This study was performed to investigate the impact of the virtual classroom on second/foreign language (L2) interaction. A total of 90 Saudi female undergraduate students participated in this study.

The current research takes place at the English language department at Taibah University, Saudi Arabia, where all students are enrolled in undergraduate studies and must study English language course as a core module in their first year. One of the most challenging tests faced by Saudi students in their studies, is the summative speaking test. The test is consisting of three tasks in which students required to go through them all. Accordingly, there is a need to seek approaches to enhance students' performance in the speaking test. In other words, formative assessment has not been used to overcome the challenges faced by the Saudi students at Taibah University in the speaking test. This research aims to investigate whether a formative speaking assessment has a significant impact on students' performance in the summative test. Also, it aims to monitor student learning and to provide constructive feedback that can be used by teachers to improve students' learning and help the students to identify their strengths and weaknesses in speaking skills. This study concludes that formative assessment helps Saudi students to overcome the challenges they face in speaking test. It is also recommend constructive feedback to improve their speaking performance.

This study was performed to investigate the impact of the virtual classroom on second/foreign language (L2) interaction. A total of 90 Saudi female undergraduate students participated in this study. All participants were enrolled in an English language course in the Preparatory Year Programme (PYP) at a Saudi English Language Centre (ELC), with the English language being taught as a core module in this course. The English language proficiency level of the participants was equal to beginner or low intermediate, which was determined to be the A2 language level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). A quantitative research method, a questionnaire was developed with 19 statements to test the hypotheses of this study, which sought to determine whether virtual classes had an effective impact on language interaction and L2 learning, and whether participants had a positive attitude towards interaction and learning via virtual classes. The study revealed that there was a good degree of communication and interaction among Saudi students specifically in virtual classes. Also, participants showed a positive attitude towards using online classes for L2 learning. Thus, implementing virtual classes for language learning and teaching is highly recommend not only in this particular Saudi learning environment, but also across other EFL contexts. The study aspired to answer the following research questions:1. How effective are virtual classes for promoting interaction through the English language in the preparatory year in Saudi Arabia? 2. To what extent can Saudi students use virtual classes for learning English?

This study examined the impact of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) on grammar acquisition forEnglish as a foreign language (EFL) in a Saudi context. The hypothesis of this study wasto investigate if CALL has a positive impact on learning grammar. The participants of this study were 150female learners froma preparatory year who study English language as a core module. The students were tested in their English language proficiency using the Oxford Online Placement Test and scored at an upper intermediate level.Students were assigned into one of two groups, control orexperimental.The control group had the material in printed text from the course book. The experimental group was given the same materials in addition to extra software exercises using anonline learning management system (LMS). Two types of tests (pre and post) were employed to compare the students' language proficiency in grammar. The results of the post-test supported thehypothesis of this research byfinding that there wasa substantialdifference in the results between the control and the experimental groups in the level of grammar acquisition for grammatical rules and forms. The findings of this research carry significant implications for second/foreign language learning, English language practitioners, andseconed language acquisition researchers.

Various theories of second language acquisition (SLA) attribute significant importance to the role of input in second language (L2) learning. The current paper attempts to explore the role of input through an overview of four theories of SLA. These theories highlight different views on the value of second language input to learners' linguistic abilities. These theories are: