Marianne Nikolov

• PhD, DSc
• Professor Emerita at University of Pecs

學習動機對於了解學習者學習第二語言或外語的動力至關重要。本研究探究學習動機如何影響衣索比亞學生的焦慮和英語能力。我們擴展並測試了第二語言自我形象動機理論 (L2MSS) 模型，以瞭解在尚未有足夠相關研究的情況下，各種因子在學習英語時是如和相互作用的。609名衣索比亞預備學校學生參與了橫斷面調查，該調查使用結構方程模型 (SEM)，測試整合了第二語言自我形象動機理論、焦慮和英語能力組成的模型。本研究分析了自變量（包括了理想我、應有我、L2學習經驗和英語能力）如何預測兩個應變量：促進性焦慮和妨害性焦慮。研究結果顯示，第二語言自我形象動機理論對受試者的英語能力有顯著的正面影響。理想我和學習經驗有助於抵消妨害性焦慮，而應有我則擴大了妨害性焦慮。應有我正向預測了促進性焦慮，但被妨害性焦慮負向預測。本研...

Teachers are responsible for their students’ assessment; therefore, they need assessment knowledge and skills to professionally engage in an effective educational assessment. However, research showed that language teachers had insufficient assessment language assessment literacy (LAL). Thus, this study aimed to explore the components of the LAL con...

Reading literacy is a multidimensional construct in terms of text and reading processes. Much research has examined the divisibility of the processes underlying reading, but they have treated the rest of the construct as unitary. This study extends the examination of dimensionality to a neglected area in literacy studies. It tests reading models by...

Edited volume

Research into second or foreign language (L2) learning has demonstrated that L2 anxiety, perceived proficiency, and L2 willingness to communicate (L2WTC) profoundly impact language learning outcomes. However, the complex interplay between these variables has yet to be fully explored, as these factors are dynamic and context-specific and can vary ac...

Over the past two decades, multiple empirical studies have examined how teacher audio feedback works in EFL/ESL writing courses. This review explores instructor audio feedback studies in higher education writing contexts. Seventy empirical studies were identified in literature searches published between 2000 and 2022 in several academic databases....

Academic English is discipline-specific and requires a high level of linguistic knowledge as well as expertise in respective fields. Therefore, doctoral students with limited exposure to academic English tend to face challenges in dealing with its demands, especially when they come from non-native English-speaking (NNES) backgrounds. At the doctora...

This study investigated relationships between English as a foreign language (EFL) students' L2 motivational self-system (L2MSS), L2 willingness to communicate (L2WTC) inside and outside the classroom, and their self-assessed English proficiency at an Ethiopian preparatory high school. Data was collected using validated instruments from 609 12th-gra...

This study investigates how non-native English-speaking (NNES) doctoral students self-assess their English academic writing (EAW) abilities. A total of 255 international NNES students, hailing from 49 different countries and speaking 48 mother tongues, voluntarily participated in our study. They were enrolled in 65 PhD programs at 14 universities a...

Students’ writing proficiency is measured through holistic and analytical ratings in writing assessment; however, recent studies suggest that measurement of syntactic complexity in second language writing research has become an effective measure of writing proficiency. Within this paradigm, we investigated how automated measurement of syntactic com...

This article offers insights into trends found in 74 empirical studies on teaching and learning a foreign language (FL) in pre-primary schools in 25 countries. The emerging picture is like that of primary-school programs: most are implemented in English, mostly owing to parents’ enthusiasm rather than evidence on long term FL benefits. Researchers...

Although studies on written feedback have confirmed the effectiveness of multiple sources of feedback in promoting learners' accuracy, much remains to be discovered about its impact on other aspects of language development. Concerns were raised with regard to the possible unfavourable impact of feedback on the complexity of students' writing which...

Doctoral students are expected to contribute to their academic community by presenting their research findings in an internationally acceptable manner and to submit their dissertation. Students from non-English-speaking backgrounds might face challenges when writing publishable papers and dissertations in English. The aim of this study is to explor...

Research on the impact of feedback on students’ writing has grown in the past 20 years, including studies comparing the nature of teacher and automated feedback. Differential success in learners’ gaining from feedback has largely depended on their engagement with the feedback rather than the feedback itself. Studies examining the ways learners enga...

With a considerable emphasis on the role of feedback in L2 writing, the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) has been investigated extensively over the past 25 years. Conflicting findings have been reported regarding the efficacy of WCF in developing learners' written accuracy. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of research on t...

With a considerable emphasis on the role of feedback in L2 writing, the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) has been investigated extensively over the past 25 years. Conflicting findings have been reported regarding the efficacy of WCF in developing learners' written accuracy. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of research on t...

Providing feedback on students' writing is considered important by both writing teachers and students. However, contextual constraints including excess work-loads and large classes pose major and recurrent challenges for teachers. To lighten the feedback burden, teachers can take advantage of a range of automated feedback tools. This paper investig...

Given the exponential growth in the popularity of early foreign language programs, coupled with an emphasis of evidence-based instruction, assessing young learners’ (YLs) foreign language abilities has moved to center stage. This article canvasses how the field of assessing young learners of foreign languages has evolved over the past two decades....

This is a later publication. Please email me at nikolov.marianne@pte.hu and I will send you the chapter.

This paper analyzes the answers collected with the help of an online questionnaire to explore the needs of students learning English and German at seven secondary schools. A top-down project (EFOP-3.2.14-17) aimed to enhance students' proficiency in English and German by inviting experts at Hungarian universities training pre-service teachers of En...

Nikolov, M. (2017). Students' and teachers' feedback on diagnostic tests for young EFL learners: Implications for classrooms. In M. P. García Mayo (Ed.), Learning foreign languages in primary school: Research insights (pp. 249-266). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

This introductory chapter aims to achieve multiple goals. The first part outlines the most important recent trends in early language learning, teaching and assessment and frames what the main issues are. The second part discusses the most frequent challenges policy makers, materials designers, test developers, researchers and teachers face. Part II...

The aim of this chapter is to present a framework for assessing young learners of foreign languages for diagnostic purposes. The first section outlines the most important trends in language assessment and describes the educational context where the project was implemented. Then, the chapter discusses how children between the ages of 6 and 12 develo...

In the past quarter century, Hungary has offered fertile ground for innovative developments in foreign language (FL) education. The appropriate, albeit disparaging, label applied to Hungary in the mid-1970s – ‘a land of foreign language illiterates’ (Köllő 1978: 6) – no longer applies. In the wake of the dramatic changes of 1989, the number of FL s...

In this paper we offer one possible resolution of the Adult Language Learning (ALL) Paradox (Sokolik 1990), which posits that notwithstanding adults’ higher ability in dealing with rules and their initial advantage over younger learners, they generally fail to achieve high levels of L2 proficiency, in spite of the fact that natural languages are ru...

The essence of this article is the development of curriculum in foreign language education and the interface between political and professional. This article falls into two main sections. The first section is concerned with general aspects of curriculum development and innovation. It sets out to define the curriculum in relation to its sister conce...

The paper analyzes research published over the last five years. The first part looks into policy documents, types of programs, and surveys to identify (a) reasons why an early start to learning languages is seen as beneficial and under what conditions; (b) possible threats; and (c) the aims and expected outcomes that are predicted by various models...

In recent years, similarly to other educational contexts in the European Union and other parts of the world, early foreign language programs have become widely spread in Hungary. This article looks into the relationship between Hungarian learners’ reading skills in English as a foreign language (L2) and in their first language (L1) Hungarian. We an...

In recent years, similarly to other educational contexts in the European Union and other parts of the world, early foreign language programs have become widely spread in Hungary. This article looks into the relationship between Hungarian learners' reading skills in English as a foreign language (L2) and in their first language (L1) Hungarian. We an...

Presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado; 23 March 2009.

The aim of the paper is to provide insights into what tasks teachers of English as a foreign language use to assess their learners’ progress in the classroom in grades 1 to 6 (ages 6 to 13). The study was implemented as an exploratory inquiry into Hungarian teachers’ practices and views on what tasks best tap into young language learners’ developme...

The present paper reports results of a longitudinal research project studying the contribution of cognitive skills and other factors to proficiency in a foreign language (L2) in the Hungarian educational context. The larger project aims to describe the levels of L2 proficiency of school-aged populations in order to explore the conditions and factor...

Modern languages are offered to young learners at an increasingly early age in many countries; yet few publications have focused on what is available to children in different contexts. This volume fills this gap by documenting the state-of-the-art in researching young language learners using a variety of research methods. It demonstrates how young...

This comparative research aims to provide insights into how Croatian and Hungarian 8th graders' proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL) compares to one another in relation to organizational macro factors. A total of 717 14-year-old students participated in the study in two neighboring regions and towns of Croatia and Hungary examining ho...

This paper gives an account of a project exploring 12- and 13-year-old children's uses of strategies while solving reading and writing test tasks in English as a foreign language (EFL). The study was conducted to provide insights into how learners go about solving tasks and what they think and rely on while doing them. The first part provides an ov...

The aim of this chapter is to provide a critical overview of the issues and research conducted since the most recent state-of-the-art article published in the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics by David Singleton (2001). First, we summarize what research has said about the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) in cognitive science and neurobiology, th...

This study aimed to develop, pilot, and validate an aptitude test for Hungarian learners of English. A lit-erature review on the construct and tests of aptitude is followed by two parts: a pilot phase on the development of a new aptitude test and a main study involving 419 12-year-old children in 10 schools. Data were collected on the aptitude test...

Educational Controversies: towards a discourse of reconciliation PAMELA LEPAGE & HUGH SOCKETT, 2002 London: RoutledgeFalmer 155 pp., £51.46, ISBN 0 415 27066 9 (hardback)

The strong Version ofthe critical period hypothesis (CPH) encouraged the research on successful adult learners of Hungarian and English at the English Department of Janus Pannonius University, Pecs. Altogether 33 successful learners were interviewed: in Study l 20 learners ofvarious mother tongues have been acquinng Hungarian in the host environmen...

This article looks at the attitudes and motivation of Hungarian children between the ages of 6 and 14: why they think they study a foreign language, how they relate to school subjects and what classroom activities they like and dislike. The long-term study was conducted in the ethnographic tradition where the teacher, syllabus designer and research...

This article looks at the attitudes and motivation of Hungarian children between the ages of 6 and 14: why they think they study a foreign language, how they relate to school subjects and what classroom activities they like and dislike. The long-term study was conducted in the ethnographic tradition where the teacher, syllabus designer and research...

Children who studied English as a foreign language in Hungary with a communication/content-based approach were compared with similar children who studied English with a form-based traditional approach. The former were slightly more accurate in their production of grammatical morphemes in an oral interview, and were more fluent, confirming that comm...

This study compares Croatian and Hungarian 8th graders' EFL proficiency taking into account organizational macro factors (starting age, size of groups, frequency of weekly classes). Based on the results on the same EFL measuring instruments, Croatian participants' performance was found to be significantly better than that of their Hungarian counter...

Napjaink nyelvpedagógiai vizsgálatai számára is érvényes Hosenfeld (1976. 128. o.) megállapítása: "Túl gyakran foglalkozunk azzal, hogy a diákoknak mit kellene tenniük. Ideje azt vizsgálni, hogy mit csinálnak." Tanulmányom hatodikos diákok feladatmegol- dó stratégiáinak használatába ad betekintést angol mint idegen nyelvi olvasott szöveg ér- tését...