A comparison of the error profiles of monolingual (child L1) learners of Dutch, Moroccan children (child L2) and Moroccan adults (adult L2) learning Dutch as their L2 shows that participants in all groups massively overgeneralize [-neuter] articles to [+neuter] contexts. In all groups, the reverse gender mistake infrequently occurs. Gender…

Social, aptitudinal, and attitudinal factors that influence acquisition of a second language can also have an effect on the subsequent retention of that language. "Retention" is the maintenance or improvement of proficiency in a language following its acquisition. A study by G. Edwards shows that long-term retention of linguistic and…

This article is republished from "The Canadian Modern Language Review," 60, 4, pp. 501-526. It is published as an article exchange between the "MLJ" and the "CMLR." The articles for the exchange were selected by committees from the Editorial Board of each journal according to the following criteria: articles of…

This book provides an overview of bilingualism and bilingual education by examining historical and recent literature, presenting firsthand observations, and demonstrating how both popular views and scholarly research actually mirror larger social issues. Following the first chapter, a brief introduction, chapter 2 reviews the historical…

Discusses the speech act approach and its usefulness in conveying the meaning of the imperative both for the native speaker and for the purpose of language acquisition. Analyses the infinitival construction of German-language advertising slogans and describes its potential for conveying a variety of messages. (Author/MES)

Examines the field of Spanish linguistics over 100 years, subdividing Spanish linguistics into several subdisciplines: historical grammar, descriptive phonetics, Spanish phonology, contrastive structures, descriptive grammar, Spanish syntax, specific Spanish dialectology, Spanish in Africa and Asia, sociolinguistics of Spanish-speaking societies,…

This first of a two-part article looks at the language learning-acquiring distinction, discussing the consequences of teaching at either end of the learning-acquiring continuum. Describes the distinction between the two, discusses the learning versus acquiring of grammar, and compares the two. The second part of the article will focus on memory…

Papers sponsored by the Language Awareness Working Party, a task force of Great Britain's National Congress on Languages in Education concerned with common concerns of professionals in all areas of native and second language instruction, include: "The Report of the Language Awareness Working Party"; "Language Awareness in Six Easy…