In this study an attempt was made to construct a multi-factor model predicting the development of reading literacy in the upper grades of primary school in the Netherlands for subgroups of 729 first language (L1) learners and 93 second language (L2) learners. Following a longitudinal design, it was explored to what extent the variation in reading literacy development in L1 and L2 from grade 4 t...

The present paper considers the perceived emotional weight of the phrase I love you in multilinguals’ different languages. The sample consists of 1459 adult multilinguals speaking a total of 77 different first languages. They filled out an on-line questionnaire with open and closed questions linked to language behavior and emotions. Feedback on the open question related to perceived emotional w...

this study examined the effect of the zpd-based discourse scaffolding on efl learners' co-construction of l2 metadiscourse performing collaborative writing tasks and explored the discourse scaffolding dynamics. the participants were 160 efl students that were assigned to four different treatment conditions: (i) formal teaching, (ii) input enhancement, (iii) non-zpd interaction, and (iv) zpd-bas...

This study draws on teacher perception data gathered from 65 secondary school modern languages (L2) teachers in South-East England. Data were collected via four iterations of an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews with six heads department. paper reports respondents’ perceived strengths development needs relation to their classroom practice, including: L2 teachers’ sense self-efficacy...

it is well documented that language learning success or failure is influenced by the affective side of the learner. self-efficacy and anxiety are among the affective factors influencing language learning. this study first explores the relationship between efl learners' self-efficacy in reading comprehension and their reading anxiety. secondly, it explores the relationship between efl learners' ...

Self-discrepancy theory contends that well-being depends, in part, on the amount of overlap between one's actual and ideal selves. There is a variety of supportive evidence, but Rabbi Hyman Schachtel's (1954, The real enjoyment of living, New York, NY, Dutton) contention that "happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have" (p. 37) highlights that a distinction between two pot...

Motivation can be conceptualized as a dynamic process which is a key contributor to mastering a second language. This study used the L2-Motivational Self System as the basis for a conceptual framework for studying the effects of external factors on learners' motivation. In particular, the role of teachers and parents was studied as the external facets of predicting learners' motivation. One hun...

In this paper, the segmentation of ultrasonic images using self-organizing neural networks (NN) is investigated. A modification of Learning Vector Quantizer (called L2 LVQ) is proposed so that the weight vectors of the output neurons correspond to the L2 mean instead of the sample arithmetic mean of the input observations. The convergence in the mean and in the mean square of the proposed varia...