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The research reported in this article explores the relationship between Dörnyei's (2005, 2009) Second Language Motivational Self System (L2MSS) and the L2 proficiency level of Saudi learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Male and female participants (N = 360) responded to a questionnaire relating to the main components of L2MSS, the ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self, and the L2 learning experience, as well as learners' intended learning efforts. The participants' L2 proficiency was then measured with an EFL reading and writing test. Descriptive and inferential analyses of the collected data revealed-as expected-that the components of the L2MSS were a good predictor of the learners' intended learning efforts. However, the study also established that in this learner population these components were not consistently correlated with L2 achievement. The findings can be treated as evidence that self-reported motivation does not always have behavioral consequences. (Verlag).

This article summarizes some of the main issues, concerns, and debates that have ensued over the years in the field of L2 assessment and shows how past concerns have shaped contemporary L2 assessment research and practice. The article first describes what L2 assessment is and what it entails, arguing that notions of L2 assessment have been broadened over the years to keep pace with contemporary interpretations of how information from assessments in large-scale or classroom contexts is used to make decisions. It then describes in some detail four approaches to construct definition, showing how these approaches have influenced what gets assessed. Finally, the paper discusses a range of other topics of current and future importance for L2 assessment theory, research, and practice.

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 on Extramural English (EE) explores trends and empirical findings of EE and its impact on second language acquisition (SLA). The article analyses empirical studies on EE to offer an extensive understanding of the role of EE in English language teaching (ELT), drawing on articles from Scopus, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis, and ERIC databases. As acquiring a second language through naturalistic ways is a need of the hour, studies to make L2 learning more effortless are constantly being conducted. Presented in three parts, the article provides an overview of existing review papers, analyzes correlation-based studies on EE and various language outcomes, and examines intervention-based studies with EE implementation. Using this framework, the article uncovers patterns in research design, student backgrounds, targeted English language skills and teaching approaches. It highlights how EE contributes to language acquisition, vocabulary, listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills. The findings also indicate that EE benefits language learning, opens new learning methods, improves student motivation, and lowers stress and anxiety. Additionally, the article highlights the pedagogical implications of EE and its potential in fostering learner autonomy.

This exploratory study investigates the structural relationship between second language (L2) learning motivation, resilience, motivated behavior, and L2 proficiency among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in South Korea. The research questions are as follows: (1) What are the constructs of resilience and L2 learning motivation among L2 learners? (2) What is the structural relationship between L2 learning motivation, resilience, motivated behavior, and L2 proficiency? A five-point Likert-type questionnaire was administered to 152 college-level EFL learners. The findings of factor analysis demonstrated that resilience factors were divided into self-composure, sociability, life satisfaction, communicative efficacy, and realistic optimism. Four factors emerged regarding L2 learning motivation: recognition from others, Ideal L2 self, instrumental motivation, and Ought-to L2 self. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that these factors are independent constructs with conceptual validity. The final structural equation model showed that resilience influenced L2 proficiency through L2 learning motivation and motivated behavior.

This study empirically compares two often-utilized motivation theories in L2 studies: self-determination theory and the L2 motivational self system. It also examines the relationships among their motivational constructs, learners’ intended L2 learning effort, and L2 proficiency. While a number of studies have utilized these models in order to examine second language learners’ motivation, there has not been a thorough comparison of the two. Furthermore, while many studies have demonstrated the structural relationships between the motivational constructs of the two theories and the learner’s self-reported amount of effort, fewer studies have examined their L2 achievement. The results of this study indicated that the constituents in the two theories are correlated as predicted. Furthermore, while internalized types of motivation in self-determination theory predicted intended learning effort, which then led to L2 proficiency, the strength of the ideal L2 self was much weaker than the L2 learning experience, unlike what is argued in the theory.

The goal of this study was to examine how the lexical characteristics of L1 translated words affect L2 word recognition by Korean speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL) with different English proficiency levels. To this end, we conducted a lexical decision task, in which participants decided whether English strings were words or nonwords. The experiment had three critical conditions: (1) English words that only had a loanword translation in Korean (e.g., card ), (2) English words whose native word translation had a lower frequency than their loanword translation (e.g., coat ), and (3) English words whose native word translation had a higher frequency than their loanword translation (e.g., cash ). Results showed that English words whose native word translations in Korean were of high frequency were recognized faster than those with low frequency native word translations. More interestingly, the L1 native word frequency effect was stronger for speakers with lower English proficiency than for more proficient EFL speakers. These findings are discussed with respect to L2 lexical processing models.

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that bilingual experience shapes the intrinsic functional organization of the brain. However, the findings from different studies remain fragmented. This review synthesizes resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies examining how distinct dimensions of bilingual experience, including the age of L2 acquisition (AoA-L2), L2 proficiency (PL-L2), and usage of L2 (Usage-L2), modulate the resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and the intrinsic organization of the functional network. Earlier AoA-L2 is associated with stronger RSFC involving the language, attentional, and subcortical systems, whereas later acquisition is linked to compensatory increases in control and cerebellar-subcortical circuits. The evidence for PL-L2 indicates that bilinguals with higher proficiency exhibit increased RSFC within attentional, subcortical, and cerebellar networks, along with a more efficient and integrated organization of the whole-brain functional network. The frequency and contextual diversity of real-world Usage-L2 dynamically reshape intrinsic connectivity, with socially diverse language engagement enhancing cross-network integration in control, subcortical, and cerebello-cortical circuits, whereas routine home use is linked to more reduced or localized connectivity patterns. The current evidence reveals meaningful but fragmented patterns linking bilingual experience to intrinsic functional connectivity, largely due to conceptual inconsistencies, limited linguistic diversity, small samples, methodological heterogeneity, and the scarcity of longitudinal or multimodal designs. This review identifies seven priorities for future research to address these constraints and move toward a more unified account of bilingual neuroplasticity: establishing standardized and multidimensional measures of bilingual experience; expanding linguistic and sociocultural diversity; increasing statistical power and reproducibility; implementing longitudinal, training-based, and experience-sampling designs; harmonizing resting-state preprocessing and analytical pipelines; modeling nonlinear and interactive brain-experience relationships; and integrating multimodal neuroimaging to elucidate mechanistic pathways. Advances in these directions will enable the field to move beyond descriptive findings toward explanatory models that illuminate how different dimensions of bilingual experience dynamically reorganize the intrinsic functional architecture of the brain.

The currentstudy explores how L1 language background and L2 English proficiency influence SeoulKorean and Mandarin Chinese speakers' cue weighting patterns of VOT (voice onsettime) and post-onset f0 (fundamental frequency) in distinguishing stop voicing contrastin their L2 English. English, Seoul Korean, and Mandarin Chinese differ in the phoneticimplementation of their stop laryngeal contrasts. Stop VOT and post-onset f0 are relatedto the stop laryngeal contrasts in all three languages, but the role of these two phoneticcues differ (e.g., Whalen et al. 1993; Kang and Guion 2008; Guo and Kwon 2022). Inspeech production experiments including English voiceless and voiced stops, we finddifference between Seoul Korean and Mandarin Chinese speakers, providing evidencefor L1 influence on the learners' stop production. English proficiency also influencesthe phonetic implementation of the stop voicing contrast, but the proficiency effectsare complicated, interacting with gender and phonological factors. The effects of L1system on the L2 phonetic implementation, as well as the complexity of the proficiencyeffects, are explained by the phonetic distance between the target English sounds andthe closest L1 sounds, in the Speech Learning Model (Flege 1995). KCI Citation Count: 0

Bilinguals perform better in interpreting intentions, the pillar of irony comprehension. As bilingualism becomes normal, exploring the role of the second language (L2) in irony comprehension seems invaluable. Evidence suggests that L2 proficiency impacts irony processing in the native language (L1). Some studies highlight the positive role of L2 proficiency in L2 irony processing - irony comprehension may proceed comparably in L1 and L2 provided one is highly proficient in both languages. While some evidence shows that irony processing is less efficient in L2, other suggests that the processing difficulty in L1 and L2 is attenuated. I review various studies exploring irony comprehension in the bilingual context. It is suggested that bilinguals may be privileged irony comprehenders due to a better developed mentalizing capacity. Bilingual irony processing evidence is inconclusive and needs further exploration.