Drawing on recent scholarship integrating usage-based linguistics (UBL) and conversation analysis (CA) in the investigation of second language development, this paper reports on a microanalysis tracing one adult learner's recurring, increasingly frequent, and diverse use of the multiword expression "det er sant" (it/that is true) (DES)…

The present study investigated the relation between continuous measures of two qualitatively different types of bilingual experience and outcome measures that varied in domain (verbal or nonverbal) and processing demands (degree of conflict). Participants were 195 English-speaking children, 7 years old, who were enrolled in French immersion…

The purpose of this review was to summarize the behavior-analytic literature on the emergence of untrained second language skills and to provide recommendations for future research focused on second language acquisition. Seventeen distinct studies were included in the review. These studies implemented a variety of teaching methods (e.g., tact,…

This study investigates the formal verbalizations of evaluation used by four beginning L2 learners of Finnish from a dynamic usage-based perspective. Longitudinal data collected weekly were used to investigate what kind of constructions learners use to express evaluation and how these interact and develop over time. The results show that when a…

Contrary to prevailing research on willingness to communicate (WTC) which treats spoken second language (L2) as the predominant indicator of WTC, this study examines a young English as a second language (ESL) learner's WTC expressed through multimodal means and her utilization of multimodal and multilingual resources for mediating WTC in…

Virtual Reality (VR) offers language learners a valuable environment for practicing language skills and other aspects essential for language development, interaction, and negotiation of meaning. For example, speaking practice in VR using avatars can reduce speaking anxiety and increase users' sense of agency. Social spaces in VR present…

To best understand foreign language learning, the present study proposes and tests a conceptual model of confidence in speaking English by examining the path effects of three variables. These three variables are parental psychological control, self-esteem, and language class risk taking. Data were collected from 394 Taiwanese undergraduate…

Initiating conversations and responding to initiations of others via gestural and verbal means are prerequisites for participating in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) interactions. However, research to date has not addressed the multimodal initiations and responses of young second language learners (SLLs) in natural ECEC settings. This…

The quality of collaborative writing process to some extent depends on the verbal episodes occurring during the collaboration. This study aimed to describe English as a foreign language (EFL) students' verbal episodes in proficiency pairings. A case study design was used in this study. It involved 40 EFL students of the English department in an…

Workforce mobility and diversity are now the reality for many businesses, requiring employers to facilitate their employees' acquisition of foreign languages (FLs). Developing communicative competencies in an FL is necessary to fulfill the demands of an international workplace. Increasingly, companies have done so with the support of commercial…

Inaudible syntactic markers are especially difficult to spell. This paper examines how 455 fourth graders spell silent French plural markers in a dictation with real and pseudowords after one year of formal French instruction (L2). The Generalized Linear Mixed Model analysis shows first that noun plural spelling (real and pseudo) is a strong…

When we listen to human discourse, we do this in a context which may include the words themselves, tone of voice, stress on words, as well as gestures, visual context, facial expressions and interpersonal distance, which work to produce a multimodal message. The development of listening skills then implies focussing not only on audio input but…

Video materials require learners to manage concurrent verbal and pictorial processing. To facilitate second language (L2) learners' video comprehension, the amount of presented information should thus be compatible with human beings' finite cognitive capacity. In light of this, the current study explored whether a reduction in multimodal…

The acquisition of communicative competence in second and foreign languages requires the incorporation of verbal and non-verbal elements. Notwithstanding, few studies have performed empirical research into the acquisition of non-verbal signs. This research studies the learning of emblematic gestures for students of Spanish in the USA using an…

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.…