Spanish teachers' feelings of self-efficacy can provide an important measure of their abilities to be effective in the classroom and, perhaps, affect student achievement. There is a need for qualitative research focused on the lived experiences of inservice foreign language teachers while they are immersed in the target culture in order to better…

The current study explores the challenges facing an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program at an Indonesian university in Indonesia. As a part of their commitment to improvement, this university is working to better prepare students for employment so that they may function well in workplace. However, currently students' English proficiency is…

An Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) may be evaluated either during the interview procedure (direct-method) or from a tape-made oral interaction (semi-direct method). Such variety in methods of assessment can influence test takers' scores extensively. However, it is not conclusive whether such differences are due to test format or something else.…

This research investigates non-native English teachers' engagement with the native speaker model, i.e. whether they agree/disagree with measuring English teaching and learning performance against native speaker standards. More importantly, it aims to unearth the impact of teacher education on teachers' attitudes and beliefs about…

Previous studies have shown that study abroad has a positive effect on second language (L2) learning outcomes for students who spend at least a semester abroad. It is unclear, however, whether a short-term experience also has a measurable impact on L2 development. The present study examines the relationship between speaking proficiency gains made…

This study explored Russian as a foreign language (RFL) learners' self-reported strategic uses of "VoiceThread" (VT)--a multimodal asynchronous computer-mediated communication tool--in order to gain insights into learner perceived effectiveness of VT for second language (L2) oral skills development and to determine the factors that…

Students who struggle with vocabulary knowledge often see a decline in comprehension of content. Even students who receive strong reading instruction in the early elementary years may still experience the fourth-grade slump (Chall, 1983), which more often affects students from underserved populations. Many of those same students are also affected…

This study employed qualitative data collection and analysis methods to investigate the influence of English as a foreign language teacher education programme on Korean teachers' classroom teaching practices. Six in-service secondary-school teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was applied to the data collected…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mobile activities newly arrived migrants are engaged in when learning the Swedish language and about Swedish culture and society. Further, the study also explores the use of a mobile application (app) provided to the newly arrived migrants to use for pronunciation practice. The study involved 38…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was: (1) to document the design and implementation process of an online video-based pre-arrival course that was intended to cultivate Asian students' willingness to communicate in American Classrooms; (2) to assess the effectiveness of the course by measuring students' oral proficiency and willingness to…

This dissertation presents the findings of an on-line survey completed by 222 FYC (First Year Composition) instructors at universities and community colleges across the United States along with supplemental information derived from multiple open-ended interviews with seven FYC instructors in Arizona. Both survey and interview questions were…

The aim of this study was to investigate the contexts and practices of three undergraduate foreign language teacher education programs identified by ACTFL/Language Testing International and reported by Glisan, Swender, and Surface (2013) as having a high success rate in propelling their graduates into the Advanced proficiency level on the ACTFL…

Game-based learning activities that facilitate students' listening and speaking skills were designed in this study. To participate in learning activities, students in the control group used traditional methods, while students in the experimental group used a mobile system. In our study, we looked into the feasibility of mobile game-based learning…

This article aims to address the practical question of whether there is educational value to embedding second-language (L2) learning experiences in intergenerational contexts. In particular, a case study was conducted of a novel, university-based ESL program in Hong Kong in which a group of older adult volunteers with a high level of English…

Based on evidence derived from studies conducted mostly in the United States, many low- and middle-income countries are investing in early childhood education (ECE), with high expectations that it will improve academic outcomes, increase human capital, promote economic growth and reduce economic inequality. In Chile, there has been a great…