Elicited imitation (EI) is a much-used measurement instrument in applied linguistics, and it is considered a reliable and quick assessment of holistic speaking ability and implicit grammar knowledge. To date, however, EI research has overwhelmingly relied on highly educated participants. Only a few small-scale EI studies in applied linguistics…

Traditional grammar pedagogy conceptualizing grammar as rules of thumb fails to provide learners with comprehensive, accurate, or systematic knowledge on the system. The present classroom-based study aims at investigating application of an alternative pedagogical grammar method integrating the pedagogical framework of systemic theoretical…

This article explores the relationship between teachers' emotions and possibilities for their activism. Using the lens of emotion labor and grounded in a discursive approach to emotions, it examines English language teachers' responses to institutional power. High-stakes literacy testing is used as an example of top-down institutional policies…

The study investigates the washback effect of WAEC [West African Examination Council]/SSCE [Senior Secondary Certificate Examination] English Test of Orals on Teachers Methodology. The method used in this research is a mixed method employing survey and case study strategies. Questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to collect data. 32…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of foreign language learning material development based on the semantic feature analysis model in improving student's learning achievement in English writing and translation subject. This study used classroom action research approach developed by Elliot. Data was collected by using…

This study aimed to compare selection patterns of distractors (incorrect options) according to test taker proficiency regarding Japanese students' summarization skills of an English paragraph. Participants included 414 undergraduate students, and the test comprised three summarization process types--deletion, generalization, and integration.…

Regarding the large amount of vocabulary that learners should learn and the limited amount of time available in the EFL classes, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is considered as an attractive option for learning. One specific benefit of using CALL vocabulary instruction is to provide systematic repetition of words, ensuring that learned…

This report summarizes the academic performance of emergent bilingual students, also known as English learners, for the 2019-2020 school year, in the Austin Independent School District. Results are presented from the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS), advanced placement (AP) course enrollment and exam performance,…

In recent ACT mode comparability studies, students testing on laptop or desktop computers earned slightly higher scores on average than students who tested on paper, especially on the ACT® reading and English tests (Li et al., 2017). Equating procedures adjust for such "mode effects" to make ACT scores comparable regardless of testing…

Instruction in second language (L2) English phoneme pronunciation almost invariably includes a focus on improving the learners' use of their articulatory organs to pronounce the relevant sounds. However, the pronunciation of many English sounds also relies on effort from the abdominal region, and under-utilization of this region can often…

Various examinations are administered at universities across the US as a means of assessing bilingual/multilingual international teaching assistants' (ITAs') proficiency in spoken English before they are permitted to teach. While such exams are taken by students in a range of academic disciplines, recent research suggests that communicative…

Knowledge of collocations is essential for English academic writing. However, there are few academic collocation referencing tools available and there is a pressing need to develop more. In this paper, we will introduce the ACOP (Academic Collocations and Phrases Search Engine), a newly developed corpus-based tool to search large academic corpora.…

Recent studies have proposed developments to the Simple View of Reading to reflect reading development across age groups and differences among learner profiles and account for additional factors that explain reading comprehension performance beyond word recognition and language comprehension. One of these proposals is the inclusion of cognitive…

Spanish learners engaged in two-way interaction gap tasks where, through social interaction, they identified and defined low-frequency vocabulary. Participants (referred to as actors to differentiate them from task partners) completed two such tasks. Each time, they collaborated with different partners of varying degrees of Spanish proficiency and…

As language acquisition research supports the value of the interactive scaffolded environment and awareness-raising communicative tasks for the development of pragmatic knowledge, the present study attempted to investigate the effect of Collaborative Translation Task (CTT) on learning and retention of request speech act strategies. The main…