There has been increasing interest in the effects of note taking in second language (L2) research. However, no meta-analysis has been conducted to examine the relationship between note taking and learning through exposure to L2 input. We retrieved 28 effect sizes from 21 studies (N = 1992) to explore the overall effects of note taking as well as to examine the extent to which the effectiveness of note taking is likely to vary as a function of a set of potential moderators (i.e., learner variables, treatment variables, note-taking features, learning target, and measurement type). Results revealed that note taking had a small to medium positive overall effect on learning through exposure to L2 input (g = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.24–0.88). Subsequent moderator analyses revealed that variability in the size of note-taking effects across studies was explained by learner variables (context, region, orthographic scripts, institutional level), treatment variables (mode of input, material type), note-taking features (note-taking behavior, number of note-taking sessions, provision and type of note-taking strategy instruction, total length of instruction, opportunity to review notes), learning target, and measurement type. Based on the obtained findings, teachers are recommended to incorporate note taking in L2 classrooms. Pedagogical suggestions and directions for future research are also provided.

The present study investigates bilinguals’ capacity to rapidly establish memory traces for novel word forms in a second language (L2), as a function of L2 linguistic proficiency. A group of Chinese-English bilinguals with various English proficiency levels were presented with a reading-aloud task, consisting of 16 pseudowords and 16 English words repeatedly presented across six training exposures. Behavioral and neurophysiological data were collected, and modulations in the word-length effect across repetitions were measured as an index of transition from sublexical to lexical involvement. Results revealed that higher L2 proficiency was associated with decreased word-length effect on novel words, reflected in both naming latencies and early N1 and P200 brain responses. In contrast, lower proficiency learners appeared to engage in effortful letter-to-sound decoding processes, with higher attentional allocation to the letter sequence and greater use of sublexical processing across exposures. Our findings highlight the need to tackle specific grapheme-to-phoneme skills for efficient learning of L2, particularly in populations where the L1 is nonalphabetic.

This study examined the effects of distributed practice on second language (L2) speech fluency development. A total of 116 Japanese L2 learners of English were randomly divided into experimental or control conditions. Learners assigned to the experimental groups engaged in four fluency training sessions either in a short-spaced (1-day interval) or long-spaced (7-day interval) condition. Although different learning trajectories were observed during the training phase, the posttests conducted 7 and 28 days after the training showed similar fluency gains for the two groups, indicating that short- and long-spaced conditions were equally effective for developing L2 fluency. The current study extends the line of research in distributed practice and task repetition for L2 fluency development.

This meta-analysis synthesized 35 English studies (130 effect sizes, N = 1,981) that employed online tasks to investigate the processing of multiword sequences (MWSs). We examined (a) to what extent MWSs enjoy a processing advantage over novel word combinations; (b) how such a processing advantage is moderated by statistical regularities (i.e., phrasal frequency, association strength), MWS type, and explicitness of experimental tasks; and (c) whether such moderating patterns differ between L1 speakers and L2 speakers. The results confirmed the processing advantage for most subtypes of MWSs, with effect sizes ranging from small to medium. For L1 speakers and L2 speakers, the processing advantage of MWSs was found across the continuum of phrasal frequency and association strength and varied. Interestingly, task explicitness moderated the processing advantage of MWSs but only for L2 speakers. Taken together, our results shed light on the understanding of MWSs as well as directions for future research.

This study examined how linguistic complexity features contribute to second language (L2) processing effort by analyzing the Dutch English-L2 learners’ eye movements from GECO and MECO, two eye-tracking corpora. Processing effort was operationalized as reading rate, mean fixation duration, regression rate, skipping rate, and mean saccade amplitude. In Study 1, the lexical, syntactic, and discoursal indices in 272 snippets of a novel in GECO were regressed against these eye-movement measures. The results showed that the one-component partial least square regression (PLS-R) models could explain 11%–37% of the variance in these eye-movement measures and outperformed eight readability formulas (six traditional and two recent cognitively inspired formulas based on the readers’ perception on text difficulty) in predicting L2 processing effort. In Study 2, the eye-tracking data from MECO were used to evaluate whether the findings from Study 1 could be applied more broadly. The results revealed that although the predictability of these PLS-R components decreased, they still performed better than the readability formulas. These findings suggest that the linguistic indices identified can be used to predict L2 text processing effort and provide useful implications for developing systems to assess text difficulty for L2 learners.

This study examined the role of discourse organization in second language (L2) comprehensibility ratings. Twelve English for Academic Purposes teachers listened to 60 L2 speech samples elicited through a TOEFL–type integrated speaking task, evaluating each sample for comprehensibility and coherence (perceived interconnectedness of ideas). The samples were analyzed for the occurrence of discourse features at micro and macro levels. Results revealed a strong association between coherence and comprehensibility (r = .70). Whereas L2 speakers’ use of additive connectives (e.g., and) uniquely predicted comprehensibility, ordering of ideas and source–speech similarity in speakers’ performances predicted coherence. Lexical overlaps predicted both constructs. Findings underscore the importance of coherence to comprehensible academic L2 speech demonstrating that the two constructs include partially overlapping yet distinct characteristics.

Despite the widespread use and effectiveness of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) composite score in predicting individual differences in L2 achievement and proficiency, there has been little examination of MLAT subtests, although they have potential for illuminating components of L2 aptitude and the mechanism of prediction. Here we use regression commonality analysis to decompose the predictive variance from the MLAT into unique components for each subtest alone and for each possible combination of subtests (duos, trios, etc.) that may have shared variance. The results, from a longitudinal study of 307 U.S. secondary students during 2 years of Spanish learning, provide strong evidence for the role of literacy-related skills in all subtests and in predicting all L2 outcomes. These and other results support a view of L1 literacy and language skills leading to metalinguistic development, which in turn leads to stronger L2 aptitude and achievement.

Most words in a language have more than one meaning. Yet, few studies have explicitly examined the acquisition of secondary meanings of L2 words and the extent to which polysemy and homonymy affect vocabulary learning. This study explores the effect of polysemy and homonymy on the deliberate acquisition of the form–meaning connections of L2 words. Thirty-six EFL learners (compared with a control group of 30) learned secondary polysemous and homonymous meanings of familiar words and primary meanings of unfamiliar words using flashcards. Knowledge of target words was measured using meaning–recall and meaning–recognition tests immediately after the treatment and again one week later. The findings indicated that learning another meaning for a familiar word was just as difficult as learning the primary meaning of an unfamiliar word, suggesting that the type of meaning (primary, secondary polysemous, or secondary homonymous) might not be an influencing factor in the deliberate acquisition of L2 words.

Research has indicated that lexical richness is an important indicator of second language (L2) proficiency. However, most research has examined written, cross-sectional English L2 corpora and does not necessarily indicate how spoken lexical use develops over time or whether observed trends are stable across L2s. This study adds to previous research on the development of spoken vocabulary by investigating lexical features of L2 Spanish learners over a 21-month period, using the LANGSNAP corpus. Multiple lexical richness indices used in previous studies were examined including lexical diversity, word frequency, word concreteness, and bigram strength of association. Linear mixed-effects models were run to examine changes over time. The results suggest that although some features of lexical richness (e.g., word frequency) see meaningful change over time, others (e.g., bigram T score) may not be indicative of L2 oral development.

The study investigates whether comprehension of derived words in text context requires a complete understanding of word parts. It explores comprehension of derived words as a function of learner proficiency and contextual clues. Ninety English-as-a-foreign-language learners at three proficiency levels participated in three successive tests representing three clues conditions, absence of clues, availability of syntactic clues, and availability of syntactic and semantic clues. They had to supply the meaning of 22 derived pseudowords constructed with nonword stems and 22 frequent affixes—for example, stacement, gummful. The meanings of the nonword stems were provided. Test scores were compared by 3 (proficiency level) × 3 (clue condition) analysis of variance with repeated measures. The results showed effects of both variables, proficiency and clues. The largest increase in comprehension scores occurred with the addition of syntactic clues. The results imply that derived forms of familiar base words can be understood even when learners’ receptive morphological knowledge is not complete.

This study investigates whether second language (L2) learners’ language development and accuracy in production are comparable across oral and written modalities on the basis of Pienemann’s processability theory (PT). Eighty-seven English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, from high beginner to advanced levels, completed comparable speaking and writing tasks designed to elicit particular morphosyntactic structures predicted by PT to correspond to L2 stages of development. Time constraints encouraged participants to respond spontaneously, thus drawing on implicit knowledge. Implicational scaling shows correlations that suggest comparable language development between the modalities. However, accuracy was higher earlier in the written than in the oral modality, and accuracy in the written modality was more stable. The results provide a clearer understanding of the similarities and differences of L2 oral and written development and demonstrate that PT can be applied to L2 writing.

It has been proposed that second language (L2) learners differ from native speakers in processing due to either influence from their native language or an inability to integrate information from multiple linguistic domains in a second language. To shed new light on the underlying mechanism of L2 processing, we used an event-related potentials (ERP) paradigm to examine the processing of sentences with only in English by native speakers of English and advanced Dutch learners of English. Successful processing of sentences with only requires rapid integration of prosodic information with semantic and syntactic information. We found that L2 listeners showed native-like processing of the acoustics of contrastive pitch accents when adjacent to only. However, they needed more cues than L1 listeners to perform native-like in forming expectations for focus placement. Our results thus provide first ERP-based evidence for difficulty in the integration of information for focus expectation in difficult L2 constructs.

This study presents a reanalysis of existing data to investigate whether a relationship between perception and production abilities regarding a challenging second-language (L2) phonological contrast is observable (a) when both modalities must rely on accessing stored lexical representations and (b) when there is an asymmetry in task focus between perception and production. In the original studies, German learners of English were tested on their mastery of the English /ɛ/-/æ/ contrast in an auditory lexical decision task with phonological substitutions, a word-reading task, and a segmentally focused imitation task. Results showed that accurate nonword rejection in the lexical decision task was predicted by the Euclidean distance between the two vowels in word reading but not in imitation. These results extend previous findings to lexical perception and production, highlight the influence of task focus on the degree of coupling between the two modalities, and may have important implications for pronunciation training methods.

The study aimed to examine the interrelationships between growth mindset, L2 aptitude, L2 grit, and L2 achievement, while also exploring the moderating role of gender in these interactions. A sample of 236 English-major students participated in the study by completing a language aptitude test and a questionnaire. The results of path analyses indicated that both aptitude and L2 grit similarly and positively predicted L2 achievement. The growth mindset had no direct effect on L2 achievement, whereas its indirect effects reached statistical significance. Moreover, growth mindset and L2 grit were found to be unrelated to L2 aptitude. Although female and male students did not differ significantly in their growth mindset, L2 aptitude, L2 grit, and L2 achievement scores, Multi-Group Path Analyses unveiled subtle gender differences.

Digital educational game-based apps can be effective in helping young children develop language skills, particularly when paired with formal instruction. However, we need to know more about how educational games benefit learning in the absence of formal instruction, given children’s proficiency with and willingness to use mobile devices anytime, anywhere. This study uses a randomized controlled trial design to investigate the impact of a digital app—ABCmouse English—on L2 learning of seven- and eight-year-old Japanese children over a 16-week period. Pre- and post-assessments of the children’s English proficiency, together with an analysis of when and how they played with the app, were used to shed light on the relationship between the children’s in-app game choices and their language learning outcomes. Surveys and interviews with parents provide qualitative insights and information about the experiences of children and their families while using the app and its impact on their development as language learners.

This cross-sectional and longitudinal study sought to refine the measurement of foreign language learning boredom (FLLB) and examine its links with overall/skill-specific second and foreign language (L2) achievement (curriculum-based course exam scores) and proficiency (Cambridge English test scores). In Substudy 1, we developed and validated an 11-item Foreign Language Learning Boredom Scale–Short Form among secondary and tertiary English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in China (n1 = 2,223, n2 = 504, n3 = 934, n4 = 1,109). The scale showed sound psychometric properties (i.e., construct/criterion/convergent/discriminant/predictive validity, reliability, and measurement invariance across time and groups). In Substudy 2, structural equation modeling results show that FLLB had a consistent modest negative effect on overall and skill-specific (vocabulary and grammar, listening, reading, and writing) L2 achievement and proficiency (n4 = 1,109). Substudy 3 was a 12-month three-semester longitudinal investigation (n4 = 1,109). Cross-lagged panel modeling results show that L2 achievement predicted subsequent FLLB negatively, while FLLB did not predict subsequent L2 achievement.

A slowdown or a speedup in response times across experimental conditions can be taken as evidence of online deployment of knowledge. However, response-time difference measures are rarely evaluated on their reliability, and there is no standard practice to estimate it. In this article, we used three open data sets to explore an approach to reliability that is based on mixed-effects modeling and to examine model criticism as an outlier treatment strategy. The results suggest that the model-based approach can be superior but show no clear advantage of model criticism. We followed up these results with a simulation study to identify the specific conditions in which the model-based approach has the most benefits. Researchers who cannot include a large number of items and have a moderate level of noise in their data may find this approach particularly useful. We concluded by calling for more awareness and research on the psychometric properties of measures in the field.

The development of L2 utterance fluency has been extensively researched, whereas that of cognitive fluency has rarely been examined. This study investigated the longitudinal development of L2 utterance and cognitive fluency and their relationship. Thirty-one Chinese learners of English completed speaking tasks and a set of tasks for cognitive fluency before and after 5 months’ study abroad. The results showed that participants made a significant improvement in mean syllable duration, end-clause pause frequency, and the speed of syntactic encoding and articulation but not in mid-clause pause frequency or lexical retrieval speed. Mixed-effects modeling confirmed a significant relationship between syntactic encoding speed and mean syllable duration and mid-clause pausing. Furthermore, the significant relationships were maintained over time. The findings highlight (a) the differences between mid-clause and end-clause pausing in terms of their developmental patterns and relationship with cognitive fluency and (b) a significant role of syntactic encoding speed in L2 utterance fluency.

Multilingualism in the context of academic publishing involves beliefs and actions manifested through publications in multiple languages. However, a systematic analysis of how academic journals practice multilingualism has been scant. Therefore, the present study analyzed how indexed journals of applied linguistics promote and practice multilingualism following their scopes and language policies (LPs). Initially, 67 journals underwent screening based on their “aims and scope,” resulting in 11 journals that actively promoted multilingualism. Employing a critical discourse analysis (CDA) framework, the main analysis focused on the assumptions embedded within the journals’ LPs. The findings indicated an incongruity between the journals’ stated commitment and their practices of multilingualism. Specifically, all the journals mandated submissions exclusively in English with implicit biases toward native speakerism. The study underscores the need for a collective effort within and beyond the applied linguistics community to address linguistic biases and for more equitable and inclusive academic publishing practices.