Research on the effects of Study Abroad (SA) periods on learners' linguistic progress has tended to focus on oral skills, and few SA studies have focused on learners' development in writing while abroad. The subjects in the present study were 37 advanced level non-native (NNSs) university students of English on a SA programme. Written compositions were analysed for fluency accuracy and complexity gains after the SA. They were contrasted with progress after formal instruction and with native speakers (NSs) baseline written performance. Language background data, attitudes, and stay abroad conditions were elicited with questionnaires. The SA period resulted in significant progress, which receded in the mid-term. Formal instruction only showed some improvement in accuracy. Significant differences were found between NSs and NNSs, although not in all domains. The results allow us to identify the students who benefit most from the SA and to examine the factors which seem to characterize them. The theoretical interest of Study AbroadThe interest of investigating the effects of SA periods on linguistic outcomes and processes seems undeniable and undiminishing. Fifteen years after the publication of Freed's (1995: 158) seminal book "with the first collection of studies that captured the current state of the art of research on SA", SA studies allow us to address some of the fundamental issues that concern SLA theory, namely learning context, differences in learner development, learning mechanisms, language proficiency, and stages of development. These are five of the eight issues identified by Hulstijn (2007: 194) when he refers to the relative weight played in language acquisition by, on the one hand, the biological factors, mainly age, and, on the other, by each of the "sociopsychological factors (e.g. learning context, quantity and quality of input, learner attributes, e.g. attitudes, motivation, aptitude)".

Most studies concerning the issue of age have focused on the language outcomes of subjects who started acquiring a second language during childhood, or later on during adolescence or adulthood in naturalistic contexts. However, relatively few studies have been concerned with school contexts where a foreign language is a compulsory subject in the early stages of the curriculum. The aim of the present study is to address the question of the effects of starting age (8 versus 11) on the acquisition of English as a foreign language in a school context, with specific reference to written production. Data are analysed after 200 and 416 hours of instruction, that is, when learners are 10 and 12, and 12 and 14 respectively. Results suggest that an earlier start does not have clear benefits in the acquisition of EFL as reflected in written language.

This study examines a semi and a full English-medium instruction (EMI) undergraduate program offered at a Catalan university in order to measure its effect on the students’ oral output. Specifically, it tackles the acquisition of pragmatic markers (PMs) by measuring four variables, the overall frequency of use, the variety of types, the use of textual PMs, and the use of interpersonal PMs. Oral data were collected via a monologue and an interaction task. The study is cross-sectional with 39 full-EMI and 33 semi-EMI participants in 2nd and 3rd year of study plus 10 native speakers. PM use was chosen for analysis due to the important role they play in communicative competence. Results show a significant increase in the overall frequency and variety of types of PMs used from year 2 to year 3. The full-EMI group used PMs at a significantly higher frequency and wider variety when compared to the semi-EMI group, neither group reached baseline levels for use of interpersonal PMs, and both groups displayed a higher use of textual PMs compared to the NSs.

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OBJECTIVE: To analyse the relationship between endometrial thickness and pregnancy outcome in fresh oocyte donation cycles.DESIGN: Retrospective cohort analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Single centre retrospective cohort analysis of 1928 fresh single embryo transfer oocyte donation cycles. Treatment took place at a private infertility clinic (IVIRMA Valencia, Spain) between January 1st, 2016 and December 31st, 2017. We included women under 50 years old undergoing fresh oocyte-donation treatment in the context of a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) cycle for endometrial preparation. Only women with a normal uterus on the 2D ultrasound and accepting a single transfer of a day 5 blastocyst were included. Only one good quality blastocyst according to the Spanish ASEBIR classification was transferred after 5 days of progesterone administration (Micronized Progesterone, 400 mg/12h. vaginally). We excluded cases in which an endometrial preparation under a natural cycle was performed, when more than one embryo was transferred, or any good quality blastocyst was available.RESULTS: Mean age was 42.5 AE 4.8 and BMI was 23.0 AE 3.6. The overall live birth rate was 45.6%. The mean endometrial thickness was 8.7AE1.7 mm, ranging from 3.0 to 17.0 mm. The distribution by percentiles is as follows: p10¼6.9mm; p25¼7.5mm; p50¼8.5mm; p75¼9.5mm; p90¼11.0mm. For the purpose of the analysis, patients were categorized in to 6 groups defined by percentiles. LBR in women with endometrium % p10, (% 6.9 mm), was significantly reduced compared to the rest of the population (36.7% vs 46.2%; p¼0.015). When submitted to a multivariate logistic regression analysis in which all variables related to live birth rate were included (i.e. age, BMI, number of oocytes, number of fertilized oocytes and number of good quality blastocysts available), endometrial thickness remained as an independent factor related to live birth. An endometrial thickness % 6.9 mm was associated with a significantly reduced probability of live birth compared with patients with an endometrial thickness of 7 mm or more (OR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.50-0.97).CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate a reduction of live birth rate for more than 9 % with an endometrial thickness lower than 7 mm. This finding even remains as an independent factor after multivariate logistic regression analysis controlling for all potentially relevant confounders. To our best knowledge this study seems to represent the largest cohort investigating live birth rate in fresh oocyte donation cycles and including only single embryo transfers.