The current study investigates the influence of L2 proficiency on cognitive control among three matched groups of unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals. Flanker task was administered to measure conflict monitoring and inhibition, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) to measure mental set shifting. ANOVA analyses of the Flanker results showed no differences in inhibition across all groups and ...

The increasing number of experimental studies on second language (L2) processing, frequently with English as the L2, calls for a practical and valid measure of English vocabulary knowledge and proficiency. In a large-scale study with Dutch and Korean speakers of L2 English, we tested whether LexTALE, a 5-min vocabulary test, is a valid predictor of English vocabulary knowledge and, possibly, ev...

This paper investigates the use of promptbased content features for the automated assessment of spontaneous speech in a spoken language proficiency assessment. The results show that single highest performing promptbased content feature measures the number of unique lexical types that overlap with the listening materials and are not contained in either the reading materials or a sample response,...

Wedevelop aBayesian binary ItemResponseModel (IRM),whichwedenote as Test Anxiety Model (TAM), for estimating the proficiency scores when individuals might experience test anxiety. We consider order restricted item parameters conditionally to the examinees’ reported emotional state at the testing session.We consider three test anxiety levels: calm, anxious and very anxious. Using simulated data ...

Second language learners perform worse than native speakers under adverse listening conditions, such as speech in noise (SPIN). No data are available on heritage language speakers' (early naturalistic interrupted learners') ability to perceive SPIN. The current study fills this gap and investigates the perception of Russian speech in multi-talker babble noise by the matched groups of high- and ...

The latency of the brain response to semantic anomalies (N400 effect) has been found to be longer in a bilingual's second language (L2) than in their first language (L1) and/or to that seen in monolinguals. This has been explained in terms of late exposure to L2, although age of exposure and language proficiency are often highly correlated. We thus examined the relative contributions of these f...

The study was conducted to investigate how students’ multiple intelligences were related to their tolerance of ambiguity and English proficiency. Subjects were 173 English major students in a private university in northern Taiwan, including 49 males and 124 females. They helped to fill out questionnaires of Multiple Intelligences (MI) (Gardner, 1983) and Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity S...

Under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act of 1967 the Health Care Financing Administration's proficiency-testing requirement applies to approximately 12,000 hospital, reference, and large-clinic laboratories in the United States. The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene is approved by the Health Care Financing Administration to provide proficiency testing in all specialties and subspecialt...

Previous studies have shown that some English vowel contrasts remain difficult for English learners to perceive. This study investigated three potential factors affecting vowel perception: cross-language vowel systems, spectral distance, and language proficiency, for the discrimination and identification of English /ɪ/-/ε/, /ε/-/æ/, /ʊ/-/ʌ/, and /ʌ/-/ɒ/ contrasts in four groups of listeners: L1...

This paper reports findings from a study that assesses metacognitive awareness and reading-strategy use of Chinese senior high school students who are learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A total of 270 students responded to a 28-item survey of reading strategies (SORS). The strategies were classified into 3 categories: global, problemsolving, and support. The results showed that the s...