Abstract Second language (L2) teachers may shy away from self-assessments because of warnings that students are not accurate self-assessors. This information stems meta-analyses in which self-assessment scores on average did correlate highly with proficiency test results. However, researchers mostly used Pearson correlations, when polyserial could be used. Furthermore, today can computer adapti...

A critical period for language learning is often defined as a sharp decline in learning outcomes with age. This study examines the relevance of the critical period for English-speaking proficiency among immigrants in the USA. It uses microdata from the 2000 US Census, a model of language acquisition and a flexible specification of an estimating equation based on 64 age-at-migration dichotomous ...

This paper investigates the influence of probabilistic information in the second language on the processing of English dative alternation constructions in German learners of English. We present two eye-tracking studies (visual world and reading) with evidence that the probabilistic patterns of the target language influence L2 processing when the initial preference is violated, and indications t...

This study investigated how speech recognition in noise is affected by language proficiency for individual non-native speakers. The recognition of English and Chinese sentences was measured as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in sixty native Chinese speakers who never lived in an English-speaking environment. The recognition score for speech in quiet (which varied from 15%-92%) was...

This study introduces and evaluates a computerized approach to measuring Japanese L2 oral proficiency. We present a testing and scoring method that uses a type of structured speech called elicited imitation (EI) to evaluate accuracy of speech productions. Several types of language resources and toolkits are required to develop, administer, and score responses to this test. First, we present a c...

Metaphoric competence is an essential part of language concept fluency and communicative competence.Since metaphor is pervasive in language, when Chinese second language (L2) learners are engaged in reading process, one of the barriers to influence their comprehension is metaphor. This paper aims to empirically investigate the relationship between the receptive metaphoric competence and reading...

This study investigates a variety of rhythm metrics on two corpora of non-native spontaneous speech and compares the nonnative distributions to values from a corpus of native speech. Several of the metrics are shown to differentiate well between native and non-native speakers and to also have moderate correlations with English proficiency scores that were assigned to the non-native speech. The ...

The ongoing question of whether negative transfer speech acts increases or decreases with gains in L2 proficiency has brought mixed results, some arguing that (Bu, 2012; Morkus, 2018) and others the opposite (Maeshiba, Yoshinaga, Kasper, & Ross, 2006). In response, this study measured frequency content refusals among 33 beginning 49 intermediate Japanese students English. Twenty-three Engli...

Background: The present study examined the validity of a university-based speaking assessment (Test of Oral Proficiency in English, TOPE for short) in mainland China. The speaking assessment was developed to meet the standards (Standard for Oral Proficiency in English, SOPE for short) set for teaching and learning of the oral English by the university. Methods: The degree of interaction among c...