In this study, we investigated the learning of indexical features by English-speaking adults using a novel experimental paradigm. In a conceptual replication of Rácz, Hay, and Pierrehumbert (2017), participants learned an allomorphy pattern cued by a given social context. The social contexts were represented by conversation partners who differed…

Reading and writing skills are intricately associated, and their mutual influence is seen as a dynamic process during literacy development for English. However, a broader understanding of the cross-domain development of literacy would be gained by examining literacy acquisition across different languages and scripts. An advantageous approach is to…

It is now a consensus that high-stakes testing exerts powerful impact in controlling curriculum and pedagogy, and shaping students' learning. The power of testing is especially strong in contexts where testing culture prevails. The Chinese educational context is such a context which is dominated by competitive tests. The language testing results…

This paper examined the comparative effects of Reading-While-Listening practice (RWL) and a proposed practice of Listening before Reading while Listening (LBRWL), both of which practices were inspired by the principles of extensive listening. Participants were 138 Thai Grade 8th students, from a school in the north of Bangkok, Thailand, divided…

This study explores interactions among language learners with the support of online resources in a collaborative writing task and how online resources assisted collaborating learners in the meaning-making process. The study was conducted in the freshman English course at a national university in Taiwan. Fifty-six students constructed an essay in…

This paper analyzes and determines the various orientations of 247 Saudi male and female university students for learning English. The descriptive and correlational approaches were used to investigate the participants' motivations. The researchers adapted questionnaires available from the literature to quantitatively collect data. The results show…

Native speakers strongly disprefer novel formulations when a conventional alternative expresses the same intended message, presumably because the more conventional form competes with the novel form. In five studies, second language (L2) speakers were less influenced by competing alternatives than native speakers. L2 speakers accepted novel…

Heritage languages (HLs) are acquired in contexts of unbalanced input, or situations in which children receive primary exposure to the family/HL and experience an abrupt shift after the child begins formal schooling. As a consequence, HL speakers normally become more dominant in the environmental language, while the development of the HL is…

The current study aims to investigate the effect of indirect codded correction feedback (ICCF) and affective short comments of the teachers on the students writing performance. The study aims to answer whether ICCF alone enhances the quality of the students writing or does it work better with the short affective comments of the teachers. The…

This paper attempts to examine in a descriptive way the pioneering model of "World Englishes" proposed by Kachru in the mid-1980s that allocates the presence of English into three concentric circles: The "Inner" Circle, the "Outer" Circle, and the "Expanding" Circle. The Inner Circle presents the countries…

This paper evaluates the potential of intercultural contacts portrayed in the content and tasks of a Tunisian EFL textbook for third-year secondary school students to develop the model of the intercultural speaker. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the elements of intercultural contacts reveal that this portrayal is imbalanced in terms…

Understanding text in a second language can be particularly challenging. The authors explored the contribution of morphological awareness in children's first and second languages to development in second-language reading comprehension. Critically, the authors examined the role of a skill that might be at the heart of these cross-linguistic…

An approximate replication of Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide, and Shimizu (2004), the main focus of this study was on the relationship between L2 WTC and International Posture in an ESL environment. International Posture measures the degree of connectedness to the international community from within an EFL context. However, attitudes may change when there…

Based on third language acquisition theories (Flynn, Foley, & Vinnitskaya, 2004; Marx & Hufeisen, 2004; Rothman, 2010, 2015) and cross-linguistic influence (Sharwood Smith & Kellerman, 1986), this study explored the written production errors of L3 English acquisition of word order in the affirmative and interrogative structures by L1…

The concept of successful participation is context-dependent. Learners have different definitions, which are subject to potential tension in the manner of participation that affects other aspects of the interaction. Drawing on activity theory (Vygotsky, 1987), the present study analyzes tensions that emerged during a six-week telecollaborative…