This study examined the receptive vocabulary of 102 first-, third-, and sixth-grade Spanish/English bilingual students of Hispanic origin. It found that, although students in all three grade levels functioned comparably well on the Spanish instruments, performance on the English instruments increased with grade level. (41 references) (MDM)

The effect of three affective student characteristics, in comparison with selected student ability characteristics, on course grade in elementary language courses is examined. Results imply that affective characteristics have at least as much influence on learning as do ability factors. (Author/RM)

Discusses the limitations of laboratory research in evaluating second language instruction, arguing that field research, which fosters a concern for what works in the classroom first, is more desirable because it provides direct feedback to instructors. (Author/CB)

An original personality test is used to aid in screening and advising applicants to a freshman English tutorial program for foreign, minority and Anglo-American students. The test gives indications that it is strongly predictive of good and poor language-study behavior. (Author/RM)

Examined how reading texts for different purposes affected amounts of incidental word learning. Grade 6 students were asked to read texts for fun, to learn about the topic of the text, and for text comprehension. Level of reading ability was a significant factor in all conditions. Low ability readers learned hardly any words incidentally;…

This study investigated a causal model of second language learning, in particular, three situation-specific constructs: language class discomfort, language class risktaking, and language class sociability. Findings indicate that discomfort negatively predicted risktaking and sociability, risktaking positively predicted participation, and…

Investigated whether beginning adult learners, given auditory stimuli, were equally likely to represent French gender subclasses using phonological, morphosyntactic, and/or semantic representations. Data from adult English speakers learning patterned French and translation equivalent lists indicated that the construct of input for gender learning…

This article describes the development and validation of a listening questionnaire designed to assess second language (L2) listeners' metacognitive awareness and perceived use of strategies while listening to oral texts. The process of instrument development and validation is described, along with a review of the relevant literature related to…

Examines the behavior of university students of Italian in Australia as they study the meanings of new Italian words. Repetition of the new words and their meanings was the primary learning strategy employed. Results indicate a need to distinguish between the use of context for "generation" of a new word and the use of context for…

Reviews research on the nature of attention and memory and proposes a model of the relationship between them during second-language acquisition complementary to Schmidt's noticing hypothesis and oppositional to Krashen's dual-system hypothesis. The article maintains that differential performance on implicit and explicit learning and memory…

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…