Theoretical assumptions and consequences of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH) are compared with the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, and empirical evidence favoring the former is reviewed. Pedagogical implications of the MDH, a strategy for interlanguage-intervention, and several problems revealed in the literature are discussed. (MSE)

Krashen's Monitor Model of second language learning is examined critically in light of other research, and a unified, more comprehensive theory combining theories of first and second language learning is called for. (MSE)

A comparison of language skill development by college students enrolled in a content course taught in French and in a French language course found that content-course students excelled in oral skills and language attitudes and that language-course students excelled in writing skills, challenging conventional assumptions about language-learning…

A study of the order of acquisition and fossilization of several French forms by anglophone students focused on the intonative aspect of interlanguage and the transfer of learning from one language to another. (MSE)

Discusses five directions for integrating the notion of communicative competence in foreign-language instruction: functional orientation, focus on semantic notions, cyclical progression, inclusion of rhetorical device and discursive authenticity, and systematic treatment of language variation. (EKN)