This article outlines the development of a 16-item instrument for measuring language learner's foreign language self-efficacy (SE) concerning their speaking and listening skills through repeated administrations to groups of Japanese tertiary students. Responses were analysed through the Rasch model, which allows researchers to investigate…

After the publication of the "CEFR Companion Volume" in 2018, a revision of the curriculum in force for the English subject in the Bilingual Sections in the Community of Madrid has been implemented. One of the main changes is the inclusion of the concept of linguistic mediation in the subject 'Advanced English' in the last stage of…

Self-assessment is an alternative assessment that can assess one's language ability, and it has been widely used, especially in classroom contexts. However, recent research has suggested different results regarding the correlation between student self-assessment and language performance. The accuracy of student assessment depends on various…

Given the significant global influence of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (CEFR) on English language education, this study deals with aligning a university's academic reading tests to the CEFR. It aimed at validating the test construct of the academic reading tests in relation to the…

Drawing on the framework of invariant measurement from Rasch measurement theory, the purpose of this study is to psychometrically evaluate the 20 language and teaching skill domains of the International Teaching Assistant (ITA) Test using the many-facet Rasch model and to empirically explore performance differences between females and males in…

In recent years, the importance of listening when becoming communicatively competent in a new language has been increasingly recognized, and authors such as Richards (2002; 2005) have responded to this awareness by producing material specifically designed to meet this need. In order to develop listening proficiency, other authors (e.g.…

Prompted by Taiwanese university students' increasing demand for English proficiency assessment, the absence of a test designed specifically for this demographic subgroup, and the lack of a localized and freely-accessible proficiency measure, this project set out to develop and validate a computerized adaptive English proficiency testing (E-CAT)…

Recent conceptualizations of L2 motivation have regarded target language learners' goal-directed visions as the core feature of directed motivational currents; that is, a period of intense and enduring motivation in pursuit of a favorable personal vision. This study reports on a multiple-case study designed to explore the effective factors on…

Apology may be defined as "a compensatory action for an offense committed by the speaker which has affected the hearer" (Marquez-Reiter, 2000, p. 44), and a compliment is another speech act "which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker... which is positively valued by the speaker and the…

In English language teacher education (ELTE), technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) has gained popularity as it prepares preservice teachers of English for integration of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge in language teaching. Thus, with the perspective of TPACK, the main objective of this qualitative study based on Kelly's…

Duolingo is a commercial language-teaching platform that offers free courses on the web and on mobile apps. This study reports the ACTFL listening and reading proficiency levels of adult Duolingo learners who had completed beginning-level courses in Spanish or French. The participants (n = 225) were learners residing in the United States, had…

In the updated version of the "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment -- Companion Volume" (Council of Europe 2020), the Action-Oriented Approach is highlighted as the most viable approach for learning languages. The present study explored students' reflections on the collaborative project…

The World Wide Web has often been considered too vast to be consulted for linguistic purposes or for language learning. This paper will explore whether second language learners can be taught how to navigate the web (i.e., how to perform Google linguistic research, or "Googleology"), in order to improve their language skills. To this aim,…

Language placement tests (LPTs) are used to assess students' proficiency in a progressive manner in the target language. Based on their performance, students are assigned to stepped language courses. These tests are usually considered low stakes because they do not have significant consequences in students' lives, which is perhaps the reason why…

This qualitative study explores how native peers as teaching assistants can support language learning in Higher Education. The data of five semi-structured group interviews of 15 teaching assistants in total were analysed thematically. The results indicate that the assistants embraced multiple roles during the programme and within the lessons.…