This study was conducted as a twofold investigation. Firstly, it focused on refusal strategies and modification tools employed by a group of Turkish EFL learners. Secondly, it aimed to compare the content of data collected via two different data collection tools popular in interlanguage pragmatics research: Discourse Completion Task and open role…

The present study looks into the effects of early multilingual education by investigating linguistic knowledge and metalinguistic awareness in young learners at the primary level. The study aims to establish whether children in multilingual education programmes perform higher on a measure of metalinguistic awareness and with regards to their L1…

Although researchers in the area of second language acquisition agree on the effectiveness of form-focused instruction, there is little consensus on the appropriate time to direct learners' attention to linguistic items, that is, whether before or after the error occurrence [Nassaji, H. 2010, "The Occurrence and Effectiveness of Spontaneous…

The main goal of this study is to investigate the extent to which a computer-based flashcard program, Anki, can help college-level ESL learners improve their vocabulary as well as the learners' perceptions about the program. The vocabulary targeted for the study consisted of Coxhead's (2000) "Academic Word List", including the most…

Identifying the cognitive capacities associated with the development of school readiness is indispensable to support children's successful school transition. It has been shown that executive function (EF) in preschoolers is associated with both concurrent preacademic and subsequent academic skills. However, most research has controlled for the…

Background: Research on the test-taker perception of assessments has been conducted under the assumption that negative test-taker perception may influence test performance by decreasing test-taking motivation. This assumption, however, has not been verified in the field of language testing. Building on expectancy-value theory, this study explored…

The population of Spanish-speaking preschoolers in the United States continues to increase and there is a significant need to develop psychometrically sound early language and literacy screening measures to accurately capture children's ability in Spanish. In this paper, we describe the innovative design and calibration process of the new…

Washington is one of 36 states in the country that allows students to earn high school credit based on demonstrating subject area competency instead of completing hours of classroom instruction. Washington law (Revised Code of Washington [RCW] 28A.230.090) delegates to the State Board of Education (SBE) the responsibility of establishing…

This paper reports on a qualitative inquiry into Japanese students' self-regulated learning processes to improve their listening proficiency outside the classroom in an English as a foreign language context. Four Japanese university students with different levels of self-efficacy and listening outcomes were closely examined from a social cognitive…

Oracy skills are considered as a problematic area for Thai students. Despite years of learning, students could not improve the skills at a satisfactory level due to internal and external hindrance such as cognitive load while communicating and insufficient practice time in class to achieve their communication (Flavell, 1979). In addition, to…

The present study's aim is to identify whether class participation is a significant predictor of English language achievement among university students and their views concerning class participation and academic achievement. A sequential mixed method design was applied and a total of 2013 university students (813 female 40.3%; 1200 male, 59.7%)…

Spanish-English bilingual learners are the fastest growing demographic in U.S. elementary schools. Yet many schools, particularly those in new immigration destination regions, continue to measure bilingual students' vocabulary using monolingual norms. This inequitable practice makes it appear as if bilingual learners have lower language abilities…

"Castañeda v. Pickard" mandated that educational programs for emergent bilinguals be tested for program efficacy. As English language development (ELD) curricular materials are one part of an instructional program, we assess this mandate by examining the effectiveness of ELD materials in Texas, a large, diverse U.S. state with large…

English articles are thought to be complex, ambiguous and not salient in spoken language, which is why second language (L2) learners of English exhibit usage variability. Much of the L2 acquisition literature seems to agree that L2 learners are affected, one way or another, by their first language (L1). However, the debatable and controversial…

Despite the increasing number of U.S. born Latinos, placing heritage and native speakers in the Spanish curriculum is still a challenge (MacGregor-Mendoza & Moreno, 2020). The present article: (1) addresses the unique needs of heritage speakers in the Spanish curriculum; (2) problematizes traditional grammar-based placement exams; and (3)…