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This study examined whether a younger starting age is advantageous in a situation of minimal exposure to an instructed foreign language (≤ 4 hours classroom contact per week). Previous theoretical and empirical studies indicated there should be no advantage for an earlier start. Japanese college students who started studying English between ages three and twelve (n = 61) were examined on a phonemic discrimination (ɹ/l/w) and grammaticality judgement task (GJT). After controlling for language aptitude and amount of input, statistical correlations were found between starting age and scores on the GJT (r = -.38) but not the phonemic task (r = .03). These earlier starters were also compared to peers who began study in junior high at age twelve or thirteen (n = 139) on the same measures. The earlier starters were found to score statistically higher on the phonemic but not morphosyntactic measure, and this remained true in an ANCOVA analysis where total amount of hours of study input were controlled for. A robust ANCOVA testing for differences at different levels of input found interesting interactions between group affiliation and amount of input. Language attitudes were also tested. The evidence shows there can be perceivable age effects for linguistic measures even in a situation of minimal exposure to a foreign language, but these may not emerge until a substantial amount of input has been gained.

In line with Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), the aim of the paper is to examine dynamics and causality among the growth rates of lexical sophistication in L2 writing development. The study was based on The Written English Developmental Corpus of Polish Learners (WEDCPL) which consists of over 1,900 essays composed during 21 repeated measurements by 100 learners over three years (2014–2017) at secondary school. Lexical sophistication, operationalised as different frequency levels, was analysed with the Lextutor software (Cobb 2014). The results indicated that the learners relied on the first frequency level. The monthly growth rates (MGRs) of the frequency levels were variable but no significant peaks were registered. The relationships between the average semester growth rates (ASGRs) revealed competition between the first and higher frequency levels, and some support between the higher levels. Thus, developing learners’ lexis beyond the first level counteracts the production of lexically unsophisticated texts and supports the use of more advanced words.

This meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of data-driven learning (DDL) among low-proficiency L2 English learners, addressing the mixed results found in previous meta-analyses. The study incorporated 38 studies involving 2085 participants, yielding 37 effect sizes from control-experimental (C/E) studies and 42 from pre- and post-test (P/P) studies. The findings demonstrated that DDL had a medium effect in C/E studies (g = 0.71) and a large effect in P/P studies (g = 1.43). The moderator analyses, based on the corpus-based language pedagogy (CBLP) framework by Ma et al. (2022), examined 7 pedagogical moderators. The results reaffirmed the efficacy of DDL in teaching lexicogrammatical items and suggested DDL's curriculum flexibility; the duration of DDL did not significantly impact its effectiveness. Unique to this meta-analysis were findings that DDL was more effective for low-proficiency L2 learners of English when employing the following pedagogical strategies that cater to the cognitive-social nature of DDL: (1) utilizing paper-based concordancing to facilitate the pedagogical processing of corpus resources, (2) leveraging learners' first language (L1) to improve comprehension of concordance meanings, (3) applying interactive communication with teacher verbal guidance or teacher verbal feedback attuned to learner responsiveness, and (4) providing teacher support in collaborative work to reduce the collaborative cognitive load on learners. Finally, this study proposed a holistic approach to CBLP design tailored to low-proficiency L2 learners, which presents an essential frontier for future research.

This study examines how Albanian adult learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) acquire the progressive aspect, using the Aspect Hypothesis (AH) as the theoretical framework. The AH posits that the aspectual characteristics of verbs shape the acquisition of tense-aspect distinctions. The research aims to determine whether these learners follow universal developmental patterns in acquiring the progressive form. Data was collected from written tasks completed by Albanian undergraduate students (years 1-3). The analysis shows that while learners’ use of the progressive marker \"-ing\" largely aligns with AH predictions, there are notable deviations, particularly the overextension of the marker to stative verbs. Learners predominantly use the progressive with activities, with limited and sporadic application to achievements and accomplishments, reflecting incomplete acquisition. These findings provide new insights into the application of the Aspect Hypothesis for Albanian learners and offer valuable recommendations for refining teaching methods and curriculum design in ESL education.

As the number of English medium instruction (EMI) courses around the world continues to increase, so too does the number of teachers operating in EMI. Previous research on EMI teachers has investigated teacher identity construction, teacher development, perspectives on the role of language in teaching and learning, and classroom practices. However, much existing literature on EMI teachers tends to treat them as a homogeneous group and overlooks the heterogeneity that may offer additional and more nuanced insights into teachers working on the frontlines of EMI. To address this gap, the present study emphasizes the heterogeneity of EMI teachers by investigating two groups of teachers working in the Swedish EMI context: Swedish EMI teachers and expatriate EMI teachers in Sweden. Employing qualitative semi-structured interviews analyzed through deductive content analysis, it examines between-group variables such as whether teachers share a first language with students and the amount and location(s) of their EMI teaching experience. The interviews covered the following topics: teacher background and development; views on student group characteristics; and perspectives on student English proficiency. Comparisons between the Swedish teachers and the expatriate teachers in Sweden show several overlaps but also divergences, including the impact of having EMI experience from multiple contexts and the option of translanguaging.

Engagement plays an important role in students’ success in learning. While learner engagement has been widely examined, the degree to which learners engage in online learning and the relationship between online engagement and learning outcomes, particularly in the domain of second/foreign (L2) language learning, still remain under-explored. To bridge the gap, this study examined college L2 English learners’ profiles of online engagement and their learning outcomes. A total of 85 first-year college students participated in this study. The results showed that college students’ online L2 English learning engagement is multidimensional, including behaviroral, cognitive, affective, and social facets. Additionally, students’ actual behavioral (e.g., task engagement time and task completion rate) and self-perceived online engagement (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, and affective online engagement) are significantly correlated. Nonetheless, among the two levels of online engagement measures, only task score in the actual behavioural engagement is a positive predictor of students’ learning outcomes. The study concludes with practical implications for online teaching.

Psycholinguistic studies have argued for the age of acquisition (AoA) of words as a marker of concept learning, showing that the semantic features of concepts themselves influence the age at which their labels are learned. However, empirical evidence suggests that semantic features such as imageability and linguistic phenomena such as frequency do not adequately predict AoA. The present study takes the developmental approach of embodied cognition and investigates the effects of sensorimotor experiences on the ease of acquisition of the concept acquired in bilinguals. Specifically, we investigated (1) whether the sensorimotor experience can explain AoA beyond frequency; (2) and whether these patterns are consistent across L1 Chinese and L2 English. We conducted sensorimotor rating measures in both Chinese and English on 207 items in which Chinese-English bilingual adults were requested to evaluate the extent to which they experienced concepts by employing six perceptual senses and five effectors for actions located in various regions of the body. Meanwhile, data on AoA and frequency were collected. The present study showed the sensorimotor experience was closely linked with AoAs in both languages. However, the correlation analysis revealed a trend of higher correlations between AoAs for the same concepts and L1 Chinese, relative to L2 English for the present Chinese-English bilinguals. Importantly, the hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that after controlling for frequency, sensorimotor experience explained additional variance in L1 AoA. However, L2 sensorimotor experience did not explain the variance in L2 AoA. Sensorimotor experience explained more share of variance in L1 AoA but frequency accounted for more variance in L2 AoA. The findings suggest that concept acquisition should consider the grounding in appropriate sensorimotor experience beyond linguistic phenomena like frequency.

Studies in second language acquisition (SLA) increasingly rely on measures of linguistic complexity to assess second language (L2) proficiency and development. While an important number of studies have risen to the call of studying a broader range of complexity related constructs (Bulté and Housen, 2012; Norris and Ortega, 2009), few have examined morphological complexity, instead focusing on syntax and lexis. The use of morphology measures is especially warranted in light of complexity trade-offs believed to occur both in language development – when growth in one linguistic domain (e.g. syntax) is temporarily prioritized over growth in another (e.g. morphology) – as well as crosslinguistically, in the form of balancing effects between different domains of the linguistic system. From both a cross-linguistic and developmental perspective, then, the current emphasis in SLA research on measures of syntactic complexity does not comprehensively gauge overall (grammatical) complexity in learner data. This study focuses on the development of morphological complexity using three previously proposed measures based on the notion of morphological diversity, with special attention to the verbal inflectional system (Horst and Collins, 2006; Malvern et al., 2004; Pallotti, 2015). Not only does the verbal system pose significant challenges to language learners, it is also the locus of important differences between inflectionally richer languages, like French, and inflectionally poorer languages, like English. The study investigates cross-linguistic differences in the development of morphological complexity and the effectiveness of the three morphological complexity measures as indicators of proficiency. The analyses were carried out on a multilingual corpus of 100 L2 French and 100 L2 English oral narratives, representing four different proficiency levels in both languages. Results indicate a more continuous increase of morphological complexity in L2 French than in L2 English and underline the importance of morphology as an essential component of a multidimensional view of linguistic complexity in SLA.

E-learning has been an important learning approach in the information era by providing flexible environments and rich resources for learners. However, it also faces several challenges, the biggest one being that students need to have strong self-regulation competence to control and manage their e-learning. As gamification has been widely used in primary education to facilitate children’s learning motivation and engagement, it is valuable to explore the impacts of gamification on children’s self-regulated learning. In this study, the role of gamification in children’s English learning in Hong Kong was investigated through a gamified e-learning system. A quasi-experiment with pre-test/post-test design was conducted among primary level 3 students over a semester. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through academic tests, questionnaires, and interviews to provide comprehensive insights into the research questions. The key findings enable the identification of: (1) students’ gaining of self-regulated learning interest and academic performance from the gamified learning system; (2) students’ developed self-regulated learning strategies; and (3) the connection between gamification and students’ self-regulated learning. These findings have implications for e-learning designers and educators with regards to the practice of gamified learning to enhance students’ self-regulated learning and second language learning.