This paper argues that reading English Medium Instruction (EMI) as a performative technology of acceleration in the highly competitive conditions of today's global higher education (HE) contexts is one way to gain insights into present-day realities of EMI orientations, experiences, and practices. In so doing, it examines the interplay of EMI, HE,…

The ability to process plural marking of nouns is acquired early: at a very young age, children are able to understand if a noun represents one item or more than one. However, little is known about how the segmental characteristics of plural marking are used in this process. Using eye-tracking, we aim at understanding how five to twelve-year old…

Consonants and vowels differentially contribute to lexical acquisition. From 8 months on, infants' preferential reliance on consonants has been shown to predict their lexical outcome. Here, the predictive value of German-learning infants' (n = 58, 29 girls, 29 boys) trajectories of consonant and vowel perception, indicated by the…

While there is no lack of studies on the major approaches to L2 writing instruction (i.e., the product-, process-, and genre-oriented approaches), it remains unclear whether and how these theory-based approaches have been translated into students' experiences of L2 writing pedagogy. This study examined students' experiences of L2 writing…

Despite the important role of strategies in language learning, they have not been afforded much attention in the development of language proficiency scales. This study, situated in a nationwide project of developing China's Standards of English language ability, presents in detail the development of a reading strategic competence scale for Chinese…

Reading comprehension (RC) is a multi-faceted construct but is often assessed with a single instrument. Previous research has highlighted that commonly used RC tests are only mildly correlated and vary in the skills they assess, including the differential contribution of oral language and decoding to children's performance. Our study, framed…

Frequency and proficiency have been found to play an important role in second language (L2) phrasal processing. However, existing research has largely focused on English and other European languages, with other commonly used languages, such as Chinese, being largely disregarded. To fill this gap, we carried out two experiments to investigate how…

This paper contributes to southern theorization of multilingualisms. Noting the predominance of northern-generated academic debates, we discuss perspectives from close engagement with southern socio-historical and political contexts, and through prioritizing community and teacher outlooks on multilingualism. Our account is illustrated with…

For too long, the debate about Ebonics has been about the validity of the language and not about how the perception of the language impacts those that speak it. Ebonics has been considered inappropriate and inadequate as a language in institutions of higher education since the moment Black people in the United States were allowed access. However,…

The purpose of this inquiry was to examine the degrees of reflective teaching (RT) amongst English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers working at a private language center in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, and to provide suggestions for its successful implementation. A mixed-methods approach was employed, integrating a quantitative survey and a…

Since the mid-1990s, the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has taken a social turn which acknowledges the role that social interaction plays in second language (L2) learning. Since then, extensive scholarship has used a multimodal perspective as well as alternative SLA approaches to explore L2 through classroom interaction. Even though…

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), an instantiation in applied linguistics of complexity epistemology that transcends disciplinary boundaries, has gained much traction and momentum over the last decade, finding expressions in a fast-growing number of empirical second language developmental studies. However, the literature, while rapidly…

The study investigated variation in the depth of vocabulary knowledge of L2 learners at the same vocabulary breadth and the learner-related factors affecting it. Two hundred and thirty-one EFL learners at high and low levels of vocabulary breadth (according to Vocabulary Level Tests) participated in the study. The study tested Vocabulary depth…

Variegation - the presence of more than one supraglottal consonant per word - is a key challenge for children as they increase their expressive vocabulary toward the end of the single-word period. Here we consider the prosodic structures of target words and child forms in English, Finnish, French, Japanese and Mandarin to determine whether…

An emergent debate surrounds the nature of language processing in bilingual children as an extension of broader questions about their morphosyntactic development in comparison to monolinguals, with the picture so far being nuanced. This paper adds to this debate by investigating the processing of morphosyntactically complex which-questions (e.g.,…