Focuses on the proper place of interlanguage pragmatics in the realm of second-language acquisition (SLA). This introductory essay describes the thematic issue of the ensuing articles as an endeavor to move interlanguage pragmatics more closely toward the center of SLA. The research suggests that many aspects of pragmatic competence can be…

Reviews current research on language and gender and discusses the implications of such work for gender-based research in second-language acquisition. The article notes that recent work in sociolinguistics, generally, and language and gender research, more specifically, has rejected categorical ideas of social identities in favor of more dynamic…

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…