This corpus-based study provides a baseline of complex word usage patterns in the spontaneous speech of English preschool children to ascertain the characteristics of their derivative vocabulary before literacy development affects language skills. Frequencies of suffixed derivatives produced by (N = 243) children aged 2-5 and their caregivers were…

Despite vociferous calls for judicious use of learners' mother tongue over the past few decades, deciding on the right amount has still remained a challenge for many teachers. This article reports on the results of a survey drawing upon the views of 110 Iranian EFL teachers about eight perceived functions of L1 (Persian) in young English learners'…

Authentic materials, if appropriate to the learning situation, might turn the classroom environment into a more engaging place, where motivation might be generated through the performance of meaningful tasks. This article describes how a Text-Based Instruction approach can provide the basis for the design of an ESP syllabus based on relevant,…

Increasingly, English is being used as a medium of instruction in law schools around the world, even in countries that do not use English in their legal systems. This paper examines three related research questions about this phenomenon. First, it explores why these law schools are choosing to deliver law degrees in English, notwithstanding the…

This study investigates if participation in mother tongue instruction (henceforth MTI) impacts the biliteracy proficiency of young bilinguals, drawing on examples from Somali-Swedish bilinguals and Somali MTI in a Swedish school context. In the study, biliteracy was operationalized as reading proficiency and vocabulary knowledge in two languages,…

The present study investigates whether textual enhancement had any effects on grammar learning (tag questions) and reading comprehension, and whether the types of tag question contributed to the benefits of textual enhancement. The study employed a pretest--posttest design with three treatment sessions. The target forms were English tag questions,…

A central issue in the design of curricula for all school levels is the development of the learners' high-order thinking skills and metacognitive skills. Among such required skills is the ability to solve problems. The literature dealing with the development of problem-solving skills is vast and primarily addresses the scientific disciplines, even…

Many explanations have been offered for the widely attested problems second language (L2) learners experience with the English article system. One influential proposal from formal linguistics is the Article Choice Parameter and associated Fluctuation Hypothesis, which states that learners of English fluctuate between correct and incorrect usage by…

Arabic stress is predictable, varies across words, and does not have a contrastive role, whereas, Hebrew stress although nonpredictable, carries contrastive value. Stress processing was assessed in speakers of the two languages at three processing levels: discrimination, short-term memory, and metalinguistic awareness. In Experiment 1, Arabic…

The present study seeks to find the students' performance towards the assigned tasks related to cartoons and their perceptions towards the use of it as an authentic, supplementary teaching tool to facilitate the process of speaking. A sample of thirty-five students was selected to involve in different tasks related to selected number of cartoons.…

This study explores the teaching approach of the general courses of theoretical knowledge targeted at the freshmen based on a pilot study of the course Research Methodology in School of English for International Business (SEIB) in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. A questionnaire survey of 163 freshmen who take the course at two consecutive…

This book is the first comprehensive investigation of interlanguage pragmatic issues in a primary school context that is based on both primary school teachers' statements on their own teaching realities, views and preferences, and a thorough investigation of materials used by teachers and recommended by teacher educators in the state the primary…

The objectives of this study are to find out Firstly, the politeness strategies of request used by Libyan students and their lecturers in the classroom. Secondly, the politeness strategies of request mostly used by Libyan students and their lecturers. Thirdly, the factors that influence the use of the strategies by Libyan students and their…

This article examines how English as a foreign language learners might be better matched to reading texts using automatic readability analysis. Specifically, I examine how the lexical decoding component of readability might be validated. In Japan, readability has been mostly determined by publishers or by professional reading organizations who…

Bilingualism is associated with lifelong cognitive benefits that correlate with facilitated achievements in subsequent language learning. Second language (L2) instruction as well can promote the development of cognitive abilities involved in language learning, and among these, L2 input processing. Crucial to L2 acquisition, input processing is the…