The present study investigated the effect of context on the strategies the EFL learners utilized to process idioms. To do so, ten Iranian intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to two groups who then attended a think-aloud session. The 5 subjects in the first group were exposed to an animated cartoon including 23 unfamiliar idioms while…

The paper reports on a study designed to examine the relationship between the thickness of ego boundaries and attainments in FL pronunciation after a clearly structured form-focused practical course of phonetics. The research involved 45 first-year students of the Institute of English Studies in Wroclaw, Poland, who had attended around thirty…

Discourse markers can clearly indicate the organization of discourse, remind the hearer of the preceding and the following contents, and express clearly the concrete speech acts. The aims of this study are to explore the relationship between the discourse-marker-based model and listening comprehension as well as the different effects of such a…

Teaching writing has always been a controversial issue in the field of Foreign Language Teaching. And while there are a number of approaches and techniques for teaching writing in an English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language (SL/EFL) setting, very few comprehensive frameworks exist for an ESL/EFL writing teacher. The present…

Large scale tests have been considered by many scholars in the field of language testing and teaching to influence teaching and learning considerably. The present study looks at the effect of a large scale test (Konkoor) on the attitudes of teachers in high schools. Konkoor is the university entrance examination in Iran which is taken by at least…

The Mango Suite is a set of three freely downloadable cross-platform authoring programs for flexible network-based CALL exercises. They are Adobe Air applications, so they can be used on Windows, Macintosh, or Linux computers, provided the freely-available Adobe Air has been installed on the computer. The exercises which the programs generate are…

Problem Statement: Curriculum development involves the process of planning, setting up and running courses. The knowledge about designing syllabi, making choices of content and materials and assessing student performances plays an important role in curriculum development. Syllabus design is one aspect of curriculum development. It covers the kind…

This case study engaged Gujarati English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in video-based reflection with the goal of increasing their reflective abilities and uncovering their understandings about reflective teaching practices in the Indian pedagogical and cultural context. The study aimed to explore, and gain a deeper understanding of how…

This purpose of this investigation is to explore the cultural challenges faced by Mexican immigrant students through the study of current literature. Four themes emerged as a result of the investigation: dominant pedagogy, educational skills, deficit model, and student identities. The themes are discussed and suggestions are made as to how these…

This dissertation includes two studies: a pilot study on native-English-speaking preservice teachers' perceptions of learning a foreign language online and a follow-up study on inservice teachers' perceptions of transferring teacher linguistic, cultural and technological awareness into teaching practice. Conducted in 2010, the pilot…

In spite of the increased use of virtual worlds for language teaching and learning, few empirical studies have addressed the teachers' perspectives regarding teaching in these 3D virtual environments. An understanding of how virtual worlds such as Second Life may be beneficial for the design of enriching language learning experiences helps…

"Experiential" professional development (EPD), influenced by Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound design, was integrated in the classrooms of secondary Spanish teachers to create opportunities for them to learn to use communicative language teaching (CLT) through experience. Teachers collaborated with colleagues, students, and a…

While heritage language learners are becoming visible in the research literature as a distinct group of language learners with specific needs, existing curriculum structures in secondary schools often focus on programs either for foreign language learners or for first language learners. The study reported here examines the experiences of heritage…

Comprehensibility, a major concept in second language (L2) pronunciation research that denotes listeners' perceptions of how easily they understand L2 speech, is central to interlocutors' communicative success in real-world contexts. Although comprehensibility has been modeled in several L2 oral proficiency scales--for example, the Test of English…

The increasing numbers of English language learners who are enrolled in schools across the nation, combined with the escalating academic demands placed on all students, warrant the evaluation of instructional strategies designed to improve English language learners' reading performance. In this study, the authors used a multiple baseline design…