This paper explores the question of how cultural stereotypes are formed, modified, dismissed or reinforced, drawing on findings from a collaborative intercultural e-mail project between Hong Kong learners of Japanese at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and native Japanese speakers at Kagoshima University. It also evaluates role of e-mail…

The study reported here investigates collaborative learning at the computer. Ten pairs of students were presented with a series of comprehension questions about Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein or a Modern Prometheus" along with a CD-ROM, "Frankenstein Illuminated," containing the novel and a variety of source material. Five students worked with…

The aim of this research was to show the importance of instruction in learning a specific set of words. Two different tasks were used in the experiment: one in which subjects were required to fill in sentences and choose the appropriate answer in a multiple choice exercise (lexical test), and the other was a rating task designed to assess semantic…

The research reported in this paper explores which variables predict native and non-native speaking teachers' perception of fluency and distinguish fluent from non-fluent L2 learners. In addition to traditional measures of the quality of students' output such as accuracy and lexical diversity, we investigated speech samples collected from 16…

This article reports on research into the motivation of Indonesian children aged 11-12 years old, as they begin formal study of English in an urban junior high school. The research used closed and open questionnaire items, backed up by class observations and interviews with a selected group of learners. Very high levels of motivation to learn the…

This paper examines the effect of gender on English reading comprehension for Korean EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. The gender effect was measured using a DIF (Differential Item Functioning) methodology. Specifically, gender DIF was investigated for a random sample of 14,000 Korean examinees (7,000 males and 7,000 females) who took…

The major purpose of this study was to explore, in a phenomenological tradition, factors that lead some students to persist in foreign language study past the usual 2 years in high school. Factors that have been prevalent in the literature include language aptitude, motivation, grades, intellectual and cultural curiosity, language learning…

This study compared four different approaches to identifying technical words in an anatomy text. The first approach used a four step rating scale, and was used as the comparison for evaluating the other three approaches. It had a high degree of reliability. The least successful approach was that using clues provided by the writer such as labels in…

Based on qualitative data (class observations, interviews, a letter from the researcher to the teacher about her classroom practice, videotapes, and documents), this paper reconsiders the staying-in-English rule, a popular classroom rule that requires learners to stay in English. It presents an ESL classroom example in which circumstances and…

The use of pair and small group activities in the second language (L2) classroom has been supported by both theoretical and pedagogical arguments. However, L2 researchers and practitioners have expressed concerns about their use in some instructional contexts. This small-scale study explored instructors' and learners' perceptions about the use of…

The article concentrates on setting some specific criteria for the EIL ("English as an international language") classroom and raising teachers' awareness of what is needed in order to identify and teach EIL classrooms. It starts by distinguishing between those communicative and teaching situations that are norm-bound and those that prioritise…

Fourth semester students of Spanish as a foreign language at the university level in the US participated in two kinds of comprehensible-input based instruction, an extensive reading class that combined assigned and self-selected reading, and a "Reading-Discussion" class that consisted of assigned reading, debates and discussions. Students in both…

This paper addresses teachers and researchers of English as a second or foreign language who are interested in speech intelligibility training and/or vocabulary acquisition. The study reports a stress-pattern analysis of the Academic Word List (AWL) as made available by Coxhead [TESOL Quarterly 34 (2000) 213]. To examine the AWL in a new way, we…

Given the cost of running second or foreign language teacher training programs with a high number of in-school placement hours, the selection of candidates who are likely perform well academically and complete their studies is an important consideration. The purpose of the present study was to examine the potential offered by vocabulary profiles…

Recent CALL research has started to go beyond the comparison of CALL versus non-CALL environments to explore what learners do while going through CALL activities. One important strand within that area has focused on the use and utility of providing learners with opportunities to request modified input. While many studies have carried out research…