Traditional L1 grammar teaching focuses on students' learning the correct grammar rules rather than learning how to deal with grammatical issues in real life. This is mainly due to the fact that traditional grammar education suggests that language consists of sentences which are well-formed according to a fixed prescriptive norm. However, language…

This study explored the effects of listening-based lexical focus-on-form (lexical FonF) on the acquisition and retention of morphologically complex words. One hundred eighty-two adult English learners with two levels of English proficiency (higher and lower proficiency) from a public university in mainland China were assigned to three different…

The present study examined the relative effects of discourse-based and sentence-level grammar instruction on the learning of English present perfect in academic writing, using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design. Participants were 37 multilingual graduate students enrolled in different sections of an ESL-writing course at a U.S.…

This study explored the effects of learning activities which encouraged positive crosslinguistic influence from L2 Spanish to L1 English grammar in young learners. The learners (N = 82) were studying Spanish as their compulsory foreign language at an English state primary school in the UK. As part of ten timetabled Spanish classes over a period of…

The present study investigated the effects of different types of form-focused instruction (FFI) on the acquisition of French grammatical gender attribution. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 140 participants in six intact French as a second language (L2) classes. The classes received six 80-minute instructional sessions consisting of…

Although the development of implicit grammatical knowledge is highly desirable, not all grammatical constructions could be learned implicitly. Therefore, one of the ultimate objectives of most English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms is to aid learners in developing their (automatic) explicit grammatical knowledge. Using progressively complex…

'High-quality talk' is a fundamental principle of many approaches to teaching grammar. However, relatively few studies have attempted to characterize this talk with attention to the ways in which classroom dialogue might engender metalinguistic thinking. This paper explores how the concepts of procedural and declarative metalinguistic knowledge…

This paper starts by reporting on the design and trialling of an informal, low-stakes test designed to assess the knowledge of grammar terms of pre-service primary school teachers following the UK's National Curriculum, the results of which were used to inform the design of a series of optional grammar classes. The test proved surprisingly…

Collaborative writing tasks have been claimed to offer language learning opportunities because they implicitly draw learners' attention to form. Nevertheless, their efficacy has been claimed to be moderated by proficiency, as low proficiency learners tend to override form over meaning. These claims, however, are mostly based on adult learners and…

The present study explored the effect of task repetition with and without explicit instruction on EFL learners' (n = 26) explicit and implicit English regular past tense structure development. One group (REP) repeated the same task (n = 12) while another group (EI + REP) received explicit instruction between performances of the same task (n = 14).…

In a knowledge society characterized by an abundance of information sources that present conflicting perspectives on socio-scientific controversies, it is extremely important for readers to construct effective mental models of such controversies. Nevertheless, readers' mental representations of controversial information are assumed to be biased…

Drawing on unique observational data from police training with child volunteers, this study evaluates the linguistic patterns used by officers for transmitting complex, legally-binding information to children during the opt-out procedure (which determines how children's evidence is presented in court). It is shown that while the officers realise…

Many U.S. adult schools currently aim to create academic and career pathways by implementing higher order thinking and metalinguistic application in their ESL curriculum. However, this 'ability to reflect on and manipulate the structural features of language' poses a significant hurdle to adult ESL learners newly learning to read and write, as…

Metalinguistic awareness (MLA) is a predictor of adult foreign language (FL) learning in instructed settings. Following Bialystok and Ryan (1985) two-component model of MLA, we distinguish ML analysis as the ability to compare and select language items from ML control as the ability to detect and manipulate rule-based linguistic patterns. So far,…

In this article, we report on the results of a critical literacy project on fairy tales, which was implemented with a class of first graders (6-7 years old) in Greece in the context of teaching Greek as a mother tongue. As a teaching approach, critical literacy entails a radical change in the school culture, being at odds with the Greek…