This study examined high-leverage teaching practices (HLTPs) in foreign language instruction. Specifically, this study sought to identify teaching practices that Arabic as a foreign language (AFL) learners and instructors think could enhance learners' oral communicative competence. It attempted to answer the following questions: (1) What are the…

We used a Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) methodology to consider how 16 teachers in an English as a Second Language (ESL) assessment course discussed 'academic' versus 'social' language while assessing a multilingual student's oral language. Using a ­figured-worlds framework to explore teachers' underlying beliefs about the…

Complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) as measures of language proficiency have been used extensively in assessing second language production in English language studies related to task-based language teaching. The present review adds the following critical elements to the existing body of literature: (i) Provides synthesis and critical analysis…

Even though corpora have transformed language education, the majority of corpus-related research focuses on the teaching of writing. Via a systematic review of previous studies and a survey of language corpora available, this study aims to ascertain whether and to what extent the teaching of speaking, especially of conversation skills, to EFL…

With the exponential growth of information and communication technology, many digital tools that can provide immediate feedback on pronunciation have been developed in recent years. Among them, one recent noteworthy tool is "Clips," which is capable of creating fun videos with automatically generated captions. This technology review…

This study highlights critical factors influencing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' decisions to provide in-class oral corrective feedback (OCF). It explores the interplay between teachers' individual differences -- namely educational background, teaching experience, and additional training -- and their decisions regarding OCF. EFL…

This study investigates the effects of instruction on second language (L2) pragmatic competence and the factors that moderate the effectiveness of pragmatics instruction. A comprehensive literature search yielded 29 primary studies that involved 1,898 L2 learners, generating 54 effect sizes for between-group contrasts. Aggregated results showed…

Facilitating the transformation of vocabulary from receptive to productive can be challenging for second language (L2) teachers. Although some studies have focused on understanding activities that promote productive vocabulary in written modes (e.g., Teng & Xu, 2022), little is known about the effect of activities on productive vocabulary in…

A significant number of students experience anxiety when asked to speak in English. This unease, often rooted in factors such as shyness, lack of confidence, uncertainty, and a lack of motivation, can hinder their active participation during English oral exams. One of the most important goals that every English language teacher should strive to…

Previous research has shown that task repetition can positively affect L2 oral performance. However, few studies have explored the effects of task repetition on young EFL learners' production. Also, task repetition research has paid little attention to effects of "spacing" examined through longer time intervals between the two occasions…

Language testing research has suggested that placement accuracy can be an important factor in the consequences of placement decision-making. However, previous studies primarily have used a one-shot teacher judgment of placement accuracy, suffering from a lack of students' perspectives of their time-varying experiences. The present study aimed to…

Over the last 25 years, scholars have proposed several recommendations for including spoken grammar in second language classrooms. However, recent studies point to potential challenges in this endeavour: learners may feel inauthentic when using what they see as 'native-speaker' forms, and interlocutors may see these forms as less acceptable when…

The study aimed to examine the effect of using Blended Content-Based Instruction (BCBI) to enhance EFL university students' oral communication skills. The study begins with a review of literature and previous studies dealing with blended content-based instruction (BCBI) and oral communication skills. The researcher prepared a list of oral…

Research has indicated that lexical richness is an important indicator of second language (L2) proficiency. However, most research has examined written, cross-sectional English L2 corpora and does not necessarily indicate how spoken lexical use develops over time or whether observed trends are stable across L2s. This study adds to previous…

Although lexical diversity is often used as a measure of productive proficiency (e.g., as an aspect of lexical complexity) in SLA studies involving oral tasks, relatively little research has been conducted to support the reliability and/or validity of these indices in spoken contexts. Furthermore, SLA researchers commonly use indices of lexical…