Within the same learning context, learners' outcomes in terms of oral fluency vary greatly. This study tracked the relative contributions that first language (L1) and initial second language (L2) fluency skill and working memory (WM) made to L2 fluency development. We assessed the performance of French-speaking Grade 6 learners' (n = 47, mean age:…

L2 test developers often use scripted spoken texts in their L2 listening tests, because it is efficient and practical to create scripted spoken texts that meet predetermined test specifications. But because scripted spoken texts differ in a number of fundamental ways from unscripted spoken language, there are potential threats to validity when…

In commercial materials for the teaching of second language (L2) pronunciation, common bottom-up approaches segment phonology into a series of discrete and decontextualized linguistic components with rules that students are encouraged to internalize. Such approaches seem out of step with recent second language acquisition (SLA) theory and research…

High-stakes tasks may prevent language learners from performing successfully due to factors of "communicative stress" (Skehan, 1996, p. 52). Little research, however, has directly examined phonological patterns in learners' performances on low-stakes, medium-stakes, and high-stakes classroom tasks. The current study investigated the oral…

For this dissertation, teacher linguistic awareness (TLingA) involves teacher linguistic knowledge, teacher language awareness (TLA), and teacher cognition for second language (L2) teachers. Teacher linguistic knowledge is an understanding of how language functions and is compiled within the different areas of linguistics. And TLA is the knowledge…

The earliest stages of adult language acquisition have received increased attention in recent years (cf. Carroll, introduction to this issue). The study reported here aims to contribute to this discussion by investigating the role of several variables in the development of word recognition strategies during the very first hours of exposure to a…

This study examined the role of phonological memory in second language (L2) grammar learning in a group of native French-speaking children undergoing a 5-month intensive English program. Phonological memory (as referenced by Arabic [ANWR] and English [ENWR] nonword repetition tasks), L2 vocabulary (receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge),…

This first volume in the Defense Language Institute's 12-week course in Japanese presents an introduction to Japanese phonology for the non-linguist beginning student, and a description of the format used throughout the DLI series (perception drills, dialogues with English equivalents, grammar notes, and exercises and conversations). This volume…

These 15 volumes of the Basic Polish Course, prepared for use in the Defense Language Institute's intensive language program, comprise Lessons 1-124. They are disigned to train native English language speakers to Level 3 proficiency in comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing Polish. (Level 5 is native-speaker fluency.) The phonological…

The manual for English pronunciation instruction is designed for use in intensive language courses for Southeast Asians learning English as a Second Language. An introductory section suggests classroom presentation and lesson planning techniques and gives background information on English phonology and pronunciation instruction. A variety of…

The aim of this volume is to provide the student with a thorough command of the basic structures of standard spoken Cambodian. The course is based on the audio-oral method of language teaching developed by the Intensive Language Program of the American Council of Learned Societies and used successfully during World War II, but modified to take…

This text is intended for use in a college-level course in Bolivian Quechua for speakers of English. It is divided into thirty units and is specifically designed for a two-semester academic year of fifteen weeks a semester. The entire text is highly structured, carefully graded, and organized on the principles of the audiolingual approach to…

This self-instructional text is an adjunct to the Foreign Service Institute's "Luganda Basic Course." The time required for mastery of the tonal system is normally 20 hours. Essential to the program is the series of tape recordings that accompanies this book. Contents include material on: (1) long and short vowels and consonants, (2)…

Volume I of the Korean Basic Course provides introductory materials for the student who wishes to achieve a working command of the language currently spoken by an estimated 40 to 43 million people on the Korean Peninsula and in Japan, Manchuria, and the Soviet Union. The linguistic content is based on the speech of educated Koreans in Seoul, the…

This audiolingual course has been designed to assist United States government representatives who require a command of spoken German. The course is intended to prepare a solid foundation for comprehensive language skills, providing systematically for the development of reading proficiency based on oral-aural skills. Each of the units in this…