Scholars have found that poor English proficiency is negatively associated with wages using self-reported measures. However, these estimates may suffer from misclassification bias. Interviewer ratings are likely to more accurately proxy employer assessment of worker language ability. Using self-reported and interviewer ratings from the Multi-City…

This article reports that language barriers and faculty turnover are the major challenges to an American college's struggles to deliver value to students in China. The Liaoning Normal University-Missouri State University (LNU-MSU) College of International Business, a collaboration between MSU and a local university in China, is designed to mirror…

This paper presents some findings from an ethnographic study of international postgraduate students at a university in the South of England, which involved interviews and participant observation over a 12-month academic year. One of the major themes that emerged from this research was students' anxiety over their level of English language.…

In this article, we explore one aspect of language awareness that has rarely been explored--awareness (i.e. perception) of the language proficiency of the "other learner" in pair work settings. We examine how Mai, a Japanese ESL learner, perceives her peer's L2 proficiency during pair problem solving, and how her perception of learner proficiency…

If good proficiency in L2 entails the acquisition not only of many single words but of many lexical chunks as well, it must then be asked how all this additional lexis is to be committed to long-term memory in the limited time available on non-intensive classroom-based language courses. If it is the case that a significant fraction of…

This article examines the extent to which ESL learners studying in Canada acquire Canadianisms. Two instruments were used to assess the effect of posited variables on this acquisition: a lexical survey administered to 103 ESL learners in Kingston, Ontario; and a questionnaire about resources, teaching methods, and attitudes administered to their…

This study investigates the impact of a five-week intermediate Spanish course on the listening comprehension ability of 48 participants in short-term study abroad programs, and compares these groups with 92 peers enrolled in a similar course on the home campus. While both on-campus and study abroad groups experienced similar gains in listening…

Preparing undergraduates and training faculty to succeed in a global society requires colleges to infuse international and intercultural dimensions into the curriculum. A Title VI grant funded the development and pilot of six Integrated Intensive Courses Abroad (IICA). These courses incorporate discipline-specific content studies with foreign…

There is considerable evidence from psycholinguistics that first language listeners handle function words differently from content words. This makes intuitive sense because content words require the listener to access a lexical meaning representation whereas function words do not. A separate channel of processing for functors would enable them to…

The aim of conducting this study was to investigate the foreign language learning needs of undergraduate medical sciences students studying in faculties of nursing and midwifery in Iran. A total of 681 undergraduate students as well as 168 subject-specific instructors and 6 EFL instructors participated in the study, which was designed on a…

This article reports recent research investigating the use of retrospective miscue analysis (RMA) as an instructional strategy with proficient second-language (L2) readers. RMA aims to heighten a reader's awareness of the reading process by involving readers in detailed analysis of their oral reading behavior. Using a cross-case analysis of three…

This article studies accessible assessment design to large-scale English language proficiency assessments that are now mandatory for elementary and secondary English language learners in public schools. Using a modified Delphi approach, a panel of 33 experts from the areas of assessment, English as a second language or bilingual education, and…

Toastmasters is a widely recognized international club that aims to develop and enhance the art of public speaking by offering participants educational programmes and chances to speak before groups. This article reports on the integration of the Toastmasters approach to an EFL oral-communication class in Taiwan. As both the author of this study…

This report on language testing research focuses on lessons applied to limited English proficient (LEP) students and programs. First, a review of the history of primary and non-primary language testing is provided. The question of why there is no field of primary language testing is then discussed. The second major section of the report is a…

The traditional model of linguistic proficiency has been a monolingual one that ignores the worth of communicating in two languages in a single speech situation. An alternative view is explored in which the two languages are components of a single skill, communication. Segments of a Spanish language interview with a bilingual Mexican-American…