The focus of the present study was to investigate the possible effects of sociocultural-based teaching techniques on EFL learners reading comprehension. The basic purpose was to clarify how learners reading comprehension and strategy use could be affected by the types of teaching techniques and how high and low proficiency learners profited from the intervention. Iranian EFL students were used ...

It is widely believed that adults cannot learn a foreign language in the same way that children learn a first language. However, recent evidence suggests that adult learners of a foreign language can come to rely on native-like language brain mechanisms. Here, we show that the type of language training crucially impacts this outcome. We used an artificial language paradigm to examine longitudin...

Abstract This study aimed at investigating the possible impact of gender and proficiency level on the relationship between autonomy and listening comprehension ability among Iranian low and high proficiency male and female EFL learners. One hundred six English learners, based on the results of Oxford Placement Test (OPT), version II, took part in this study. Both female and male learners with t...

This study investigates L1-L2 interactions in relatively young Mandarin (L1)-English (L2) bilingual children through comparing their static and dynamic vowel acoustic features with those of age-matched corresponding monolingual children. Two groups of sequential bilingual children aged 5-6 years (one with low proficiency in English and the other with high proficiency in English) were recorded p...

Relative hand preferences as indicated by questionnaire were compared with asymmetries in manual proficiency at three levels of task difficulty (N equal to 63 adults). Correlations between odd/even trial relative hand proficiency scores were .887 and .879 attesting to their stability. Test-retest (6-wk. interval) reliabilities for relative hand proficiency ranged from .831 to .893. Spearman rbo...

Recent research has shown that extensive training in and exposure to a second language can modify the language organization in the brain by causing both structural and functional changes. However it is not yet known how these changes are manifested by the dynamic brain oscillations and synchronization patterns subserving the language networks. In search for synchronization correlates of profici...