Second language (L2) motivation has long been regarded as one of the requisites for and predictors of success in L2 learning. The scholarship on L2 motivation has grown steadily over the past 60 years, yielding several theories through a range of methods. Building upon this tradition, this paper proposes a methodological contribution to the…

A word often expresses many different morphological functions. Which part of a word contributes to which part of the overall meaning is not always clear, which raises the question as to how such functions are learned. While linguistic studies tacitly assume the co-occurrence of cues and outcomes to suffice in learning these functions (Baer-Henney,…

Adopting Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is a testament to the revolutionary and evolutionary advancement in theory and empirical practice in the field. CDST is revolutionary for the fact that it warrants systems thinking of SLA phenomena that breaks the chain of dichotomous conceptualization on vital…

The present study carried out a bibliometric analysis of L2 eye-tracking research. VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and CitNetExplorer were used for the analysis. The data were 245 articles indexed by Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). The study identified the research topics, trends, promising research directions, influential authors and documents, and…

Against the backdrop of greater emphasis on learner centredness and growing attention to learners' voices in recent decades, concerns have been raised over researchers' dominance in shaping research scope and findings. Whether it be quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research, learners' voices are mostly absent at the methodological…

Identifying changing patterns of stability and variability is crucial when examining second language development (SLD) from a complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) perspective (Larsen-Freeman, 2020). By studying attractor states, or recurrent patterns of stability, light can be shed on the underlying dynamics of a complex dynamic system (van Geert…

Third language (L3) lexical acquisition is still underexplored. In this article I overview theoretical and empirical evidence on L3 lexical acquisition and the role of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in learning L3 words. I explain the mechanism of CLI as resulting from language co-activation in the multilingual learner's/user's mind.…

Second language development can be viewed as a complex and dynamic process in which learners follow non-linear trajectories and develop their language over a period of time (Larsen-Freeman, 2006). Intrinsic to the view of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), a system is composed of hierarchical, interdependent subcomponents (learner, learner…

From a complex dynamic systems (CDST) perspective, language is understood as a dynamic system comprised of subsystems that change and develop over time in response to learner-internal and -external factors (Verspoor et al., 2008). Accordingly, language development is seen as a process responsive to the dynamic interaction between the learner and…

Since its inception in 2005, YouTube has grown to become one of the most trafficked online platforms in the world. Accordingly, second language (L2) research interest on the topic has also increased, with studies investigating its use in formal and informal settings. Given this, the goal of this conceptual paper is to identify patterns within L2…

At the turn of the new millennium, in an article published in "Language Teaching Research" in 2000, Dörnyei and Kormos proposed that 'active learner engagement is a key concern' for all instructed language learning. Since then, language engagement research has increased exponentially. In this article, we present a systematic review of 20…

Besides explicit inference of word meanings, associating words with diverse contexts may be a key mechanism underlying vocabulary learning through reading. Drawing from distributional semantic theory, we developed a text modification method called reflash to facilitate both word-context association and explicit inference. Using a set of left and…

Researchers in second language (L2) and education domain use different statistical methods to assess their constructs of interest. Many L2 constructs emerge from elements/parts, i.e., the elements "define" and "form" the construct and not the other way around. These constructs are referred to as emergent variables (also called…

While language aptitude and motivation are considered to be important contributors to second language (L2) attainment, two major gaps in the past research have been (1) a lack of nonlinear models stemming from a naive and tacit assumption that learning outcomes are linearly related to their predictors, and (2) a lack of unified and integrative…

This systematic review synthesizes recent trends in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) research, examining 149 empirical studies published in Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) journals between 2014 and 2023. Employing a six-dimensional coding framework, we investigated participants, pedagogical methods, research methods, research foci,…