This study investigated whether Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL learners hereafter) could use prosodic cues to resolve syntactically ambiguous sentences in English. 8 sentences with 3 types of syntactic ambiguity were adopted. They were far/near PP attachment, left/right word attachment and wide/narrow scope. In the production experiment, 15 Chinese college students who p...

Large phasic variations of respiratory mechanical impedance (Zrs) have been observed during induced expiratory flow limitation (EFL) (M. Vassiliou, R. Peslin, C. Saunier, and C. Duvivier. Eur. Respir. J. 9: 779-786, 1996). To clarify the meaning of Zrs during EFL, we have measured from 5 to 30 Hz the input impedance (Zin) of mechanical analogues of the respiratory system, including flow-limitin...

Language is not only the representation of thinking, but also shapes thinking. Studies on bilinguals suggest that a foreign language plays an important and unconscious role in thinking. In this study, a software-Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2007-was used to investigate whether the learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) can foster Chinese high school students' English analytic thin...

This study was designed to examine EFL student writers majoring in English as a foreign language at university level in Iran to describe their vocabulary related problems and the strategies they used to overcome these problems. Thirty EFL students were given a writing task for think-aloud composing. The resulting protocols were coded and analysed. The data were examined in relation to vocabular...

Structural priming refers to the tendency of speakers to reuse the same structural pattern as one that was previously encountered (Bock, 1986). The effectiveness of structural priming has been an issue of much discussion in the field of second language acquisition over decades. This study aims at investigating the role of structural priming in Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learner...

Verschueren’s Linguistic Adaptation Theory (1999) provides the theoretical framework for the study on codeswitching in EFL classroom. It views code-switching as an adaptive phenomenon in the interaction between people and their conditions of life. Based on Verschueren’s Linguistic Adaptation Theory, the present paper gave a qualitative analysis of the adaptability that teachers’ code-switching ...

This study adds to the body of empirical knowledge regarding the use of music in the EFL classroom. This original investigation centered around the following question: Does listening repetition, song likeability, and/or song understandability influence learning environment perceptions, learning perceptions, and/or learning outcomes in Taiwanese EFL learners engaged in web-based music study? The...

It is generally acknowledged that motivation plays a critical role in second-language (L2) reading. The technology-enhanced learning environment, specifically the computer-assisted reading environment as an interactive tool with distinctive attributes, is said to motivate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners to make more sustained efforts in online reading and show greater perseverance....

Metacognitive knowledge is knowledge about learning. Recent research suggests that metacognitive knowledge plays an important function in cognitive activities concerning language use and acquisition. This paper aims to investigate the role of metacognitive knowledge in the English writing of Chinese EFL learners. The present study involves 120 non-English major freshmen in China as participants...