Listening is one of the key skills needed to be proficient in a second language (L2). Some L2 teachers support the development of L2 learners' listening skills by providing input in a different sensory mode (e.g., reading). Nevertheless, developing L2 listening skills using more than one sensory mode, may lead to cognitive overload. In order to provide effective L2 listening instruction, teachers need to know what learning strategies will help students improve their listening skills. This quasi-experimental study examined the benefits of reading a text while listening to it and the effect that reading-while-listening (RWL) has on an L2 learner's listening comprehension. The study was done with intermediate-level, English as a Second Language (ESL) students in two pre-existing classes at the English Language Center (ELC) in Provo, Utah, with one class using a teaching method that included reading and listening together and one class that did no reading, just listening. The results of this study showed that both the control group and treatment group significantly improved their listening comprehension skills over the course of 14 weeks. For the treatment group which had used RWL, however, their listening scores were not significantly different from those of the control group. The pedagogical implications of the findings for second language teachers teaching listening skills are also discussed.

The present mixed methods study looks at the impact of a specific self-regulatory framework (WOOP) developed within the domain of mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII), and its effects on the self-reported self-regulation of learners in an intensive English program in the United States over the course of one 14-week semester. The research, which includes a total of 187 participants, compares self-reported self-regulation between students who used the framework and those who did not, and the impact the tool has on the different proficiency levels involved in the study. Furthermore, following a sequential explanatory design, the study aims to examine the participants' impressions on the value of this self-regulatory strategy. The quantitative data show that, despite the lack of significant difference between groups, there are meaningful differences across levels of proficiency. Individual interviews with select participants also reveal a general acknowledgement of the value of goal setting and planning in language learning, whether via MCII or not. In summary, MCII and a focus on self-regulation instruction appear to be beneficial in the bigger scheme of ESL learning and teaching.

The option to bring-your-own-device (BYOD) to educational settings is becoming more prevalent as mobile technologies are more accessible than ever, yet little research has been done to examine the effect of those devices on language assessment. In this study, participants (n=175) were divided by stratified random sampling into four groups. Using a Latin square design to control for ordering, two forms of a multiple-choice reading and listening exam were administered over two days. On each day, participants took one test on a BYOD mobile device and one on a computer. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine the effect that device type had on score. During the administration of the test, the BYOD condition revealed a number of difficulties that would caution against full-scale adoption for high stakes testing, but the test scores on the computer and BYOD mobile version of the exam were not significantly different in either skill area.

Different opinions exist about the use of phonetic alphabet symbols in teaching English pronunciation to second language learners. Some authors and researchers believe phonetic symbols can benefit students in many ways; others consider this tool hardly recommendable. However, little empirical research has been done to find out what ESL teachers think about the use of this linguistic tool. Thus, via an online survey this study sought to identify ESL teachers' attitudes towards the use of phonetic symbols in teaching ESL pronunciation. A total of 120 teachers took the survey and most of them were experienced in teaching pronunciation to adult ESL students. The analyses of qualitative data identified a contradiction between experienced teachers' opinions and what they practiced in class. On the one side, the teachers had predominantly positive attitudes towards the use of phonetic symbols, and about 80% of them agreed that it was a valuable use of class time. Despite this, many teachers (n=40) did not report using phonetic symbols in their teaching. In addition, though the teachers pointed out enabling student independent learning as the main reason to teach phonetic symbols, only three participants reported that they used phonetic symbols for this purpose. The results of the study suggest that ESL teachers' lack of training in teaching phonetic symbols to ESL students can be one of the main factors causing this contradiction.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators across the world saw a sudden shifttowards conducting their teaching online. As research has revealed that interpersonalcommunication is among the most impacted areas of education, this study aims to investigatehow English language teachers in Sweden have adapted their methods and utilized thetechnologies they have been reliant on to conduct their teaching remotely to facilitate interstudent and student-teacher communication. Data was gathered by interviewing practicingteachers and observing English language lessons, and subsequently analyzed to describe theteacher experience as well as to identify how their methods had been adapted as a result ofthe shift to synchronous online teaching. As for the latter, the PICRAT model was utilized toidentify the types of technology implementation. The findings of this study suggest that theinterviewed teachers were not given sufficient organizational support, leading to theirimplementation of technology being inadequate for facilitating interpersonal communication.These findings support those of contemporary research on the topic of the shift tosynchronous online teaching. Finally, this study suggests that increased organizationalsupport in terms of adjustment time, long-term planning, training in technologyimplementation, and continuous evaluation of the same are required to maintain a highquality of English language education when moved online.

Different from Generative Grammar which sees grammar as a formal system of how words are put together to form sentences, Construction Grammar suggests that grammar is more than just rules and surface forms; instead, grammar includes many form-and-meaning pairings which are called constructions. For years, Construction Grammarians have been investigating constructions with various approaches, including corpus-linguistics, pedagogical, second language acquisition and so on, yet there is still room for exploration. The present paper aims to further investigate the [V the Ntaboo-word out of]-construction (Hoeksema & Napoli, 2008; Haïk, 2012; Perek, 2016; Hoffmann, 2020) (e.g., I kick the hell out of him.) and propose a new umbrella construction, “X the Y out of Z” (XTYOFZ) construction, for it. Another aim is to examine the usage and comprehension of the XTYOFZ construction by English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as Native Language (ENL) speakers. The usage context, syntactic and semantic characteristics of the XTYOFZ construction were examined through corpus linguistic methodology. Furthermore, processing and understanding of the construction by ESL and ENL speakers were tested via an online timed Lexical Decision Task as well as an online follow-up survey consisting of questions on English acquisition and usage, and a short comprehension task on the XTYOFZ construction. Corpus data shows that in general, the combination of non-motion action verbs (e.g., scare, beat) as X and taboo terms (e.g., shit, hell) as Y was the most common. Also, it was found that the construction occurs mostly in non-academic contexts such as websites and TV/movies. On the other hand, results from the Lexical Decision Task show that ESL speakers access constructional meaning slightly more slowly than ENL speakers. The follow-up survey also reflects that ESL speakers seem to have a harder time to produce and comprehend the construction compared to ENL speakers. By investigating the features of a relatively less-discussed construction and its usage by ESL speakers, this study hopes to increase the knowledge base of Construction Grammar and ESL construction comprehension and usage, particularly on the constructions that are mainly used in more casual settings.

The subject area of this study is English Teachers’ usage and attitudes towards textbooks when teaching. From personal work and practice experiences, teachers base their English teaching solely on textbooks. For many years, the use of textbooks in different subjects has been criticized. Despite this, the textbook is still a teaching aid that is widely used today. This study examines how the teachers use the textbook in their English teaching and how much room it gets. This case study begins with a presentation of different findings together with a literature review where it will display the nature of textbooks and teachers’ attitudes towards the use of textbooks. Furthermore, this case study will present the textbooks, and how they relate to the English subject in the Swedish curriculum. This, and how to accommodate the learners when teaching ESL will be displayed. This case study is based on two observations, one in grade 3, and one in grade 4. The observations are done in the same school, which will be referred to as the second school in this study. The contrast between the use of textbooks in the different grades will be analyzed through a review of content. This study will further present what other teaching materials are used. The observations will be analyzed and compared to interviews with six different teachers. Three teachers at one school, two of them in grade 3 and one of them in grade 4, and one teacher in grade 3 and two teachers in grade 4 at the second school. The results of this case study concluded that the use of textbooks differs depending on what school the teacher works in, what view the school has when using teaching aids, and if it is the decision of the teachers or the schools on what teaching aid should be used. The problem where the textbooks are not compatible with the curriculum can be considered as the most frequently appearing mistake that affects the development of young ESL learners. Moreover, any benefits of using textbooks will further be presented.

The aim of this thesis is to examine what strategies teachers use when they teach listeningcomprehension in order to develop student’s listening skills, and especially if and how they usescaffolding in their teaching. To examine this, seven upper secondary school teachers inSweden were interviewed about their listening comprehension teaching. The qualitative datawere analyzed using a cross case analysis with a combination of framework and IPA analysis.The data was labeled and divided into two themes: general strategies and scaffolding. In thethemes the data was further sorted and categorized into language immersion, raising selfconfidence,division into smaller groups, notetaking, pre-information and connection to theme,collaborative discourses, teacher peer and modeling and finally increasing level of difficulty.All seven teachers discussed several different strategies they use. They often combine strategiesto create the best learning environment for the students. Six out of these seven teachers gaveexamples of scaffolding strategies they use, such as modeling, working with themes and preinformationto support their students. However, as mentioned previously, they were oftencombined with other strategies such as collaborative discourse and smaller groups.

Social media as a tool in the classroom is not a concept one hears much about. Being that social media is still a relatively new phenomenon, this is not particularly strange. Research surrounding the subject is sparse, but there are several articles that show there being a possible place for social media in the classroom. These studies find that there is a need for educators to be properly informed and make precise decisions regarding how and why they want to use social media in the classroom. In this paper we found evidence that supports the idea that social media can be useful as a tool in the classroom; however, findings show that there are few if any moments of explicit vocabulary learning, and therefore social media should be used more as a motivational tool, resulting in implicit vocabulary acquisition. In order to get proper usage of social media, educators need to conduct their own research, thereby expanding the knowledge of social media as a tool.

Currently, too many pupils complete meaningless one-way writing tasks, which only their teachers receive, which makes increasing authenticity in the language contexts crucial for learners. The purpose of this study is to investigate: the experiences and opinions of two ESL 7-9 teachers in two schools in southern Sweden regarding their practices of authenticity in learning task instructions, the views of their pupils towards these writing tasks, and the benefits and challenges of integrating an authentic writing task. The Swedish steering documents emphasize that pupils should confidently adapt their languages to various purposes and learn how English is used across cultures and settings; however, authenticity does not feature heavily in the steering documents. This study used a Passion Project that incorporated explicit instructions, a recursive writing process, and a genre-based process for writing to an authentic audience. Against that background, this study seeks to answer the research questions by analyzing two teachers’ experiences and opinions, the pupils’ views toward authenticity in writing tasks, and the possible benefits and challenges. In order to collect empirical data, a mixed methodology method was applied, which included questionnaires and interviews with teachers and pupils. The results indicate that although the authentic audience is a new concept to the L2 learners, introducing it explicitly and providing examples help to reduce pupils’ nervousness. Furthermore, introducing the pupils to a new concept piques their interests and teaches them new ways to write. Therefore, writing strategies that incorporate an authentic audience are important. Despite the change from traditional to modern instructions, the pupils’ attitudes were highly favorable. Last but not least, the benefits are that pupils can relate what they are learning in the classroom to the outside world. However, there are challenges as not all pupils feel comfortable sharing something they write with others, and teachers do not always have the time to plan, organize, and execute tasks that include authentic audiences.