second-language (l2) acquisition is generally thought to be constrained by maturational factors that circumscribe a critical period for native-like attainment. consistent with the maturational view are age effects among learners who begin l2 acquisition prior to, but not after, closure of the putative critical period. some studies indicate that native-like acquisition of a second language by le...

This study focuses on the problem Japanese learners have in distinguishing between Tone 2 and Tone 3 when learning tones in Mandarin. Acoustic experiments were carried out based on the four basic vowels in Mandarin. They were designed using continual sound stimuli, which gradually changed from Tone 2 to Tone 3 (i.e. turning point and ΔF0) and performed on Japanese learners and Chinese native sp...

We study learning algorithms that are restricted to using a small amount of information from their input sample. We introduce a category of learning algorithms we term d-bit information learners, which are algorithms whose output conveys at most d bits of information of their input. A central theme in this work is that such algorithms generalize. We focus on the learning capacity of these algor...

The salient, and often ignored, role that out-of-class learning plays in second/foreign language (L2) learners’ development is overshadowed by classroom research. The main aim of this study is to problematize the role of out-of-class learning in the specific English-as-Foreign-Language (EFL) context of Iran by examination of the ways in which four learners attempted to revamp their English lang...

Originated from America, the student-oriented flipped classroom, which focuses on the individual demands and expressions of students, has become a hot topic in education fields in and out of China, along with the development of information technology and updating of teaching ideas. This study attempts to establish a "task driven and ability targeted" flipped classroom mode, with creation class ...