This action research aims at developing an action plan to alleviate foreign language speaking anxiety, and accordingly improving speaking performance. The study, which is a collaborative action research type, was carried out of 19 prospective Chemical Engineering students at the CEFR-A1 level at Ege University School of Foreign Languages (EUSFL).…

This qualitative study focused on the influence of a World Englishes (WE) instruction to prospective English language teachers from a multitude of aspects, such as their awareness of the WE, their opinion on the WE instruction, and their intention to adopt WE-inclusive practices in their classes in the future. The participants comprised 27 student…

Reading to Learn (R2L) is an instructional approach that leads students from aided to independent creation of meaning in reading and writing. The approach uses whole texts as the point of departure for instruction. This case study explored how R2L promoted ninth graders' comprehension of explanation texts in EFL during six lessons and students'…

In this study, we examine the fundamental difference hypothesis in language motivation, which suggests that language learning--at the motivational level--is qualitatively different from learning other school subjects. Despite being a long-standing assumption, few investigations have directly examined it. Using a comparative cross-sectional…

Much attention has been devoted to Extensive Reading (ER) to better understand its pedagogical effects on language learners. In this study, we focus on the teaching principles of ER and call for a re-visitation of the Freedom principle ("Learners choose what they want to read") that has been frequently used by practitioners and…

Located in Catalonia (Spain), and based on the Acculturation Theory applied to the field of linguistics, the objectives of this article are: (i) to detect and study the linguistic acculturation strategies of young people; (ii) to analyse the effects of origin and linguistic acculturation profiles relating to self-identifications with Spain and…

Rater subjectivity has long been an intriguing topic. The use of discussion as a resolution method is a practical way to reduce this subjectivity. However, the efficacy of discussion depends on whether different raters get equally engaged in it or one rater tends to dominate others. This study investigated whether and how rater dominance occurs in…

Previous papers in these pages have dealt empirically with the child's first words, the child's first imitations, and the use of yes/no and wh-questions with infants. In this study, we touch on all these issues, but attempt to place them in a systemic-functional language framework and a cultural-historical learning one. First, we deal with some of…

The present study aims to reveal the effects of test type, pronunciation and proficiency levels of the students on speaking test scores. A total of 147 Turkish EFL students consisting of 38 beginner, 36 elementary, 37 pre-intermediate and 36 intermediate levels participated in the study. Presentation as planned, and paired speaking test as…

This study investigates whether dynamic visual enhancement affects the recall of second language (L2) vocabulary and whether working memory interacts with visual enhancement and vocabulary recall. Participants in four groups completed a pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test that measured the effects of the type of dynamic…

This study examines L2 fluency in speaking interactions based on the number and type of utterances. The participants were 25 Korean eighth-grade learners of English as a foreign language. They performed five communicative tasks in groups, and their speaking interactions were audio-recorded and analyzed to measure the frequencies of sentence-level…

In this paper, Japanese teachers' experiences under the new communicative course of study guidelines that became fully implemented in April 2016 in the new Japanese high school English Language curriculum, "Communicative Course of Study Guidelines" are examined. The study explored 21 high school teachers from a variety of schools, and…

This study explored the affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement of 18 Iranian EFL learners with oral corrective feedback on lexical stress errors. The data were collected using questionnaires, pretests, posttests, and interviews. The questionnaire responses showed that the participants held various perceptions about direct feedback.…

One of the challenges facing second and foreign language (L2) teachers and learners in primary and secondary school settings is the limited amount of time available. There is disagreement about how to meet this challenge. In this paper we argue against two 'common sense' recommendations for increasing instructional time -- start as early as…

This study aimed to understand the impact of an experiential learning activity in a third year undergraduate course on the theory and practice of counselling and psychotherapy at a small Canadian university campus. The experiential learning activity required students to participate in bi-weekly one-to-one discussion groups with international…