The multidimensional conceptualization of vocabulary knowledge has been extraordinarily influential in lexical research. Yet, the few studies that have empirically explored the structure of word knowledge conflict regarding its multidimensionality. The present study examines the nature of L2 vocabulary knowledge by exploring how the hypothesized word-knowledge dimensions fit together across different L2 learner groups. A total of 314 EFL learners from two dissimilar L1 backgrounds (Chinese n = 170; Spanish n = 144) were assessed using eight vocabulary measures testing recognition and recall knowledge of form-meaning, collocations, multiple meanings, and derivatives. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that vocabulary knowledge behaves as a unidimensional construct for each learner group individually. Simultaneous multigroup CFA confirmed that this unidimensional model holds invariant across the two groups regardless of their distinct L1s. These findings provide empirical evidence for the unidimensionality of vocabulary knowledge in a second language, indicating the need to refine the conceptualization of the construct.

For more than a decade, research on heritage speakers’ (HSs’) mood selection has documented a high degree of variability in their interpretation and use of mood morphology in variable contexts. Most of the previous literature, however, has focused on late-acquired alternations, and often limited analyses to one form (i.e., subjunctive), making it difficult to draw conclusions about HSs’ knowledge of mood distinctions. This study intends to fill this gap by examining Spanish HSs’ (n = 76) and Spanish-dominant controls’ (n = 25) interpretation and use of an early acquired mood alternation, where the presence of indicative or subjunctive conveys the report of an assertion or a command. Results from two experimental tasks reveal that, even though HSs’ performance tends to differ from that of controls’—especially at lower levels of proficiency—the nature and extent of their divergences suggests the need to embrace a more nuanced analysis of HSs’ linguistic outcomes when examining modal contrasts.

Learners must develop the ability to perceive linguistic and social meaning in their second language (L2) to interact effectively, but relatively little is known about how learners link social meaning to a single phonetic variable. Using a matched-guise test targeting coda /s/ (realized as [s] or debuccalized [h]), we explore whether L2 Spanish learners identify native speakers’ social characteristics based on phonetic variants. Our results indicate that advanced learners were more sensitive to sociophonetic information; advanced listeners who had completed a phonetics course were significantly more likely to categorize /s/ reducers as Caribbean and those who had studied abroad in aspirating regions recognized a relationship between coda /s/ and status. To account for the complex interplay among proficiency, explicit instruction, and dialectal exposure in the development of L2 sociophonetic perception, we suggest the union of the L2 Linguistic Perception Model with exemplar models of phonological representation and indexical meaning.

While many studies have investigated the effect of task complexity on L2 writing, little has been reported on the effects of intended task complexity manipulations on task-generated cognitive demands in L2 writing. This study, therefore, was designed to examine the relative effects of task complexity and cognitive demands on students’ L2 writing. Two argumentative writing tasks were manipulated with varying numbers of elements and reasoning demands to be distinguished either as a simple or complex writing task. Self-ratings and dual-task methodology were adopted to validate the manipulations of task complexity. Thirty-one L2 learners, in the single-task group, were asked to complete two writing tasks and a post-task questionnaire. Participants in the dual-task conditions (30 in Experimental 1 and 31 in Experimental 2) were required to simultaneously complete the primary writing tasks and the secondary tasks. Results from self-ratings and dual-task experiments supported the efficacy of the task complexity manipulations.

Replication is a research methodology designed to verify, consolidate, and generalize knowledge and understanding within empirical fields of study. In second language studies, however, reviews share widespread concern about the infrequency of replication. A common but speculative explanation for this situation is that replication studies are not valued because they lack originality and/or innovation. To better understand and respond to the infrequency of replication in our field, 354 researchers were surveyed about their attitudes toward replication and their practices conducting replication studies. Responses included worldwide participation from researchers with and without replication experience. Overall, replications were evaluated as relevant and valuable to the field. Claims that replication studies lack originality/innovation were not supported. However, dissemination issues were identified: half of published replication studies lacked explicit labeling and one quarter of completed replications were unpublished. Explicit labeling of replication studies and training in research methodology and dissemination can address this situation.

This study investigated whether L2 English learners’ prosodic properties in speech acts change as they are immersed in the English-speaking academic community over time, and if so, what individual and contextual factors (proficiency, orientation to language study, and target language contact) potentially affect these changes. Forty-seven Japanese learners of English in an English-medium university in Japan completed a speaking task that elicited two speech acts (request and opinion) three times over one academic year (8 months). Their speech was analyzed for discourse intonational features (e.g., tone choices, prominence ratio, and pitch range). Results showed that all prosodic properties changed over time, although the pace and patterns of changes differed among the properties. Proficiency and language contact significantly affected the change in tone choice, but no other relationship was found between individual/contextual factors and changes in prominence ratio or pitch range.

Learners of a nonnull subject language (e.g., English) whose first language (L1) is a null subject language (e.g., Spanish) can show some optionality in the interpretation of overt subject pronouns in the second language (L2). By exposing L2 learners to nativelike interpretations of pronouns in discourse, we aim at understanding how exposure can promote implicit learning of pronoun comprehension biases in a L2. A sentence comprehension task was used with intermediate-proficiency English L2 speakers (L1 Spanish) that included a pretest, an exposure phase using the priming technique, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest administered 6–10 days later. English learners showed a significant increase in nativelike pronoun interpretations both in the immediate posttest and in the delayed posttest, in comparison to the pretest. The results show that exposure through priming can be effective in changing L2 participants’ interpretations and that effects of exposure are persistent and may aid in the successful acquisition of pronoun resolution biases.

In this focused methodological synthesis, the sample construction procedures of 110 second language (L2) instructed vocabulary interventions were assessed in relation to effect size–driven sample-size planning, randomization, and multisite usage. These three areas were investigated because inferential testing makes better generalizations when researchers consider them during the sample construction process. Only nine reports used effect sizes to plan or justify sample sizes in any fashion, with only one engaging in an a priori power procedure referencing vocabulary-centric effect sizes from previous research. Randomized assignment was observed in 56% of the reports while no report involved randomized sampling. Approximately 15% of the samples observed were constructed from multiple sites and none of these empirically investigated the effect of site clustering. Leveraging the synthesized findings, we conclude by offering suggestions for future L2 instructed vocabulary researchers to consider a priori effect size–driven sample planning processes, randomization, and multisite usage when constructing samples.

It is important to be able to identify research results likely to have been arrived at by means of “p-hacking,” a common term for research and reporting practices (such as the selective reporting of results) that are biased toward finding p < α. This paper discusses and demonstrates “p-curving,” a means of checking a set of primary studies within a specific research stream for signs of p-hacking. A salient feature of p-curving is that it is based entirely on significant p-values. Because of the potential usefulness of p-curving and because it has been little used by SLA researchers, a case study illustrates the construction and analysis of a p-curve as a complement to meta-analysis. The focal p-curve in this study relates to published (quasi)experimental studies that addressed the research hypothesis that for low and middle proficiency learners L1 glosses facilitate vocabulary learning during reading better than L2 glosses do.

This study investigates how linguistic and nonlinguistic information interacts in second language (L2) sentence processing. Previous studies argued that L2 behaviors might stem from how L2 speakers rely more on one type of information over another. However, direct attempts have not been made to test the (dis)agreement of different information types. To fill this gap, the present study explored the integration of definiteness and real-world knowledge. Experiment 1 showed that both first language (L1) speakers (n = 34) and advanced L2 speakers (n = 49) could use definiteness to predict unmentioned referents, but intermediate L2 speakers could not (n = 35). After confirming that L1 and L2 speakers shared the same real-world knowledge, Experiment 2 (n (L1) = 36, n (L2) = 43) showed that the two groups’ behaviors differed when linguistic and nonlinguistic information had to be processed simultaneously. The findings suggest that L2 speakers can process linguistic information in a targetlike manner only in the absence of usable nonlinguistic information.

Research on the second language (L2) acquisition of the Spanish copulas has been central to our understanding of key concepts and issues in the field of SLA such as stages of development and variability in L2s. However, this research has focused nearly exclusively on native English-speaking learners. The present study examined native Korean-speaking learners’ acquisition and use of the Spanish copulas with adjectives in oral production. Analyses of the range and frequency of copula forms produced across four levels of Spanish language study revealed an increase in ser and estar use and a decrease in developmental omission as learner level increased. Predicate type, resultant state, and Spanish grammar score significantly influenced use of estar over ser. Comparison with native English-speaking learners revealed differences between first language groups in terms of rates of form use, but similar developmental trends and predictors of estar use overall.

Given the longitudinal nature of L2 grit, the use of conventional research methodologies with cross-sectional data to examine the validity of L2 grit scale seems inadequate. The present research was an attempt to extend the domain-specific phase of research on L2 grit, with the pursuit of long-term goals at its core, into a dynamic one. Thus, we adopted a longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis-curve of factors model (LCFA-CFM) approach to trace changes in L2 learners’ grit at different points of time in an EFL course. LCFA-CFM ensures measurement invariance over time, deals with second-order latent variables, takes into account measurement errors, and is capable of assessing interindividual differences. With this in mind, we, first, employed LCFA to test the factor invariance of L2 grit based on a bifactor CFA model over time and, second, used CFM to measure change of L2 grit during an L2 course. To do so, we collected data from 437 adult EFL learners in Iran in four time phases using the L2 grit scale and analyzed them using Mplus 7.4. The model fit was accepted and invariance of the latent factor of L2 grit was confirmed over time. Also, the negative covariance between initial level of L2 grit and its rate of change over time (second-order latent variables) suggested a steeper increase in the construct over time for learners with lower initial scores of the construct. That is, L2 learners who started at a higher level of L2 grit experienced less change in L2 grit over time. The LCFA-CFM ensured that the factor structure of L2 grit is invariant over time and provided insights into how L2 grit changes over an L2 course.

Elicited Imitation Tests (EITs) are commonly used in second language acquisition (SLA)/bilingualism research contexts to assess the general oral proficiency of study participants. While previous studies have provided valuable EIT construct-related validity evidence, some key gaps remain. This study uses an integrative data analysis to further probe the validity of the Korean EIT score interpretations by examining the performances of 318 Korean learners (198 second language, 79 foreign language, and 41 heritage) on the Korean EIT scored by five different raters. Expanding on previous EIT validation efforts, this study (a) examined both inter-rater reliability and differences in rater severity, (b) explored measurement bias across subpopulations of language learners, (c) identified relevant linguistic features which relate to item difficulty, and (d) provided a norm-referenced interpretation for Korean EIT scores. Overall, findings suggest that the Korean EIT can be used in diverse SLA/bilingualism research contexts, as it measures ability similarly across subgroups and raters.

To examine the effects of task repetition with different schedules, English-as-a-foreign-language classroom learners performed the same oral narrative task six times under three different schedules. They narrated the same six-frame cartoon story (a) six times consecutively in one class (massed practice), (b) three times at the beginning and at the end of a class (short-spaced practice), and (c) three times as a part of two classes 1 week apart (long-spaced practice). The results yielded by an immediate posttest using a novel cartoon showed that massed practice reduced breakdown fluency (mid-clause and clause-final pauses) the most. However, the participants in the massed-practice group showed degraded speed (slower articulation rate) and repair fluency (more verbatim repetition). The effects of repetition schedule seem limited on a 1-week delayed posttest involving a novel cartoon. Yet, when participants narrated the same practiced cartoon 1 week later, massed practice also resulted in more verbatim repetition.

The present study investigates how L2 learners adapt their production preferences following immediate and cumulative experience with a syntactic structure when an L2 structure differs from an L1 structure in terms of verb subcategorization frame and argument structure. Korean learners of English described causative events in English in a picture-matching game. The meaning of a causative sentence in English (e.g., Jen had her computer fixed) is expressed with an active transitive sentence in Korean (e.g., Jen-NOM computer-ACC fixed). The results demonstrated that both immediate and cumulative experience with a causative structure increased the likelihood of producing grammatical causative descriptions (e.g., Jen had her computer fixed), while decreasing the production of ungrammatical active transitive descriptions (e.g., Jen fixed her computer). The findings provide novel evidence that an implicit learning mechanism is involved in L2 learners’ processing and learning of an L2 structure that is different from L1.

Previous research has shown that orthographic marking may have a function beyond identifying orthographic word forms. In two visual priming experiments with native speakers and advanced learners of German (Czech natives) we tested the hypothesis that orthography can convey word-class cues comparable to morphological marking. We examined the effect of initial letter capitalization of nouns (a specific property of German orthography) on the processing of five homonymous and grammatically ambiguous forms. Both populations showed the same pattern of results: deverbal nouns (conversions) patterned together with countable nouns while in a previous study (with eliminated orthographic word-class cues) they patterned together with infinitives. Together, findings suggest that orthographic cues can trigger word-class-specific lexical retrieval/access. They also suggest a lexical entry structure in which conversion nouns, infinitives, and inflected verbal forms share a category-neutral parent node and that specified subnodes are accessed only when specifying cues are available and/or necessary for processing.

The primary aim of this study was to investigate prosodic prominence across three groups of Sylheti-English bilinguals: first-generation who arrived as adults, first-generation who arrived as children, and second-generation, i.e., born in the United Kingdom to parents who grew up in Bangladesh. To measure prominence, f0, duration, and intensity were measured across disyllabic words in Sylheti and English. The results showed significant differences in the f0 analysis. Regarding monolinguals, Sylheti prominence displayed a rising contour, in contrast to the English falling contour. In Sylheti, the bilinguals born in the United Kingdom were the only group significantly different from the Sylheti monolinguals, displaying an English-like falling pattern in their Sylheti prominence. In English, the late arrival bilinguals displayed a Sylheti-like prominence realization, but the early arrivals and those born in the United Kingdom approximated the monolingual English prominence realization. Overall, language use patterns were the most significant factor related to the bilinguals’ prominence realization.

Elicited imitation tasks (EITs) have been proposed and examined as a practical measure of second language (L2) proficiency. This study aimed to provide an updated and comprehensive view of the relationship between EITs and other proficiency measures. Toward that end, 46 reports were retrieved contributing 60 independent effect sizes (Pearson’s r) that were weighted and averaged. Several EIT features were also examined as potential moderators. The results portray EIT as a generally consistent measure of L2 proficiency (r = .66). Among other moderators, EIT stimuli length was positively associated with stronger correlations. Overall, the findings provide support for the use of EITs as a means to greater consistency and practicality in measuring L2 proficiency. In our Discussion section, we highlight the need for more transparent reporting and provide empirically grounded recommendations for EIT design and for further research into EIT development.

This study offers methodological synergy in the examination of factorial structure in second language (L2) research. It illustrates the effectiveness and flexibility of the recently developed exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) method, which integrates the advantages of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) into one complete measurement model. Two sets of data were collected using the L2 Passion Scale, which measures a dualistic model of passion. Study 1 participants were 220 L2 students. A comparison was made between the CFA and the ESEM models. The results demonstrated the superiority of the ESEM method relative to CFA in terms of better goodness-of-fit indices and realistic correlated factors. These results were replicated in another sample of 272 L2 students, providing support for the predictive validity using a structural ESEM model. Guidelines are provided and Mplus syntax files (codes) are included to help analysts apply the methods. We also make the data available publicly. Overall, this research demonstrated the usefulness of ESEM for examining the construct, discriminant, and convergent validity of L2 scales over CFA.

Comprehensibility, or ease of understanding, has emerged as an important construct in second language (L2) speech research. Many studies have examined the linguistic features that underlie this construct, but there has been limited work on behavioral and affective predictors. The goal of this study was therefore to examine the extent to which anxiety and collaborativeness predict interlocutors’ perception of one another’s comprehensibility. Twenty dyads of L2 English speakers completed three interactive tasks. Throughout their 17-minute interaction, they were periodically asked to evaluate their own and each other’s anxiety and collaborativeness and to rate their partner’s comprehensibility using 100-point scales. Mixed-effects models showed that partner anxiety and collaborativeness predicted comprehensibility, but the relative importance of each predictor depended on the nature of the task. Self-collaborativeness was also related to comprehensibility. These findings suggest that comprehensibility is sensitive to a range of linguistic, behavioral, and affective influences.