This study investigated whether different groups of native speakers assess second language learners' language skills differently for three elicitation techniques. Subjects were six learners of college-level Arabic as a second language, tape-recorded performing three tasks: participating in a modified oral proficiency interview, narrating a picture…

The e-rater® system has been used by ETS for automated essay scoring since 1999. This paper describes a new version of e-rater (v.2.0) that differs from the previous one (v.1.3) with regard to the feature set and model building approach. The paper describes the new version, compares the new and previous versions in terms of performance, and…

A Dutch study of the relationship between different student cognitive styles and foreign language achievement focused on the development and analysis of a grammar test for English as a second language. The test consists of ten subtests requiring the student to manipulate aspects of English syntactic, morphosyntactic, and morphological structure.…

Instruction in English as a second language for differentially prepared college students should be conducted in an environment in which students have input from a wide range of authentic spoken and written language samples, varying in difficulty level. The instructional process should be viewed by the students as neither intimidating nor…

One segment of a three-year study to examine the relationship between first- and second-language acquisition in light of instructional practices is presented. The study's major focus is the development of literacy skills, including school-related language forms as well as reading and writing, and in this segment, the services delivered to language…

This study compares the performances of 16 advanced and 19 beginning English language learners on a listening comprehension task that focused on linguistic and pragmatic processing. Processing pragmatic meaning differs from processing linguistic meaning because pragmatic meaning requires the listener to understand not only linguistic information,…

This study investigated: (1) the causes and effects of Chinese students' beliefs about foreign language learning; (2) mismatches between teachers' and students' beliefs; and (3) how teachers' and students' beliefs compare across cultures. Subjects were 23 Chinese and English teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and 224 EFL university…

Papers on foreign language education include: "Beliefs About Language Learning: A Study of Korean University Students Learning English" (Susan N. Truitt), which looked at the influence of cultural background and experience on language learning attitudes; "Motivation as a Two-Sided Coin: Motivational Differences Between College-Level…

This article examines the literacy events of two Puerto Rican kindergartners and their interactions with siblings and cousins of similar age. This work is part of a broader study that analyzes and describes literacy events in bilingual classrooms, homes, and churches of Spanish-dominant Puerto Rican beginning readers. Using a qualitative approach,…

We study the benefits of junior kindergarten for linguistic-minority 4-year-olds compared to their linguistic-majority classmates from the same low-income neighborhoods. At the end of the school year, linguistic-minority children made significantly greater improvements in language skills than their host society classmates. At the mid-year point,…

This study examined the impact of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) on Korean TAFE (Technical and Further Education) college students in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading classroom in terms of their perceptions of learning environment and their reading performance. The study compared CALL and traditional reading classes over…

The effects of ideological assumptions about teaching, learning, and the labor market and the impact of differing funding sources on community-based organizations' efforts to prepare immigrant/refugee women for jobs in the United States were examined through a study of programs sponsored by two San Francisco Bay area community organizations--the…

The report reviews current research findings related to the three entry points (early, middle, late) for French immersion programs in Ottawa (Ontario) elementary and secondary schools. It consists of: an executive summary and brief overview; an annotated bibliography covering authoritative immersion research reviews and reports published since…

The creation and validation of a Spanish version of an English developmental spelling test (DST) is described. An introductory section reviews related literature on the rationale for and construction of DSTs, spelling development in the early grades, and Spanish-English bilingual education. Differences between the English and Spanish test versions…

This study has investigated the comparability of computer-based testing (CBT) writing prompts in the Test of English as a Foreign Language™ (TOEFL®) for examinees of different native language backgrounds. A total of 81 writing prompts introduced from July 1998 through August 2000 were examined using a three-step logistic regression procedure for…