledge (WK), and suggests ways to develop language learners' lexicon, arguably, the backbone of communication. The present study explores EFL students' vocabulary learning behavior; more specifically, the aspects of WK components they intentionally focus on when learning…

In this study, we investigated Turkish EFL teachers' level of recognition of English accent varieties and their attitudes regarding three common domains, status (e.g. educatedness, intelligence), solidarity (friendliness, kindness), and dynamism (confidence, talkativeness). We also explored the English teachers' choices of English accents in…

This study examined the attitudes of postgraduate biology students of three top-ranked Russian universities towards the foreign accents of non-native English-speaking lecturers. Fifty participants responded to a questionnaire, the main purpose of which was to explore the listeners' perceptions of professors' accents and their influence on…

This study examined the role of visual cues (facial expressions and hand gestures) in second language (L2) speech assessment. University students (N = 60) at English-medium universities assessed 2-minute video clips of 20 L2 English speakers (10 Chinese and 10 Spanish speakers) narrating a personal story. They rated the speakers'…

Despite less than 10% of South Africans claiming English as their home language, it has become the de facto language of instruction. Yet we cannot assume that teachers have sufficient command of this language when using it for instructional purposes. As a sub-study, in this article we report on the oral proficiency of isiZulu-speaking pre-service…

Perhaps it is inevitable that non-native speakers' English articulations are displayed with their local accents, which are usually based on their mother tongues or dominant languages. However, fluency in English pronunciation and communication is still achievable by these groups of speakers in outer and expanding circles. In these two circles,…

Over the past decades, various teaching methods adopted from time to time have placed pronunciation teaching in the forefront or in the backend. This has resulted in second language facilitators to completely disregard or relentlessly correct pronunciation depending on their intuition due to the lack of research on pronunciation teaching or proper…

There is growing research on the linguistic features that most contribute to making second language (L2) speech easy or difficult to understand. Comprehensibility, which is usually captured through listener judgments, is increasingly viewed as integral to the L2 speaking construct. However, there are shortcomings in how this construct is…

This paper first considers what it means to become truly proficient in a language other than the native one. It then looks briefly at the evolution of dual language programs. Next, it focuses on the issue of whether the first language (L1) or the second language (L2) serves as the language of mediation. Other dual language program issues are then…