For English language learners (ELLs) to productively engage in classroom discussions that foster language development, content knowledge, and analytical practices, teachers must create a trusting classroom culture. How do we ensure that all ELLs have opportunities to productively use oral language in academic settings? And how do we ensure that…

Purpose: The study compared how parents of children with cochlear implants (CIs) and parents of children with normal hearing perceive their children's health-related quality of life (HR-QOL). Method: The sample consisted of 186 Norwegian-speaking children in the age span of 5;0-12;11 (years;months): 106 children with CIs (53% boys, 47% girls) and…

In an increasingly multilingual world, the question of how to improve foreign language speaking skills of pupils in British schools is of paramount importance to language teachers and policy-makers today. This paper examines how an explicit focus on metacognitive strategy use within secondary school foreign language lessons impacts pupils'…

This study examined two common accounts of heritage speakers' nonnative attainment in their heritage/first language (L1), one attributing it to the influence of the second language (L2) and another to insufficient L1 input. Three groups of children who were heritage speakers of Arabic and who varied in their age of L2 exposure and type and amount…

In this article, the authors, a teacher-researcher and an English Language Teaching (ELT) professor, report on a colloborative action research study which investigated how integrating systematic reflection into academic English courses at the tertiary level fostered both teacher and student learning. Using constructivist theory as a framework,…

This paper describes how a small group of students in a foreign language classroom manage the interactional task of orally assessing the correctness of verb forms while playing a board game aimed at revising verb conjugation. In their interaction, the students orient to the institutional context of this activity as a language learning exercise by…

Reaching the Advanced level of proficiency in speaking is a common goal of second language learners, but data on advanced learners of less commonly taught languages such as Arabic are scarce. This mixed-methods study reports words-per-minute and type-token ratios for three ACTFL levels--10 Intermediate Mid, 10 Advanced Mid, and 8…

Studies of incidental vocabulary acquisition in second language learning have got more and more attention both at home and abroad. By first introducing the definition and theoretical foundations of incidental vocabulary acquisition, this paper reviews empirical studies of effect of different tasks on incidental vocabulary acquisition and points…

It is widely accepted that pauses and correspondence with intonation units are among the phonological cues that identify lexical chunks (conventionalised multiword sequences) in spoken first and second language, although conclusive empirical evidence is scant. This article reports on an exploratory study which seeks to identify the main…

This study investigated 17 Deaf families in North America with cochlear-implanted children about their attitudes, beliefs, and practices on bimodal bilingualism (defined as using both a visual/manual language and an aural/oral language) in American Sign Language (ASL) and English. A survey and follow-up interviews with 8 families were conducted.…

This article discusses the use of the Finnish change-of-state token "aa" that has previously not been identified. The central claim is that even though "aa" indicates a cognitive shift experienced by the speaker, it does not function as a receipt of new information. Instead, the token "aa" indicates that the speaker…

This article uses computer-assisted analysis to study the listening environment provided by Bible readings and preaching during church services. It focuses on the vocabulary size needed to comprehend 95% and 98% of the running words of the input (lexical coverage levels indicating comprehension in connection with listening) and on the place of…

Background: While autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI) have traditionally been conceptualized as distinct disorders, recent findings indicate that the boundaries between these two conditions are not clear-cut. While considerable research has investigated overlap in the linguistic characteristics of ASD and SLI,…

The purpose of this case study was to explore first and second grade teachers' knowledge and perceptions of African American Language (AAL) and its speakers, as well as implementation of instructional practices for supporting African American students whose first language is AAL, a form of Ebonics, in acquiring proficiency in SAE and accessing the…

Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) are widely used to measure speaking ability in a second or foreign language. The Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB) Speaking Test is an OPI used for academic and professional purposes around the world. However, little research on this or other OPIs has quantitatively compared test takers' speech…