This study investigated the relationships between students' self-assessments and experts' assessments in a university French pronunciation course for nonnative speakers using a pre-/posttest design. Results indicated that students were relatively accurate when making a global assessment (Time 1) and when judging some specific aspects of…

Even after years of study, many second language (L2) learners have difficulty comprehending proficient speakers in real-world settings. This difficulty stems partly from the inauthentic nature of the spoken texts learners are exposed to in foreign language (FL) classrooms--scripted, simplified, and overenunciated "textbook texts." This…

This study explored the impact of short-term study abroad on the language attitudes of college-level learners of Arabic in the United States. It investigated students' destination preferences in various Arabic-speaking countries, their attitudes toward learning Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and regional dialects, and the factors that they…

As a critical part of the internationalization movement in college curricula, study abroad initiatives are becoming more and more popular and the need to assess their outcomes more and more evident. While numerous studies have investigated the language gain associated with study abroad, researchers are also beginning to look at potential gains in…

This study explores second/foreign language (L2) learners' attitudes toward task-based language learning (TBLL) and how these attitudes relate to selected learner variables, namely anxiety, integrated motivation, instrumental motivation, and self-efficacy. Ninety-one college students of Korean as a foreign language, who received task-based…

Recent surveys and research on second language (L2)/foreign language acquisition help explain the challenges that postsecondary students in lower-level foreign language (FL) courses may experience. The present study extends this line of research by examining changes in students' affective profiles in a two-year Japanese program (n = 382) at an…

An important task for foreign language (FL) instructors and researchers is to understand how the development of each language skill affects other aspects of language acquisition. This case study seeks to determine if speaking and writing proficiencies develop at similar rates among FL learners. Seventeen students enrolled in beginning,…

This article presents preliminary data correlating students' scores on measures of speaking, listening, and reading with their grades in Spanish courses. As might be expected, students with higher grades generally scored higher on performance assessments than did classmates with lower course grades. However, large score ranges resulted within a…

The effect of studying abroad on students' language production has been extensively researched. However, a question that has not been addressed is whether study abroad programs lasting six weeks or less offer sufficient time and contact for students to demonstrate measurable development in their command of the language. The current…

This article aims to reconceptualize pronunciation teaching and learning according to the tenets of the 2007 MLA Report and its call for translingual/transcultural competence. The critical discussion of current teaching and research practices shows that the realm of pronunciation has benefitted little from debates on intercultural language…

The study compared participant comprehension of foreign language video content using two advance organizer (AO) strategies while exploring the benefits of AOs as proficiency increases. Participants were 50 advanced-beginner Spanish college students in three sections. Collaborative reading condition participants read a target language narrative…

The "Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century" represent a major effort for setting goals for language instruction across the United States and across instructional levels. They provide descriptions of what "language students should know and be able to do" through 11 content standards in five goal areas, the five…

This article investigates the relationship between classroom climate and performance in postsecondary French as it is generated by student-to-student connections and interaction, rather than instructor-to-student interaction. The study applies an instrument originally developed to measure classroom climate in native language public speaking…

Motivation plays an important role in foreign language learning. To investigate factors that influence motivation level, the researcher surveyed 102 students studying Japanese at the University of Washington and interviewed 10 of them. From their responses, the researcher identified four de/motivational factors: (1) teachers, (2) feedback, (3)…

Grammar instruction is at the center of the target language (TL) and code-switching debate. Discussion revolves around whether grammar should be taught in the TL or using the TL and the native language (L1). This study investigated the effects of French-only grammar instruction and French/English grammar instruction on elementary-level students'…