Using Conversation Analysis, this article explores the ways in which teasing is employed as an interactional tool to respond to learner-initiated departures in videotaped adult English as Foreign Language classrooms. The analysis focuses on the moments of classroom interaction where student contributions and behaviours initiate shifts from the…

In addressing vocabulary explanations in language classroom settings, a growing number of studies have examined the different ways teachers respond to the vocabulary explanation requests made by students in second language (L2) classrooms. Relatively lacking is an investigation into the nature of vocabulary explanation requests made by students in…

This classroom-based study explored language mindsets in the context of communicative interaction between L2 learners. Amid the increasing research on mindsets in the L2 field, two issues warrant further research to improve our understanding of how mindsets affect L2 learning. First, research has largely been product-oriented and mindsets' impacts…

Willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) is a speaker's voluntary engagement in communication using a target language. WTC has undergone several conceptualisations over the past twenty years or so. The aim of the current article is to present a narrative review of the major conceptual developments in research on L2 WTC. First, the…

This study explored the impact of a vision intervention in a second language (L2) classroom. In addition to self-reported motivational variables, the study examined the intervention's impact on L2 production during teacher-student interactions. Two intact university-level classes were assigned to the experimental (n = 26) and control (n = 24)…

The present large-scale mixed-method study examined English language classroom anxiety and enjoyment in Chinese young students in relation to gender and grade level. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 709 primary and secondary school students from a province in south China. Major findings were: (1) Around one third of the…

The current paper explores the silent behavior of students within EFL classrooms. It investigates reasons behind students' in-class silence, or lack of verbal participation, and then puts forwards several suggested solutions for more effective in-class conversation. The population for this study consists of 85 English-major students at a…

The aim of this study was to explore patterns of children's agency enactment in second-language learning as reflected in their language learning and social interactions in a bilingual Arabic-Hebrew-speaking classroom. We examined the connection between these behaviour patterns and the children's L2 progress in the bilingual classroom. The study…

Learners' language background is one of the factors which may influence the amount and functions of own-language use in English instruction. This article reports a study in which a group of almost 400 Polish and Norwegian secondary school learners of English were asked how their own languages are used in the classroom, how they use them when they…

The case study is an attempt to understand how students experience intercultural classroom communication and what kind of competence they need to cope in intercultural classroom communication. The context is a supplementary course in English for university enrolment in Denmark. It is a multinational student body and all the students have finished…

Background: There is currently ongoing debate in Hong Kong between the teachers' union and the Government on the reduction of large class size (typically more than 40 students) in secondary schools and whether smaller class sizes might facilitate improvements in teaching and learning. In fact, many Hong Kong secondary schools have already started…

This qualitative study followed two graduates from a master of arts in the teaching of languages program, who had taught for at least 3 years, into their domain of work in public school teaching. The study was carried out to better understand the day-to-day work, challenges, and social and interactive contexts in which language teachers engage. It…

This article presents the authors' reply to Rod Ellis's comments on their study on motivated classroom behavior. As Ellis correctly summarizes, the three student variables selected for investigation in the authors' study were attention, participation, and volunteering for teacher-fronted activity. These three components were then summed up in a…

Second-language teaching styles are defined as specific configurations of student and teacher behaviors during the teaching episode that are further described by certain dimensions of teaching. Teaching styles are seen as useful conceptual tools, and their nature and complexity are considered at three levels: foundation, structure, and…

In a foreign language classroom, the students' job is that of mutual comprehension, among themselves and with the teacher, by not only attempting to understand but also understanding what is expected of them. It is this pattern of exchange that explains the slow rhythm and thematic progression of foreign language classes. (MSE)