Current second language (L2) listening research has lacked detailed accounts of L2 listeners' difficulties comprehending texts comprising orthographically known lexis. In the current study, 15 first language (L1) Japanese English language learners of three English proficiency levels listened to sentences and a narrative text. A two-task diagnostic…

Despite the centrality of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in language teaching and assessment, studies investigating its learning outcomes in language program evaluations are quite scarce. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a modular English preparatory school program through the Foreign Language…

Since the latter part of the twentieth century there has been increasing recognition of the need for more effective approaches to engaging adolescent boys. Much of the focus in youth work practice and research has previously been dominated by attempts to better understand young male bio-social and cognitive development through examining high risk…

This paper focuses on Partial and Synchronized Caption (PSC) as a tool to train L2 listening and introduces new features to facilitate speech-related difficulties. PSC is an intelligent caption that extensively processes the audio and transcript to detect and present difficult words or phrases for L2 learners. With the new features, learners can…

This research examines the integration of wearable technology in English Language Teaching (ELT) within higher education technical institutions in India. Traditional ELT methodologies struggle to meet the diverse learning needs of students in large, resource-constrained classrooms. Limited access to skilled language instructors, varying…

This study continues a project on speech-based impressions of early-implanted cochlear implant (CI) users. It examined relationships between listeners' attitudes or personal traits and how they judged CI users upon hearing their speech. College students with typical hearing (TH) listened to speech samples from CI users and TH young adults and…

Purpose: The aim of this study was to provide a systematic review of the aspects of verbal communication contributing to listener perceptions of speaker gender with a view to providing clinicians with guidance for the selection of the training goals when working with transsexual individuals. Method: Preferred reporting items for systematic review…

We investigated the extent to which working memory and behavioral attention predicted reading and listening comprehension in grades 1 through 3 and, whether their relative contributions differed by modality and grade. Separate grade samples (N = 370; ns = 125, 123, and 122 for grades 1, 2, and 3 respectively) completed multiple measures of word…

Purpose: The goal of this study was to determine how background noise, linguistic properties of spoken sentences, and listener abilities (hearing sensitivity and verbal working memory) affect cognitive demand during auditory sentence comprehension. Method: We tested 30 young adults and 30 older adults. Participants heard lists of sentences in…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide teachers with research and methodological findings for planning, facilitating and assessing classroom discussions around difficult, political issues. Design/methodology/approach: This paper focuses on navigating political polarization in classroom discussions. The research supported three teaching…

We evaluated the effects of listener training on the emergence of categorization and speaker behavior (i.e., tacts) using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design. Four children with autism learned to select pictures given their dictated category names. We assessed whether they could match and tact pictures by category. After training, 3…

The present study examines the relative importance of attributes within and across items by applying four cognitive diagnostic assessment models. The current study utilizes the function of the models that can indicate inter-attribute relationships that reflect the response behaviors of examinees to analyze scored test-taker responses to four forms…

This research provided a comprehensive evaluation and validation of the listening section of a newly introduced computerised test, Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic). PTE Academic contains 11 item types assessing academic listening skills either alone or in combination with other skills. First, task analysis helped identify skills…

Multiple acoustic dimensions signal speech categories. However, dimensions vary in their informativeness; some are more diagnostic of category membership than others. Speech categorization reflects these dimensional regularities such that diagnostic dimensions carry more "perceptual weight" and more effectively signal category membership…

Purpose: Three experiments examined the use of competing coordinate response measure (CRM) sentences as a multitalker babble. Method: In Experiment I, young adults with normal hearing listened to a CRM target sentence in the presence of 2, 4, or 6 competing CRM sentences with synchronous or asynchronous onsets. In Experiment II, the condition with…