Many adults learn languages with written forms that differ from their first language(s). Empirical research has demonstrated the influential role of written input on developing L2 phonology. However, existing studies are limited by (1) focusing on learning languages that share the same orthographic script, predominantly the Latin alphabet, (2) small sample sizes, and (3) limited consideration of L2 proficiency. This study investigated the influence of Arabic and English written input when lexically encoding the difficult /f-v/ phonological contrast for L1 Arabic-speaking learners of L2 English. A word learning study was completed by 114 L1 Arabic speakers, with varying English proficiency, and 117 L1 English-speaking controls. Mixed-effects modeling of L1 Arabic accuracy revealed an inhibitory effect of any written input when learning words differing by the difficult contrast. Performance improved with increasing L2 proficiency; however, the inhibitory effect of written input for words differing by /f-v/ persisted into high levels of L2 proficiency.

Recent research has shown that adult learners can rapidly acquire novel words of a foreign language by tracking cross-situational statistics, but learning is substantially reduced when the target words are phonologically similar and contain non-native contrasts. We expand on this research by investigating whether perceptual discrimination training on non-native target contrasts facilitates cross-situational learning of new words (CSWL). Our design combines perceptual training and CSWL to test the transfer of perceptual gains to lexical learning—an approach that integrates methods from L2 speech and statistical learning. In two studies, we tested English-native and Portuguese-native speakers’ learning of 24 Portuguese pseudowords via a CSWL task. In Study 1, we examined baseline learning in both language groups without prior training. In Study 2, English-native speakers were assigned to one of three conditions: phonetic training with an AX discrimination task, phonetic training with an oddity discrimination task, or no phonetic training prior to the CSWL task. Results confirmed that adults can learn non-native words from cross-situational statistics, and that phonological overlap between words decreases learning. Perceptual training improved the discrimination of target contrasts, but this did not transfer to statistical learning of words that contain these contrasts. These findings suggest that phonetic training alone may not be sufficient for vocabulary acquisition, suggesting the need for instructional approaches that integrate phonetic training with more explicit teaching methods or meaning-based practice.

Knowledge of academic collocations is important for academic communication. Examining its relationship with knowledge of academic words and general high-frequency words should provide insights into the relative value of prior knowledge of different kinds of single words for the development of collocational knowledge in academic contexts, thus expanding our understanding of vocabulary knowledge beyond the current conception of individual word knowledge. Yet no studies have addressed this issue, mainly due to the lack of validated tests for academic words and collocations. This study employed three pairs of newly developed tests to measure Vietnamese EFL learners’ knowledge of academic collocations, academic words, and general high-frequency words. Results showed that at the form-recall level, both academic word and general high-frequency word knowledge were positively associated with academic collocation knowledge, with academic words having a stronger relationship. At the form-recognition level, only academic words and academic collocations were positively correlated.

The role of morphology in complex word acquisition was examined in Chinese (L1)–English (L2) bilinguals. Participants learned words consisting of two novel constituents, by pairing them with pictures. Items either belonged to large (torbnel, torbilm, torbla, torbiph) or small morphological families (torbilm, torbla). After training, participants completed recognition and spelling tasks with novel words that either included or excluded a trained morpheme. Results revealed robust stem-training effects, showing that items including a trained constituent were harder to reject and easier to spell than items including two untrained constituents. There was also a significant effect of morphological family size, with greater training effects for items belonging to large than small families. Effect sizes were overall smaller in L2 than in L1. These findings point to the important role of morphological structure in L2 word acquisition and suggest that large morphological family-clusters lead to better learning outcomes.

Prior research has reported vocabulary learning benefits from reading while listening (RWL), but few testable predictions have been made regarding an underlying mechanism for benefits. In this study, reading ahead of the audio was examined as a potential source of benefits during RWL. Fifty-nine participants had their eye movements tracked during a contextualized RWL task embedded with 25 pseudowords 10 times each, followed by three learning outcome measures: form recognition, meaning recognition, and meaning recall. Results indicated that (a) reading ahead facilitated initial form decoding as indexed by gaze durations, especially during early instances; (b) it only predicted the deepest level of vocabulary knowledge tested—meaning recall. These findings indicate that reading ahead may reflect the critical alignment between auditory input, orthographic decoding, and phonological encoding processes during reading, thereby facilitating faster processing when reading ahead than not reading ahead, as well as form-meaning mapping for new words.

Statistical regularities can be acquired from usage. To examine language speakers’ statistical metacognition about multiword expressions (MWEs), we collected ratings for frequency, dispersion, and directional association strength of English binomials from L1, advanced and intermediate L2 speakers. Mixed-effects modeling showed all speakers had limited speaker-to-corpus consistency but significant sensitivity to statistical regularities of language, supporting usage-based (Gries & Ellis, 2015) and statistical learning theories (Christiansen, 2019). Their statistical metacognition was also shaped by word-level cues, consistent with dual-route model (Carrol & Conklin, 2014). Despite similarities, frequency metacognition showed the strongest speaker-to-corpus consistency, while dispersion metacognition was the hardest to develop. Advanced L2 speakers showed the greatest speaker-to-corpus consistency and sensitivity, while lower-proficiency speakers relied more on word-level cues in metacognitive judgments, supporting the shallow-structure hypothesis (Clahsen & Felser, 2006). Overall, L1 and L2 speakers develop diverse statistical metacognition, with L2 speakers not necessarily inferior, suggesting that statistical metacognition is not solely shaped by usage-based experience.

This study explored the effects of repeating a video-lecture-based task on second language (L2) learners’ input processing and the relationship between online processing patterns and lecture comprehension. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The comparison group (n = 30) performed the task once, whereas the repetition group (n = 30) repeated the same task three times, with each group completing a free-recall test after their last performance. The stimulated-recall participants (n = 15) completed the task once, twice, or three times and described their thought processes during their last task performance. The lecture featured an instructor introducing fundamental concepts of neurobiology with labeled diagrams. Participants’ visual attention to the instructor and diagrams was captured using an eye-tracker. Results revealed an increase in learners’ visual attention to the instructor and a decline in their visual attention to the diagrams across repetitions. Additionally, more visual attention to the instructor was related to lower comprehension.

Research on how cognitive and affective factors shape bilinguals’ moral judgments in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages remains limited. This study advances our understanding of both language-related variables (L2 proficiency, age of onset of L2 acquisition, length of L2 immersion) and nonlinguistic variables (emotional intelligence, executive functions) in relation to the moral judgments and emotional intensity experienced by 90 Chinese–English bilingual speakers. Participants read five moral dilemmas and completed a set of questionnaires and cognitive ability tests. Mixed-effects models revealed no evidence of a moral foreign language effect, raising questions about the robustness of this phenomenon. Specifically, neither language-related variables nor emotional intelligence had a significant effect. However, participants with stronger updating ability made more deontological judgments in both their L1 and L2, while those with better inhibitory control also made more deontological decisions, but only in their L1. These findings offer new insights into the relationship between language and cognition.

Listening ability in second language (L2) assessment is elicited through test methods that often require other abilities, which may introduce construct-irrelevant variance and threaten the validity of the test. While previous research has examined the effects of item presentation and item format on test performance, studies on test-takers’ cognitive processing remain exploratory. This study investigates the effects of two test method variables, item presentation (operationalized as while-listening performance [WLP] vs. post-listening performance [PLP]) and item format (operationalized as multiple-choice questions [MCQs] vs. open-ended questions [OEQs]), on test-takers’ cognitive processing, using gaze behaviors as real-time indicators. A Graeco-Latin square design was employed to administer four psychometrically validated short-talk listening testlets across the test conditions. Eye-tracking data were collected while controlling for word count and typing speed as covariates. Linear mixed-effects modeling revealed higher total fixation duration, fixation counts, total visit duration, and visit counts in the WLP condition than in the PLP condition. Interaction effects for all four metrics further indicated that these differences were more pronounced for MCQs than for OEQs. Additionally, typing speed and word count contributed to the variance in eye-tracking measures. The findings contribute to our growing understanding of how test methods shape listening processes and offer implications for the design and interpretation of L2 listening assessments.

This study aims to illuminate the underlying mechanisms of sentence processing in L2 speakers. The phenomenon of interest in the study is the passive structure, which prior research has shown can be challenging for both L1 speakers and L2 speakers to process compared to active structures. Using a visual-world eye-tracking paradigm, this study investigates whether L1-English speakers and L1-Cantonese L2-English speakers employ a morphological cue within the verb to process English actives and passives, and if so, specifically when these cues are integrated into their processing. The results from a growth curve analysis and a divergence point analysis show that the L2-English speakers were slower than the L1-English speakers, but did use the morphological cue to process both actives and passives, even though this cue is absent in their L1 Cantonese. These results suggest that, despite differences in processing speed, the mechanisms underlying L1 and L2 processing are similar.

This methodological study investigated how the distribution of training sessions—massed, equal spacing, and expanding spacing—affects L2 phonetic learning, focusing on Mandarin-speaking learners’ perception of the English /ɛ/–/æ/ contrast. While most previous phonetic training studies have used massed schedules, the current quasi-experimental design revealed that both types of spaced practice significantly outperformed massed practice in terms of immediate gains and long-term retention. Effect sizes in the spaced groups were approximately double those of the massed group. No significant differences emerged between equal and expanding spacing. These findings suggest that distributed practice—regardless of spacing type—can enhance both the magnitude and durability of L2 phonetic learning. Crucially, this study makes it possible to revisit past findings based on massed training paradigms and to consider whether adopting alternative timing schedules could unlock greater learning potential—for instance, by doubling the size and durability of training effects through the use of spaced conditions.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a powerful and flexible modeling framework for testing complex relationships among observed and latent variables. However, its methodological complexity and analytical flexibility also increase the risk of questionable research practices (QRPs), especially in fields like applied linguistics, where training in advanced statistics may be limited. This article synthesizes the literature on QRPs and applies it to SEM by identifying seven categories of problematic practices: not checking assumptions, not validating a measurement model, not testing competing models, not sufficiently justifying modeling decisions, relying on post hoc model modification, overemphasizing global fit indices, and incomplete or nontransparent reporting. Each practice is described with examples and linked to broader issues in research ethics and transparency. The paper concludes with concrete recommendations for improving the credibility and reproducibility of SEM research, emphasizing the integration of best practices with the principles of open science.

Regardless of whether one is analyzing quantitative data from research involving generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) or more classical methods, testing for normality remains a necessary step in statistical analysis. Although over 60 methods have been proposed for assessing univariate normality, previous systematic reviews show that normality testing remains underreported in L2 research. This paper addresses this gap by first reviewing the concept of normality and its role in parametric statistical inference. We then examine 12 normality assessment methods including five graphical and seven analytical methods selected based on their prominence in statistical literature and availability in commonly used software. Each method is explained in terms of its underlying mechanism and sensitivity to specific forms of nonnormality, such as skewness, tail heaviness, and multimodality. In the second part of the study, we review 237 empirical articles published between 2020 and 2025 in ten selected L2-focused Q1 journals, using AI-assisted annotation. Our findings reveal inconsistencies in how graphical tests are reported, a tendency to rely on tests such as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov without explicit attention to sample size constraints, and limited justification provided for critical values of skewness and kurtosis. These results indicate some divergence between recommended statistical practices and the procedures for normality testing reported in the L2 publications examined. The paper concludes with actionable recommendations for selecting and interpreting normality tests in L2 research contexts.

This meta-analysis investigates the contributions of viewing audiovisual input on second language (L2) learning. We calculated 75 effect sizes from 56 experiments (n = 1954) and assessed the effects of audiovisual input on language learning using a within-group (pre-post) meta-analytic approach. Fifteen moderator variables were included in the analysis. Results showed that a) there was a small effect of audiovisual input on L2 learning (g = .89); b) no differences were found between the effects of viewing audiovisual input on different areas of L2 learning (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, speaking, listening proficiency); and c) video category had a significant impact on L2 learning with entertainment-focused videos (e.g., TV series, movies, and mixed videos) yielding lower effects than educational videos (e.g., TED Talks, documentaries, and language-focused).