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In previous studies of homework in core academic subjects, positive student attitudes toward homework were linked to higher achievement, whereas time spent on homework showed an inconsistent relationship with achievement. This study examined the generalizability of these findings to foreign language learning by analyzing 2,342 adult students' attitudes toward assigned homework, time spent on assigned homework, and achievement outcomes in a variety of foreign language courses. Student ratings of the relevance of homework, the usefulness of feedback provided on homework, and the fairness of homework grading were positively correlated with teacher-assigned grades and standardized proficiency test scores in listening, reading, and speaking. Reported time spent on homework, however, was negatively correlated with these measures. In hierarchical regression analyses, all homework-related variables emerged as significant predictors of outcomes after controlling for potential covariates such as language learning aptitude, demographic variables, and affective factors. Thus, these results provide evidence that language course outcomes are positively associated with attitudes toward homework but negatively associated with time spent on homework. Possible interpretations of these findings are discussed. We suggest that the negative association follows in part from the opportunity cost of time spent on assigned homework, which decreases time spent on individualized study that may be more beneficial for improving language course outcomes.Keywords: assigned homework, attitudes, time spent, grade point average, standardized test scores Homework is nearly ubiquitous in educational settings, yet its effectiveness as a pedagogical tool is questioned to this day. In this article, we report results of the first study to examine the relationship of homework-related variables to achievement in foreign language (FL) courses. In doing so, this investigation responds to a problematic bias in education research toward examining achievement in core academic subjects (e.g., reading, math, science) to the exclusion of FLs. Although there is some evidence that homework is related positively to achievement in core subjects, FL achievement may not be influenced by homework in the same way because of two unique characteristics of language acquisition: a high degree of implicit learning (Eckman, Iverson, Fox, Jacewicz, & Lee, 2011;Williams, 2009) and social and interactional requirements (Burling, 1981;Gass, Mackey, & Pica, 1998;Kuhl, Tsao, & Liu, 2003;Long, 1981;Schumann, 1986;Seliger, 1977;Watanabe & Swain, 2007;Wells, 1981). Unlike that of other subjects, knowledge of language is largely unconscious; is routinely acquired without explicit instruction; and is inherently social, in that rules of conversation and cultural norms are fundamentally based in social interaction. Consequently, although traditional homework exercises done in isolation may aid in the learning of algebra, for example, it remains unclear whether this type of explicit, nonin...

The empirical study reported here investigated predictors of oral proficiency gain to the Advanced level resulting from immersion study abroad. The data consisted of 22 preimmersion Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) of American students who participated in semester immersion programs in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and received a score of Intermediate High on the preimmersion OPI. On the basis of the students’ postprogram proficiency scores, the participants were grouped as learners who crossed the Advanced‐level threshold (gainers) and as those who did not cross the threshold (nullgainers). This study used linguistic predictor variables identified in previous research (Brecht, Davidson, & Ginsberg, 1993) and introduced a new set of metalinguistic variables. An empirically based model constructed for the study included five variables that proved to be the best predictors for the Advanced‐level threshold gain: linguistic (grammar, vocabulary, accuracy) and metalinguistic (self‐corrected errors and sentence repair). The resulting findings yielded a robust model for predicting language outcomes of study abroad.

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Despite years of research on vocabulary learning and teaching, relatively little is known about strategies for effective mastery of vocabulary in less commonly taught languages. The current study focuses on English native speakers studying Modern Standard Arabic to identify effective ways to present and learn new vocabulary using tasks varying in the degree of lexical context provided and the amount of cognitive effort needed to complete them.

Social media users are often exposed to cute content that evokes emotional reactions and influences them to feel or behave certain ways. The cuteness phenomenon in social media has been scarcely studied despite its prevalence and potential to spread quickly and affect large audiences. The main framework for understanding cuteness and emotions related to cuteness outside of social media is baby schema (having juvenile characteristics), which triggers parental instincts. We propose that baby schema is a necessary but not sufficient component of explaining what constitutes cuteness and how people react to it in the social media context. Cute social media content may also have characteristics that evoke approach motivations (a desire to interact with an entity, generally with the expectation of having a positive experience) that can manifest behaviorally in sharing and other prosocial online behaviors. We developed and performed initial validation for measures in social media contexts of: (1) cute attributes that encompass both baby schema and other proposed cuteness characteristics (the Cuteness Attributes Taxonomy, CAT) and (2) the emotional reactions they trigger (Heartwarming Social Media, HSM). We used the Kama Muta Multiplex Scale (KAMMUS Two), as previously validated measure of kama muta (an emotion akin to tenderness; from Sanskrit, “moved by love”) as a measure of emotional reaction to cute stimuli and the dimension Cute Content of the Social Media Emotions Annotation Guide (SMEmo-Cute Content) as a developed measure of gestalt cute content to help validate our newly developed measures. Using 1,875 Polish tweets, our results confirmed that cute social media content predicted a kama muta response, but not all KAMMUS Two subscales were sensitive to cute content, and that the HSM measure was a better indicator of the presence of cute content. Further, the CAT measure is an effective means of categorizing cute attributes of social media content. These results suggest potential differences between in-person, online, and social media experiences evoking cute emotional reactions, and the need for metrics that are developed and validated for use in social media contexts.