This paper explores how long-term bilingualism affects the production of intervocalic plosive consonants (/p t k b d ɡ/) in the speech of Afrikaans–Spanish bilinguals from Patagonia, Argentina. We performed sociolinguistic interviews with three speaker groups: L1-Afrikaans/L2-Spanish bilinguals (14 speakers, interviewed separately in Spanish and Afrikaans), L1-Spanish comparison speakers from Patagonia (10 speakers), and L1-Afrikaans comparison speakers from South Africa (11 speakers). We analyzed the speech data using three acoustic measures (constriction duration, relative intensity, and percent voicing) to examine the degree of lenition of the target plosives. The results demonstrate a complex interplay of factors that bring about cross-language influence, which varies based on the target phoneme and phonetic measure. Notably, the findings suggest that phenomena that are gradient phonetic processes in both languages of bilingual speakers (such as the lenition of voiceless plosives in Spanish and Afrikaans) pattern differently than phenomena that are phonological in one language but phonetic in the other (such as lenition of voiced plosives in Spanish versus Afrikaans).

There is evidence that learning a second language (L2) can shift cognition toward that predicted for the L2 and that this effect might vary with L2 proficiency, age of acquisition, length of immersion, etc. Here we explore the previously neglected variable of language instructional conditions. Participants categorized motion events in a triads-matching task after being trained on two novel linguistic labels highlighting (in)transitivity through one of three instructional conditions. Participants who learned the relevant knowledge under a meaning-focused instructional condition (memorizing meanings of exemplar sentences) showed a higher likelihood of categorizing based on motion (in)transitivity immediately after training than a control group; those who learned under a required rule search instructional condition showed this effect only after additional practice; while those who learned through another type of form-focused instructional condition (direct metalinguistic explanation) did not show this effect even after such practice. These differences were obtained despite the fact that the three groups were matched on awareness of the target system at the level of understanding and near-perfect performance on a grammaticality judgment task. The findings are discussed in terms of the depth of processing in instructed SLA and models of language–cognition interactions.

This study investigated factors influencing the citations of highly cited applied linguistics research over two decades. With a pool of 302 of the top 1% most cited articles in the field, we identified 11 extrinsic factors that were independent of scientific merit but could significantly predict citation counts, including journal-related, author-related, and article-related features. Specifically, the results of multiple linear regression models showed that the time-normalized article citations were significantly predicted by the number of authors, subfield, methodology, title length, CiteScore, accessibility, and scholar h-index. The remaining factors did not exhibit any statistical significance, including the number of references, funding, internationality, and geographical origin. The combined predictive power of all these factors (R²=.208, p<.05) verifies the role of nonscientific factors contributing to high citations for applied linguistics research. These results encourage applied linguistics researchers and practitioners to recognize the underlying forces affecting research impact and highlight the need for a reward system that exclusively favors sound academic practices.

This study conceptually replicates Cepeda, Coburn, Rohrer, Wixted, Mozer, & Pashler’s (2009, Experiment 1) study on the effects of distributed practice on second language (L2) vocabulary learning to examine its generalizability to a new context and population sample. The secondary focus of the paper is to examine the challenges and affordances of online data collection and participant recruitment sites. Both the original and our study examined the effects of distributed practice on two study sessions to learn L2 vocabulary assessed on a 10-day delayed posttest. Our results showed that the spaced conditions significantly outperformed the massed condition, mirroring the original study’s findings. However, Cepeda et al.’s (2009) participants outscored our participants by 10–20% (in each experimental group) on the posttest. While these findings highlight the benefits of spacing towards learning and memory, they also underscore the challenges researchers may face when conducting experimental research in online environments.

This study is designed to understand embarrassment in the second/foreign language (L2) context. Following a mixed-method design, in Phase 1, a sample of 141 tertiary-level Austrian English language learners were asked to write a narrative about their experiences of embarrassment in their language learning histories. Analyzing the narratives showed that L2 embarrassment is a multidimensional construct that is frequently experienced by a range of language learners. In Phase 2, we developed and validated an L2 classroom speaking embarrassment (L2CSE) scale among a sample of 402 international English language learners drawing on the literature and analysis of the narratives. Data showed that L2 embarrassment is best represented by a bifactor exploratory structural equation model, capturing both general and specific aspects of L2 embarrassment. We found that a supportive classroom environment and fostering a growth mindset can decrease the risk of L2 embarrassment. As expected, L2 embarrassment was a negative predictor of willingness to communicate and self-perceived language proficiency. These initial findings suggest that L2 embarrassment could be an important and influential emotion in the language learning classroom context which requires further research.

A common way of acquiring multiword expressions is through language input, such as during reading and listening. However, this type of learning is slow. Identifying approaches that optimize learning from input, therefore, is an important language-learning endeavor. In the present study, 85 learners of English as a foreign language read short texts with 42 figurative English phrasal verbs, repeated three times. In a counterbalanced design, we manipulated access to definitions (before text, after text, no definition) and typographic enhancement (with bolding, without bolding). The learning was measured by immediate and delayed gap-fill and meaning generation posttests. All posttests showed that learning with definitions was better than without, and that access to definitions after reading was more beneficial than before reading. Typographic enhancement effectively promoted contextual learning of phrasal verbs and increased the learning advantage associated with presenting definitions after reading.

The current study examined the comprehension and production of classifiers, case marking, and morphological passive structures among 414 child Japanese heritage speakers (mean age = 10.01 years; range = 4.02 – 18.18). Focusing on individual differences, we extracted latent experiential factors via the Q-BEx questionnaire (De Cat, Kašćelan, Prévost, Serratrice, Tuller, Unsworth, & The Q.-Be Consortium, 2022), which were then used to predict knowledge and use of these grammatical structures. The findings reveal that: (i) experiential factors such as heritage language (HL) engagement at home and within the community modulate grammatical performance differentially from childhood through adolescence, and (ii) HL proficiency, immersion experiences, and literacy systematically predict HL grammatical outcomes. These results indicate that particular language background factors hold differential significance at distinct developmental stages and that higher proficiency, richer immersion experiences, and literacy engagement in the HL are crucial for the development of core grammatical structures.

Twenty-five years ago, the publication of an article by Pallier, Colomé, and Sebastián-Gallés (2001) launched a new and rapidly evolving research program on how second language (L2) learners represent the phonological forms of words in their mental lexicons. Many insights are starting to form an overall picture of the unique difficulties for establishing functional and precise phonolexical representations in L2; however, for the field to move forward it is pertinent to outline its major emerging research questions and existing challenges. Among significant obstacles for further research, the paper explores the current lack of theoretical agreement on the concept of phonolexical representations and the underlying mechanism involved in establishing them, as well as the variable use of the related terminology (e.g., fuzziness and target-likeness). Methodological challenges involved in investigating phonological processing and phonolexical representations as well as their theoretical implications are also discussed. To conclude, we explore the significance of L2-specific phonological representations for the bottom-up lexical access during casual, conversational speech and how our emerging knowledge of L2 lexical representations can be applied in an instructional setting as two potentially fruitful research avenues at the forefront of the current research agenda.

This study investigates how second language (L2) learners engage in prediction based on their processing goals. While prediction is a prominent feature of human sentence comprehension in first–language speakers, it remains less understood when and how L2 learners engage in predictive processing. By conducting a visual–world eye–tracking experiment involving Chinese–speaking L2 learners of Korean, we tested the hypothesis that L2 learners determine whether to engage in prediction by evaluating the costs and benefits of anticipatory processing. The experiment specifically focused on the impact of a top–down comprehension goal for L2 learners’ predictive use of an honorific form in Korean by providing them with different types of task instruction. Our results indicated that all groups engaged in predictive processing in early and entire predictive regions. However, in the late predictive region, L2 learners presented with a prediction–oriented task, but not those with a simple comprehension task, actively generated expectations about the honorific status of an upcoming referent. These findings lend support to the utility account of L2 prediction, suggesting that L2 learners’ engagement in prediction depends on their current goals and strategies for processing efficiency.

The present study aims to meta-analyze the reliability of second language (L2) reading assessments and identify the potential moderators of reliability in L2 reading comprehension tests. We examined 3,247 individual studies for possible inclusion and assessed 353 studies as eligible for the inclusion criteria. Of these, we extracted 150 Cronbach’s alpha estimates from 113 eligible studies (years 1998–2024) that reported Cronbach’s alpha coefficients properly and coded 27 potential predictors comprising of the characteristics of the study, the test, and test takers. We subsequently conducted a reliability generalization (RG) meta-analysis to compute the average reliability coefficient of L2 reading comprehension tests and identify potential moderators from 27 coded predictor variables. The RG meta-analysis found an average reliability of 0.79 (95% CI [0.78, 0.81]). The number of test items, test piloting, test takers’ educational institution, study design, and testing mode were found to respectively explain 16.76%, 5.92%, 4.91%, 2.58%, and 1.36% of variance in reliability coefficients. The implications of this study and future directions are further discussed.

Al-Hoorie et al. (2024: Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–23) illuminate a validation crisis within the second language (L2) Motivational Self System (L2MSS), revealing empirical flaws in its current measurement. Their analysis indicates a persistent lack of discriminant validity among the system’s constructs, issuing a fundamental challenge in distinguishing the concepts. These findings, echoing previous concerns, underscore a pressing need for theoretical refinement and methodological rigor within the field, leading the authors to advocate for a temporary halt in L2 self-studies to address these issues comprehensively. This commentary discusses the call for a substantive moratorium presented by Al-Hoorie et al. (2024: Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–23) as a necessary step toward resolving persistent challenges in the field. By highlighting historical issues and suggesting pathways for theoretical diversification and methodological advancement, I aim to foster a productive dialogue on motivational psychology in language learning while ensuring empirical robustness.

People are frequently concerned about the impressions they make on others (referred to as metaperceptions), but their insights are often inaccurate. Illustrating the phenomenon called the liking gap, speakers interacting in their first language (L1) and second language (L2) tend to underestimate how much they are liked by their interlocutor, and these judgments often predict their desire to engage in future interaction and collaboration. To understand the scope of this bias and its consequences, we focused on L1–L2 dyadic interaction, examining metaperception as a potential barrier to conversations between university students. We recruited 58 previously unacquainted university students to perform a 10-min academic discussion task between one L1 and one L2 speaker. Afterward, the speakers (a) assessed each other’s interpersonal liking, speaking skill, and interactional behavior; (b) provided their metaperceptions of their interlocutor’s assessments of the same dimensions; and (c) estimated their interest in future interaction with the same interlocutor. All speakers showed a reliable metaperception bias to underestimate their interpersonal liking, speaking skill, and interactional behavior. However, only L1 speakers’ desire to engage in future interaction was associated with their metaperceptions of interpersonal liking. We discuss implications of this finding for understanding and promoting academic communication.

Based on correlational and factorial analysis of data collected from 384 middle and high school students in South Korea, Al–Hoorie et al. (2024) claimed the existence of a discriminant validity crisis within the L2 motivational self-system research tradition and advocated for abandoning research in this area. In this response, we critically examined the evidence presented, re-analyzed their data, and argued that their findings actually support the discriminant validity of the target scales. We also discussed issues related to the design and implementation of their study and refuted their assertion regarding a discriminant validity crisis in this field. Finally, we emphasized the necessity of prioritizing definitional validity in the ongoing methodological reforms of L2 motivation research.

The present study revisits the differential roles of form, meaning, and use aspects of phonological vocabulary knowledge in L2 listening proficiency. A total of 126 Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language listeners completed the TOEIC Listening test, working memory and auditory processing tests, the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire, and several tasks designed to tap into three broad aspects of phonological vocabulary knowledge: (1) the ability to access phonological forms without any orthographic cues (phonologization), (2) the ability to recognize words regardless of the talker (generalization), and (3) the ability to determine the semantic and collocational appropriateness of words in global contexts in a fast and stable manner (automatization). Whereas the perceptual, cognitive, and metacognitive variables made relatively small contributions to L2 listening proficiency (0.4%–21.3%), the vocabulary factors explained a large amount of the variance (77.6%) in the full regression model (R2 = .507). These large lexical effects uniquely derived from the three different aspects of phonological vocabulary knowledge—automatization (55.3%), phonologization (20.8%), and generalization (1.5%). The findings suggest that successful L2 listening skill acquisition draws on not only various levels of phonological form-meaning mapping (phonologization, generalization) but also the spontaneous and robust retrieval of such vocabulary knowledge in relation to surrounding words (automatization).