Emotion is "the primary human motive" (MacIntyre, 2002, p. 61). The human brain is an emotional brain, creating relationships among thought, emotion, and motivation in a complex dynamic system (Dörnyei, 2009). Emotion "functions as an amplifier, providing the intensity, urgency, and energy to propel our behavior" in…

This research focuses on speaking proficiency and successful second language speakers' traits using a survey and an interview. The participants in the study were in a short intensive course between four and six months, depending on the language they studied. The successful learner was defined as someone who received 1+ or above on the…

This study explored the effects of cultural and linguistic background, L2 proficiency, and gender on language learning strategies for 263 college-level learners from Chinese, Russian, and Latino backgrounds. Data based on the SILL (Oxford, 2001) revealed that Russian students used significantly more strategies than the Chinese students in three…

This research focuses on speaking proficiency and successful second language speakers' traits using a survey and an interview. The participants in the study were in a short intensive course between four and six months, depending on the language they studied. The successful learner was defined as someone who received 1+ or above on the…

This study explored the effects of cultural and linguistic background, L2 proficiency, and gender on language learning strategies for 263 college-level learners from Chinese, Russian, and Latino backgrounds. Data based on the SILL (Oxford, 2001) revealed that Russian students used significantly more strategies than the Chinese students in three…

This study investigated the relationship between out-of-class L2 use and proficiency gains in learners of English as a second language (ESL) in an intensive English language program. In contrast to previous studies on this topic, which have found weak, non-existent or even inverse relationships between out-of-class language experience and L2…

The Reading Proficiency Interview (RPI) is a new reading proficiency test format that was created in response to the US government's need to rapidly produce a cost effective and credible reading proficiency assessment format for small-population languages. The RPI was developed in response to a requirement by the National Language Service Corps…

The present study investigates the differential effects of explicit and implicit feedback on L2 learners at different proficiency levels as measured by L2 development and learner uptake, which is defined as the learner's responses following feedback. Twenty-three learners of Chinese as a foreign language at two different levels of proficiency at a…

This study examines the relationship among five independent variables--integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, the need to fulfill a foreign language requirement, grade point average (GPA), and previous years studying Spanish--as predictors of five dependent variables: scores on a simulated oral proficiency interview (SOPI), final exam…

Given the raised graduation requirement of the proficiency Enhancement Program (PEP) to attain proficiency levels of "2+," "2+," and "2," the importance of target language use has been highly emphasized across language schools at Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). This article discusses some of the challenges associated…

Within the field of second language acquisition, the acquisition of phonetics and phonology has generally taken a back seat to studies of morphological and syntactical acquisition. Although the lacuna is slowly being remedied by a growing interest in the phenomena of second language (L2) phonology, investigations into the acquisition of…

This case study is a preliminary look at different styles associated with different activities preferred by students in a foreign language homestay situation, in this case 29 American college students in Guatemala, the stability of their choices of activities, and increments in their Spanish language performance after one month. (Author/VWL)

Explores variation in the performance of one nonnative speaker in three different conversations with friends. The chief difference between the conversations is that the interlocutors use different interactional features that are related to their different levels of proficiency in English. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the Army's Joint Vision (JV2010), which provides a blueprint for finding and using skilled linguists. To ensure that these linguists and trainers are in step with the needs of the future, they must take advantage of all applicable technological developments. (Author/VWL)

Suggests that within the context of the Air Expedition Force, the United States Air Force must validate language skills and change current policies and practices to meet new, more dynamic requirements. Recommends a fresh look at language skills, especially for officers. (Author/VWL)