Reports on a study that compared, in two experiments, the learning rates of subjects learning semantically related and semantically unrelated new second-language words. The findings strongly suggest that students have more difficulty learning new words presented to them in semantic clusters than they do learning semantically unrelated words. (18…

Reviews research that sheds light on the comparability of Oral Proficiency Interview and the Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview. Suggestions are provided for further research. (16 references) (VWL)

Contrasts two approaches for investigating second-language teaching, arguing that the educational approach, which starts with a pedagogical issue and examines it through pedagogical, theoretical, and empirical sources, is more comprehensive than the linguistic approach, which primarily consists of the applications of linguistic research.…

Discusses the L1=L2 hypothesis which states that, all other things except knowledge of language being equal, first language acquisition is the same as second language acquisition. Reviews the evidence for and against the hypothesis, looks at current research and considers the general distinction between formal and informal learning. (SED)

This report discusses a study on the use of modern media techniques in long-distance oral testing that preserve the possibility of interaction by using video teleconferencing. Two test administration modes, face-to-face and screen-to-screen, are compared in an experimental design. (10 references) (VWL)

Compares pair work to other modes of classroom interaction in a group of 20 mixed-nationality English-as-a-foreign-language students. The pedagogical, social, cultural, and psychological implications of pair work are questioned, and the use of pair work as an unquestioned "blanket" methodology is challenged. (13 references) (JL)

This paper reports on a comparative evaluation of the Phrasal Definition Format of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the Sentence Definition format of the Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary. The study found that English-as-a-Second-Language students expressed strong preferences for having usage examples and for the…

To address theoretical claims for the importance of negotiated interaction to the comprehension of second language (L2) input, different classroom interactional behaviors of L2 learners were compared. Results indicated that direct participation in negotiation was most effective in facilitating comprehension of less-advanced students; however, this…

A feature shown to affect learners' performance on tests of spoken interaction is the gender of the person with whom the learner interacts. To test this hypothesis, 12 Japanese learners were interviewed, once by a man and once by a woman. Comparison of scores indicated that in all but one case the learners performed better when interviewed by a…

Demonstrates the relevance of second language teaching by discussing the English progressive aspect. Suggestions are made for how the teaching of the progressive to beginners of English could be improved. (Author/VWL)

In two foreign language lessons with substantial amounts of undirected student-student talk, postlesson protocols were used to compare learner uptake from teacher and from peers. It is suggested that the validity of free-communication activities in the typical proficiency streamlined foreign language class lies not so much in the peer input they…

Compares the language generated by different kinds of oral communication activities. Areas of comparison include: speed of speaking, frequency of turns taken, and frequency of self-correction. Results indicate that the relative degree to which a student draws on his communicative and linguistic resources seems to be related to the communication…

Explores the feasibility of native speaker performance criterion for validating tests for nonnative speakers. The article analyzes the results of a cloze test administered to 202 Americans and 323 students of English as a Foreign Language. Findings suggest that the efficacy of the cloze procedure is in question more than ever before. (72…

In a study of cultural differences and information dissemination, a group of unsuccessful Ethiopian English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) university students in Israel were compared with a typical Israeli EFL group. Results show that unsuccessful learners use similar strategies for reading comprehension, etc., but their use is "mechanical." (18…

Discusses a study of the relative benefits of a year-long reading comprehension course for English as a foreign language students, compared with an intensive summer course using the same curriculum. Students were separated into groups according to their language abilities. Although improvement in both cases was nearly equal, the summer course is…