Purpose: This study examined the validity of 3 discourse comprehension measures for preschool children and the ability of a combination of them to classify children with and without language impairment. Method: Thirty-seven children with typical language and 12 children with language impairment completed 3 measures of oral story comprehension: the…

In this 1-year longitudinal study, we examined the central component processes of reading fluency, spelling accuracy, reading comprehension, and narrative text writing skills of 103 Turkish Cypriot children. Two cohorts of children from 2nd and 4th grades were followed into 3rd and 5th grades, respectively. The testing battery included the…

English is described as a language of modernization in the scientific era and widely used language in the Mass Media. There are several factors--linguistic, physical and psychological that affects listening, reading and writing comprehension. These influential factors were analysed in the present study by adopting the survey method in which…

The present research analyzes instructional strategies used to integrate the learning of content and English as a foreign language in a bilingual physics class at a university in Shanghai, China. It examines how the instructor handles meaning and form of new English science vocabulary in concept-focused physics lectures and the strategies he used…

The study examined whether individual differences in high school first language (L1) reading achievement and print exposure would account for unique variance in second language (L2) written (word decoding, spelling, writing, reading comprehension) and oral (listening/speaking) proficiency after adjusting for the effects of early L1 literacy and…

Today, playing digital games is an important part of many young people's everyday lives. Claims have been made that certain games, in particular massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) provide L2 English learners with a linguistically rich and cognitively challenging virtual environment that may be conducive to L2 learning, as…

This article investigates a version of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) listening test for evidence of differential item functioning (DIF) based on gender, nationality, age, and degree of previous exposure to the test. Overall, the listening construct was found to be underrepresented, which is probably an important cause…

Background: Poor comprehenders have difficulty comprehending connected text, despite having age-appropriate levels of reading accuracy and fluency. We used a longitudinal design to examine earlier reading and language skills in children identified as poor comprehenders in mid-childhood. Method: Two hundred and forty-two children began the study at…

Maki, Wasada, and Hashimoto developed the Minimal English Test (MET), which is a five-minute English as a Second Language (ESL) test. The Maki Group has, since the development of the MET, investigated correlations between the scores on the MET and the scores on other ESL tests, the reliability of the MET, and what kind of ESL proficiency the MET…

A substantial body of research has collectively concluded that encouraging students to draw flexibly on multiple aspects of their linguistic repertoires is positively associated with developing bilingualism, metalinguistic awareness, and academic skills. However, most bilingual education programs--including transitional and dual-language--limit,…

Two groups of EFL freshman students participated in the study. Pre-test scores showed no significant differences in their oral proficiency level. Both groups were then exposed to the same in-class instruction that depended on the textbook. They covered the same lessons, skills, exercises and tests. Since freshman students have no opportunities to…

This study investigated the intelligibility and comprehensibility of natural speech in comparison to synthetic speech. The results demonstrate the type of errors; the relationship between intelligibility and comprehensibility; and the correlation between intelligibility and comprehensibility and key factors, such as the frequency of use of…

This article examines the role of direct instruction in promoting listening and reading comprehension. Instructional examples from 2 programs of intervention research focused on improving comprehension; the Story Read Aloud Program and the Embedded Story Structure Routine are used to illustrate principles of direct instruction. An analysis of…

Effective listening comprehension skills are important as the world becomes increasingly global and television, radio, and the Internet become forums for English communication. However, many countries, such as Tunisia, do not use English as a first or second language, but as a foreign language. Therefore, realizing the importance of English, the…

The experiment investigated the benefit to second language (L2) sentence comprehension of priming word meanings with brief visual exposure to first language (L1) translation equivalents. Native English speakers learning Mandarin evaluated the validity of aurally presented Mandarin sentences. For selected words in half of the sentences there was…