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This study serves as a follow-up to VanPatten's (2015a) demographic report including the makeup of many university language departments. The present study investigates what some literary and cultural studies experts self-report regarding their training in SLA/language pedagogy, term familiarity, perceptions of Communicative Language Teaching, and classroom practices. Participants included 38 university-level US Spanish and French professors with expertise in literary and cultural studies. Findings revealed a lack of familiarity with some SLA and language teaching constructs, feedback types, and the role of explicit grammar and mechanical drills. As such, we discuss the ramifications of these findings.

This study seeks to further the research on online language learning by examining the level at which intermediate ESL students understand and process sociopragmatic information in their second language (L2) in globally networked environments like Twitter. In this semester-long study, L2 English learners from a variety of first languages (Chinese, Spanish, Arabic) analyzed authentic English-language tweets produced by well-known native speakers, with a focus on abbreviations, hashtags and tweeter mood. Results revealed that high intermediate ESL students relied most heavily on word choice when making sense of English tweets, demonstrating that a majority were able to extract significant meaning from common abbreviations, prosified hashtags, indices of tweeter mood and the tweet's larger context. This investigation highlights Twitter's status as an authentic and dynamic L2 setting that facilitates the cultural enrichment of learners and enhances their socio-pragmatic awareness, while developing their multiliteracy skills in an L2.

This study serves as a follow-up to VanPatten’s (2015a) demographic report including the makeup of many university language departments. The present study investigates what some literary and cultural studies experts self-report regarding their training in SLA/language pedagogy, term familiarity, perceptions of Communicative Language Teaching, and classroom practices. Participants included 38 university-level US Spanish and French professors with expertise in literary and cultural studies. Findings revealed a lack of familiarity with some SLA and language teaching constructs, feedback types, and the role of explicit grammar and mechanical drills. As such, we discuss the ramifications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]