Metaphoric competence is an essential part of language concept fluency and communicative competence.Since metaphor is pervasive in language, when Chinese second language (L2) learners are engaged in reading process, one of the barriers to influence their comprehension is metaphor. This paper aims to empirically investigate the relationship between the receptive metaphoric competence and reading...

Second language learners of English often experience difficulties in English lexical stress perception because of prosodic transfer of their first language (L1). It has thus been hypothesized that the problem of Chinese learners with English stress arises from tonal transfer. However, little research has been devoted to the investigation of the phonetic details of second language (L2) stress pe...

Advances in speech recognition (ASR) technology have resulted in computer applications that provide compelling forms of speaking practice to learners of a second language (L2). Evaluation of such applications typically does not include an analysis of how learners’ situated motivational states fluctuate during language practice. In connection with recent developments in L2 motivation theory, thi...

This study is concerned with effects of age of onset (AO) of acquisition on the production of Voice Onset Time (VOT) among near-native L2 speakers. 41 L1 Spanish early and late learners of L2 Swedish, who had carefully been screened for their “nativelike” L2-proficiency, participated in the study. 8 native speakers of Swedish served as control group. Spectral analyses of VOT were carried out on...

self-assessment helps learners to acquire self-confidence and gives them insightfulfeedbacks. there is no valid self-assessment inventory for learners of english foracademic purposes (eap). this study aimed at developing an academicallyappropriate instrument to measure tertiary students’ english in academic situations.the study used both qualitative and quantitative methods in developing the se...

oral communication strategies are conscious techniques that l2 interlocutors employ to overcome the communication breakdowns in the target language. hence, they can help to promote the effectiveness of communication ability. however, it must be noted that many variables can influence the use of these strategies. the present study, therefore, aimed to investigate the role of language proficiency...

L2 researchers have debated the significance of the lexicon in addition to the relevance of acquiring syntax, in the learning of an L2. (Huckin et.al, 1993; Haastrup, 1991) and other researchers in the field of SLA recognize the fact that learners’ knowledge of words from context assists them in the comprehension of unfamiliar words that they encounter in their reading materials. Academic readi...

This paper provides evidence that the second language orthographic input affects the mental representations of L2 phonology in instructed beginner L2 learners. Previous research has shown that orthographic representations affect monolinguals’ performance in phonological awareness tasks; in instructed L2 learners such representations could also affect pronunciation. This study looked at the phon...

abstractthis study aimed to determine the relationship between l2 learners' autonomy and their cognitive style focusing on reflectivity. it was conducted with 140 iranian m.a. efl learners from department of english at islamic azad university of najafabad. in order to have a homogeneous sample, the second version of quick placement test (qpt) was administered. then, 85 lower and 50 higher profi...

tsimpli and dimitrakopoulou (2007) observed that uninterpretable features are unavailable in second language (l2) acquisition after the critical period. in this paper, we verify this claim by providing evidence from persian speaking learners of english as an l2 on the status of resumptive pronouns (rps) as uniterpretable features. unlike english which does not allow rps, persian shows various b...