This article reports on a qualitative study that shows how situational willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language (L2) can dynamically emerge and fluctuate during a conversation situation. From inductive analysis of data from interviews, videotaped conversations, and stimulated recalls, it was found that situational WTC in L2 emerged…

Orthographic languages have not been a major focus for second language learning strategy researchers. Much of the strategy research has focused on English as a second language or English as a foreign language. This is despite the many structural differences, particularly in relation to reading and writing, which might significantly influence…

This paper looks at the demographic distribution of campus and distance students of an MA TEFL/TESL course offered by a British University. An examination of the mother tongue of all students between 1994 and 2003 shows that non-native speakers on campus have increased from 60% to 90%. At the same time, native speaker campus students have…

Only a few empirical studies have explored Focus on Form in the pragmatic realm. By operationalising this theoretical construct for an implicit condition, this study examined the effects of two types of pragmatic instruction (explicit and implicit) on learning head acts and downgraders in suggestions. Eighty-one Spanish learners of English took…

Vague feedback and misinterpretation of writers' intentions on the reviewers' part have been found to be two major reasons why most of their comments are disregarded during writers' revision in one EFL writing class. To resolve this problem, a training was conducted to coach these students to generate more specific comments. Four characteristics…

Given the growing use of mobile devices, there is now increasing interest in the potential for supporting the mobile learner. However, there remains much research to be undertaken, to find effective ways of facilitating learning with mobile devices. This paper considers how to support the mobile language learner using a handheld computer. It…

This paper reports on the results of a pragmatics awareness activity in an ESL classroom held before learners received formal instruction in pragmatics. Five intact ESL classes consisting of 43 students from 18 language backgrounds participated in this activity. During the activity, learners worked in pairs to identify pragmatic infelicities in…

This paper is based on a study which attempted to examine the efficacy of instruction at the pragmatic level. Specifically, the main purpose of the study was to investigate to what extent two instructional paradigms--explicit versus implicit instruction--affected learners' knowledge and ability to use request strategies. One hundred and thirty-two…

This study examines the effectiveness of teaching pragmatic information through the use of explicit or implicit pre-instruction, and explicit or implicit feedback, to English-speaking learners of third-semester Spanish. Results on a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest indicate that the groups that experienced explicit pre-instruction and…

Despite the fact that research on the effects of instruction in second language pragmatics is a subset of the literature on instructed second language acquisition, pragmatics as a learning target does not figure prominently in most surveys of this area. This is due partly to the fact that instructional effects research in second language…

Situational variation has long been an accepted form of intra-lingual variation in speech act realisations. The effect of macro-social factors, such as region, ethnic background, age, social status and gender, on intra-lingual pragmatic conventions has, however, received comparatively little attention in the study of pragmatics to date [Kasper,…

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) has been fruitfully applied in L2 research that examines second and foreign language learning. This paper considers the applicability of the ZPD to interlanguage pragmatics instruction and research. First, the ZPD is defined [Vygotsky, L.S., 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher…

Discusses distance education programs in higher education and describes the Eastern Mediterranean University (Cyprus) Learning Management System which was developed while the online program was offered to on-campus students. Explains functions of the system, including user enrollment, course management, lectures, quizzes, announcements,…

Discusses course-oriented intelligent tutoring environments and the role of the teacher, and describes the development of WITS (Whole-course Intelligent Tutoring System), an expert system that teaches a course on solid state electronics independently of a human teacher. Includes results of student evaluations of WITS. (LRW)

Discusses competence and learning in the numeric domain and describes the implementation of the cognitive apprenticeship concepts through the use of granular interface, dynamic feedback, and facilities for far transfer of knowledge, as well as their contribution in arriving at a recommended implementation framework. Considers intelligent tutoring…