There has been a plethora of studies investigating the effect of semantic relatedness on second language (L2) word learning.However, most prior studies failed to control for the lexical properties of target words, which may be responsible for the mixed results yielded. This study, therefore, sets out to revisit this issue by controlling for L1…

This study examines how language attitudes play a role in the adoption of dialectal variants in second language (L2) pronunciation in a study abroad context. Twenty-four North American university students participating in a 6-week program in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were administered pre and posttest questionnaires and a posttest oral production…

Oracy skills are considered as a problematic area for Thai students. Despite years of learning, students could not improve the skills at a satisfactory level due to internal and external hindrance such as cognitive load while communicating and insufficient practice time in class to achieve their communication (Flavell, 1979). In addition, to…

This study examined low-proficiency Iranian EFL students' affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement with oral corrective feedback (OCF) on interdental fricative errors: /?/and/ð/. The data were collected from 27 learners with favorable and unfavorable perceptions about OCF. After receiving OCF on 30 tested and 30 untested lexical items in…

The objective of the present study was to examine the effect of the activity-based oral expression course on the speech self-efficacy of psychological counseling and guidance students. The study group included 80 freshmen students in the Psychological Counseling and Guidance Department in the Faculty of Education of a university located in western…

The current study investigates the effects of more explicit versus more implicit corrective feedback on beginner Mandarin learners' perception and production of Mandarin tones. The effects of oral corrective feedback have been extensively investigated for various domains of second language acquisition (see Mackey & Goo, 2007). For phonological…

The author, having drawn examples from her doctoral study, describes how a thematic analysis approach was employed to interpret raw data in her doctoral study which explored the impacts of a high-stakes test on students and parents in Nepal. As the main purpose of this paper is to provide some guidelines for English language teaching (ELT)…

With the advent of communicative methodologies, the promise to develop both fluency and accuracy was made as a goal for teaching and learning English as an international language. However, it did not happen (Richards, 2008). In an attempt to equalize students' both semantic and syntactic competence, this study investigates the impact of Swain's…

Despite widespread agreement among ELT researchers that vocabulary lies at the heart of communicative competence, currently no consensus exists as to how learning of previously presented lexical items can be guaranteed. Given the inconclusiveness of findings, the present study attempted to delve into the differences in the learning of target…

As a second-year English teacher at Nakhonphanom University, it has become important to put more emphasis on the student's ability to understand and speak the English language. The main objective as a teacher is to help the students learn the English language by utilizing the best methods. Thailand is rapidly becoming part of the global economy…

Preparing students to compete and face any challenges of the rapid changes of globalization is a responsibility of any form of education. Students' success in today's learning lies on their ability to utilize technology as the heart of globalizationas well as to communicate in English effectively within a variety of purposes. Project-based…

This study investigated a computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) software that utilized automatic speech recognition (ASR) and accent conversion technology to improve pronunciation of second language learners. Such speech processing method is capable of addressing the typical shortcoming of ASR technology for second language pronunciation…

The basic course in communication has a well-established record of enhancing oral competency, which plays a primary role in personal, academic, and professional success. However, there is limited empirical support to substantiate that the ways we teach this course are responsible for these gains. A 24-item Likert- like scale instrument developed…

This article reports on the results of an action research study that aimed to determine the effect of a thinking routine in the development of coherence in speaking interactions. The study was carried out with two groups of second year business students in an English as a foreign language program at a university in southern Chile. A mixed methods…

The ongoing trend in research regarding feedback has been to explore quantitative assessment. Garnering support more recently is qualitative narrative feedback in support of formative assessment. This type of feedback offers insight into expectations as well as offer additional knowledge gained. It enables students to improve their performance…