The present study sought to investigate the effects of narrow reading and a combination of narrow reading and morphological awareness training on intermediate Chinese college English learners' vocabulary acquisition and retention. To these ends, 54 Chinese college English as foreign language learners (EFL) were randomly divided into three…

Verbal Fluency (VF) task total scores are widely used in language attrition studies, but they do not provide insight into the processes underlying optimal performance. We analyse the efficacy of clustering (subcategories within a category) and switching (shifting between these subcategories) strategies in phonemic (PVF) and semantic (SVF) tasks.…

This paper examines the construct of bilingual phonemic awareness in Irish-English bilinguals. Though traditionally viewed as a skill or ability which transfers across languages, recent accounts have considered whether phonemic awareness has a language-specific component. This study used a cross-sectional design to examine this question. A total…

This qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore how English as a Second Language (ESL) and Language Arts teachers describe how they use morphology structure instructional strategies to support ESL students' vocabulary development in the United States. This research study's theoretical foundation focused on the seven-step process pre-teaching…

Arabs often mispronounce many sounds of English due to a lack of exposure to English as a foreign language. This research article focuses on pronunciation problems encountered by Arab undergraduate EFL learners. It uses questionnaires, recorded speech samples, and pronunciation tests as part of its methodology to analyze learners' performance…

The term "phonemic awareness" refers to the ability to not only recognize that language is composed of distinct sounds but also the ability to manipulate those verbalized components of words. It is an essential element of reading, which also affects writing, since the two skills are complementary. English Language Learners (ELLs) and…

The current study explores variation in phonemic representation among Spanish--English dual language learners (DLLs, n = 60) who were dominant in English or in Spanish. Children were given a phonetic discrimination task with speech sounds that: 1) occur in English and Spanish, 2) are exclusive to English, and 3) are exclusive to Russian, during…

When acquiring a second language, learners must become able to perceive the difference between novel sounds ("discrimination") and also associate strings of sounds with distinct vocabulary items ("lexical encoding"). Recent research has questioned whether discrimination is a sufficient or necessary condition for encoding, and…

The acquisition of a second language (L2) may be challenging in adulthood, as the phonological system of the native language (L1) can sometimes limit the perception of phonological contrasts in L2. The present study aimed to (a) examine the influence of an L1 (Hebrew) that lacks a phonemic contrast for vowel length on the ability to discriminate…

This study longitudinally examined the effects of cognitive and sociopsychological individual differences (aptitude, motivation, personality) and the quantity and quality of second language (L2) experience on L2 speech gains in naturalistic settings. We elicited L2 spontaneous speech from 50 Chinese learners of English at the beginning and the end…

Some listeners exhibit higher sensitivity to subphonemic acoustic differences (i.e., higher speech gradiency). Here, we asked whether higher gradiency in a listener's first language (L1) facilitates foreign language learning and explored the possible sources of individual differences in L1 gradiency. To address these questions, we tested 164…

Phoneme discrimination is the ability to detect subtle similarities and differences between phonemes. Phoneme discrimination is a strong predictor of reading development and poor phoneme discrimination may predict reading disabilities (Lyytinen et al., 2004). The ability to discriminate phonemes may be an even more critical skill for Emergent…

This study examined whether different cognitive correlates are associated with spelling of different target types, such as phonologically consistent and inconsistent syllables, of Korean Hangul among 94 five-year-old first language (L1) Korean children and 41 foreign language (FL) learners who are Hong Kong Chinese college students. Korean…

Background: The need to examine teachers' learning activities in reading literacy instruction arises from concerns about reading proficiency levels in the Namibian Junior Primary phase, where reading literacy is a fundamental skill crucial for academic success. Aim: The study examined the learning activities used for reading literacy instruction…

Despite considerable efforts made to understand the impact that instructional interventions have upon L2 reading development, we still lack a clear picture of the influence that PA and phonics instruction has upon reading in English as an L2. A search of the research literature published from 1990 to 2019 yielded 45 articles with 46 studies…