This study investigates relations between second language (L2) lexical input and output in terms of word information properties (i.e., lexical salience; Ellis, 2006a). The data for this study come from a longitudinal corpus of naturalistic spoken data between L2 learners and first language (L1) interlocutors collected over a year's time. The…

This article summarizes the individual contributions to this special issue and discusses the advantages and implications of adopting a multilingual approach. The advantages include the possibility of examining language practices in context and providing insights about the way languages are acquired and used. This multilingual approach also opens…

This research investigates whether English speakers who learn Mandarin Chinese via a familiar orthography differ from those who learn via a non-familiar orthography in their perception of English-Mandarin sound pairs. Canadian English speakers (n = 32) participated in a series of experimental tasks. The tasks included pre- and posttest perception…

A major preoccupation in assessment is connecting examinees' performance in assessment and nonassessment contexts. This preoccupation has traditionally been framed in terms of generalizability. This article reconceptualizes this problem from a qualitatively different perspective on human abilities and their development, namely, the Sociocultural…

An examination of concerns about and suggestions for revising the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Oral Proficiency Guidelines indicates that confirmatory empirical research and determination of the relative absence or presence of components are needed. (CB)

Compares the audiolingual method and the cognitive-code learning theory in two elementary college French courses. (DS)

Two experiments were designed to see (1) if a cloze procedure is a valid measure of language proficiency (it seems to be) and (2) whether a cloze procedure can distinguish accurately between groups at various instructional levels (it distinguishes levels but the levels overlap). (EKN)

Examines whether significantly high correlations exist among language skills in second year students as measured by their final exams. Results support previous research suggesting the existence of shared language aspects across skills. However, each language skill appears to retain enough unique variance that the score in one skill cannot…

Describes a study which investigated reading comprehension among fourth-quarter college French students using a computer. The main thrust of the investigation was to test recall of information in a passage that had been read five minutes previously and was unavailable for reference during the question-answering phrase. (AMH)

Identifies some underlying assumptions about language, testing and its use, and second language acquisition (SLA) for those current on the issue of oral proficiency assessment. Suggests that even with its limitations, the assessment procedure can become a source of data for future SLA research. (Author/LMO)

Examines the effects of aptitude, field independence, attitude, and strategy use upon four areas of language achievement: formal/oral, formal/written, functional/oral, and functional/written. Test results indicated that aptitude and field independence are related, as are strategy use and attitude; only aptitude and strategy use, however, affect…

This is the eighteenth in a series of catalogues of documents in the ERIC system that are of interest to teachers and researchers in foreign languages and linguistics. The documents cited in the present list appeared in the monthly ERIC abstract journal "Resources in Education" (RIE) from July through December 1976. The list is compiled from all…