In this article I make the point that there has been a continuous focus on second language development in second language acquisition research for over 40 years and that there is clear empirical evidence for generalizable developmental patterns. I will both summarize some of the core assumptions of Processability Theory (PT) as an approach to…

The extent to which learners benefit from instruction may be largely dependent on their individual abilities. However, there is relatively little work on the interaction between instructional effectiveness in second language learning and learner individual factors. In this study, we investigated the relationship between instruction, individual…

Framed by theories and methods from critical discourse analysis and social semiotics, this comparative case study of six Missouri school systems asked: How do school districts represent and address their changing communities? Discourses of equity, language, identity, and demographic change were examined across school system websites, mission…

This study investigated the effect of first language (L1) on the reading of modifier-head case agreement in second language (L2) Finnish by native Russian and Chinese speakers. Russian is similar to Finnish in that both languages use case endings to mark grammatical roles, whereas such markings are absent in Chinese. The critical nouns were…

This research ist a Quasi-Experimental research which only applied to one group without comparison group. It aims to prove whether the implementation of integrative teaching technique has influenced the speaking skill of the students in German Education Study Program of FKIP, Pattimura University. The research was held in the German Education…

Improving listening comprehension skills is one of the urgent contemporary educational problems in the field of second language acquisition. Understanding how L2 listening comprehension works can have a serious influence on language pedagogy. The aim of the paper is to discuss the practical and methodological value of the notion of the perception…

In each issue of the "Journal of Staff Development" ("JSD"), senior advisor to Learning Forward author Joellen Killion explores a recent research study to help practitioners understand the impact of particular professional learning practices on student outcomes. Detailed in this issue is a randomized control study in which…

This study investigates the influence of the semantic heaviness of verbs (i.e., heavy or light verbs) and language proficiency on second language (L2) learners' use of constructional information in a sentence-sorting task and a corpus analysis. Previous studies employing a sentence-sorting task demonstrated that advanced L2 learners sorted English…

As potential mismatches between teachers' and students' perceptions can have negative effects on students' satisfaction with the language class and even on their ultimate achievement, many researchers have attempted to identify and examine possible sources of such mismatches. In line with those investigations, the present study intended to compare…

This study investigated the cognitive validity of two child English language tests. Some teachers maintain that these types of tests may be cognitively invalid because native-English-speaking children would not do well on them (Winke, 2011). So the researchers had native speakers and learners of English aged 7 to 9 take sample versions of two…

The pronunciation of regular past tense verbs seems to be difficult for most L2 learners, especially in L2 learners whose first language phonological system is different from the English one. It is predicted that Thai EFL students could encounter difficulties perceiving English coda clusters like the '-ed' ending sounds. For this reason, this…

Students at universities are still frequently found to have low independency in learning. Besides, lecturers also still have tendency to treat students as if they were young learners, or in other words, the lecturers still use pedagogically oriented teaching methods (POTM); although they claimed themselves to have applied methods of teaching…

This study explored the processes of utilization of resources in secondary students' self-regulated strategic writing for academic studies in an English as medium of instruction context in Hong Kong. Drawing on multiple data sources collected through the observation of lessons, stimulated recall and semi-structured interviews, the study examined…

This article is an action research of quasi-experimental nature. It aims at investigating the effect of CALL-based instruction on Yemeni students' score attainment on the TOEFL iBT. The sample of study consisted of 30 adult students randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Data was collected within an 8-week period via a…

The present paper, which is a study based on midterm exam results of 53 University English prep-school students, examines correlation between a direct writing test, measured holistically by multiple-trait scoring, and two indirect writing tests used in a competence exam, one of which is a multiple-choice cloze test and the other a rewrite test…