Despite the frequent occurrence of yes/no questions in naturalistic talk-in-interaction, there is widespread concern that yes/no questions only allow predetermined answers and limit L2 learners' performance in language assessment contexts. Drawing upon audio-recordings of role-play conversations between an L1 American English speaker and 104 L2…

Growth mindset, or the belief that talents and abilities are malleable and can grow, is known to hold immense benefits in the world of education. What benefits could it hold for our students' musical growth as well? This article explores the many benefits of instilling a growth mindset into our ensembles by examining research in educational…

Grounded on the notion of observational learning in social cognitive learning theory, this study evaluated the effectiveness of repeated self-assessment on English-as-a-foreign-language learners' oral performance and the perceptions of the students and the instructor of this practice. Ninety-seven students from three classes in a Taiwanese college…

It is rare for learners to reach high level of communicative ability from engaging in entirely language form either implicitly or explicitly. Likewise, focusing primarily on content may be a hindrance to embrace target language features. The integration of form-focused instruction in content-based classrooms has been effective because such an…

This study examined the presence of internal linguistic discrimination--i.e., the negative reaction of Spanish speakers towards the varieties of Spanish spoken by heritage speakers--among bilingual teachers in a school district in Texas. To this end, we conducted a study that analyzed the responses of 84 bilingual teachers to audio utterances…

This article aims to discuss ten beliefs that teachers hold about second language (L2) learning and to relate these to relevant theories and approaches in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). It is especially written for L2 teachers who would like to know more about theoretical approaches that seek to explain L2 learning. Preliminary…

This study investigated the potential of comprehensive corrective feedback forms as editing and learning tools and examined their effect on learners' cognitive and attitudinal engagement. Low-intermediate second language writers (N = 139) were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions (direct corrections of grammatical errors,…

With the advent of web 2.0 and the ease of use of many hand-held devices, access to the internet has never been easier. This has been accompanied by a growing range of sites available for learning an L2. These sites offer lessons, explanations, exercises, corrections and feedback. It now becomes time once again to question whether physical bricks…

The purpose of this action research study was to help English language intermediate students tackle fossilized grammatical errors in their speech, which were verb form, missing subject, and word choice. In order to do so, the researcher used visual input such as pictures and colored stickers for self-monitoring purposes, as well as self-evaluation…

Preventing humans from committing errors is a crucial aspect of man-machine interaction and systems of computer assistance. It is a basic implication that those systems need to recognise errors before they occur. This paper reports an exploratory study that utilises eye-tracking technology and automated face recognition in order to analyse test…

This study investigated the role of corrective feedback timing in the acquisition of Spanish noun--adjective gender agreement. Forty-five learners completed a communicative task via synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) in one of three groups (immediate, delayed, control). The immediate-feedback group received error reformulations…

With more than 35 years of combined experience teaching English language learners (ELLs), Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski understand how students learn. Together, they have written a series of books on the topic, and in this article they share their insights. Chief among them is that ELLs require particular instructional strategies to help…

Effectively leading whole-class mathematics discussions is made more difficult when students' contributions are incomplete, imprecise, or not yet correct, and not easily correctable--what we call "errors." Through purposefully designed opportunities to investigate, enact, and reflect on teaching, teacher candidates (TCs) can develop…

Functions are one of the basic topics taught in mathematics curriculum at Secondary school level requiring knowledge from the students' past, and uniting mathematical topics. Mathematics teachers have both their own learning experience of functions, as well as their own teaching experience, leading to the question of what level of student…

Research has shown that any assumption that L2 learners of English do well to rely on the feedback provided by generic spell checkers (for example, the MS Word spell checker) is misplaced. Efforts to develop spell checkers specifically for L2 learners have focused on training software to offer more appropriate suggestion lists for replacing…