Recently there has been considerable interest in the role of first language use in second/foreign language learning, especially where students share a common first language. However, most research has focused on in-class interaction between teachers and learners. Much less attention has been given to students' out-of-class practices, for example,…

Writing is the most difficult skill in English, so most EFL students tend to make errors in writing. In assisting the learners to successfully acquire writing skill, the analysis of errors and the understanding of their sources are necessary. This study attempts to explore the major sources of errors occurred in the writing of EFL students. It…

This article is the guest editors' introduction to the special issue "Language in Epistemic Access: Mobilising Multilingualism and Literacy Development for More Equitable Education in South Africa". The issue offers complementary perspectives on improving epistemic access for all learners but especially those whose home language does not…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which performance on the TOEFL iBT speaking section is associated with other indicators of Japanese university students' abilities to communicate orally in an academic English environment and to determine which components of oral ability for these tasks are best assessed by TOEFL iBT. To…

The use of structural modeling has helped to explain constructs leading to Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in L1 and L2 contexts. When WTC was conceptualized as a trait in the L1, more personality variables were used in models. When WTC moved into the realm of second language, researchers still used trait measurements to explain the construct,…

This article explores the ideological complex in a Hong Kong primary school where a large number of immigrant mainland Chinese students study by examining the interview data from teachers and immigrant students. Drawing on the notions of monoglot ideology and misrecognition, this study indicates that disqualifications of some linguistic resources…

In response to the growing interest in evaluating young learners' foreign language (FL) performance, this study aims to deepen our understanding of young learners' developmental differences in interaction during task-based paired-language assessments. To examine age effects separately from the effect of general language proficiency, we analysed…

This article draws on data from a yearlong case study of a Mexican American ESL teacher's practice in a K-5 school in the southeastern United States. The study examines how the teacher established bilingual interactional space in her ESL pullout class consisting of six 9- to 11-year old students of Mexican descent. The analysis shows the ways in…

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is a rapidly growing area of both research and practice in all parts of the world, especially in Europe and Asia. As a young discipline, CLIL has a good potential of distinguishing itself from monolingual L2 immersion education models by becoming more flexible and balanced about the role of L1 in…

This article discusses the impact of lexical range on the learners' ability to communicate in English when taught as a foreign language in bilingual schools, and emphasizes the importance of explicit vocabulary instruction. It draws on data from classroom observation, lexis-retrieval tasks, written and spoken performance in bilingual…

This paper is devoted to finding adequate answers to the following queries: (A) what are the segmental and syllabic pattern errors made by Kurdish students in their pronunciation? (B) Can the problematic areas in pronunciation be predicted by a systematic comparison of the sound systems of both native and target languages? (C) Can there be any…

This article will examine first-language (L1) maintenance among adult learners attending English classes at a tertiary institution in New Zealand. The sample consisted of refugee background students enrolled in a Training Opportunities Program aimed at developing literacy and numeracy skills as well as preparation for civic involvement. The data…

This research study is based on the analysis of speech in three Spanish conversation classes. Research questions are: What is the ratio of English and Spanish spoken in class? Is classroom speech more predominant in students or the instructor? And, are teachers' beliefs in regards to the use of English and Spanish consistent with their classroom…

This study examined how language learners' preconceptions about a task influence their approaches to second language reading and the sociocultural basis for such preconceptions. Participants were 30 students learning English at a Korean university. The researchers told half of the participants that they would do a recall task after reading an…

English has assumed a new role in international communication in recent decades, that is, as a Lingua Franca (ELF) among speakers with different first languages. This study attempts to investigate and analyze Chinese university students' perception and production of paired English fricatives from the perspective of ELF. By using a listening…