In many English language teaching contexts, listening activities resemble listening comprehension tests. Scholars have argued that this product-oriented approach is not particularly effective in helping learners improve their listening skills and have advocated for the inclusion of instruction that targets specific features of spoken language. The…

The practice of second language (L2) speech perception has traditionally relied on equal-interval perceptual scales and novice listeners' (NLs) impressionistic judgments of constructs such as accentedness and comprehensibility (Munro & Derwing, 2011). However, issues have surfaced with respect to how well NLs can use these scales, whether they…

This research compared the contributions of lexical inferencing, decoding, and listening comprehension to reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking learners of English as a second language (ESL) enrolled in university bridging programs in the U.S. and Chinese-speaking university learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in mainland China.…

Listening comprehension is an essential and challenging skill for language learners, and listening instruction can also be a challenge for language instructors, since they have little access to the listening process inside students' minds. Greater knowledge about what learners perceive when they listen could help language teachers better tailor…

Reflection is a crucial element in service-learning and having English as a second language (ESL) students create multimodal reflections on their service-learning experience helps them develop multiliteracies and results in learning that is authentic and meaningful as students engage in social discourse while they develop their academic language…

Formal English language education in Taiwan now starts at Year 3 in primary school, with an emphasis on communicative proficiency. In addition to formal education, attending English cram schools after regular school has become a common phenomenon for Taiwanese students. The main purpose of gaining additional reinforcement in English cram schools…

Instructors from an Intensive English Program (IEP) conducted classroom observations in university courses commonly attended by international students to answer two questions: 1) What listening and speaking demands do international students face in courses at our university? 2) How can instructors in our IEP better prepare our students for these…

Mobile devices have become a significant part of students' lives. The average number of hours that college students reported using their smartphones each day was nine hours--more than half of their daily waking hours (Roberts, Yaya, & Manolis, 2014). Although software developers and teachers have started to develop and incorporate various…

In the comprehension approach to second language instruction, the major procedure is to provide students with comprehensible input, which it is the students' responsibility to understand. The aim is to encourage nucleation of the target language, that is the crystallization of the rule system. Teaching procedures focus on strategies for implicit…

Describes the elaboration, over a period of three years, of a French language and civilization program consisting of linguistic and cultural preparation in England, followed by a one-week intensive linguistic and cultural experience in France. (AM)

Because interaction gives language learners an opportunity to modify their speech upon a signal of noncomprehension, it should also have a positive effect on native speakers' (NS) comprehension of nonnative speakers (NNS). This study shows that interaction does help NSs comprehend NNSs, contrasting the claims of an earlier study that found no…

A study investigaged: (1) whether learners of English as a Second Language can attend to meaning and form simultaneously; (2) how the nature of the linguistic form might affect processing for meaning; and (3) whether the learner's ability to focus on particular linguistic features is affected by whether or not those features have been acquired.…

The materials in this volume are intended to supplement existing tape materials in the lessons of the basic course in French. The exercises begin with lesson 13 of the Basic Course and continue through lesson 63. Each unit in this manual concentrates on a grammatical point and contains the following elements: (1) learning objectives, (2)…

Presents findings from research into listening strategies and tactics of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners from the People's Republic of China studying in an intensive English language and academic skills program in a university in Singapore. Showed that high-ability listeners used more strategies and tactics than the low-ability ones.…

THE PLACEMENT BATTERY CONSISTS OF TWO TESTS FROM THE COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION BOARD (READING AND LISTENING), A GRAMMAR PROFICIENCY TEST, AND AN ORAL INTERVIEW. FRESHMEN WHO SCORE WITHIN A CERTAIN RANGE ON THESE TESTS ARE PLACED IN SECOND YEAR INTENSIVE FRENCH (TWO CLASS PERIODS A DAY). PREREQUISITE FOR THE THIRD YEAR COURSE IS NOT THE…