This paper argues that in interpreting literary pieces, language and literature should team up for their mutual benefit. Based on this assumption, this study explores the interface between language and literature by examining along stylistic lines the flash fiction piece "When It's A Grey November In Your Soul" written by Cristina…

The topic of this article is the link between research on the neurocognition of the teaching--acquisition interface and research on second language teaching. This recent scientific enterprise investigates whether and how different aspects of second language instruction may change both the anatomy and the functioning of an adult learner's brain…

In this study, it was aimed to compare two distinct methodologies of grammar instruction: task-based and form-focused teaching. Within the application procedure, which lasted for one academic term, two groups of tertiary level learners (N = 53) were exposed to the same sequence of target structures, extensive writing activities and evaluation…

Novice learners comprise the majority of language students in higher education, but very few decide to continue their foreign language education beyond the required credits. Educators must develop a deeper understanding of what motivates this group of students so they can design pedagogical practices that will help students shift from a checklist…

In modern language teaching institutions and schools, the proficient language teachers apply different kinds of tasks to teach some skills and sub-skills. In the current study, the researcher investigated the effect of two different tasks, namely Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)-based tasks and written questions tasks on students'…

The aim of the present study is to compare the writing products of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university students using accuracy and grammatical complexity as measures. It also aims at examining the development of the morphological, syntactic, lexical, spelling, and punctuation errors committed by these learners when writing in English.…

The current research study was conducted to examine the impacts of focused and unfocused audio-appended reading tasks on female EFL learners' acquisition of a rule-bound structure (passive voice) and a non-rule-bound structure (prepositions). The participants of this study involved ninety intermediate female English learners. They were assigned…

According to the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH), second language (L2) speakers, unlike native speakers, build shallow syntactic representations during sentence processing. In order to test the SSH, this study investigated the processing of a syntactic movement in both native speakers of English and proficient late L2 speakers of English using…

A great deal has been written about what English as an International Language (EIL) actually is (e.g. Alsagoff et al., 2012; Matsuda, 2012; McKay and Brown, 2016; Sharifian, 2009), ranging from a view of EIL as the many varieties of English that are spoken today to the use of English by second language speakers of English. Thus, EIL is viewed both…

Adult learners know that language is for communicating and that there are patterns in the language that need to be learned. This affects the way they engage with language input; they search for form-meaning linkages, and this effortful engagement could interfere with their learning, especially for things like grammatical gender that often have at…

This study compared receptive English grammar skills of two groups of 7- and 9-year-old Danish children at the beginning of second language (L2) instruction in English, and two groups of Spanish/Catalan children of the same age after several years of instruction. The study examined the influence of two language-related factors (receptive…

This case study compares the discourse behaviors of 2 Chinese teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), one rated high and one rated low by their respective students. The teachers were each audio-recorded for a total of 100 minutes during the 'text session' of an Intensive Reading course. Drawing on Yang's (2010) model of EFL classroom…

As the discipline of language documentation and description evolves, so do the expectations placed on researchers. Current trends emphasize collaborative efforts that prioritize tangible contributions to the community, such as a pedagogical grammar, dictionary, or collection of texts. Some argue that for unwritten languages orthography development…

Taking a contextual approach to research on language learner beliefs, this longitudinal study of 49 Swiss university students learning Danish as a foreign language investigates how and why the participants change their beliefs over time. At the beginning of the three-semester language course, the participants believe that form-focussed approaches…

Although peer review as a method of writing response has been examined extensively, only limited research exists on peer review at the graduate level. This study examines graduate students' peer review interactions in a writing workshop in which first- and second-language students from different disciplines were enrolled. The researchers focused…