This project examines whether second-language (L2) learners can converge on a native-like pattern at the interface between syntax and discourse under low and high processing pressure, using Spanish clitic-doubled left dislocation (CLLD) as a test case. The original version of the Interface Hypothesis (IH) predicts that L2 competence on…

Recent studies have brought attention to the potential of translation as a symbolic activity to improve students' translingual competence. This study contributes to this growing field of study by examining students' voices in class discussions in translation classrooms. Five translation sessions were implemented with beginner and intermediate…

Proficiency, which refers to a concept that is more complex than is generally acknowledged, is an overworked term in second language teaching that lacks a satisfactory operational definition. Linguistic knowledge is currently defined most often in terms of what an individual is able to do with the knowledge, as in the movement for competency-based…

A study investigated how second language learners responded when native speakers signaled difficulty in understanding them. Types and frequency of learner responses were examined in relation to communication tasks and to native speakers' different signal types. Results supported the construct of comprehensible output, the influence of linguistic…

Theories of human cognition and language suggest that there is a gap between the phases of perception and the phases of production of language. Unfortunately, this is often forgotten in language teaching, so that beginners' courses too frequently contain simplified and non-authentic linguistic input to assure that output does not lag too far…

An analysis of the use of attenuation (structural or semantic softening of the speech act) and sentence structure in elicited speech acts by normally developing, learning disabled, and developmentally delayed populations is presented. In the normally developing population (1) the development of attenuation strategies is different from structural…

The use of freewriting in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction as a means of promoting communicative competence is examined, particularly as it may improve high-school-level ESL instruction in Japan. First, the educational environment of Japanese high schools is described, and some problems with the teaching of ESL writing are outlined.…

This paper describes and compares six models for teaching second languages developed and adopted since 1840 (grammar-translation, direct, structural, situational, audiolingual, and communicative methods), and proposes a seventh, the cognitive-linguistic method, incorporating Noam Chomsky's theory of learning. The model takes both extralinguistic…