In Uganda and other low-resource settings, too few children are learning to read in the early grades. In response, countries have embarked on reading reform programs, often with external support. Unfortunately, rigorous evidence of these programs' impact remains limited. This article presents the causal impact on reading outcomes of the US Agency…

This article examines the development of Japanese as a heritage language (HL) in linguistically mixed families. While families where parents share a mother tongue have been investigated extensively in recent decades, this particular demographic has received minimal attention in Canada. The article, part of a larger study, is based on…

Input variability is key in many aspects of linguistic learning, yet variability increases input complexity, which may cause difficulty in some learning contexts. The current work investigates this trade-off by comparing speaker variability effects on L2 vocabulary learning in different age groups. Existing literature suggests that speaker…

Many college students set out on Study Abroad Programs to other countries in which the variant of the foreign language spoken in the region differs from the variant to which learners have been exposed. This study explores the perception of L2 Western Andalusian Spanish aspiration of word-final /s/ by L1 American English listeners, in relation to…

Background: Universities, specifically faculties of education, have the responsibility to ensure that student teachers are introduced to the complexities involved in planning conceptually sound, coherent and cohesive lessons. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine how prepared students teachers are to plan children's literature…

This paper presents a critical review of the cross-cultural writing styles in the light of contrastive rhetoric approach established by Kaplan in 1966. Although Kaplan compared different writing styles depending on the culture each language was attached to, his comparison was criticized by some scholars the prominent one of which is Conor 1996.…

This article analyses research literature and policy texts to investigate the extent to which culturally responsive education policies can improve Maori achievement in schools. It presents a snapshot of current levels of Maori inequity, which is followed by an account of the history of Maori education policy to illustrate the origins of the…

This investigation aimed to provide insights into the controversial debate on the role that age at onset of bilingualism plays in human language capacity with a focus on what it entails for first language (L1) attrition. L1 performance of Turkish immigrants (n = 57) in the United Kingdom with age at onset ranging between 7 and 34 years was…

The current study aimed to explore the effect of first language (L1) orthography on second language (L2) Chinese morphological awareness. One hundred and twenty-nine students (61 L1 English readers and 68 L1 Thai readers) who studied Chinese as a second language participated in this study. They completed four tasks of morphological awareness…

It has been a topic in psychiatry, it is referred to by translingual writers, and bilinguals report it frequently -- the feeling of becoming a different person when using a different language. The present study was set out to investigate the reasons behind this feeling. We looked at the effects of biculturalism and personality traits, as well as…

Purpose: We investigated whether rhythm discrimination is mainly driven by the native language of the listener or by the fundamental design of the human auditory system and universal cognitive mechanisms shared by all people irrespective of rhythmic patterns in their native language. Method: In multiple experiments, we asked participants to listen…

The present study explores the relationship between Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) and a number of teacher-centered variables within the Spanish classroom context. Participants were 210 former and current learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from all over Spain who filled out an online…

The role of the first language (L1) in second language (L2) learning has been widely discussed and researched in the second Language Acquisition (SLA) literature. Benefits of L1 use have been found for vocabulary acquisition, and in facilitating comprehension thereby alleviating student anxiety. Many teachers appear to consider L1 use as a…

This study examined the relationship between negative pragmatic transfer and language proficiency with reference to the refusal speech acts as realized by Yemeni learners of English as a Foreign Language (henceforth referred to as YLEs). Forty Yemeni learners of English (20 of low proficiency level and 20 of high proficiency level) and 2 baseline…

The United States has witnessed a rise in dual language immersion (DLI) programs in recent years, with instruction delivered both in English, the majority language spoken in the wider society, and in another language, often referred to as the partner or minority language. But while accountability mandates have focused on students' performance in…