Through examination of one recently manufactured term for language learners (Long-term English Learners) and review of a century of "MLJ" articles, we examine varying "socioinstitutional" conceptualizations of second/foreign/heritage language learners as shaped by educational institutions and related stakeholders over time,…

In the interest of clarifying how gesture facilitates L2 word learning, the current study investigates gesture's influence on three interrelated cognitive processes subserving L2 word learning: communication, encoding, and recall. Individuals unfamiliar with Hungarian learned 20 Hungarian words that were either accompanied or unaccompanied by…

All assessment policies and practices are based on monolingual constructs whereby test-takers are expected to demonstrate their language proficiency in one language at a time. Thus, the construct underlying these assessment approaches and/or scales (e.g., the CEFR) is of language as a closed and finite system that does not enable other languages…

Discusses study which looked at the variance from target language norms in second-language behavior which arises in semantic information in individual words. Results suggest that study of grammar as a knowledge of basic lexical classifications requires little attention because work class identifications learned in L1 are smoothly transferred to…

Discusses the historical and present situation in second language testing in the United States, with respect to the major measurement trends represented. Suggests a number of desirable development activities for the future that may help to build on several current initiatives in the field that already show substantial promise for facilitating…

Discusses coverage of language testing issues in the "Modern Language Journal" over the last 80 years. Suggests that overall the articles devoted to language testing show a valuable concern with the use rather than the form of language tests. (Author/VWL)

Describes a study of how the verb-form variables of tense, aspect, mode, person, number, and stem and suffix irregularities interact for lower-level students of Spanish to determine if performance can be improved by asking students to monitor an individual variable when many of such variables must be integrated in a particular exercise. (SED)

Presents study conducted using high school Spanish students to demonstrate that either a cloze test or a redundancy test could be used in place of either the MLA total score or an interview test. (Author/BK)

Describes an experiment designed to determine which language errors interfere to the greatest degree with comprehension by native speakers of the language. For this purpose, an instructor prepared a list of most serious Spanish language errors which was submitted to native speakers for evaluation in terms of comprehension and acceptability. (MES)

Compared student performance in listening comprehension in German as a second language classes when three advance organizers plus video- and audiotapes were used, as opposed to when neither advance organizers nor video- and audiotapes were used. Findings indicate that students in the group using the organizers and tapes developed superior…

Discussion of six potential sources of anxiety in the second language classroom, student manifestations of anxiety, and possible remedies covers such areas as personal and interpersonal anxieties, learner beliefs about language learning, instructor beliefs about language teaching, instructor-learner interactions, classroom procedures, and language…

Reports a study gauging the average oral proficiency as measured by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) of college students (n=20) studying German at the end of their fourth semester. Discussion centers on reasonable expectations for high school graduation and for college language…

Examined the development of the word knowledge of two groups of advanced learners of French as a second language by means of a slightly revised version of a particular test format. Studied the type of distractor most suited to the participants, distinguished the role of three types of associations, and linked qualitative aspects of word knowledge…

Documents three coordinated, exploratory studies that developed empirically a framework to describe the decisions that experienced writing assessors make when evaluating English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language (ESL/EFL) written compositions. The studies are part of ongoing research to prepare a new scoring scheme and tasks for the writing component…

Tested how domain-related knowledge, syntactic complexity, and reading topic influence inference generation in the written recalls of English-speaking participants after they read Spanish historical texts. Three types of inferences were examined: within-text inferences, elaborative inferences, and incorrect inferences. (Author/JL)