Listening comprehension is essential to L2 learning. Pupils who are able to demonstrate L2 listening skills are able to demonstrate proficiency in other language skills. Due to the relatively unappreciated role of listening in language development, educators and language experts have been actively promoting the equal or emphasized enhancement of…

Experience with a second language (L2) has been shown to facilitate learning of a third or subsequent language (L3) (Sanz 2000). However, little is known about how much L2 experience is needed before benefits for L3 development emerge, or about whether effects depend on type of L3 instruction. We report two experiments investigating initial…

This study proposes a method to detect problematic speech segments automatically for second language (L2) listeners, considering both lexical and acoustic aspects. It introduces a tool, Partial and Synchronized Caption (PSC), which provides assistance for language learners and fosters L2 listening skills. PSC presents purposively selected words…

This study reports on the rehybridization of three beginning-level Spanish courses and the effect of the new redesigned courses on student learning and on self-reported levels of anxiety. The data collected included pretests and posttests of listening comprehension, linguistic knowledge, and foreign language anxiety, as well as qualitative data on…

The Adult Basic Education (ABE) population consists of a wide range of abilities with needs that may be unique to this set of learners. The purpose of this study was to better understand the relative contributions of phonological decoding and morphological awareness to spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension across a sample of ABE students. In…

English listening is seen as a vital means of linguistic input for Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners, which lays a solid foundation for English learning and communication with English speakers. Besides, with increasing of scores of the listening part in the newly-reformed CET-4 and CET-6 (CET refers to college English test in…

The present study was conducted in the context of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with the purpose of assessing the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in academic listening comprehension. The Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation & Beglar, 2007) and the Word Associates Test (WAT, Read, 2004) were administered to…

The present study investigated the relative contributions of vocabulary knowledge, grammar knowledge, and processing speed to second language listening and reading comprehension. Seventy-five Korean university students participated in the study. Results showed the three tested components had a significant portion of shared variance in explaining…

The present study investigated the impact of pronunciation training on the learning and retention of second language (L2) grammatical structures. By drawing on the phonological saliency of stress placement in German separable- and inseparable-prefix verbs, the study explored whether enhancing explicit instruction through pronunciation training can…

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of the flipped classroom model on Egyptian EFL students' listening comprehension. A one-group pre-posttest design was adopted. Thirty-four 3rd-year EFL students at the Faculty of Education, Suez University, were pretested on listening comprehension before the experiment and then posttested after…

Our native tongue influences the way we perceive other languages. But does it also determine the way we perceive nonlinguistic sounds? The authors investigated how speakers of Italian, Turkish, and Persian group sequences of syllables, tones, or visual shapes alternating in either frequency or duration. We found strong native listening effects…

Authentic listening has become a part of CLIL materials, but it can be difficult to find listening materials that perfectly match the language level, length requirements, content, and cultural context of a course. The difficulty of finding appropriate materials online, financial limitations posed by copyright fees, and necessity to produce…

This book brings together current thinking on informal language learning and the findings of over 30 years of research on captions (same language subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) to present a new model of language learning from captioned viewing and a future roadmap for research and practice in this field. Language learners may have…

The study aims to investigate the effect of project-based learning on students' motivation and their self-efficacy. Project-based learning is an instructional technique which has been proven to be effective because it allows students to play an active role in their own learning process. By participating in a project-based learning model, students…

Fluency in L2 reading often seems a distant goal, and pleasure in the experience of L2 reading even more unattainable. This study investigated comparative EFL reading projects for university-age learners, using graded literature at one university and an authentic memoir at a second. The study explored whether integrating listening to audiobooks…