Reports the results of a comparative evaluation of an early total immersion program, a delayed immersion program, and an all French program for English-speaking language majority students in Montreal, Canada. (33 references) (Author/OD)

Discusses the tendency in second-language (L2) pedagogy to make fallacious comparisons between multicompetent L2 learners and monoglot speakers of the target language. The article describes the principal elements of multicompetence and presents a number of their implications for the construction of syllabi and examinations and the development of…

Compares 39 native teachers' and 41 native nonteachers' perception of elementary learners' spoken Japanese. Interviews between a native speaker and a learner were audiotaped, and the 80 natives evaluated them according to grammar, fluency, vocabulary, appropriateness, comprehensibility and pronunciation. Results indicate teachers are more critical…

A group of college-level Spanish students received metacognitive awareness raising--a single session that, by means of brainstorming, involved students in developing a general awareness of language learning strategies. Final course grades were compared across control and experimental groups, revealing significantly higher scores for the latter.…

How the ultimate proficiency in a second language is affected by the age at which learners begin learning the target language was studied. Results showed a striking difference in mean reaction time for native versus nonnative groups, even for early bilinguals. (16 references) (Author/LB)

A study investigated the effectiveness of communicative and noncommunicative class activities for English second-language instruction in relation to student perceptions of the degree to which those activities were enjoyable. Results indicate a positive correlation between enjoyableness and perceived effectiveness but do not show a causal…

Investigates the nature of foreign-language learning using CD-ROM packages and presents case studies that explore cognitive processes and alternative learning experiences which contrast with conventional delivery modes in foreign-language teaching. Concludes that CD-ROMs can promote vocabulary acquisition, pronunciation, and independent learning.…

Comparison of language proficiency gains in Russian study abroad in Russia looked at homestay versus dormitory residence. Statistical analysis of the American Council of Teachers of Russian students records database, which contains proficiency data on 2,500 study-abroad participants, was used to compare gains made in speaking, listening, and…

Two studies that included high school students classified as at risk for learning a foreign language are described. The first compared at-risk students classified as learning disabled with at-risk students not classified as LD. The second investigated only students classified as LD, comparing them with and without discrepancies between their…

Compares the acquisition of English as a third language by Catalan/Spanish bilingual high school students in an immersion program with the acquisition of English by Spanish monolinguals. Data from 201 participants were submitted to a hierarchical multiple regression analysis, rendering results that show that bilingualism has a positive effect on…

A study in interlanguage pragmatics investigated the effect of three types of rejoinder (positive, negative, absent) on non-native informants' choices of strategies to perform complaints, requests, and apologies. Results show strategy choice differentially affected by rejoinder type, suggesting that findings from studies using different production…

Compared the effectiveness of English instruction at an Austrian immersion school and a regular Austrian high school. Immersion students showed the highest levels of English proficiency and also outperformed regular high school students in French, suggesting that in addition to language learning experience, further factors such as aptitude,…

Suggests that children are actively engaged in recreating, rather than reproducing, playful versions of adult roles, in continual negotiation with their play partners. They sustain multiple, concurrent identities as they draw on a variety of voices as both narrators and narrated characters, telling stories about themselves and other players, and…

Compares scores of primary and secondary school students in Brunei Darussalam in relation to their attitudes toward teachers, learning processes, language arts, mathematics, and reading and comprehension ability in English. Results indicate both positive and negative correlations among five dependent variables and significant differences between…

Discusses the reliability and validity of different measures of lexical richness in various language data research and computer simulations, and examines the behavior of these measures in spontaneous speech data of first language and second language children learning Dutch, aged 4 to 7, compared with their lexical abilities as measured by tests.…