Through questionnaires and statistical analysis, it is found that the status quo and training needs of rural primary English teachers in northern Anhui Province are as follows: (1) Teachers are young, female and hold concurrent posts in English teaching; (2) Most teachers have a strong desire to participate in the training, but fail to do so due…

Many factors influencing second language (L2) speech fluency have been widely studied, but the effects of first language (L1) fluency on L2 speech fluency are still relatively poorly understood. In contrast to mostly quantitative previous studies, the present study adopted a mixed methods approach to examining the connections between L1 fluency…

Repeated reading, which involves the reading of short passages several times, has been demonstrated to be beneficial for second language fluency (Chang & Millett, 2013) and vocabulary acquisition (Liu & Todd, 2014). Despite the increasing interest in repeated reading, no study has addressed the effects of time distribution--how different…

This article examines how a purportedly local, postcolonial reform effort to resist center-based methods is resisted by the students and teachers it seeks to serve. In this context, rather than take center and periphery for granted, the author attempts a processual geography of method. Drawing on data from a 19-month ethnography in the Indian…

Although, a lot has been said about the good language learners, not much is known about the adult learners and the strategies they use in order to further improve and acquire their second language learning skills. Thus, this study aims to identify language learning strategies employed by successful language learner among adult learners of Teaching…

Based on Martin and White's (2005) heteroglossic engagement system of Appraisal Theory, adopting UAM Corpus Tool and Chi-Square test, this study aims to explore authorial stance and distinctive rhetorical strategies that have been employed to realize interpersonal meaning by the application of engagement resources in American and Chinese CSR…

Vocabulary researchers generally point out three strategies that learners apply in order to find out the meanings of unknown words on their own (Graves, 2006; 2007). The use of context, word parts, reference materials ((e.g. dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses, both print and online) in-text definition/explanations, synonyms, examples,…

Entering the world of academic writing can be a troublesome experience for young researchers, especially for those writing in ESL. In addition to mastering the specific language of their disciplinary community, they also have to adopt an array of metadiscourse features which help them organize their writing and position themselves towards their…

Given that bilingual education has been under assault for most of its modern existence in the United States, many bilingual educators have acquiesced to transitional bilingual education: the use of the primary language only until English is firmly established. While this placated some critics, the research now demonstrates that this is not in the…

This paper aims to report on the development of a rubric and formative assessment targeting pre-service teacher instructional planning in an English teacher education programme in Indonesia. Ten curriculum components as proposed by Van den Akker were incorporated to develop the rubric. Educational Design Research (EDR) as an approach was employed…

This article explores language policy in Southeast Asia, focussing on two recent state and other institutional reform efforts and directions: one towards English, and the other towards the mother tongues. However, what needs to be highlighted is the bifurcated nature of language policy reforms in the region. That is, these two policy directions…

In Hong Kong, pupils at Grades 3, 6 and 9 are required to take the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA). TSA is a low-stakes standardized assessment, tracking pupils' attainment of the basic competence levels in English, Chinese and Mathematics. By design, TSA does not constitute part of individual pupils' school results, but generates…

The arts as a pedagogic medium can be an important tool for language learning, and yet many teachers avoid it, often because of a lack of confidence. The main purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of generalist educators, as opposed to art specialists, using the arts successfully as a cross-curricular tool to accelerate English…

The growing number of internationally mobile students who present Italian L2 language certificates on entry has led the University of Padua Language Centre (CLA) to reflect on whether it should maintain an online placement testing as a means of placing students in the relevant classes (Fratter, Ivana & Altinier. Micol 2015. Gli apprendenti di…

This study aimed to determine the problems experienced at schools in the integration process of Syrian students into the Turkish Education System according to 66 school principals from 10 different cities of Turkey. The study was designed with mixed research methodology. According to the research results, there are some problems about the physical…