Despite the worldwide prevalence of multilingualism, the knowledge of the relationship between domain-general cognitive control and multilingual language control remains scant. Here we provide new insights into this issue by examining systematically how different components of inhibitory control (i.e., response inhibition and interference…

The ability to interact with others has gained recognition as part of the L2 speaking construct in the assessment literature and in high- and low-stakes speaking assessments. This paper first presents a review of the literature on interactional competence (IC) in L2 learning and assessment. It then discusses a particular feature--"producing…

This study investigates a particular behavior in talk-in-interaction that appears to be, at least in its most explicit form, relatively unique to children, that is, the behavior whereby one participant explicitly instructs another participant to say a specific phrase, after which the first participant then supplies a prefashioned response. Rather…

Collaborative output has been found to facilitate L2 lexical learning due to the cognitive word processing engendered in it. Yet it is not clear how interactions involved in collaborative output could affect learners' word processing and hence their lexical learning. This paper takes a sociocultural perspective to investigate Chinese EFL learners'…

For almost 80 years, Chinese linguists have been fascinated by sentences like "Pijiu ba, he dianr!" ("Beer, I'll have some!"), which look superficially like a jumbled-up version of "normal-order sentences." Numerous accounts have been proposed to explain their structure and meaning, but no consensus has been reached as to how their true essence…

Despite the growing popularity of paired format speaking assessments, the effects of pre-task planning time on performance in these formats are not yet well understood. For example, some studies have revealed the benefits of planning but others have not. Using a multifaceted approach including analysis of the process of speaking performance, the…

This study investigates the roles of collaborative output, the modality of output, and word engagement in vocabulary learning and retention by Chinese-speaking undergraduate EFL learners. The two treatment groups reconstructed a passage that they had read in one of two ways: (1) dyadic oral interaction while producing a written report (Written…

Explores how the discourse context of metaphorical language supports children's understanding of sociocultural norms. Classroom data are examined to determine how language, situation, and interaction assist in the interpretation of metaphorically used language. (46 references) (Author/CK)

Reports on a pilot study examining the effects of reading and interactive vocabulary instruction on the vocabulary development of English-as-a-Second-language students attending a U.S. university-preparatory intensive English program. Findings suggest that such instruction combined with self-selected and course-related reading can improve…

Reports five experiments; the first two assessed the effect of the selectional restriction requirements of verbs and the animacy of nouns on sentence comprehension, the third determined the cause of the interaction found in the first set of studies, and the fourth and fifth were self-paced reading experiments. (52 references) (Author/CK)

A pilot study of a larger project on second language comprehension under two input conditions is reported. The first condition is characterized by the availability of samples of target input that have been modified a priori toward greater semantic redundancy and transparency and less complex syntax. The second condition is characterized by the…

Discusses the relations in learning between primary (L1) and second languages, including the theme of language learning and face-to-face verbal interaction; the conjunction of research in language learning and in bilingualism; and work on the role of metalinguistc activities in this area. Notes that the ethnographic data collected show that resort…