oral communication strategies are conscious techniques that l2 interlocutors employ to overcome the communication breakdowns in the target language. hence, they can help to promote the effectiveness of communication ability. however, it must be noted that many variables can influence the use of these strategies. the present study, therefore, aimed to investigate the role of language proficiency...

the present study intended to propose a causal model of factors that would predict oral communication apprehension (oca) of iranian learners of english as a foreign language. to conduct the study, 135 male and female university students majoring in english were selected. five variables including: learners’self-esteem and introversion/extroversion(as independent variables), their gender and prof...

Several English and Spanish language tests currently used in bilingual education and some less known tests are reviewed, looking at both historic and psychometric factors. It is suggested that practitioners have commonly assumed that all language tests are basically valid, which contributed to the commercial success of some tests of questionable validity, ill-suited to the purpose of educationa...

Since the advent of new technology for learning, innovative language instructors have been constantly seeking new pedagogy to match the potential of technology-enhanced instruction. While previous studies have supported the adoption of technologies to facilitate language teaching and learning, research into enhancing English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ oral proficiency by creating an ...

OBJECTIVE To document oral language proficiency in a group of prelingually deaf bilingual children with a cochlear implant. DESIGN Using a repeated-measures paradigm, oral language skills in the first and second language were evaluated at 2 yearly intervals after implantation. Language data were compared with normative data from children with normal hearing. SUBJECTS Twelve deaf children be...

This paper is to examine Mandarin rhythm spoken in Taiwan. Oral recordings of twenty speakers who took the National Exam of Qualified Mandarin Teachers held in Taiwan in 2010. Based on the oral scores, they were evenly divided into two different groups: high oral proficiency (HOP) and low oral proficiency (LOP). Rhythmic correlates in sentence reading were analyzed from two perspectives: (a) pi...

The field of language testing has long led the way in integrative, performance-based assessment. However, the use of technology in language testing has often meant limiting assessment options. We believe computermediated language assessment can enrich opportunities for language learners to demonstrate what they are able to do with their second language. In this paper, we describe the rationale ...

We describe first results obtained during the development of an automatic system for the assessment of spoken English proficiency of university students. The ultimate aim of this system is to allow fast, consistent and objective assessment of oral proficiency for the purpose of placing students in courses appropriate to their language skills. Rate of speech (ROS) was chosen as an indicator of f...