The current study explored the occurrence of stress pattern alignment during peer interaction in a second language (L2) classroom. Interactive alignment is a sociocognitive phenomenon in which interlocutors reuse each other's expressions, structures, and pronunciation patterns during conversation. Students (N = 41) enrolled in a…

A speaker's regional dialect is a rich source of information about that person. Two studies examined five- to six-year-old children's perception of regional dialect: Can they perceive differences among dialects? Have they made meaningful social connections to specific dialects? Experiment 1 asked children to categorize speakers into…

Willingness to communicate (WTC) has recently been researched as a dynamic variable, with some investigations viewing it as a complex dynamic system (CDS). One important property associated with CDS is the notion of attractor states, which are characterized by stable patterns of behavior. The present study employed an idiodynamic method to monitor…

Spelling is a basic literacy skill in any language as it is crucial in communication. EFL students are often unable to spell or pronounce very simple monosyllabic words even after several years of English instruction. Similarly, teachers and researchers usually focus on the larger skills such as speaking and reading and ignore the smaller…

Studies have shown that children benefit from a spelling pronunciation strategy in remembering the spellings of words. The current study determined whether this strategy also helps adults learn to spell commonly misspelled words. Participants were native English speaking college students (N = 42), mean age 22.5 years (SD = 7.87). An experimental…

This paper discusses the interrelations among accent-based biases, social identity and ethnocentrism. Construction of social identity creates a set of ethnocentric values within a person, which indirectly or directly plays a pivotal role in generating accent related biases. Starting with Tajfel's (1959) social identity theory and then the…

The study examines the teacher and student gesture employed in teaching and learning suprasegmental features of second language (L2) pronunciation such as syllabification, word stress, and rhythm. It presents microanalysis of video-recorded classroom interactions occurring in a beginner-level reading class in an intensive English program at a U.S.…

The most significant constructs of ESL pronunciation models are "accentedness," "intelligibility," and "comprehensibility" (Derwing & Munro 2005; Jenkins, 2000; Pickering, 2006). It is clear though that the assessment of these characteristics shows no consideration for the potential affection of the assessor…

The aim of this article is to inform on research intended to find out how pronunciation instruction of English as a foreign language was handled in the language classroom with elementary students and also understand if pronunciation instruction had an impact on students' confidence when using it. In order to do this, a qualitative case study was…

The study aims to explore the washback of incorporating English listening test in the senior high entrance exam (Comprehensive Assessment Program: CAP) on EFL instruction in junior high schools in Taiwan. The participants were thirty English teachers and 298 students from three junior high schools in Taiwan. The instruments consisted of…

Because English is widely used as a lingua franca, language testers have started to consider the introduction of non-native accents into English listening tests. This study investigates how accents influence test-takers' performance, and also elicits test-takers' subjective perception of accents. Eighty adolescent L1-Mandarin test takers were…

Purpose: This study examined the utility of the Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) recording system for investigating the language input to bilingual infants. Method: Twenty-one French-English bilingual families with a 10-month-old infant participated in this study. Using the LENA recording system, each family contributed 3 full days of…

Widespread use of English in the academia and in business is leading an increasing number of people to learn it as a second or a foreign language. Computer aided pronunciation training (CAPT) systems are used by non-native English speakers for improving their English pronunciation. A typical CAPT tool records the speech of a learner, detects and…

This volume addresses issues related to English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching practices as well as ESP teacher education as they arise in today's constantly changing and developing world. "ESP Teaching and Teacher Education: Current Theories and Practices?," supported by the Language Centre of the Cyprus University of Technology,…

In this research paper, we present an AR- and AI-based mobile learning tool that provides: 1.) automatic and accurate intelligibility analysis at various levels: letter, word, phrase and sentences, 2.) immediate feedback and multimodal coaching on how to correct pronunciation, and 3.) evidence-based dynamic training curriculum tailored to each…