Examines the learning strategies successful language learners employ and suggests that teachers can help their less successful students by paying more attention to learner strategies already seen as productive. (PMP)

Explores the mismatch between pedagogical intentions and learner outcomes and argues for learner centeredness as a central (yet relative) concept. Ways in which the relationship between teachers and learners and teaching and learning can be strengthened, e.g., experiential content, language content, and learning process, are explored, and examples…

Discusses an observation of a class in English as a second language in which the Silent Way method was used. The focus is on some problems not thoroughly explored in the existing literature. (CFM)

Describes a study which examined the relationship between age and achievement of adults in an instructional setting. Older (25 to 41) and younger (17 to 24) French-speaking students were compared with respect to short-term development in aural comprehension. Results suggest that achievement rate decreases with increasing age. (SED)

Analysis of the length of time required for limited English proficient students (N=1,548) to become proficient in English for academic purposes while receiving instruction in English in all subject areas indicated that at least four to eight years may be required for subjects to reach national grade-level norms of native speakers. (Author/CB)

The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) provides transitional instruction for upper elementary and secondary students (at intermediate and advanced levels of English as a second language) through three components: a curriculum correlated with mainstream content subjects; academic language development activities; and learning…

Assesses the effects on second language learning of written feedback that either suppressed student errors or made them salient. Planned comparisons showed achievement was consistently superior under salient error conditions and with constructively critical feedback. Relevance of the findings for instructional theory and second language teaching…

An argument for the role of a structural syllabus as a means to promote "gradual mastery" of implicit second-language knowledge is refuted. The author responds with further discussion of the relationship between explicit and implicit knowledge. (Contains 13 references.) (LB)

Looks at how the learner variables of age, sex, language background, high school graduation status, and length of stay in the United States affect performance on six English as a second language tests: two cloze tests, a reading tests, a structure test, and two listening tests. Both test advantage and test favoritism/bias were found. (SED)

Nine generalizations on optimal age, first language cognitive development, and second language academic achievement are proposed in order to expand the current theoretical base in second language (L2) acquisition. These generalizations summarize research on L2 acquisition for schooling purposes. (57 references) (Author/VWL)

Discusses the rationale for, and end results of, a small-scale study of the effects of learners' creativity on language learning. The study was part of an ongoing, larger-scale project on individual differences at Eotvos University in Budapest, Hungary. (Author/VWL)

Analyzes a group of children who had been matched for English proficiency and socioeconomic status at the beginning of a school year but who differed in their school achievement at the end of that year. Considers competence in morphology, syntax, and vocabulary; verbosity; patterns of social interaction; first language performance; and personality…

Investigated the cultural identity of the second generation of a group of recent Hmong immigrants to the United States to determine the relationships among acculturation, ethnic identity, second-language acquisition, native language maintenance, self-esteem, and academic success. (JL)

Reports the results of a case study that investigated teachers' attitudes, beliefs. and practices in facilitating or hindering the success of English as a Second or Other Language students in high school. (Author/VWL)

Reports on a study of adult learners' use of the simple past tense that showed that past tense acquisition occurs in stages determined by the lexical aspects of verbs. The article also describes a pedagogical approach for increasing accurate past tense use through contextualized examples in authentic texts and focused noticing exercises. (Contains…