This is a longitudinal case study of two Farsi-speaking children learning English: ‘Bernard’ and ‘Melissa’, who were 7;4 and 8;4 at the start of data collection. The research deals with the initial state and further development in the child second language (L2) acquisition of syntax regarding the presence or absence of copula as a functional category, as well as the role and degree of L1 influe...

This study used an online second language (L2) vocabulary lesson to evaluate whether the physical body (i.e., embodiment) of a robot tutor has impact on how learner learns from robot. In addition, we tested individual differences in attitudes toward robots, first impressions robot, anxiety learning L2, and personality traits may be related L2 learning. One hundred Turkish-speaking young adults ...

Central to Vygotsky-inspired sociocultural theory (SCT) is the notion of ZPD seen by SLA researchers as a useful framework within which L2 teaching and learning can take place. Van Lier (2004) argues that the ZPD could be activated in diverse proximal contexts (PCs) and is not limited to the expert-novice scenario. . This study probed whether Iranian EFL learners' collaborative task performance...

The current study examined the impact of video-based conversational interaction on the longitudinal development (one academic semester) of second language (L2) production by collegelevel Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language learners. Students in the experimental group engaged in weekly, dyadic conversation exchanges with native speakers in the US via telecommunication tools, wherein the nativ...

The present paper looks at the issue of standardization in L2 oral testing. Whereas external examiners are frequently used globally, some countries opt for test-takers’ own teachers as examiners instead. In the present study, Sweden is used as a case in point, with a focus on the mandatory, high-stakes, summative, 9 th -grade national test in English (speaking part). The national test has the t...

This article presents the results of an analysis of reported interlocutors in Spanish in a group of heritage speakers (HS), in three communities of the US Midwest. Participants were college-aged bilinguals developing their own personal and professional networks outside the direct influence of their parents. Responses are compared with those from two control groups: college-aged native speakers ...