English-speakers' learning of a French vowel contrast (/schwa/-/slashed o/) was examined under six different stimulus conditions in which contrastive and noncontrastive stimulus dimensions were varied orthogonally to each other. The distribution of contrastive cues was varied across training conditions to create single prototype, variable far…

This study examined the relation between young English language learners' (ELL) native oral language skills and their language input in transitional bilingual education kindergarten classrooms. Spanish-speaking ELLs' ("n" = 101) Spanish expressive language skills were assessed using the memory for sentences and picture vocabulary…

This study examines how listener judgments of second language speech relate to individual differences in listeners' phonological memory, attention control, and musical ability. Sixty native English listeners (30 music majors, 30 nonmusic majors) rated 40 nonnative speech samples for accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency. The listeners were…

Individual differences in abilities to form, access, and hone phonological representations of words are implicated in the development of oral and written language. This study addressed three important gaps in the literature concerning measurement of individual differences in phonological representation. First, we empirically examined the…

Recent studies of heritage speakers, many of whom possess incomplete knowledge of their family language, suggest that these speakers may be linguistically superior to second language (L2) learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. This study reexamines this claim by focusing on knowledge of clitic pronouns and word order in 24 L2 learners…

Five experiments examined whether overt repetition (i.e., saying a word aloud) during exposure is critical to the expressive learning of new words. When participants did not engage in overt repetition during exposure, they nevertheless exhibited clear expressive learning, both with and without an accompanying semantics, indicating that overt…

This study investigated the relationships between home language learning activities and vocabulary in a sample of monolingual native Dutch (n = 58) and bilingual immigrant Moroccan-Dutch (n = 46) and Turkish-Dutch (n = 55) 3-year-olds, speaking Tarifit-Berber, a nonscripted language, and Turkish as their first language (L1), respectively. Despite…

Gestures are often used while speaking to aid in the speaker's packaging of the verbal message and/or to aid the listener in decoding the message. The ways in which bilinguals use gestures are reviewed in this article. Researchers have predicted that bilinguals' gesture use is related to bilinguals' language proficiency. However, no clear pattern…

This study explores factors influencing the degree to which language minority (LM) children from Spanish-dominant homes understand how connectives, such as "in contrast" and "because", signal relationships between text propositions. Standardized tasks of vocabulary, listening comprehension, word reading, and a researcher-designed text cohesion…

Examines the perception of /r/ and /l/ by adult Japanese learners of English as a function of their exposure to authentic English. Results indicate that while extended exposure may improve /r/-/l/ identification accuracy, it does not ensure perfect perceptual mastery. (32 references) (Author/CK)

Two experiments examined the effect of single-modality (sound or text) and bimodal (sound and text) presentation on word meaning, as measured by both improvements in spoken word recognition efficiency and recognition memory. Both native and nonnative speakers of English were tested. Concludes simultaneous text presentation can aid novel word…

Reviews research on first- (L1) and second-language (L2) acquisition of English articles, and adds to this literature a study f a(n), the, and the null article in the speech of (n=30) second-language learners. Both differences and similarities emerge between the L1 and L2 patterns of acquisition. (31 references) (Author/VWL)

Examined whether second language (L2) utterance durations increase as age of learning increases. Fluently produced English sentences spoken by 240 native speakers of both Italian and Korean were examined. Results give preliminary support for the proposal that the more established the first language during exposure to the second language, the more…

Examined effect of word class (nouns vs. verbs) on second language pronunciation accuracy of Korean-English adult bilinguals whose age of arrival in the United States ranged from 6 to 23 years. Transcriptions of their productions of English indicated they were more accurate in pronouncing verbs than nouns and were more accurate in detecting…

To identify factors that contribute to development of phonological awareness, investigated longitudinal relationships among child background factors, structural oral language, and phonological awareness in children in kindergarten through Grade 2, and a subsample who were nonreaders in kindergarten. Suggests general oral language may contribute to…