This study focuses on the pedagogical applications of structural priming research in an English for academic purposes (EAP) context, investigating whether priming activities are an effective tool for eliciting production of target grammatical structures. University students across four EAP classes carried out a total of 6 information-exchange…

The "Diplôme d'études de langue française" (DELF) has recently gained attention in Canada for its potential as a national French second language (FSL) proficiency test. This article explores the perceptions of students, teachers, and parents in various school jurisdictions across Canada on a range of issues related to the DELF test…

Drawing from a larger ethnography of skilled Chinese immigrants' language learning during settlement in Toronto, this article explores the role of informal interactions in facilitating immigrants learning English as a second language and settlement. Examining various activities and networks available at an English-medium multicultural church,…

This paper reports a qualitative case study of a collaborative project between an ESL researcher and a history teacher teaching in a late immersion school in Hong Kong. The project aims to help a Grade 9 class to write history essays on their own instead of copying from the textbook, which is a common phenomenon in Hong Kong schools. The…

The present study investigates the possibilities for adult learners to attain nativelikeness in the domain of lexis. Aspects investigated are general lexical knowledge (C-test), receptive deep knowledge, productive collocation knowledge, and productive lexico-pragmatic knowledge in a group of long-residency Swedish French second language (L2)…

The current study sets out to investigate collocational knowledge for a set of 13 English amplifiers among native and nonnative speakers of English, by providing a partial replication of one of the projects reported on in Granger (1998). The project combines both phraseological and distributional approaches to research into formulaic language to…

This study used quantitative analyses complemented by the retrospective data obtained through a stimulated recall procedure to address three interrelated issues: (a) whether second language learners use online planning opportunities to carefully plan their speech to enhance the quality of the language they produce, (b) what kinds of self-repair…

This study examined multimedia instruction (MI) effects on the development of the French prototypical and non-prototypical past forms among Hispanophone learners. During 4 weeks of classroom instruction, participants were exposed to MI in one of 4 conditions: learners at early stages of past-tense development received MI including prototypical (n…

It is intuitively felt that visual cues should enhance online communication, and this experimental study aims to test this prediction by exploring the value provided by a webcam in an online L2 pedagogical teacher-to-learner interaction. A total of 40 French undergraduate students with a B2 level in English were asked to describe in English four…

Anxiety and L2 self-confidence have been suggested as vital determinants of willingness to communicate (WTC) in a foreign-language (FL) learning environment. Studies also demonstrate that it is a concern over pronunciation mistakes that is particularly likely to cause embarrassment and apprehension in FL students. Linking these two facts may lead…

This study examined the effect of short-term high-variability phonetic training on the perception of English /b/, /v/, /d/, /ð/, /ae/, /? /, /i/, and /i/ by Catalan/Spanish bilinguals learning English as a foreign language. Sixteen English-major undergraduates were tested before and after undergoing a four-session perceptual training program…

This study investigated the effect of two distinct computer-based phonetic training procedures administered in an English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classroom with young learners. Students' perceptual awareness of the occurrence of an English schwa in an unstressed position in content words was tested in two experimental groups, which…

This article focuses on the experiences of Grade 12 students using a language portfolio based on the principles and guidelines of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) in their second language classes in a large urban high school. As part of a larger action-research project, focus group interviews were conducted to gather data related to…

The article addresses some problems and options in setting standards on language tests and examinations. More specifically, it reports on a set of three workshops conducted in the European context where standard setting in language education typically concerns linking tests and examinations to the Council of Europe's "Common European…

This article concerns the contribution that feedback makes to valid classroom assessment of the writing of young learners (YLs), defined here as approximately 9-13 years old. It shows that a scale of descriptors adapted from the "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages" (CEFR; Council of Europe, 2001) can play a central role…