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This coda article offers unified theoretical accounts of the major findings of the empirical studies in this special issue of Optimizing Second Language Practice in the Classroom: Perspectives from Cognitive Psychology. We present a theoretical framework from cognitive psychology (desirable difficulty framework) and link it to the ideas of second language (L2) difficulty. We argue that practice condition, linguistic difficulty, and individual differences need to be taken into account for creating optimal, deliberate, and systematic L2 practice. The desirable difficulty framework may serve as a theoretical foundation to better understand the role of practice on L2 acquisition, as well as to gain insights into effective L2 teaching. Future directions for research are presented to further develop this emerging field of L2 practice.

In the coda chapter of the special issue on second language (L2) practice and cognitive psychology, we proposed a theoretical framework for optimizing and researching L2 practice (Suzuki, Nakata, & DeKeyser, 2019). Rogers and Leow's commentary (2020) raised three potential issues regarding this framework, and the present response article aims at addressing them. First, we introduce two recent studies to illustrate the importance of expounding on learning processes during L2 practice. Second, we argue that our framework can guide researchers to systematically investigate multiple key factors toward a more comprehensive picture of L2 learning. Last, we expect that L2 practice research can potentially lead to broader pedagogical implications beyond classroom teaching (material development and technology‐mediated learning).

Two experiments examined the hypothesis that L1 phonological awareness plays a role in children’s ability to extract morphological patterns of English as L2 from the auditory input. In Experiment 1, 84 Chinese-speaking third graders were tested on whether they extracted the alternation pattern between the base and the derived form (e.g., inflate – inflation ) from multiple exposures. Experiment 2 further assessed children’s ability to use morphological cues for syntactic categorization through exposures to novel morphologically varying forms (e.g., lutate vs. lutant ) presented in the corresponding sentential positions (noun vs. verb). The third-grade EFL learners revealed emergent sensitivity to the morphological cues in the input but failed in fully processing intraword variations. The learners with poorer L1 PA were likely to encounter difficulties in identifying morphological alternation rules and in discovering the syntactic properties of L2 morphology. In addition to L1 PA, L2 vocabulary knowledge also contributed significantly to L2 morphological learning.

This study examines the relationships among intrinsic motivation, critical variables related to technology adoption, and students’ behavioral intention in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). To test the hypothesized model through a path analysis, 169 survey responses were collected from undergraduate students who were foreign language learners of English in a Chinese research university. The results indicated that although intrinsic motivation did not have a direct influence on students’ behavioral intention in MALL, it had a positive influence on students’ behavioral intention through the two intervening variables, perceived usefulness and task technology fit. Perceived ease of use, however, was not associated with students’ behavioral intention directly, nor was it predicted by intrinsic motivation. The findings suggested proper instructional design that is aligned with and supports the language learning task was important to increase students’ behavioral intention to adopt mobile devices for language learning.

This study examined the sources of reading comprehension difficulties in English language learners (ELLs). The characteristics of ELL poor comprehenders were compared to their English as a first language (EL1) peers. Participants included 124 ELLs who spoke Chinese as an L1 and 79 EL1 students. Using a regression technique based on age, non-verbal reasoning, word reading accuracy, and word reading fluency, three types of comprehenders (poor, average, and good) were identified within each language group. The groups were then compared on measures of oral language skills (vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and listening comprehension), metalinguistic skills (morphological awareness and syntactic awareness), working memory, and higher-level processing skills (inference, conjunction use, and comprehension monitoring). ELL poor comprehenders had significantly lower scores than ELL average and good comprehenders on vocabulary breadth, listening comprehension, and morphological awareness, whereas there were no significant differences between the average and good comprehender groups on these skills. Additionally, both ELL poor and average comprehenders had lower scores than ELL good comprehenders on all three higher-level skills. Finally, results showed that ELL poor comprehenders scored lower than EL1 poor comprehenders on vocabulary breadth, listening comprehension, and morphological awareness, but the two groups did not differ on higher-level skills. Theoretical and educational implications for the identification and instruction of ELL poor comprehenders are discussed.

Measures of syntactic complexity such as mean length of T-unit have been common measures of language proficiency in studies of second language acquisition. Despite the ubiquity and usefulness of such structure-based measures, they could be complemented with measures based on usage-based theories, which focus on the development of not just syntactic forms but also form-meaning pairs, called constructions (Ellis, 2002). Recent cross-sectional research (Kyle & Crossley, 2017) has indicated that indices related to usage-based characteristics of verb argument construction (VAC) use may be better indicators of writing proficiency than structure-based indices of syntactic complexity. However, because cross-sectional studies can only show general trends across proficiency benchmarks, it is important to test these findings in individuals over time (Lowie & Verspoor, 2019). Thus, this study investigates the developmental trajectories of second language learners of English across two academic years with regard to syntactic complexity and VAC sophistication.

Elicited imitation (EI), a short-cut measure of global proficiency in second language (L2) research, requires participants to listen to sentences and repeat them as closely as possible. To support instrument sharing and assessment of L2 proficiency for longitudinal and crosslinguistic research, we created a parallel form of an EI task (EIT) for L2 English originally developed by the third author and colleagues and investigated the reliability and validity of the original and new forms. Eighty-two participants completed the two EITs, an oral narrative task, and a self-diagnostic survey. Both forms exhibited high reliability and good alignment with external criterion measures. Both distinguished well among four proficiency levels in the sample. Further, participants’ perception of EI difficulty aligned well with their EI scores. We suggest some improvements to boost forms equivalence and discuss new insights about the nature of EI as reconstructive, integrative, modality independent, and with indirect links to communicative abilities. Our study seeks to make this English EIT instrument widely useful to the L2 research community.

Foreign language anxiety has influenced reading achievement in English as a second language learning (ESL). However, less is known about how foreign language anxiety affects Chinese students learning English as L2 and the interplay between foreign language anxiety and cognitive-linguistic factors on L2 reading performance. This longitudinal study examined the impact of foreign language anxiety on English word reading and the mediating effect of cognitive-linguistic skills between foreign language anxiety and English word reading in a sample of 177 grades 2 to 3 ESL Chinese students at risk of English learning difficulties. Foreign language anxiety was assessed using parent-rated and child-rated questionnaires at T1. Students were assessed on English word reading at T1 and T2 and cognitive-linguistic skills: phonological awareness, expressive vocabulary knowledge, and working memory at T1. Path analysis showed that parent-rated foreign language anxiety significantly predicted T1 English word reading after controlling for working memory. However, child-rated foreign language anxiety did not significantly predict English word reading. Moreover, mediation analysis showed that parent-rated foreign language anxiety significantly predicted T2 English word reading through T1 English word reading and expressive vocabulary knowledge. Findings highlight the impact of foreign language anxiety on L2 word reading and suggest that mothers’ involvement in children’s ESL is essential.

Reading is an essential skill for students to perform effectively and successfully in any academic setting. This skill is vital for foreign language learners as it provides chances for students to be exposed to English in input-poor settings. English as a foreign language students’ reading skills in diverse contexts remain substandard due to the lack of necessary input and efficient instructional methodologies. Thus, we review the literature on three common reading instructional approaches: the intensive reading (IR) approach, the extensive reading (ER) approach, and the blended IR and ER approach. This review summarizes the existing literature on IR, ER, and blended IR and ER and provides the critical appraisal of existing scholarly literature from several aspects, including reading approach, research design, research context, data analysis method, and the results of various studies of reading approaches. Finally, we present several future research directions in the field of reading research.

In successful writing development, English as a foreign language (EFL) learners not only need to acquire grammatical complexity (GC) features but also know when and how to use them flexibly across communicative contexts, known as register flexibility. The present study, guided by the sociocultural theory of language learning, examines descriptive features and developmental patterns of register flexibility, operationalized as cross-register variations in GC features in academic and colloquial writing. The sample contains 205 late adolescent and adult EFL learners, each completing two writing tasks designed to address distinct audiences, purposes, and channels of communication. Using corpus-based descriptive measures (i.e., Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English), the study analyzes a variety of structural forms and syntactic functions relevant to differentiating academic and colloquial registers. Results reveal that EFL learners show clear cross-register variations in GC features prevalent in the academic register (e.g., finite noun-complement clauses and phrasal noun modifiers) but a lack of cross-register variation in GC features prevalent in the colloquial register (e.g., non-finite adverbial and verb-complement clauses). English proficiency is found to be associated with register flexibility in only one GC feature: phrasal noun modifiers. The study adds to the growing body of research that emphasizes combining grammatical forms and communicative functions in EFL writing instruction and measurement.