In learning a second language (L2), speech imitation ability is an important aptitude, which is subject to individual's familiarity to the target L2 and multiple cognitive factors. The present study investigates the impact of individuals' cognitive abilities on L2 speech imitation skills in a familiar (English) and an unfamiliar (Chinese) L2. Thirty-five L2 English speakers imitated English and Chinese short phrases and completed tests on musical aptitude (4 subsets: accent, melody, pitch, and rhythm), auditory processing abilities (3 subsets: duration, formant, and pitch), and working memory (2 subsets: forward and backward digit span). Their imitated speech was rated by native English and Chinese speakers. Globally, working memory is a stronger predictor for familiar L2 than for unfamiliar L2 and auditory processing abilities only predict the imitation abilities of familiar L2. Regarding specific components, musical melodic perception abilities, auditory pitch processing abilities, and forward digit span significantly predict L2 speech imitation regardless of language familiarity, but backward digit span predicts unfamiliar L2 imitation better than familiar L2. The results suggest that some cognitive factors (e.g., working memory) may be crucial at the first contact with a new language, whereas others (e.g., auditory processing) may be more relevant to more experienced learners.
This study investigates the socio-cognitive relationship between learners' attitudes toward translation norms and their translation of motion event expressions, a cognitively and typologically sensitive domain. Three research questions guide the inquiry: (1) Do target-oriented translation attitudes correlate with target-like translation of motion event expressions? (2) Do explicit (self-report) and implicit (choice-based) measures of attitudes differ in predictive strength? (3) Does L2 proficiency (beginner vs. intermediate) moderate this relationship? Based on the motion event typology and the constrained communication framework, this study elicits Chinese-French bilingual participants'translations of motion event expressions and collects data through a questionnaire measuring translation attitudes and proficiency. Multinomial logistic regression is applied to examine the relationships among motion event encoding patterns, translation attitudes, and proficiency. Results reveal a positive correlation between target-oriented attitudes and target-like motion event encoding patterns, with implicit measures showing stronger predictive power than explicit measures. Crucially, this correlation is stronger among intermediate learners than among beginner learners, suggesting that sufficient proficiency might be necessary for attitudes to be realized in translation behavior. These findings highlight the interactive role of social attitudes and cognitive constraints in shaping translation and underscore the importance of multi-method attitude assessment and proficiency-sensitive analysis in translation process research.
This study sets out to examine how first (L1) and second language (L2) listeners perceive vowel variation in standard versus regional accents. We investigate whether phonetic variation in a regional accent in Belgian Dutch affects the perception of Belgian Dutch versus French listeners. A total of 40 listeners (20 L1 Dutch and 20 L1 French speakers) took part in the study. All listeners completed a categorization task with isolated words containing Dutch /1, a, i, a/ and a transcription task assessing the intelligibility of the same stimuli embedded in sentences. Stimuli were produced by 4 native speakers of Dutch. Two speakers read the stimuli with a Standard Dutch and two with a regional Dutch accent. The results revealed that the Belgian French listeners, who are exposed to the Standard Dutch accent in their foreign language classrooms, did not experience difficulty categorizing or transcribing regionally ac-cented vowels than Standard Dutch vowels, though they were outperformed by na-tive Dutch listeners. The results suggest that a regional accent does not necessarily present an additional challenge to non-native listeners and that the acoustic properties of L2 accented vowels and their relation to L1 vowels are decisive in the listen-ers' success at identifying L2 vowels.
Despite the paramount importance of word production skills in second language learners' vocabulary usage. This study addresses this gap by investigating the effects of two cognitive factors, modality and proficiency, on lexical sophistication among 11- to 12-year-old elementary school students learning English as a foreign language (EFL). We conducted speaking and writing tasks where participants were asked to describe a teacher or person they wanted to introduce to others, using similar prompts to facilitate comparison across the two modalities. We then analyzed participants' responses using 19 lexical sophistication indices related to word frequency and range, academic languages, psycholinguistic information, hypernymy, and polysemy, across both production modes. The results indicate that young EFL students demonstrate higher levels of lexical sophistication in written production compared to spoken production. Moreover, the study reveals a modality-by-proficiency interaction, suggesting that as students' proficiency increases, they exhibit more enhanced vocabulary skills in either written or proficiency in the development of vocabulary skills in young EFL learners.
The computer-based English speaking test (CBEST) represents a significant advancement in assessing oral proficiency through automated scoring. However, its scoring validity and alignment with well-established linguistic proficiency measures remain underexplored. This study examines the relationship between automated ratings (ARs) and analytic complexity, accuracy, fluency, and pronunciation (CAFP) indices in the context of Zhongkao, namely China's Senior High School Entrance Examination. Using a quantitative approach, we analyzed correlations between ARs and 12 CAFP indices from a random sample of 382 mock CBEST recordings from an officially recognized platform. Findings revealed strong correlations between ARs and speaking accuracy, fluency, and intelligibility, with fluency and intelligibility significantly predicting ARs. However, no correlations were found with complexity, comprehensibility, or accentedness. Further analysis within CAFP primarily demonstrated correlations between syntactic and lexical complexity with accuracy, accuracy with fluency (the number of repairs and speech rate) and intelligibility, and fluency (speech rate) with intelligibility. However, certain indices such as comprehensibility and accentedness showed no correlation with others. These findings suggest that CBEST prioritizes certain aspects of speaking proficiency, potentially overlooking others. Implications highlight the need for teachers and test designers to align instruction with test expectations while refining CBEST scoring mechanisms to enhance validity and comprehensiveness.
This study examines lexical access deficits in Spanish-speaking individuals with stroke induced anomia by analyzing psycholinguistic predictors, error patterns, and reaction times during naming and comparing the results with performance on a fluency task. Eleven participants completed both tasks. Naming performance was assessed using psycholinguistic variables such as age of acquisition, frequency, word length, phonological complexity, and familiarity. At both group and individual levels, words acquired later and rated as less familiar significantly increased error rates, supporting the role of these variables in lexical access. Error analysis showed heterogeneous profiles, with lexical accuracy errors (particularly contextual errors) being the most frequent. Lexical accuracy errors predominated over phonological ones. RT analyses demonstrated significantly longer latencies for incorrect responses, especially for lexical accuracy errors, suggesting that increased time does not enhance performance. Phonological errors were produced more quickly than lexical ones, consistent with models of temporal lexical access stages. Additionally, naming accuracy significantly correlated with semantic fluency but not phonemic fluency, highlighting shared lexical-semantic processes between these tasks. Despite its descriptive nature and limited sample size, this study provides preliminary evidence about psycholinguistic and temporal characteristic of lexical retrieval deficits in aphasia, with implications for assessment and targeted intervention in clinical practice.
This exploratory study examines the effect of pre-task grammar instruction (PTGI) on young English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' engagement with two problematic forms-3rd-person subject pronouns (HE/SHE) and the 3rd person agreement morpheme (3ps-s)-focusing on how individual differences-proficiency and language-analytic ability-mediate outcomes. Ten pairs of Basque-Spanish learners (age 11-12) were split into an experimental (PTGI+dictogloss) group and a control (task-only) group. After completing Cambridge's Flyers proficiency test and the MLAT-ES test, participants performed two collaborative oral + written dictogloss tasks targeting the aforementioned forms, which were then coded to analyse the production of target-focused language-related episodes. Results revealed that while PTGI initially promoted greater attention to these structures, this effect diminished over time. PTGI helped stabilise proficiency-related differences across forms, particularly for the more complex 3ps-s structure. Its effects on language-analytic ability were, however, form-specific: while it appeared to support internalisation of HE/SHE pronouns-especially among high-analytic learners-PTGI prompted a modest increase in discussion about the 3ps-s morpheme, suggesting persistent cognitive demands for this form despite instruction. These findings highlight the form-dependent nature of instructional effects and the need to tailor grammar pedagogy to both learner characteristics and linguistic complexity.
Recent work conducted in input-limited classrooms with young learners has made a call for the incorporation of form-focused instruction (FFI) in the form of focused tasks and/or additional treatments that could help learners expand their attention to grammar. Current research has also uncovered the need for the examination of the interaction between FFI, individual differences, such as language-analytic ability, and language achievement. Thus, this paper examines the effect of two forms of FFI (dictogloss+self-correction and dictogloss+metalinguistic explanations [ME]) on learners’ accuracy in the use of the possessive determiners his/her in the final product of the dictogloss tasks performed. It also looks into the interface between FFI and languageanalytic ability as measured by the MLAT-ES for child language. To do so, 33 Basque/ Spanish bilingual learners of English (aged 10-11) were split into a dictogloss+selfcorrection and a dictogloss+ME group. Participants were asked to complete three collaborative dictogloss tasks targeting the possessive determiners his/her in three consecutive weeks. The dictogloss+ME group achieved greater accuracy in the use of the possessive determiners his/her than the group with self-correction. Likewise, the benefits observed in the former were independent of participants’ language-analytic ability, all of which suggests a blurring effect of the ME treatment received.
Despite the growing presence of cinema in the classroom and the multiple benefits it has been proved to have for the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL), the implementation of films in the English lessons is still an under-researched area, particularly, as regards instructors’ views on the adequacy of this material. Thus, the present study delves into trainees’ beliefs (N = 121) regarding the potential of cinema for EFL before and after analysing a film-based lesson plan. Questionnaires, open-ended questions, and focus groups were employed to obtain quantitative and qualitative data on the perceived linguistic, intercultural, and motivational advantages of films. The results reveal that, at the outset of the research, trainees held cinema especially useful for eliciting linguistic and intercultural knowledge. However, they were unaware of how to exploit this textual modality and considered some of its characteristics problematic for class use. In the post-analysis stage, the participants assigned similar rates of importance to the three analysed dimensions, reflecting an even more favourable attitude towards this resource. This positive change trend seems to stem from a broadened awareness of the proper exploitation of film after examining the lesson plan provided. Pedagogical and research implications are also defined.
The necessity of considering communicative adequacy (CA) in assessing second language (L2) performance has been increasingly recognized, while its nature has yet to be fully explored. The present study examines the relationship between CA and the dimensions of complexity, accuracy, fluency, and pronunciation (CAFP) in L2 speaking assessment. Specifically, the speaking performance of 158 Chinese learners of English was subjectively rated in terms of CA and was also subjectively rated and objectively measured in CAFP. The relationship between the subjective ratings of CA and CAFP and the relationship between the subjective ratings of CA and CAFP and the objective measures of CAFP were analyzed. Results show that the subjective ratings of all CAFP dimensions were significantly correlated with and predicted CA, with pronunciation and fluency ratings making relatively greater contributions to CA than complexity and accuracy ratings, while only the objective measures of verbal complexity, speed fluency, and pronunciation significantly correlated with CA, together accounting for 45% of CA’s variance. Furthermore, the subjective ratings of CAFP showed limited correlations with their objective measures. Discussions were made concerning the validity of the construct of CA, the relative contributions of CAFP to CA, and the important role of pronunciation in L2 speaking assessment.
Due to the paucity of research on foreign language writing enjoyment (FLWE) among mixed-major EFL undergraduates, this article explores the multi-dimensional conceptualization, causes, and measurement of FLWE within this student group. The two-phase investigation involved over 3,000 participants. Phase 1 utilized interviews and questionnaires to gather students’ perceptions of FLWE and its sources. The findings illuminate FLWE as a multidimensional construct, with the writing topic emerging as the primary source of enjoyment, followed by text type and feedback. Phase 2 focused on developing and validating a 17-item Foreign Language Wring Enjoyment Scale (FLWES), which demonstrates sound reliability and validity. Unlike existing measures that mainly targeted limited dimensions of enjoyment among junior secondary students who areexposed to a limited range of text types primarily for examination purposes, or English majors, our instrument delves deeper into FLWE experienced by EFL undergraduates across disciplines. Our research contributes to a profound understanding of FLWE and opens avenues for measuring enjoyment in various language skills and cultural contexts.
This mixed-methods study contributes to understanding the emotional dynamics of a distinct, yet understudied, multilingual population: Third Culture Kids (TCKs). These individuals are typically raised in multilingual and nomadic households and are extensively socialised in English through international schools and expatriate communities. While prior research has focused on the emotional nuances of the phrase I love you in adult populations, a significant gap remains in understanding these nuances in other age groups, particularly in the context of transnational upbringing. This study addresses this gap by exploring the perceived emotional weight of the phrase in the linguistic repertoire of 276 TCKs enrolled in the InternationalBaccalaureate Program by examining the emotional dynamics shaped by their first language (L1,mainly a heritage language) and their frequent exposure to English (LX, acquired after L1) in an environment influenced by American culture, where the use of I love you is a daily phenomenon. Unlike previous studies, results indicated a combined heightened emotional weight of L1 and LX, challenging the traditional centrality of L1. Furthermore, multinomial logistic regression models revealed TCKs’ unique sociobiographical factors as the driving force behind their emotional perception. These findings contribute to understanding how sociobiographical features influence linguistic emotional perceptions and cross-cultural communication.
The benefits of metacognitive instruction for the improvement of students’ L2 listening comprehension and metacognitive awareness have been documented in the literature. However, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of a process-based approach such as the metacognitive pedagogical cycle (MPC) on less-skilled English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in contexts with reduced out-of-classroom interaction. Therefore, the present quasi-experimental study sought to assess the impact of the MPC on the listening comprehension and listening metacognitive awareness of 75 low-proficiency adult EFL learners. Participants were divided into an experimental group, which received MPC instruction, and a control group that received regular listening instruction over a twelve-week period. Pre- and post-listening proficiency and metacognitive awareness test results revealed that the experimental group significantly increased their proficiency and metacognitive awareness scores in a more consistent and robust manner than the control group. Additionally, learners who were exposed to MPC instruction outperformed the control group in almost all aspects of metacognitive awareness. Results indicated that less skilled learners could benefit from a metacognitive approach to listening instruction in the selected EFL setting. Pedagogical implications are discussed.
Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the relationship between extramural English and learners’ language proficiency. However, the majority of the studies have focussed on vocabulary knowledge. Less is known about extramural English and learners’ motivation, reading and listening proficiency. Further, few studies have focused on English-as-a-foreign language learners attending technical education. The main objective of this study is to investigate whether extramural English is related to the motivation, language anxiety, listening and reading proficiency of three distinct groups of participants: grade 6 (age 11-12), grade 8 (age 13-14) and grade 10 (age 15-16) learners. Data were collected with 108 learners. All participants were administered a questionnaire and a listening and reading comprehension test. The findings suggest that learners are frequently exposed to English in their spare time. The results also indicate that grade 6 learners were already capable of performing listening tasks at the A2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, even though they had not had any English lessons in school yet. Watching non-subtitled TV in English appeared to be positively related with both listening and reading proficiency. Finally, relationships were found between various extramural English activities and factors concerning motivation and anxiety.
To provide a comprehensive estimate of Korean college students’ lexical competence, this study compared L2 learners’ (EFL) use of single words and collocations with that of native speakers (NSs). The study compiled two text corpora, one from an existing native corpus and the other with texts from Korean EFL learners at three proficiency levels. There were significant differences between the two corpora in lexical diversity, although the difference between advanced EFL learners and NSs was non-significant, indicating that advanced learners were on par with NSs in terms of using a diverse range of words. In a comparison of lexical distribution of single words, however, these advanced learners were found to use words between the 1K and 4K level, whereas NSs used words beyond this level. This suggests the need to cover a wider range of words in classroom teaching and assessment. Regarding collocational knowledge, the difference between the NSs and EFL group was apparent and statistically significant, regardless of learners’ proficiency levels. Namely, EFL learners used far fewer collocations in a smaller range than their counterparts. The learners’ limited collocational competence indicates that collocations should be considered an integral component of the curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
Critical reading (Fairclough, 1989, 1995; Kress, 1985; Wallace, 2003) is considered to be one of the instruments that gives the necessary resources to construct meaning in discourse. This paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test post-test design on students in the 6th year of primary education (10-11 years old) enrolled in two schools in Spain, one school located in the Basque Country (Content and Language Integrated, CLIL group) and the other in Cantabria (English as a Foreign Language, EFL group). Altogether four groups were selected: CLIL-experimental, CLIL-control, EFL-experimental and EFL-control. The experimental groups received critical reading strategy instruction for seven weeks while the control groups continued with regular classes. The one-way ANCOVA results showed that students in both the CLIL and EFL programmes developed greater mastery in critical reading after the teaching protocol. However, and contrary to our initial hypothesis, experimental students from the EFL context outperformed the CLIL learners. The novelty of the critical reading awareness protocol seemed to have a greater influence on the EFL students, who, unlike the CLIL students, were not so familiar with strategy learning. The new training procedure helped them to promote higher order critical reading skills, taking more advantage of the whole strategy learning protocol.
The present exploratory study analyzed the effect of two different implementations of repeated reading (massed vs. spaced) on the online processing of the text and unknown vocabulary, as well as on incidental vocabulary learning. The relationship between processing and learning of target vocabulary in massed versus spaced repeated reading was also examined. A group of Spanish undergraduate students read the same text in English three times under either a massed (three times consecutively) or spaced (once a week) schedule, while their eye movements were recorded. Knowledge of a set of target words from the text was assessed in immediate and delayed multiple-choice, meaning-recognition tests. The results of this study suggest that repeated reading led to a decrease in total reading time and number of fixations in the massed group but not in the spaced group. However, there were no significant differences between the two conditions in the processing of target words or immediate vocabulary gains. Finally, it was observed that longer processing time on the target words was related to larger immediate vocabulary gains, but only in the spaced group.
The goal of this paper is to investigate the relations between translation trainees’ self-efficacy and hormonal and subjective responses to the stressful situation of translating under strict time constraints and how these may impact their actual translation performance. With that purpose in mind, participants completed a questionnaire in which they were asked about their self-efficacy beliefs (Costa, Serrano, Salvador, 2016) and two other self-reported questionnaires: the State-and-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, and Jacobs, 1983), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, and Tellegen, 1988). They were asked to translate three comparable literary texts from English into Spanish under different time limit conditions. When finished, they completed a questionnaire on their perceptions and feelings about their performance. Besides, five cortisol salivary samples were collected at different points in time during the experimental session. Overall, our results showed that self-efficacy beliefs are a protective factor against stress that reduces the negative impact of translating under time-pressure conditions. Regarding translation quality, trainees with higher self-efficacy seem to produce less accurate target texts in terms of meaning under stringent time pressure than students with lower self-efficacy beliefs. Moreover, a higher level of cortisol seems to have a beneficial effect on accuracy for the same condition.
Over the past few years, there has been a surge in scholarly attention about the role of emotions in second-language acquisition. There is a consensus among researchers that emotions play a crucial part in learning a new language. The emotional experiences of language learners, such as anxiety, enjoyment, and motivation, have been studied, and strategies to promote positive emotions and decrease negative emotions have been identified. Motivated by a recent academic interest in boredom, this study investigated the effects of foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), and classroom environment (CE) on learners' foreign language learning boredom (FLLB). A sample of 481 college students enrolled in English classes took part in the study. There were significant correlations of FLCA, FLE, and FLLB with CE. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that students' FLCA, FLE, and CE were significant predictors of their FLLB, with FLCA being the strongest predictor, followed by FLE and CE. The independent predictive effects of FLCA, FLE, and CE outweighed the interactive effects between CE and FLCA, CE and FLE, and FLCA and FLE. Pedagogical implications are discussed based on the results.
A considerable body of research within the Socio-cultural theory (Lantolf & Appel, 1994) examines how learners express their linguistic gaps verbally, or question their own or others’ language use when writing collaboratively, i.e., produce Languagerelated episodes (LREs; Swain & Lapkin, 1998). Several studies have also explored the effect that different patterns of interaction (Storch, 2002) have on the production of LREs with adult learners (e.g., Mozaffari, 2017; Storch & Aldosari 2013), but little research has compared the effect of these patterns of interaction and pair formation method (i.e., student-selected and proficiency-matched) on young EFL learners’ ability to attend to language, and much less on the type of grammatical features they focus on in LREs. This study examines young EFL learners’ (aged 10-12) production of LREs and pair dynamics in student-selected vs. proficiency-matched groups while completing a collaborative writing task. It was found that young EFL learners mainly exhibit a collaborative type of dynamics and resolved more LREs accurately, together with expert-novice groups. Matched proficiency was more beneficial, as these groups produced more target-like LREs. As per the type of form-focused LREs produced, these young learners focused primarily on spelling issues and less on grammatical knowledge-induced ones.
