Why should second and foreign language teachers tune into instructed second language acquisition (ISLA)? There are many reasons, several of which have already been addressed in this forum. This paper examines one important benefit of keeping abreast of the field, namely, the opportunity for classroom instructors to extract pedagogical insights…

Vocabulary is an indispensable part of language and it is of vital importance for second language learners. Wilkins (1972) points out: "without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed." Vocabulary teaching has experienced several stages characterized by grammatical-translation method, audio-lingual…

The methodology reported in this paper argues for a synthesis of various theories and methods. First, a synopsis is given of the pedagogical and linguistic approaches that should underlie a successful attempt to teach the contrast in two verb tenses in Portuguese. Secondly, a contrast unique to Portuguese is examined and a multistage approach for…