This study explores the impact of instructional modality and session length on student success and retention in first-semester Japanese and Spanish language courses at a large urban community college. The research analyzed pre- and post-tests, final grades, and retention rates across multiple academic terms, including standard 16-week and…

If maximal exposure were the key to success in language learning, then adult learners at the university level would be doomed to fail. Not only are they presumably too old to learn additional languages effectively, but target language (TL) input appears to be insufficient, especially when other languages are allowed in class. Nevertheless,…

Since the initial application of the 'affordances' concept to the context of language learning by van Lier, relatively few studies have continued to explore its implications for second language (L2) learning. This study examines from an emic perspective the affordances that 13 Spanish learners in a study abroad context perceived in their…

The field of language learning and technology is an ever-growing field as new technologies are constantly developed, and it is important to understand the impact these new technologies may have on language learning. The purpose of this work-in-progress study was to investigate the effects of virtual reality (VR) simulations on a specific second…

Foreign language anxiety and enjoyment have been shown to correlate with each other (Botes et al., 2022), but few studies to date have considered whether distinct groups of learners within the one class may experience these variables differently. This article considers whether learners who have arrived in Australian university intermediate…

This chapter examines the lexical availability of students of Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) and observes how their semantic networks change as their proficiency in Spanish increases. The analysis focuses on 150 students with different levels of proficiency and the two centres of interest: "acciones y actividades habituales"…

This article illustrates how collaborative artistic creation in a world language class can offer multiple cognitive, social, cultural and professional benefits for language learners. An interdisciplinary mural project undertaken in a community college serves as a case study to examine these ideas. The class was co-taught by the authors, a teaching…

This project studies how Spanish-Catalan early bilinguals use language learning strategies (LLS) differently depending on their order of language acquisition when they are learning French as an L4. Considering that the use of LLS has been pointed out as a sign of successful language learning, the study inquires whether being a simultaneous…

The abrupt transition from face-to-face (F2F) to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted students' learning experiences in many ways. This survey-based study investigated the perceptions of 117 university students enrolled in beginner, intermediate, and advanced foreign language courses (French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) of their…

The significance of the body in learning and speaking a foreign language is an under-researched topic in a field characterized by a strong focus on cognition and sociolinguistics. This paper is designed to contribute to a newly emerging line of inquiry addressing the move away from the pure linguistic approach towards a more humanistic…

Many educators face challenges with online learning since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Online modalities became common in world language courses; however, challenges remain in creating communicative contexts. This study examined university student perceptions of an experiential learning sequence using films in Spanish and French at the…

This article examines how technology-enhanced inquiry-based learning (IBL) affected students' language acquisition and the evolution of motivation in the subject of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Furthermore, this study presents a proposal for the collaboration of the subjects of Spanish and English, using translanguaging to establish…

A thriving body of literature has identified student voice as being vital to education and literacy development. However, the understanding of multimodal student voice representation is still modest in literacy-based pedagogical practices. Thus, this article presents a study that examined the development of students' multimodal authoring through…

To date, most classroom-based research into the learning of a third language (L3) in the US has examined patterns of acquisition among various groups of bilinguals. Situated mainly within the context of "Portuguese for Spanish Speakers" (PSS), studies typically group learners based on the sequence / age of onset of their main background…

Research on L2 acquisition of the Spanish perfective and imperfective past has suggested that order-of-instruction (preterite before imperfect) may significantly contribute to learners' difficulty with mastering the imperfect. We sought to empirically test the effect of order-of-instruction by implementing a program-wide intervention in a beginner…