Examines the language processing and acquisition abilities of the right hemisphere. Discusses functions performed by the right hemisphere that could play an important role in second language acquisition. (EKN)

Examines what is known about writing in both a first and a second language. Describes a study in which unskilled English as a second language writers in a "developmental" college writing course wrote an essay in class, compares the study's findings with the findings of some major studies of the writing process. (SED)

Discusses experimental evidence which suggests that there may be greater right hemisphere involvement in language processing in bilinguals who acquire their second language late relative to their first language and in bilinguals who learn their second language in informal contexts. (EKN)

Reports results of a study of the effects of rhetorical organization of different types of expository prose on intermediate English as a second language readers of different native languages. Certain English rhetorical patterns were easier to recall for nonnative readers in general but there were differences among the various native language…

American and EFL students' comprehension difficulties in reading scientific discourse containing implicit and explicit definitions were tested. Though both found implicit information more difficult to comprehend, the differences in scores on the implicit and explicit definitions remained the same even where English proficiency increased. (PMJ)

The study reported here assessed the contribution of short-term memory to differences in standardized listening scores for each of five types of auditory input. Memory for syntactically arranged words proved to be the best predictor of listening skill in this battery of tests. (SED)

Discusses the influence a first language can have on the acquisition of a second language. Includes some tentative proposals on the interaction of prior first-language knowledge and the creative construction process. (EKN)

A five-point analysis of lecture notes and a postlecture recognition test were used to determine the effectiveness of notetaking of sixty-six native and sixty-three nonnative speakers of English who took notes on a videotaped presentation. Those students able to condense lecture material into propositional information units performed best on the…

Investigated the online processing strategies used by a sample of nonnative speakers of English who were asked to give the meanings of selected common idioms presented in a written context. Data were gathered using a think-aloud procedure; participants were asked to verbalize their thoughts as they arrived at the meaning of the idioms. (Author/VWL)

A study shows that advanced ESL students explore and clarify ideas and attend to language-related concerns primarily after their ideas have been delineated. These results call into question the prescriptive approach to writing instruction that is overly concerned with correctness. (MSE)

Argues that the emphasis of writing instruction in ESL classes should be on writing as a creative process, not on syntax, vocabulary, and rhetorical form. (EKN)

Examines and compares two measures of adult second language learner performance: cued production and elicited imitation. Discusses the utility of each in terms of the contrasting results of the tasks on a carefully delineated area of grammar, namely the related structure of third person simple present and present progressive in WH-questions. (EKN)

The ability of two groups of different language proficiency to make appropriate grammatical judgments and correct sentences was analyzed. With increased proficiency, students moved from a general grammatical ability to an ability to identify and correct details. Results are discussed in terms of concepts of implicit/explicit knowledge and…

Discusses the active contribution a learner/user must make in using a dictionary and breaks the look-up process into seven main steps. (EKN)

Native English-speaking advanced French students' ability to match the perceptive performance of native-speaking Francophones was investigated. The results suggest that linguistic competence may be based on perception and production and that biological constraints in adult language learning may be a psychomotor rather than a psycholinguistic…