Language Teaching Research

Self-determination theory is one of the most established motivational theories both within second language learning and beyond. This theory has generated several mini-theories, namely: organismic integration theory, cognitive evaluation theory, basic psychological needs theory, goal contents theory, causality orientations theory, and relationships motivation theory. After providing an up-to-date account of these mini-theories, we present the results of a systematic review of empirical second language research into self-determination theory over a 30-year period (k = 111). Our analysis of studies in this report pool showed that some mini-theories were well-represented while others were underrepresented or absent from the literature. We also examined this report pool to note trends in research design, operationalization, measurement, and application of self-determination theory constructs. Based on our results, we highlight directions for future research in relation to theory and practice.

This study examined the effects of watching gestures and lip movement on second language (English) listening comprehension. The participants were 30 high and 22 low proficient learners of English. There were six listening tasks combining two variables: modality and difficulty. The modality consisted of three types of assessments: Body (the upper half of body was visible), Face (close up view), and Audio. The difficulty consisted of two levels: Easy and Hard. Learners watched Body, Face, or listened to Audio, and worked on six comprehension questions twice for each task. Moreover, the participants were asked about their modality of preference. The notable results were (1) the modality of listening had no influence on their listening performance, (2) for the high proficiency group, the score difference between the easy and the hard texts was larger at the second attempt than at the first attempt, (3) the participants generally preferred to watch the whole body, followed by watching the face, and then listening only, (4) the high proficiency group showed more variations of preference than the low proficiency group, and (5) the participants’ modality preference had no influence on their listening performance.

Language learner attitudes have been linked to motivation, willingness to communicate, and attainment in second language (L2) learning research. Yet, explorations of learner attitudes remain scarce, especially concerning learners' perspectives on the language instruction they receive in schools. To contribute to a more complete picture of L2 English instruction, we gathered data from 2,721 adolescent learners of English in German, Norwegian, and Polish schools through the English Language Teaching (ELT) Survey. Our measures of attitudes included summarized ratings of classes, semantic differentials, and responses to a reflective scale, all of which we subjected to inferential analyses. To explore the reasons behind learners' attitudes towards L2 English instruction, we supplemented quantitative data with qualitative insights and interpreted attitudinal differences in the three countries. Although the evaluations of English lessons appeared relatively positive, participants' perceptions of their L2 English instruction were largely unfavourable. English lessons were most often labelled monotonous by students learning in German and Polish schools. This remains in stark contrast to earlier findings on learners' attitudes to English as a school subject from various countries. At the same time, our analyses revealed statistically significant differences across the three countries, with students in Norwegian schools being the most enthusiastic about their L2 English classes, and students in

This study explored the role of dinner table conversations in language socialization within three Chinese immigrant families in the U.S., examining how these interactions shape linguistic competence and cultural transmission. Analysis of audio recordings revealed that children in these families actively participated in language socialization, with older children playing a key role in socializing younger siblings, particularly in heritage language maintenance. The findings highlighted that older children, often more proficient in the family's heritage language, acted as both recipients and agents of linguistic and cultural knowledge. Moreover, the study highlighted that birth order significantly influenced language socialization patterns, with older children frequently assuming the Hao Wu, current affiliation is School

Language learning behaviors, such as procrastination and engagement, are concrete actions closely linked to learning outcomes, but our understanding of them, especially procrastination, is limited. Boredom is a ubiquitous negative emotion among second language (L2) learners. In researching learning behaviors and boredom, previous L2 studies have rarely considered all the core motivational variables (cost, in particular), so a full account of motivational dynamics in L2 learning is still lacking. Additionally, current knowledge on how multiple motivational constructs function together at the individual level in shaping learning behaviors and boredom remains limited. The present study aims to address these gaps by using both variable-centered and person-centered approaches. Participants were 784 university students as L2 English learners. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed self-efficacy and task values predicted behaviors and boredom. Notably, cost stood out as a unique predictor of procrastination and boredom. Latent profile analyses identified four motivational profiles (highly motivated, moderately motivated, less motivated, and demotivated) which were statistically different in students’ behaviors and boredom. These findings provide theoretical and pedagogical implications.

While researchers in the second language (L2) field often consider that L2 anxiety determines subsequent L2 achievement, an emerging line of research suggests that language skills better predict L2 anxiety. This viewpoint has yet to be experimentally evaluated, and thus it motivated the present study. Two groups of university language students enrolled in the Department of English as an L2 were followed over one semester at three time points while taking a general university course unrelated to language learning. The experimental group received extra instruction (course unrelated) designed to expand their L2 vocabulary knowledge, including strategies for learning and using new vocabulary in real-life contexts over the whole semester. A typical teaching method was delivered to the control group. The conditional dual-domain latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) with grouping variable as a covariate was used to study the possible effect of the intervention on the trajectory of language anxiety and vocabulary knowledge. Results indicated that teaching vocabulary knowledge to the experimental group led to an increase in their L2 vocabulary achievement. In turn, the increase in L2 vocabulary significantly reduced students’ L2 anxiety. Notably, this reduction in anxiety was attributed solely to the improvement in vocabulary achievement, as teachers did not employ any anxiety-controlling strategies. In contrast, the control group showed no significant changes in L2 vocabulary knowledge or L2 anxiety, which aligns with typical observations in standard learning settings. Findings from the present experimental study support the idea that increasing students’ L2 achievement (e.g. vocabulary) through providing practical resources, strategies, and opportunities for using the language (even with minor errors) can reduce their L2 anxiety. According to our findings, using language-enhancing strategies, rather than anxiety-reducing ones, can more effectively help reduce L2 anxiety.

This study investigates the relative online effects of structured-input practice on the acquisition of English passive and active sentences. The main purpose of this study is to compare native and non-native processing of English active and passive sentences. Non-native Chinese first language (L1) learners (26 participants) received structured-input instructional treatment on the target feature under investigation. After instruction, accuracy and response-time effects of the instructional efforts were measured using a self-paced reading test adopted to measure participant’s processing behaviours on passive and active verb forms. The native learners (17 participants) provided a baseline for comparisons. The main findings from this online study revealed that non-native participants were not statistically different, after receiving the structured-input treatment, from the native participants in terms of correctly processing sentences containing English active and passive constructions.

English is widely recognized as the language of science in the globalized world, with many higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) adopting it as their medium of instruction. This study used the qualitative research approach of phenomenography to investigate engineering students’ experiences and conceptions of learning English as a foreign language at a university in the UAE. Four distinct conceptions of learning English as a foreign language emerged: Learning English as cultural experience, learning English as reward, learning English as global opportunity, and learning English as compliance. The findings revealed variations across four themes of expanding awareness within the phenomenon: the value of English as a foreign language, the nature of language, the source of language, and the role of others in language learning. The implications of these conceptions and variations in designing teaching and learning that engages students in deep approaches to learning are discussed, particularly in the context of mandatory courses in English as a foreign language.

Despite the growing interest in evaluating contextualized task-based language teaching (TBLT), evaluation studies in ‘difficult contexts’, such as monolingual English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts with low-proficiency learners, remain limited. Employing a macro-evaluation framework, this study evaluates a TBLT program implemented in English for specific purposes (ESP) classrooms with low-proficiency learners in an EFL context. The course comprised two cycles of task-based lessons, each consisting of two lessons: one based on a simple oral task and another derived from a collaborative writing task of a laboratory report. This study examined the 14-week course from three perspectives – response-based, learning-based, and student-based – using multiple data sets, including task outcomes, worksheets, pre- and post-tests, and end-of-class and end-of-course questionnaires. The findings revealed that most students successfully achieved the intended task outcomes. While writing quality improved in complexity and fluency throughout the lessons, accuracy showed little improvement. The students demonstrated positive attitudes toward the task-based lessons, appreciating the oral tasks as valuable opportunities for second language (L2) communication and perceiving the writing tasks as relevant to their future careers. However, they raised concerns regarding task difficulty, limited teacher feedback, and pairing issues. These findings demonstrate that the TBLT course was largely successful, underscoring its potential value for low-proficiency learners in an acquisition-poor environment.

This article reports on a systematic review of oral task repetition research carried out between 1996 and 2023. This review focuses on the methodological features of these studies, specifically on issues related to how tasks have been spaced and repeated within this body of research. This review starts with an overview of the concept of input spacing and the major methodological paradigms that have been used to investigate it across the psychological sciences. It then discusses task repetition, providing definitions and elaborations of theoretical models, discussing why spacing might influence task performance, and how this informs the synthesized research. The article then presents a synthesis of the methods and results of the 107 studies that have been analysed as part of the synthesis. The methodological synthesis includes analyses of how spacing has been implemented, the number of times tasks were repeated, and how researchers have justified their methodological decisions. The results of the synthesis highlight the need for greater systematicity and theoretical rationales for choice of spacing intervals, number of task repetitions, and transparency in reporting practices. The methods and results are discussed by identifying trends, exemplifying practices, and recommending solutions.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools in second language (L2) academic writing presents both opportunities and challenges for medical education. This study employed a SWOT (strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threats) analysis to examine medical students’ perspectives on using AI writing tools in their academic writing practice. Forty-two medical students from a major Iranian university participated in the study, providing weekly reflections and a final SWOT analysis over a 15-week academic writing course. Thematic analysis revealed that AI writing tools offer significant strengths in linguistic skill development, particularly in academic vocabulary enhancement, sentence improvement, and grammar and proofreading. However, weaknesses such as over-reliance on AI, lack of contextual understanding, and occasional inaccuracies in suggestions were identified. Opportunities included creative writing enhancement and immediate language refinement, while threats encompassed challenges in human–computer interaction, including the potential for misinformation and academic dishonesty. The study highlights the need for a balanced approach in integrating AI writing tools into L2 writing instruction, emphasizing their role as supplementary aids rather than primary writing resources. Implications for pedagogy include developing curricula that teach critical evaluation of AI-generated content and implementing writing tasks that require higher-order thinking skills. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on AI in education and provides valuable insights for educators and policymakers in navigating the evolving landscape of AI-assisted writing in medical education.

Foreign language teaching enjoyment (FLTE), a recently conceptualized notion of language teachers’ positive emotion, has received a burgeoning interest in positive psychology studies and in the field of second language teaching research. However, due to the pure novelty of the concept of FLTE and the excessive reliance on quantitative research methods in capturing its correlates, the way FLTE can be influenced by contextual work-related factors remains far from being comprehensively understood. There are a multitude of challenges jeopardizing positive emotions in the workplace for teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL). Accordingly, being enlightened by an activity theory perspective, our qualitative study, aimed to unravel the factors that boost/diminish FLTE among 10 EFL teachers. The data were collected through narrative frames and semi-structured interviews and were analysed via MAXQDA 2020. Thematic analysis revealed nine major themes regarding the sources of developing FLTE. In addition, eight major factors reduced FLTE levels among Iranian EFL teachers. The study concluded that an activity system with a supportive work environment could help EFL teachers enjoy their profession despite the work-related hurdles. The findings demonstrated that learners, colleagues, institutional principals, parents, rules and regulations, teaching materials, division of labor, and objects define EFL teachers’ perceived FLTE. The study implies that teacher education initiatives should explicitly focus on creating a supportive, positive work environment.

Teacher burnout and attrition are significant concerns in the United States and globally, particularly in high-needs areas such as world language (WL) teaching. Despite extensive international research on teacher burnout and attrition, few studies have specifically examined how demographic characteristics may influence burnout and intent to quit among WL teachers. To address this gap, this study employed a cross-sectional research design utilizing a factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to explore the relationships between various demographic factors and teacher burnout and intent to quit in high school WL teachers. Analysis revealed statistically significant main, interactive, and between-participants effects for a range of personal characteristics (i.e. gender, age, race, and ethnicity), teacher characteristics (i.e. number of WLs taught, primary language status, years of experience, highest level of education completed, type of certification program, number of professional organizations, and number of additional certifications), and school characteristics (i.e. urbanicity of school, type of school, and region). Findings suggest a need to take these factors into consideration when addressing teacher attrition and burnout through research and practice.

In contexts of both English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL), there is an ongoing effort to incorporate online graded reading materials into extensive reading programs designed for second language (L2) learners. However, it remains largely unknown to what extent these texts are suitable for L2 learners in terms of lexical demand. Based on a large corpus comprising nine levels of online graded reading materials, the present study examined the lexical profile of these texts at both corpus and grade levels. Results of our study showed that to achieve minimal and optimal comprehension of these materials at the corpus level, learners are expected to know 3,000 word families and 6,000 word families respectively plus proper nouns, marginal words, transparent compounds, and acronyms. As for the lexical demand across different grade levels, it was found that the lexical demand increases slightly and steadily as grade level increases. Overall, these results indicate the potential value of online graded reading texts as extensive reading materials for lower-level and mid-level L2 learners. Implications for L2 teaching and learning are also provided.

Teaching critical literacy (CL) as an explicit intended learning outcome is essential for operating in a global and interconnected world. Considering the limited research on in-service teachers' development and enactment of critical literacy practices, particularly in second language education, this study explores a professional-development (PD) intervention aimed at promoting critical literacy practices as a pedagogical approach. A qualitative instrumental case study research approach was used, taking place in the reading classes of two high school English language teachers in a Lebanese private school. A two-stage PD intervention that focused on strategies to teach critical literacy was created. Two teachers first engaged in a two-day workshop and then in follow-up coaching and multiple implementation reflections. The data gathering methods used to determine the efficacy of the intervention included field notes from the professional-development process, pre-and post-intervention teacher interviews, and classroom observations. The findings, resulting from an iterative inductive thematic analysis approach, show how the PD intervention built on and expanded the teachers' repertoires of critical pedagogical practices in the reading.

This study examined the perceptions and motivation of 64 pre-service English language teaching (ELT) teachers at an international university in North Cyprus towards technology use in online language education. It employed a mixed-methods approach. The quantitative data were analysed using SPSS 25 while the analysis of the qualitative data involved a combination of thematic analysis performed manually with the use of Leximancer 5.0 software. The findings revealed a general consensus on the benefits of technology for motivation and educational outcomes. The qualitative insights highlighted transformative themes. To illustrate, emotions such as excitement and curiosity were found to drive pre-service teachers’ inclination towards technology integration. The study underscored the significance of technology in modern English language teaching and English language teacher education, offering several profound pedagogical implications.

Theorizing teacher identity is an important component of effective language teacher education. The current study maps the professional identities of 20 practicing teachers of English as an additional language (EAL) from two distinct contexts: Sri Lanka (n = 10) and Australia (n = 10). Data tapping each participant's professional identity was elicited with semi-structured interviews structured around three domains: personal experience, professional context and external political environment. From the resultant teacher discourse, thematic analysis was applied to identify nine themes that teachers from both contexts perceived as being influential in the development of their professional identities, with two of these themes being perceived by some teachers as being of limited or no influence. These themes are defined and elucidated with quotes. Key differences in the way themes were manifested among the Sri Lankan and Australian teachers are also described. Findings provide a reference for language teachers’ critical reflection on their professional identities, especially those at the beginning of their careers.

Considering the contribution of intelligent personal assistant (IPA) platforms to English as a foreign language (EFL) speaking courses and the insufficiency of research in this regard, the current study applied a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach to explore the impact of Google Assistant, an IPA platform, on EFL learners’ International English Language Testing System (IELTS) speaking test marks and their fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness. Two intact classes at a language institute were chosen and randomly assigned to an IPA class with 20 EFL learners and a non-IPA class with 23 EFL learners. The IPA learners interactively and individually communicated with Google Assistant by giving commands/requests/questions, and the non-IPA learners communicated the same commands/requests/questions with their peers interactively. The IELTS speaking skill test, the fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness scales, and an individual semi-structured interview were used to collect the necessary quantitative and qualitative data. One-way between groups analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), applied to analyse the quantitative data, revealed that the IPA and non-IPA speaking instruction developed the EFL learners’ IELTS speaking test marks, fluency, and comprehensibility, and reduced their accentedness. The former (i.e. the IPA instruction) outperformed the latter (i.e. the non-IPA instruction) in developing IELTS speaking test marks and comprehensibility, and reducing accentedness. Thematic analysis, applied to analyse the qualitative data, uncovered several themes and categories that indicated the IPA learners’ positive attitudes and perceptions towards the use of Google Assistant for interactive, one-to-one speaking activities. The findings suggested effective techniques for integrating IPAs into EFL speaking courses to enhance IELTS speaking test marks, fluency, and comprehensibility, and reduce accentedness in EFL learners.

This article presents and discusses findings of project-based (language) learning and teaching (PBLT) research published in English between 2002 and 2024. The purpose of our qualitative research synthesis (QRS) is to identify the macro and micro contexts, research foci, theoretical and methodological orientations, technology use as well as benefits, challenges, and regional understanding of PBLT in East and Southeast Asia as reported in the studies analysed for this QRS. Our goals for conducting the QRS study are to offer generalizable findings of 21 years of PBLT research to guide future PBLT research and to inform PBLT pedagogy in East and Southeast Asia. The findings of our QRS contribute to the advancement of the emerging qualitative research synthesis in the TESOL field in general and of PBLT research and practice in particular.

It is often assumed that the most frequent English words are known by post-beginner second language learners. Yet the sheer frequency of these words and the important roles they play in discourse mean that confirmation of whether they are indeed known would be valuable for understanding second language vocabulary development and reading comprehension. This article reports on a study in which university learners with Japanese as their first language (L1) ( N = 200) were tested on their written receptive knowledge of 63 senses/functions of the first 44 words in the New JACET8000 word list. The study found that for 13 senses/functions item facility was < 0.9. That is, some gaps in receptive knowledge were uncovered which qualitative item analysis suggested may stem from relative frequency of exposure, instructional experiences, knowledge of one sense/function blocking the acquisition of another, as well as abstractness and lack of a direct L1 equivalent. Nevertheless, overall receptive knowledge of the tested senses/functions of these ultra-frequent words was extremely good. Hence, although miscomprehension may arise from occasional gaps in knowledge of these words, the assumption that ultra-frequent words are receptively known by post-beginner second language (L2) learners does seem reasonable.

This article aims to explore second language (L2) teachers’ attitudes to working with multilingual refugee learners in the context of a sudden shift towards an increasingly multilingual environment caused by the influx of Ukrainian refugee children in 2022 to Polish schools. The teachers have been prepared to teach predominantly monolingual classes and have not obtained any training to meet the needs of migrant and multilingual learners; thus, they had to rely on their personal resources facing this suddenly increasingly multilingual and multicultural environment. A cross-sectional survey study was designed to identify how attitudes of teachers of English and Polish as a foreign language (n = 70) developed towards teaching multilingual refugee learners and to what extent these correlated with teacher Openness to Experience, Intercultural Sensitivity and teachers’ plurilingualism. The quantitative analysis reveals mixed attitudes overall, despite generally positive attitudes to working with Ukrainian refugee learners, and correlating positively with Openness to Experience and plurilingualism, but not Intercultural Sensitivity. These might derive from the complexity of the teaching experience, which goes beyond mere language teaching, and for which the teachers have not received sufficient preparation.

In recent years, the importance of language exposure and socioeconomic status (SES) in shaping learners’ language learning outcomes has gained significant attention in language educational studies. However, studies that directly investigated the correlation between language exposure from parents and peers, SES, and English digital reading achievement remained limited. This present study examined how language exposure from parents and peers interacted with SES in predicting English digital reading achievement among the three East Asian economies using the PISA 2018 data with 7,703 student participants from Macao, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Results from the Pearson correlation and hierarchical linear regression revealed: (1) that there is a negative relationship between language exposure from parents and English digital reading achievement; (2) that language exposure from best friends and siblings showed a positive influence on English digital reading achievement; and (3) that the effects of language exposure from schoolmates differed among the three economies. Although SES exerted a significant and positive impact on English digital reading achievement among the three East Asian economies, SES did not moderate the relationship between language exposure and English digital reading achievement. Implications and limitations are discussed.

For language learners, intonation is widely considered to be important in communicating meaning in context, but intonation is also considered by teachers to be difficult to teach, and some have even argued that it may be unteachable. This exploratory study examines whether explicit teaching of three final intonation contours (falling, rising, falling–rising) led to improved perception and production. Thirty-one Turkish learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) participated in a three-week training session on the perception and production of the three contours at the end of a course on English pronunciation. Results from a pre-test/post-test design showed that perception of all three intonation contours improved after instruction, whereas for the production only the falling–rising and rising contours showed improvement. Results also showed that providing contextual information did not affect production but was helpful in perception. This study suggests intonation can improve when it is explicitly taught to L2 learners, like other aspects of pronunciation.

Although recent research on both agency and social justice has paid attention to the role of these constructs in teachers' professionalism, the scope of research on how language teachers' agency and social justice intersect is limited. Drawing on an ecological perspective that captured teachers' temporal and spatial perceptions, and how structural forces shape teacher agency, we explored agency and social justice among Iranian English language teachers. Data were collected from open-ended questionnaires, narrative frames, and semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the data revealed that teachers used their personal histories and experiences, present sense-making processes, and future-oriented perspectives as agentive tools to promote social justice in their educational practices. The findings also showed that teachers used the affordances of their educational setting as a tool for fostering students' criticality and activism. The study concludes with a discussion of implications for teacher educators in how to build on agency in teacher education courses to develop understandings of social justice.