The question of whether written corrective feedback (CF) has a role to play in second language (L2) development has been controversial since Truscott (1996) published an article in Language Learning calling for the abandonment of the practice on theoretical, empirical and pedagogical grounds. As a result of his claims, an on-going debate about the efficacy of the practice has ensued while a number of dedicated researchers have focused their attention on empirically investigating whether learners benefit from the practice in terms of significantly improving their accuracy in subsequent texts over time. Responding not only to Truscott's doubts about the overall effectiveness of written CF for L2 learning and his specific doubts about whether certain types of provision could ever have a meaningful and enduring effect on acquisition, further questions about the potential impact of different variables were central to the thinking and research that followed his claims. Such variables include the linguistic focus of the feedback and the relative merits of targeting a limited number of error categories (focused feedback) rather than a more comprehensive range of error categories (unfocused feedback). While a growing body of research has begun investigating these issues over the last 15–20 years, the field is in need of replication studies before firm conclusions can be reached.

This review of recent scholarship (RRS) paper is a follow-up of the first, published in this journal in 2014. For this RRS paper, we identified and included 304 mixed-methods research (MMR) papers published in 20 top-tier applied linguistics (AL) journals. We used a six-pronged quality and transparency framework to review and analyze the MMR studies, drawing on six quality frameworks and transparency discussions in the MMR literature. Using the quality and transparency framework, we report on: (1) which sources AL MMR researchers use to frame their studies, (2) how explicitly they explain the purpose and design structure of the MMR studies, (3) how transparently they describe method features (sampling procedures, data sources, and data analysis), and (4) how they integrate quantitative and qualitative data and analyses and construct meta-inferences. The results of the analyses will be reported and will show how MMR has developed and is represented in the published articles in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The discussion of the results will also highlight the areas future AL MMR researchers need to consider to make their studies and reports more rigorous and transparent.

That learners who want to develop good pragmatically-appropriate speaking skills in a language also need to develop good pronunciation is beyond dispute, and yet research continues to report that both areas still have low visibility in the curriculum and are often treated as poor relations in the classroom. Many teachers are still wary of what they see as specialist areas, a perspective that encourages their neglect in the curriculum, in assessment and in teacher training programmes. In this plenary I go back to basics and focus on what learners need to accomplish outside the classroom with the language they are learning. Drawing on studies that have explored the communicative needs of immigrants to Australia from language backgrounds other than English, I will illustrate the importance of both pronunciation and pragmatics in their lives. I will then consider the implications for how we can approach both skills proactively in the classroom in an integrated way that is capable of developing students’ repertoire of speaking skills for effective and appropriate use outside.

This article updates the trends and developments of Japanese as a second language (JSL) research since Mori and Mori (2011) by reviewing nearly 200 selected empirical studies published in English or Japanese between 2010 and early 2019. The first section of this review examines the cognitive aspects of second language (L2) Japanese development, focusing on vocabulary and kanji (i.e., Chinese characters transferred into Japanese) learning, syntactic development, and the issues surrounding reading and writing. The second part investigates sociocultural issues in L2 Japanese development and use, including pragmatic development, multilingual/translingual perspectives, and multilingual youth. The third section explores the role of affective variables (primarily learner motivation) in L2 Japanese development. The last section considers various pedagogical issues, including corpus-based studies and the development of materials and resources, instructional designs and classroom studies, technology-enhanced language learning and new instructional models, critical approaches to teaching Japanese and content-based instruction. The review of these themes illuminates trends and emerging areas of interest in post-2010 L2 Japanese research inspired by current developments in applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA) research, as well as unique features of Japanese language and sociocultural contexts.

There is no doubt that attention and (un)awareness in second/foreign language (L2 learning) are two constructs that have permeated, explicitly or implicitly, second language acquisition (SLA) studies since their inception. Indeed, we have witnessed several empirical studies attempting to probe more deeply into the roles of these two constructs in the L2 learning process. Given the challenging methodological issue of eliciting and interpreting data on such internal processes, this paper underscores the importance and benefits of conducting replications of studies investigating both the roles of attention and awareness, or lack thereof, in the L2 learning process. A report on two key SLA studies is provided and several suggestions for replication are made for each study together with their accompanying potential benefits.

This paper argues for the replication of two studies, both of which consider feedback and working memory. In the first part of this paper, we discuss the role of interaction-based research and working memory research in second language acquisition research. We then describe two studies that have unified these two areas in recent published articles and discuss ways that replication can further our knowledge in how working memory capacity can impact the benefits of feedback. We emphasize the importance of replication in a number of different areas, including grammatical complexity of the target structure and the nature of working memory tests, in scoring, actual tests, and modes of delivery. Additionally, we discuss the possibilities for replication in the area of population differences, in particular, age groups and more lasting effects as would be found in delayed post-tests. Finally, we point out another means of gathering information about thought processes and suggest the value of adding stimulated recalls to the existing data.

The construct ‘awareness’ is undoubtedly one of the more difficult constructs to operationalize and measure in both second language acquisition (SLA) and non-SLA fields of research. Indeed, the multi-faceted nature of awareness is clearly exemplified in concepts that include perception, detection, and noticing, and also in type of learning or learning conditions (implicit, explicit, incidental, subliminal), type of consciousness (autonoetic, noetic, anoetic), and type of awareness (language, phenomenal, meta-cognitive, situational). Given this broad perspective, this article provides, from a psycholinguistic perspective, a timeline on the research that addresses the role of awareness or lack thereof in second/foreign language (L2) learning.

This lecture considers what reference and pedagogical grammars and grammar teaching materials for L2 learners should ideally include, based on corpus evidence from both native-speaker and learner corpora. I demonstrate how learner corpora can be used to track the emergence of grammatical features, from the elementary level to advanced, how learners get to grips with new grammar and what we can learn from the statistical output of error-coded corpora. Additionally, we look at how the divide between lexis and grammar becomes progressively blurred and how corpus information can best be used to produce useful grammars and teaching materials for students at different levels. The advanced level in particular is focused on. The lecture is presented within the framework of the English Profile Project (EPP), a large, international, inter-disciplinary project which uses corpora to investigate learner competence at different levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

‘Sometimes maligned for its allegedly behaviorist connotations but critical for success in many fields from music to sport to mathematics and language learning, practice is undergoing something of a revival in the applied linguistics literature’ (Long & Richards 2007, p. xi). This research timeline provides a systematic overview of the contributions of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) to the role, nature, and development of individual practice in language learning. We focus on written language practice in Tutorial CALL, corrective feedback and language awareness-raising in Intelligent CALL (ICALL), and individualization of the learning process through tailoring of learning sequences and contingent guidance.

Globalization as the intensification of worldwide social relations (Giddens 1990) continues to exert an influence on language, language use, and learning and teaching around the world. In this paper I examine the nature and influence of globalization on online language teaching through the lens of learner-centred principles, and the tensions between different positions and practices adopted by participants within virtual learning environments. I conclude by arguing that a focus on technology or innovation within global learning environments needs to be balanced by a focus on the learner in order to engage with and respond to emerging issues, challenges and practices, and to extend our understanding of language learning and teaching in the twenty-first century.

For many researchers in the social sciences, including those in applied linguistics, the term ethics evokes the bureaucratic process of fulfilling the requirements of an ethics review board (e.g., in the US, an Institutional Review Board, or IRB) as a preliminary step in conducting human subjects research. The expansion of ethics review boards into the social sciences in the early 2000s has led applied linguistics as a field to experience what Haggerty (2004) termed ethics creep, a simultaneous expansion and intensification of external regulation of research activities. The aims of these ethical review boards are: (a) to evaluate the types and risk of harm to participants as a result of research activities, (b) ensure that participants can give informed consent to be part of the research activities, and (c) provide oversight on researcher procedures to maintain participant anonymity/confidentiality (Haggerty, 2004).

This paper explores Chalmers and Glasziou's (2009) notion of ‘research waste’ from healthcare research to examine what it can offer the field of applied linguistics. Drawing on examples from both disciplines, we unpack Macleod et al.'s (2014) five research waste categories: (1) asking the wrong research questions, (2) failing to situate new research in the context of existing research, (3) inefficient research regulation/management, (4) failing to disseminate findings, and (5) poor research reporting practices. We advance this typology to help applied linguists identify and reduce avoidable research waste and improve the relevance, quality, and impact of their research.

In this paper I review three models of language that have dominated language learning and teaching in the last 40 years: the textual model, the information exchange model, and the multilingual model. I analyze each one and consider how it stacks up to instances of language use in a globalized world. I then propose moving beyond the metaphors of citizens and consumers, and consider language teaching as educating denizens of a global ecology that requires sensitivity to context, political awareness, ethical answerability and a good dose of situational cunning.

In this article, which is based on my AAAL 2023 plenary talk, I argue that researchers may be contributing to widening the never-ending gap between research and practice. At least, there is such a possibility given that researchers, including myself, have rarely investigated their own beliefs and practices related to classroom teaching. In the first part, I overview research of the research–practice relationship and problematize the epistemological clash between two groups of professionals, that is, teachers and researchers. In the second part, I focus on researchers as a profession who have significant potential in contributing to education. In the third part, I share concrete ways of tackling researchers' obstacles in communicating with practitioners if, and when, they wish to be useful for real-world education, including: (a) adjusting the nature of research, and (b) improving communication methods. In conclusion, I propose a model in which the research–practice relationship can be more equitable, effective, and mutually beneficial.

This study is a conceptual replication of Teimouri et al.'s (2022) investigation into the validity of the second language (L2) grit scale (the L2-Grit scale). There are several concerns about the generalizability of the findings of Teimouri et al. (2022), especially regarding the discriminant validity of the scale and the relation of L2 grit with language achievements. A conceptual replication study was conducted because these concerns could be addressed by using a different methodology. The main findings include: (a) the factor structure of L2 grit was supported in the replication sample (106 English majors at a Japanese university), (b) the results support the discriminant validity of L2 grit, but in a different way from the initial study, and (c) L2 grit was a consistent predictor of L2-specific Grade Point Average and standardized test score. The results obtained lend further support for the validity of the L2-Grit scale.

When in the late 1990s we set out to review the accumulated research on second language (L2) instructional effectiveness, it was with a sense – though no certainty – that a journey into the uncharted territory of systematic research synthesis would eventually prove worth the effort. In order to find a fitting methodology, and in the absence of any guidance within applied linguistics, we willingly delved into challenging techniques and debates from other disciplines. A few years later, we had to search long and hard to find enough synthesists working on language learning and teaching issues to warrant a book, but we did, and we saw that new effort as an important, if initial, step towards the adoption and adaptation of research synthesis, and particularly the subset of methods known as meta-analysis, to the problems of applied linguistics. Now, some ten years after our first publication on the topic, applications of meta-analysis have increased dramatically in the field, as this Timeline clearly shows. For some topics (e.g. interaction, corrective feedback), we have even seen several studies replicating and building on each other. We are pleased with these developments and welcome the efforts of the field to engage in rigorous and meaningful reviews of L2 research, with an eye towards cumulative explanation of key phenomena. At the same time, we also hope that researchers will avail themselves of the full potential of systematic research synthesis, which considerably transcends the narrower domain of meta-analysis and includes other quantitative as well as qualitative methods that more fully enable the task of synthesizing accumulated knowledge in the increasingly diverse research landscape of applied linguistics.