Background: Previous literature highlights the importance of causal attributions in achievement and motivation. However, the studies about causal attributions in second language acquisition (SLA) are limited and scarce. Aims: This study was designed to determine the frequency of successful and unsuccessful activities per English level and to…

English orthography differs from that of other European languages in terms of complexity and regularity. This difference may impact the development of accurate spelling in English, especially when it is learned as a foreign language in school. In this study we wanted to explore spelling development patterns of Spanish speaking children learning…

This study attempts to reveal whether there is unintentional reverse transfer L2[right arrow]L1 (English-Spanish) in the oral L1 production of university learners in formal contexts. The languages used by learners influence each other, and this transfer may occur from the first to the second language ("direct transfer"), or from the…

An effective diagnostic test can play a key role in language learning, allowing strengths and weaknesses in students' linguistic development to be identified and addressed. This paper describes the online Cambridge English diagnostic test, assessing English grammatical knowledge at A2 level. As most language tests focus on proficiency or…

It is often asserted that UK school-leavers know less grammatical terminology than in earlier years. However, objective data on this supposed phenomenon are somewhat scarce. The study reported in this paper aimed to see whether and to what extent knowledge about language (KaL) has declined over three decades, and how this might relate to…

Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have paved the way for the integration of text-based and voice-enabled chatbots as adaptive virtual tutors in education. Despite the increasing use of AI-powered chatbots in language learning, there is a lack of studies exploring the attitudes and perceptions of teachers and students towards these…

The aim of this article is to focus on university students' attitudes towards English and their anxieties concerning the use of English in the Basque Country, a multilingual context where exposure to English is limited but internationalisation is an important aim. Participants were 360 undergraduate university students of business (N = 180) and…

This study analyzes the influence of English medium instruction (EMI) on student English writing development in a Spanish undergraduate context, a language skill that remains underexplored in EMI research at tertiary level. Through a longitudinal pre- and post-test method, it explores the writing progress of EMI engineering students as compared to…

This paper discusses the results of a study conducted with 218 students in the final year of high school to determine their opinions about the feasibility of using a tablet PC for delivery of a standardized English language test. One such test could be the English paper of the exam given to students upon completion of the Baccalaureate program in…

This article addresses the benefits of audio-visual input for learning second language (L2) vocabulary and grammatical constructions. Specifically, it explores the role of frequency, the effects of subtitles and captions, and the mediating role of learner proficiency on language gains in two longitudinal studies. Study 1 targets vocabulary…

The number of publications on live online teaching and distance learning has significantly increased over the past two years since the outbreak and worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, but more research is needed on effective methodologies and their impact on the learning process. This research aimed to analyze student interaction and…

Widespread incorporation of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in higher education has created the need for teacher development initiatives (EMITD) to prepare university lecturers whose first language is not English to teach their content subjects in English. The planning and implementation of such initiatives has frequently been assigned to…

The present study explored data from a survey of students' performance in English at the end of compulsory school in 6 European countries. The aim was to gain deeper knowledge of the internal structure of the test and to discuss similarities and differences between the different settings regarding patterns in language proficiency. The analyses,…

This article reports on fan practices, in English, among an international community of bronies--adult fans of the animated cartoon "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" (MLP). Originally directed at a target audience of young girls, MLP has become popular among men. These older male fans have been extremely active in producing multimodal…

The requirement of holding a diploma which certifies proficiency level in a foreign language is constantly increasing in academic and working environments. Computer-based testing has become a prevailing tendency for these and other educational purposes. Each year large numbers of students take online language tests everywhere in the world. In…