Given the growing importance of English as a lingua franca, this study examines which context (classroom instruction in the students' home country vs. studying abroad in an English-speaking country) better facilitates the acquisition of English by learners of different ages: children, adolescents and adults. Participants (N = 197) completed…

This book examines how the underlying linguistic competence of second language (L2) learners is constrained by the same universal principals governing natural language. It is assumed that there is an innately given universal grammar (UG) which constrains L1 grammars, limiting the kinds of hypotheses that L1 acquirers entertain about the nature of…

Subjects 9 to 15 years old were divided into four age levels by 18-month increments to compare learning disabled and normal students on indexes of both oral and written language. Four questions guided the inquiry: (1) Does the syntactic development of oral language differ at the age levels measured? (2) What is the trend of syntactic development…

Compares 1973 and 1978 studies of the English syntactic proficiency of bilingual Mexican-American fourth- and ninth-grade Spanish/English speakers in Las Vegas (New Mexico). Shows that students enrolled in bilingual education throughout the elementary school years perform better on syntactic maturity measures than do their counterparts not…

Reports on a study of the oral and written English syntax of both Gaelic/English bilingual and English monolingual fourth- and ninth-grade students on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Concludes that the use of English syntax by bilingual speakers was equal to or (in one measure) superior to that of monolingual speakers. (ET)

Conversational and narrative language samples were elicited from 16 school-age individuals with mental retardation and 16 typically developing children matched for mental age. Analysis demonstrated that both groups produced more syntactically complex language during narration, whereas they were more talkative during conversation. Results support…

This collection of papers presents research on language processing among second language learners and bilinguals. The nine papers include the following: (1) "The Bilingual's Language Modes" (Francois Grosjean); (2) "The Voicing Contrast in English and Spanish: The Relationship between Perception and Production" (Mary L. Zampini…

This paper discusses the development of a criterion-referenced assessment measure for both written English and American Sign Language (ASL) that can be used with deaf elementary through secondary students. The measure is presented as well as the results of a trial use. Developed by the Cleary School for the Deaf, the Cleary Language Assessment…

This collection of papers reports research on the effects of bilingual learning on the ability to speak two languages and the ability to acquire full literacy in both. There are 12 chapters in 4 parts. Part 1, "Background," includes (1) "Assessing the Effects of Bilingualism: A Background" (D. Kimbrough Oller and Barbara Zurer…

Comparison of free written compositions of 86 bilingual (Finnish-Swedish) and 86 monolingual (Swedish) third-, sixth-, and ninth-graders in a Finland Swedish comprehensive school revealed that bilinguals produced significantly more syntactic, vocabulary, and phraseology errors. Background variables correlating with errors included the student's…

This study describes certain communication strategies used by Anglophone children learning French as a second language as well as by children whose mother tongue is French. Three groups of children in the third and fifth grades participated in the study: French native speakers, Anglophone children learning French in an immersion setting, and…

The interlanguage hypothesis stresses that errors are a normal part of the language learning process. At the same time, in the view of many, the teacher has a responsibility to provide short cuts for the learner through appropriate corrective feedback. Conventionally, this has been taken to imply correction of expression by requiring repetition of…

Seven articles are contained in this publication. "Bilingual Education vs. Segregation" and "Lau Remedies Outlined" are by Jose A. Cardenas. The former discusses the bilingual education paradox in situations where children are forced to forego the benefits of bilingual education because all instruction is in English, or are segregated in order to…

Language Assessment Scales, Level 2 (LAS II) are used to assess the linguistic proficiency of limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking adolescents. LAS II, like its predecessor, LAS I, provides a picture of oral linguistic proficiency based on a student's performance across four linguistic subsystems: phonemic, lexical, syntactic and…