This study examines the respective roles of language proficiency and more general developmental factors (e.g., mental capacity, knowledge) in children's metaphor interpretation. Subjects were Spanish-English-speaking and monolingual-English children from 7 to 12 years of age. The samples were English-speaking middle-class (n ffi 31) and working-class children (n = 34) and Spanish-English-speaki...

linguistic/cultural differences of learners’ native language with english as a foreign language, gender and english proficiency level are among those numerous variables which affect english learning and its quality in iranian context. the present study was an attempt to illuminate the effects of these variables on performing integrative approach of general english tests (cloze test and recall t...

This study investigated the effect of role play on improving speaking ability of Iranian pre-intermediate ESP learners. To this aim, the researchers examined the students’ speaking ability in two groups: the experimental and the control groups.24 males and femaleESPlearners at pre-intermediate level were selected by taking a pre-test. Then the participants of the current study were randomlydivi...

BACKGROUND Language barrier is an important determinant of health care access and health. We examined the associations of English proficiency with type-2 diabetes (T2DM) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Asian Indians living in Singapore, an urban city where English is the predominant language of communication. METHODS This was a population-based, cross-sectional study. T2DM was defined as HbA...

The aim of the present study is threefold. The first is that whether there is any difference betweendifferent proficiency level language learners 'use of spatial prepositions. The Second aim is toreveal that if the native language of the participants has any effect on applying the appropriateprepositions and also to find which spatial preposition is difficult to acquire. The present paperexamin...

Is the feeling of difference experienced by many biand multilinguals linked to a later age of onset (AoA) and a lower level of proficiency in the foreign language (LX)? This empirical study, based on the qualitative and quantitative data from 1005 biand multilinguals, suggests AoA is unrelated to feelings of difference. While several participants mentioned the fact that limited proficiency in t...

The application of zone of proximal development (ZPD), as a major tenet of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT, 1978), has recently been invited in the L2 learning/teaching profession. This study mainly examined whether Iranian EFL learners’ interactions in diverse ZPD-activated proximal contexts through the use of storytelling instruction could improve their oral (speaking) proficiency and at...