As a personality trait, ‘grit’ has been defined as a combination of perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Past research in social psychology has found grit as an important predictor of success across different populations in various academic and non-academic areas. Since successful mastery of a second language (L2) is highly dependent on learners’ sustained effort, the notion of grit and its relationship to language achievement gains immediate relevance in second language acquisition (SLA). The present study introduces the notion of grit and examines its relationship with motivational behaviors and language achievement in a sample of English as a foreign language learners (n = 191). Toward these ends, a language-specific grit scale was developed and validated to measure L2 learners’ grit. L2 grit was found to be positively related to students’ language learning motivation and achievement above and beyond domain-general grit. Taken together, and consistent with results of past research in social psychology, we propose that L2 grit be considered among other more established individual differences associated with L2 development.

The goal of this study was to determine the overall effects of pronunciation instruction (PI) as well as the sources and extent of variance in observed effects. Toward this end, a comprehensive search for primary studies was conducted, yielding 86 unique reports testing the effects of PI. Each study was then coded on substantive and methodological features as well as study outcomes (Cohen’s d ). Aggregated results showed a generally large effect for PI ( d = 0.89 and 0.80 for N -weighted within- and between-group contrasts, respectively). In addition, moderator analyses revealed larger effects for (i) longer interventions, (ii) treatments providing feedback, and (iii) more controlled outcome measures. We interpret these and other results with respect to their practical and pedagogical relevance. We also discuss the findings in relation to instructed second language acquisition research generally and in comparison with other reviews of PI (e.g. Saito 2012). Our conclusion points out areas of PI research in need of further empirical attention and methodological refinement.

This study assesses research and reporting practices in quantitative second language (L2) research. A sample of 606 primary studies, published from 1990 to 2010 inLanguage LearningandStudies in Second Language Acquisition, was collected and coded for designs, statistical analyses, reporting practices, and outcomes (i.e., effect sizes). The results point to several systematic strengths as well as many flaws, such as a lack of control in experimental designs, incomplete and inconsistent reporting practices, and low statistical power. I discuss these trends, strengths, and weaknesses in comparison with methodological reviews of L2 research (e.g., Plonsky & Gass, 2011) as well as reviews from other fields (e.g., education, Skidmore & Thompson, 2010). On the basis of the findings, I also make a number of suggestions for methodological reforms in applied linguistics.