Assessing cognitive demand is crucial for research on self-regulated learning; however, discrepancies in translating essential concepts across languages can hinder the comparison of research findings. Different languages often emphasize various components and interpret certain constructs differently. This paper aims to develop a translingual set…

The overarching project of the conceptual and empirical contributions in this special issue is to redraw boundaries for language teacher cognition research. Our aim in this final article is to complement the foregoing collection of articles by conceptualizing ontologically and methodologically past and current trajectories in language teacher…

The role of awareness or consciousness in learning has been a relatively contentious issue in non-SLA fields (e.g., cognitive psychology). With the publications of Williams (2004, 2005), a similar debate appears to be brewing in the field of SLA. Contrary to Leow (2000), who reported that unawareness did not appear to play an important role in…

Examines private speech utterances to understand children's verbal self-guidance during school task performances. Finds cognitive and metacognitive private speech utterances indicated children's approach to task performance; children with higher metacognitive levels of private speech were better able to self-regulate school tasks; and children's…

Justification offered by Steven Pinker for his theory that thought is independent of language, and that thought is couched in some silent medium of the brain ("Mentalese"), is outlined step by step and critiqued. It is argued that the theory ignores deep technical issues and is not explanatory. (MSE)

Strengths and weaknesses of three approaches to the study of the input requirements of second language learners are described. The data-oriented, the language-model, and the processing-model approaches are then compared with respect to their claims concerning the metalinguistic needs of the learner. (Author/CB)

Explores the relationship between pragmatics and reading from a perspective of "learning to read" in order to "read to learn." Second language reading is discussed in terms of cognitive processing and research on content and formal schemata; cognitive processing and readers' cognitive strategies and metacognition; and the reading-writing…

Recently, several studies in SLA (e.g., for discourse, Alanen, 1995; Leow, 2001b; Rott, 1999; for problem-solving tasks, Leow, 1998a, 1998b, 2000, 2001a; Rosa & Leow, in press a, in press b; Rosa & O'Neill, 1999) have addressed the operationalization and measurement of attention (and awareness) in their research methodology. Studies have employed…

Investigates the metalinguistic ability of monolingual or bilingual children between five and nine years of age on two language tasks (grammaticality judgment and correction). (HOD)

Presents a neurobiologically inspired model of one aspect of adult second language acquisition: procedural linguistic skill acquisition. Notes that the proposed model crucially involves the neural circuitry of the neocerebellum, a brain structure implicated in higher cognitive and, potentially, linguistic functions. (69 references) (Author/CK)

Questions current practices and points to new directions in research on student beliefs about second-language acquisition. Definitions and various studies made within the current approach are reviewed, relevant developments in the social sciences are outlined, and alternatives are suggested for the present definitions and research methodologies.…

Investigation of the monitoring behavior of Turkish children speaking Dutch as a second language found that subjects' use repairs increased or decreased with a certain age. A positive relationship was found between monitoring use and subjects' cognitive skills and second language proficiency. (27 references) (Author/CB)

The range and characteristics of learning strategies used in studying foreign languages were studied in a 3-year project involving 67 high school students of Spanish and 34 college students of Russian. This final report reviews second language acquisition theory and learning strategies, research in learning strategies, and a cognitive model of…