second-language (l2) acquisition is generally thought to be constrained by maturational factors that circumscribe a critical period for native-like attainment. consistent with the maturational view are age effects among learners who begin l2 acquisition prior to, but not after, closure of the putative critical period. some studies indicate that native-like acquisition of a second language by le...

speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced as means of effective communication. speaking skill is regarded one of the most difficult aspects of language learning. many language learners find it difficult to express themselves in spoken language. they are generally facing problems to use the foreign language to express their thoughts effectively. they stop talking ...

Task-based language Teaching (TBLT) has occupied the pertinent literature for some long years. However, the role of specific task type in developing specific skill type seems to be amongst the intact issues in the literature. To shed more light on this issue, the present study was conducted to compare the effect of jigsaw and decision-making tasks on improving listening and speaking abilities o...

Hearing aid amplification remains as the only effective intervention method for people suffering from sensory hearing loss with cochlea origin. The design and validation of hearing aid amplification algorithms is based on the speech acoustics of non-tonal languages such as English. Chinese tonal languages (such as Cantonese and Mandarin) are fundamentally different from non-tonal languages that...

With over a decade of fruitful Universal Grammar (UG)-based research in second language acquisition (SLA), White (in press) suggests that "...perhaps the time has come to stop asking the broad question: is UG available to second language (L2) learners or not? ... but it is now the turn of a somewhat more detailed focus on the precise nature of the linguistic competence of language learners". Th...