Research conducted over the past 15–20 years has revealed significant insights into the nature and role of learner selves in language learning settings, particularly the importance of considering the interaction between situated contextual factors and the ways learners perceive, imagine, and construe their possible selves. To further advance this active line of investigation, this article first reviews key previous research and argues for the need to address the generalizability of learner possible selves through replication of original research conducted with different types of learners in diverse social and educational contexts, particularly in multilingual settings and in relation to learning target languages (TLs) other than English. Then, two studies are identified as ideal for replication, and their motivation, methods, and findings are reported in detail. To strengthen the validity and reliability of the original studies’ findings, several suggestions are made for ways to replicate the focal studies as a necessary first step in building robust comparative evidence. As an important second step in this endeavor, the article concludes by arguing for the value of case studies that align with current dynamic conceptualizations of the self.

Although major advances have been made in research on language learning strategies (LLS), there are some areas that have been somewhat surprisingly neglected by specialists. This applies without doubt to the strategies that learners draw on to better understand and learn grammar rules but also to employ grammar structures in real-time processing, as required in spontaneous communication. In this paper, I outline a research agenda for grammar learning strategies (GLS), identifying three distinct lines of inquiry: (1) identification and measurement of GLS, (2) examination of factors moderating GLS use, and (3) strategies-based instruction as applied to GLS. Although these three areas are to some extent reflective of the main foci of empirical investigations in research on LLS, in each case, I try to demonstrate how cutting-edge theoretical and empirical developments can be applied to the study of GLS. For each of the three areas, I propose research tasks the execution of which has the potential of moving research on GLS forward.

To confirm the role of social factors in mediating cognitive processes, this systematic replication study seeks to extend the generalizability of an exploratory study (McDonough, Crowther, Kielstra & Trofimovich 2015) that reported a positive association between eye gaze and second language (L2) speakers’ responses to recasts. For this replication, L2 English speakers (N = 74) carried out communicative tasks with research assistants who provided recasts in response to non-targetlike forms while both interlocutors’ eye gaze behavior was tracked. Transcripts were analyzed for the occurrence of recasts in response to different error types, recast length, and L2 speaker responses. Eye gaze length for the research assistants (RAs) when producing the recast move and the L2 speaker when responding to the recast were obtained in seconds, and mutual gaze (i.e., simultaneous looking) was included as a binary eye gaze variable. A logistic regression model confirmed the findings of McDonough et al. (2015), with both L2 speaker and mutual eye gaze predictive of targetlike responses; however, the effect of L2 speaker's eye gaze duration was in the opposite direction as compared to the initial study. The implications are discussed in terms of understanding the role of eye gaze in face to face interaction.

Virtual exchange is a well-known pedagogical approach in foreign language (FL) education which involves engaging classes in online intercultural collaboration projects with international partners as an integrated part of their educational programmes. This paper begins by reviewing e-tandem and telecollaborative approaches to virtual exchange which are currently being used extensively in FL education and presents two case studies which illustrate the common learning outcomes and limitations of such approaches. I then propose an alternative model of virtual exchange which maintains many of the key characteristics of earlier approaches but which incorporates the principles of global citizenship education and which moves away from bilingual–bicultural approaches. I conclude by outlining the main characteristics of this model and presenting some examples of how this approach could be put into practice.

This article calls for replication of two studies (Li, Zhu & Ellis 2016; Arroyo & Yilmaz 2018) that examine the timing of corrective feedback, which refers to whether errors should be corrected during a communicative task (immediate feedback) or after the task is completed (delayed feedback). The article starts with a rationale for replicating the two studies: they address a topic of significance to theorists, researchers, and practitioners; they are conducted with rigorous methods; they represent classroom and laboratory research respectively; they both show an advantage for immediate feedback. It proceeds to contextualize the subsequent discussion of replication strategies by (1) elaborating the theoretical claims and pedagogical positions on the influence of the timing of corrective feedback on learning outcomes and task performance, and (2) summarizing the findings of the research on the effectiveness of corrective feedback. After some background information is provided, a detailed discussion is given for each of the two studies, including a summary of the methods and findings, followed by recommendations about how to replicate.

This article reviews the significant and diverse range of research on English language education in Indonesia in the eight-year period 2011–2019. It brings together a body of research consisting of 108 sources, ranging from journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings and doctorate dissertations, to inform the international research and practice community. The contributions cover primary education, secondary education and tertiary education in highly diverse Indonesia where 707 living languages co-exist and struggle to find space in its linguistic ecology. The discussion will provide insights into how factors such as educational policies, ideologies as well as sociocultural and religious values are in contestation in shaping research into and the practice of English language education in the complex, dynamic and polycentric sociolinguistic situation of Indonesia, which has been recently conceptualized as superglossia (Zein, 2020). It is hoped our insights will help inform other multilingual contexts facing the unprecedented need for transforming English language education in this increasingly globalized world.

In her 2017 article ‘Research into practice: Listening strategies in an instructed classroom setting,’ Suzanne Graham outlines ways that research-derived principles of listening instruction have (not) been adopted in second language (L2) classrooms. She organizes her argument into three categories, discussing research findings that have not been well applied, those that have been over-applied, and areas she views as holding good potential for application. In this short response, I compare Graham's conclusions about the extent of research adoption to my own experiences as a language teacher and make additional comments about the application of those research findings in the context of post-secondary L2 English instruction.

Recently, a large number of vocabulary tests have been made available to language teachers, testers, and researchers. Unfortunately, most of them have been launched with inadequate validation evidence. The field of language testing has become increasingly more rigorous in the area of test validation, but developers of vocabulary tests have generally not given validation sufficient attention in the past. This paper argues for more rigorous and systematic procedures for test development, starting from a more precise specification of the test's purpose, intended testees and educational context, the particular aspects of vocabulary knowledge which are being measured, and the way in which the test scores should be interpreted. It also calls for greater assessment literacy among vocabulary test developers, and greater support for the end users of the tests, for instance, with the provision of detailed users' manuals. Overall, the authors present what they feel are the minimum requirements for vocabulary test development and validation. They argue that the field should self-police itself more rigorously to ensure that these requirements are met or exceeded, and made explicit for those using vocabulary tests.

With a certain tone of concern, Suzanne Graham's article presents readers with a series of perceived problems related to current methods of teaching listening skills in the second language classroom. The general explanation behind these observations is the author's perception that language teachers’ practices do not ‘reflect current thinking from the research strategy literature’ (p. 108). Graham argues that research findings on the benefits of explicit strategy instruction are not being utilized in the classroom and that the research-based pedagogical approaches that are being used are often over-applied.