This classroom study evaluates the effectiveness of pre-teaching communication strategies before learners undertake an information-gap speaking task. A convenience sample of 67 first-year students taking mandatory English classes at a private Japanese university was subject to one of two instructional approaches. The experimental group (n=37)…

Neural Machine Translation (NMT) has gained increasing popularity among EFL learners as a CALL tool to improve vocabulary, and many learners have reported its helpfulness for vocabulary learning. However, while there has been some evidence suggesting NMT's facilitative role in improving learners' writing on the lexical level, no study has examined…

Motivations-beliefs for learning and their relationship to instructional experiences are a poorly understood aspect of higher education. Notably, interest is an individual difference that both researchers and educators alike believe should be supported. However, this support is too often relegated to the craft of instruction. To be enhanced…

Tests are designed as an integral part of the teaching process, necessarily including stakeholders from the onset of preparations to grade allocation, the administration of the test, and the interpretation of the results. The process commences with selecting content to evaluate, deciding upon the skills to be tested, and to meet course objectives…

Second-language (L2) learner motivation has been a thriving subfield within L2 acquisition research for decades, particularly since the development of the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS), a multi-faceted motivational theory. This survey-based study examines (1) whether L2MSS facets differ between students intending to continue (or discontinue)…

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-based applications has become increasingly significant due to its transformative potential in various fields including language learning. These applications have the potential to enhance second language (L2) learners' speaking proficiency, willingness to communicate (WTC), and perception,…

The extent to which L2 television is viewed by foreign language learners will depend on the degree to which it is understood. The addition of captions has been shown to support comprehension (e.g., Birulés-Muntané & Soto-Faraco, 2016; Montero-Perez, Peters, & Desmet, 2014), especially when proficiency is low (e.g., Lavaur & Bairstow,…

There exists a dearth of textbooks for teaching medical Spanish and Spanish for law, justice, and human services through a social justice lens. In addition, many texts do not meet the needs of learners with disparate language proficiency levels of Spanish and varying depth and breadth of knowledge about these topics. The literature has identified…

Background/purpose: Despite the rapid assimilation of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into education, and initial evidence suggesting its potential in language learning, rigorous empirical investigations into its efficacy for cultivating specific language skills remain limited. This study aimed to address this lacuna by examining the…

Nigeria and Ghana are two Anglophone countries in West Africa that have adopted the teaching of the French language in their education systems because of their proximity to francophone countries and the necessity for regional integration. Whereas the language has gained some official status in the national curriculum (National Policy on Education)…

This study investigated the effects of using a teacher-curated LMOOC on EFL students at a university in Thailand. It also investigated students' attitudes to the LMOOC. Data were collected from a group of nursing students (N = 179) taking a compulsory English course. After taking the midterm exam, the students engaged in a 5-week LMOOC…

Effective translation instruction is crucial to the improvement of translation competence and language abilities of undergraduates majoring in translation. On the basis of an analysis of the problems in translation teaching, this paper provides an overview of the development of translation teaching reform, and puts forward some suggestions on…

The study aimed to investigate students' final grades in a linked course or chain course to determine any effect on students' academic performance in their next linked course. Courses with high D, F, and W grades were selected with their subsequent linked courses to form a chain so that each chain consisted of two courses or more. More…

This policy analysis will explore the prevalence and purpose of compulsory practical English courses for students across all faculties in universities in Japan. Special attention will be given to English courses taught in two non-English major colleges within a large private Japanese university in Western Japan, which since their inception have…

English is an international language which has acquired a prominent place in the Chilean language curriculum. English as a foreign language has become a mandatory subject at schools beginning in the fifth grade (students 10 years old) following the plans of the Ministry of Education. Despite being a mandatory subject, the gap between what is…