Recent currents in language learning research highlight the social and emergent aspects of second language (L2) development and recognize that learners need opportunities for interaction in meaningful contexts supported by explicit attention to language itself. These perspectives suggest new ways of conceptualizing the challenges faced by children…

In this article, I describe studies conducted over 25 years with secondary and post-secondary L2 learners in the United States. The evidence from these studies shows that there are important connections between students' early L1 skills and their L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency and that individual differences in students' L1 skills in elementary…

A study is made of ways in which three children forgot a foreign language in which they had been immersed. Specifically considered are whether the last things learned are the first things forgotten, and whether forgetting entails unlearning in reverse order from the original learning process. (Author/RM)

Data is presented in support of the assertion that the interlanguage hypothesis should be extended from adult second language acquisition settings to those non-simultaneous child language acquisition settings where the major sociolinguistic variable is the absence of peers who are native speakers of the target language. (Author/RM)

Describes a study to determine if the initial advantage of listening to first language dialogs while reading second language scripts (i.e., reversed subtitling) would hold up over time and if a combination of coordinated dialogs and scripts both in the second language would gain effectiveness through usage. (SED)

This study examined bilingual children's performance in reading Persian and English at grades one, three, and six. Indications are that the bilingual children performed not quite as well as their monolingual counterparts in either of the languages despite the high degree of variation among the subjects. (Author/POP)

Presents a study of the relationships among error types, feedback types, and immediate learner repair in four French immersion classrooms at the elementary level. The database is drawn from transcripts of audiotape recordings of 13 French language-arts lessons and 14 subject-matter lessons totaling 18.3 hours and including 921 error sequences.…

Investigated specific patterns for a reactive approach to form-focused instruction: corrective feedback and its relationship to error types and immediate learner repair. Data is drawn from transcripts of audio recordings made in four French immersion classrooms at the elementary level, totaling 18.3 hours and including 921 error sequences.…

In this longitudinal study in which a second language was used as the sole or major medium of instruction, the experimental group performed as well as or better than the control groups with respect to language skills, academic skills and cognitive development. Pupils could also communicate effectively in their second language. (AG)

Outlines empirical studies of the effects of "book floods" on elementary school students' acquisition of a second language, indicating that exposure to an extensive range of high-interest illustrated story books encourages children to read and learn the target language more quickly, as well as develop positive attitudes toward books. (38…

Presents results of the fourth evaluation of trilingual school programs in French, Hebrew, and English being offered on an experimental basis in several elementary schools in Montreal. (Author/AM)

Describes a study designed to measure several variables and their effect on the language achievement of native Mexican children learning Spanish as a second language. (AM)

Examined two hypotheses regarding reading skill development--the script-dependent hypothesis and the central processing hypothesis--by studying the linguistic, cognitive, and basic reading skills of 70 children in grades 1 through 5 learning to read in English (first language) and Persian (second language) concurrently. Findings supported both…

Examines whether differences exist in the provision and use of negative feedback, according to the age of the learners and the context of the interaction. Data were collected from 20 classrooms (20 adult and 10 child English-as-Second-Language classes) and 32 native speaker-nonnative speaker dyads (16 adult and 16 child). (Author/VWL)

Measures of retention of a Hawaiian lesson given to fourth, seventh, eighth, and eleventh-graders (N=182) indicated that fourth-graders had poorer retention than the other students, while seventh and eighth-graders exceeded eleventh-graders on some tasks, suggesting that second language learning capacity cannot be defined in terms of age alone.…