NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Audience
Laws, Policies, & Programs
Assessments and Surveys
What Works Clearinghouse Rating
Showing 1 to 15 of 24 results Save | Export
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Mahmoud Abdi Tabari; Jongbong Lee – Language Awareness, 2025
This study investigates how task complexity affects native speakers' and second language (L2) learners', and experts' perceptions of task difficulty in writing tasks. It also explores how task complexity influences English native speakers' and L2 learners' linguistic complexity in their writing. Ninety participants performed one simple and one…
Descriptors: Difficulty Level, Linguistics, Student Attitudes, English
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
He, Xue – Foreign Language Annals, 2023
Chinese directional complement (DC) constructions, as a subtype of Chinese multiword sequences, are challenging to acquire for second language (L2) learners. However, little is known about L2 Chinese learners' acquisition of figurative DCs and their comprehension of literal and figurative DCs. This study investigated whether the acquisition of…
Descriptors: Phrase Structure, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Chinese
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Hayes-Harb, Rachel; Barrios, Shannon – Foreign Language Annals, 2022
The Hindi consonant inventory, which includes the cross-linguistically rare retroflex place of articulation and four-way laryngeal contrasts, is known to pose difficulties for native English speakers. Hindi language textbooks address this challenge, in part, by providing various articulatory and acoustic descriptions of Hindi consonants, typically…
Descriptors: English, Native Language, Indo European Languages, Phonemes
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
PDF on ERIC Download full text
Silva Valencia, Juan Carlos – GIST Education and Learning Research Journal, 2022
This paper analyzes a few significant differences between Spanish and English in relation to phonological patterns. First, a short introduction is given about these two languages, and it is briefly explained in what linguistic aspects they are similar or different. Then, each of these linguistic features is analyzed in detail, clearly establishing…
Descriptors: Spanish, English, Contrastive Linguistics, Language Patterns
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
PDF on ERIC Download full text
McQuillan, Jeff – Reading in a Foreign Language, 2019
Macalister and Webb (2019) claim that "children's literature" written for native English speakers is too difficult for intermediate English as a Second Language (ESL) students, those who have acquired the first 3,000 to 4,000 most commonly used words in English. The authors analyzed a corpus of short stories written for a classroom…
Descriptors: Childrens Literature, English, Native Speakers, English Language Learners
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
PDF on ERIC Download full text
Webb, Stuart; Macalister, John – Reading in a Foreign Language, 2019
The authors respond to the comment by Jeff McQuillan. It is important to question research findings and so they appreciate this opportunity to further discuss their two studies on the appropriacy of children's literature for foreign and second language learning (Macalister & Webb, 2019; Webb & Macalister, 2013). They also agree with…
Descriptors: Difficulty Level, Childrens Literature, Native Speakers, English
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Lee, Jiyong – Applied Linguistics, 2019
Relationships among task characteristics, L2 performance, and interlanguage development are of interest both for SLA research and the design of syllabuses and language teaching materials. Complexity has been identified as a promising, but methodologically problematic, task design feature. A study was conducted of the effects of progressive…
Descriptors: Cognitive Ability, Native Language, Stress Variables, Difficulty Level
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Masrai, Ahmed – SAGE Open, 2022
Vocabulary size measures serve important functions, not only with respect to placing learners at appropriate levels on language courses but also with a view to examining the progress of learners. One of the widely reported formats suitable for these purposes is the Yes/No vocabulary test. The primary aim of this study was to introduce and provide…
Descriptors: Vocabulary Development, Language Tests, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Shimanskaya, Elena; Slabakova, Roumyana – Language Teaching Research, 2019
In this article, we address the issue of targeted instruction on interpretive contrasts between native and second-language grammatical meanings. Such mismatches are predicted to create challenges for learners. We illustrate this with French and English pronouns. In French, clitic pronouns (le, la) point to human as well as inanimate referents,…
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, French, Form Classes (Languages)
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Pelzl, Eric; Lau, Ellen F.; Guo, Taomei; DeKeyser, Robert – Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2019
It is commonly believed that second language (L2) acquisition of lexical tones presents a major challenge for learners from nontonal language backgrounds. This belief is somewhat at odds with research that consistently shows beginning learners making quick gains through focused tone training, as well as research showing advanced learners achieving…
Descriptors: Advanced Students, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Intonation
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Gonzalez, Paz; Quintana Hernandez, Lucia – Modern Language Journal, 2018
The aim of this article is to show that the use of Spanish grammatical aspect is biased by inherent aspect depending on the learner's first language (L1). It considers both the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (LAH; Andersen, 1986, and his followers) and the L1 Transfer Hypothesis (Izquierdo & Collins, 2008; McManus, 2015), and it compares the use of…
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Grammar, Prediction
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Slavkov, Nikolay; Séror, Jérémie – Canadian Modern Language Review, 2019
This article capitalizes on the notion of linguistic risk-taking by focusing on a new pedagogical initiative at the University of Ottawa, an institution where courses, programs, and services in both English and French are available. In this bilingual context, we define linguistic risks as authentic communicative acts in learners' second official…
Descriptors: Risk, Universities, Foreign Countries, Teaching Methods
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Salido, Marcos Garcia – Modern Language Journal, 2016
This article studies the use of support verb constructions (SVCs) in the written production of learners of Spanish. SVCs are lexical combinations whose content is similar to verbal predicates but is distributed between a verb and a noun, the noun being the carrier of the core lexical meaning of the predicate. Although there is considerable…
Descriptors: Error Analysis (Language), English, Swedish, Japanese
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Isakson, Su Kyong – Sign Language Studies, 2018
This article puts forward a solution to the impending shortage of culturally and linguistically competent interpreters: the education of heritage signers as heritage language learners. It examines the current landscape of American Sign Language (ASL) as a course of study and the difficulties heritage signers report when they begin learning ASL. In…
Descriptors: American Sign Language, Deafness, Language Research, Deaf Interpreting
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
PDF on ERIC Download full text
Freedman, Leora – Reading in a Foreign Language, 2015
An adaptation of the traditional literary concept of close reading was developed for use in a largely multilingual classroom in which both first language (L1) and second language (L2) students were struggling to comprehend theoretical, lexically dense texts in English. This simplified method of reading a text iteratively and critically is proving…
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Critical Reading, Reading Strategies, Multilingualism
Previous Page | Next Page »
Pages: 1  |  2