The aim of this research was to identify the persuasive speech skills of fourth-grade primary school students. The study employed a quantitative method and survey design, and the study group consisted of 126 students in the fourth grade of primary school selected using a convenient sampling technique. Data for the first and second sub-problems of…

Research has shown that novel words can be learned through the mechanism of statistical or cross-situational word learning (CSWL). So far, CSWL studies using adult populations have focused on the presentation of spoken words. However, words can also be learned through their written form. This study compared auditory and orthographic presentations…

Although the importance of developing students' academic literacies has been well-established, academic oracy has been forgotten. There is a paucity of attention to oracy in higher education, despite the key role played by students' oral communication in academic achievement and graduate employability. This study offers a scoping review of the…

Purpose: This study aimed to examine how aging and modifications of critical acoustic parameters may affect the perception of whispered speech as a degraded signal. Method: Forty Mandarin-speaking adults were included in the study. Part 1 of the study compared the perception of Mandarin lexical tones, vowels, and syllables in older and younger…

Public speaking, especially in a foreign language, is associated with increased anxiety. Research has shown the potential of virtual reality (VR) for simulating real-life experiences, allowing for public speaking practice in an ecological and safe environment. This between-subjects study investigated the effect of VR on foreign language anxiety…

Educational speaking technology is a digital expertise used to enhance speaking performance. This research examined the effects of using educational speaking technology tools: FORVO, YouGlish, and OALD 8th ed. to enhance students' speaking performance. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest two groups design was used. Test, questionnaire,…

This study evaluated acquisition, preference, and generalization of two forms of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) during functional communication training (FCT) with two students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Acquisition of FCT responses, using a picture-based communication system and speech-generating device (SGD; Apple…

Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is a distinct form of anxiety that plays a significant role in the process of acquiring a foreign language. This study aimed to assess the anxiety levels of Chilean undergraduate learners and investigate the potential correlations between foreign language anxiety and oral performance in two distinct learning…

This paper aims to explore how higher proficiency students delivered peer tutoring programs to help improve lower proficiency students' speaking ability and build up their confidence in English speaking due to limited research studies on peer tutoring, especially in Thailand. Three groups of fourth-year undergraduates, each consisting of a high…

There are scarce studies on bystanders' responses to racist hate speech. The present study was rooted in the general aggression model to examine the direct and indirect associations between witnessing racist hate speech and bystanders' active defending behaviors. Moreover, we examined if these associations varied as a function of the immigration…

The recent world pandemic has highlighted the need for effective procedures to teach language in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) environments. Fully online and asynchronous classrooms are especially challenged when addressing learning to speak a foreign language toward greater communicative competence. Current CALL research is…

This paper provides a research synthesis of intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) -- that is, cloud-based virtual assistants such as Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri -- for second language (L2) learning. The article also offers a theoretical justification for the use of IPAs in language learning and outlines the affordances and constraints of…

The analysis of spoken language has been integral to a breadth of research in social science and beyond. However, for analyses to occur with efficiency, language must be in the form of computer-readable text. Historically, the speech-to-text process has occurred manually using human transcriptionists. Automated speech recognition (ASR) is…

Our study proposes the use of a free classification task for investigating the dimensions used by listeners in their perception of nonnative sounds and for predicting the perceptual discriminability of nonnative contrasts. In a free classification task, participants freely group auditory stimuli based on their perceived similarity. The results can…

Cochlear Implants (CIs) enhance linguistic skills in deaf or hard of hearing children (D/HH). However, the benefits of CIs have not been sufficiently studied, especially with regard to communicative-pragmatics, i.e., the ability to communicate appropriately in a specific context using different expressive means, such as language and…