Thisarticleprovidesinformationonanactionresearchprojectinalow-levelEFLsettinginJapan. Theprojectaimswereto1)fosterspokencommunicationskillsand2)helpstudentsengagewith theirownlearning.Theprojectinvestigatedtheapplicabilityofboardgamesasamediatingtoolfor authenticcommunicationaspartofawiderTBLTapproachtolanguagedevelopmen.Quantitative ...

Post-focus compression (PFC), the lowering of fundamental frequency and intensity after focus, is previously found in English but not in Cantonese. This study examines the possible transfer of PFC between these two languages through bilingualism. It is found that out of ten bilingual EnglishCantonese speakers, eight have PFC in their English, but none has PFC in their Cantonese. This finding su...

This study employed the Strategy Inventory for Language Learners (SILL) to investigate the frequency and types of language learning strategies used by 65 students studying English as a Second Language (ESL) in a university Intensive English Program (IEP) in the western United States. Students came from 15 different countries and represented three instructional levels within the program. Results...

Researches on lexical knowledge basically focus on the acquisition of the deep lexical knowledge. The lexical-conceptual organization of Chinese EFL learners’ mental lexicon has been a most researched issue. This paper is to review the existing literature in this field and propose the controversies on the language effects on the lexical linking patterns of the learners, which are hopefully clue...

This article describes an action research experience carried out in an advanced English as a foreign language classroom of the language program at a university in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2010. The study proposes the inclusion of authentic literary texts in the English as a foreign language classroom through the implementation of four constructivist approaches as a means to develop intercul-tural c...

This paper discusses the relationship between the perception and the production of vowel contrasts in German learners of English. The underlying study investigates whether German subjects’ ability to distinguish between the English front vowels /e/ and /æ/ on the level of production improved after training only perception. The main hypothesis was that perception training would improve productio...

Recently, we introduced a morphological texture contrast (MTC) operator that allows detection of textural and non-texture regions in images. In this paper we provide comparison of the MTC with other available techniques. We show that, in contrast to other approaches, the MTC discriminates between texture details and isolated features, and does not extend borders of texture regions. Using the id...