In the sphere of second or foreign language (L2) pedagogy, empirical evidence has increasingly spotlighted the role of learners' metacognitive strategies as formidable predictors of their willingness to engage in L2 communication (WTC). Nonetheless, the interrelationship among learners' metacognitive strategies, self-efficacy, and intrinsic…

Drawing from Expectancy-Value Theory, this study explored the extent to which the interaction between learning motives for and self-efficacy in learning English as a foreign language (EFL) predicted deep language learning strategies by involving 693 undergraduates from mainland China in a survey. Stepwise multiple regression indicated that (i) as…

Despite the growing body of studies on collocation learning in SLA research, there are hardly any studies taking the perspective of the individual learner or studies that have examined the effect of individual differences. This study--a qualitative component of a mixed-methods longitudinal project--presents an in-depth exploration of the intro-…

Developing young children's vocabulary is essential for later reading success; thus, early childhood classrooms require a comprehensive vocabulary approach that teaches academic vocabulary. Yet even providing young children with child-friendly definitions of sophisticated words can be a challenge. First, the authors outline the components of a…

Developing young children's vocabulary is essential for later reading success; thus, early childhood classrooms require a comprehensive vocabulary approach that teaches academic vocabulary. Yet even providing young children with child-friendly definitions of sophisticated words can be a challenge. First, the authors outline the components of a…

This qualitative study uses a semi-structured interview to investigate why Saudi learners stop learning a third language and whether these reasons are permanent or temporary. The participants were six female master's degree students who had experience learning a third language outside of formal education or informal settings. This study identifies…

Language learning is a life-long process. In a world that connects people across nations through study, work, travel and socializing, new chances and challenges arise, intensifying a need to improve modern foreign language skills. The aim of language education, therefore, should not be limited to providing mere language instruction but it should…

This paper presents an argument for how second language acquisition (SLA) research should be carried out if a researcher is genuinely interested in learner grammar (i.e., knowledge of language), its acquisition and use. SLA research has expanded greatly over many years and currently spans many subfields, but researchers share one main goal: to…

This paper presents protests from academically successful students who privately conveyed to the researchers their feelings of personal discontent with schools. The criterion to select this "sample" was that these students, dissatisfied with school but having good marks, would reveal what others, academically less successful, could not…

This research describes language use by four first-grade students during mathematics and Language Arts instruction in a one-way 50/50 Mandarin immersion classroom. The urban public school was situated in the heart of an African-American community in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Participants were video- and audio-recorded…

Through the analytical lens of activity theory (Leontiev, 1978, Lantolf & Thorne, 2006), the present study investigates the uptake of affordances for language learning by young (ages 7-11) Danish children (N = 15) in their engagement with English language media in the digital wild. Drawing on ethnographic interviews (Spradley, 1979), during…

In this study I examine the construct of aptitude in learning Chinese as a second language (L2) to an advanced level. I test 2 hypotheses: first, that L2 aptitude comprises 4 components--working memory, rote memory, grammatical sensitivity, and phonemic coding ability--and second, that L2 aptitude affects learning both directly and indirectly…

Under the premise that vocabulary learning in a Spanish as a second language in-class environment may be affected by the instructional approach adopted by the instructors or the materials followed, this study explores the influence of rather distant teaching styles, such as implicit and explicit approaches, on the learning outcome of Spanish…

This study presents the main findings from a study which investigated Malaysian multilingual students' practical use of three languages with respect to reading, speaking and writing in Bahasa Malaysia (BM), English and German. In addition, two further aspects have been examined: students' motivation to learn a language, and the respondents'…

This study examines the preferred vocabulary learning strategies of Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners. In order to identify the aforementioned group in terms of language proficiency, a TOEFL test was administered to a population of 146 undergraduate EFL students at the university of Vali-e-Asr in Rafsanjan, Iran. Those scoring above 480 were…