Pragmatic formulas have been recognized as linguistic building blocks necessary for successful speech act performance. Current approaches to speech act teaching overlook pragmatic formulas, promoting an incomplete view of pragmatics instruction. This paper reports on the results of a classroom-based study in which a formula-enhanced treatment…

For corrective feedback (CF) to contribute to second language (L2) development, some cognitive processes need to be completed. Learners need to notice and comprehend the CF, reflect on and deeply process it, and finally integrate it into their interlanguage (Gass, 1997). Written languaging (WL), which requires learners to explicitly explain to…

This study investigates how second language (L2) listeners' perception is affected by two factors: the listeners' experience with the target dialect -- North American English (NAE) vs. Standard Southern British English (SSBE) -- and talkers' language background: native vs. non-native talkers; i.e. interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit…

New students arriving from different countries present a challenge to school systems as language barriers prevent them from being placed in regular classes immediately. In Germany, these students are often enrolled in "international classes" before being placed with their fellow classmates. The project "Biology for Everyone"…

This paper examines diasporic language ecology based on a sociolinguistic study of a Chinese complementary school (CCS) in Birmingham, England. The study applies a historical perspective to investigate local multilingual practices in relation to language ideology and identity. The discussion in this paper draws on "heteroglossia" to…

This article considers how 3 fundamental concepts of second language acquisition (SLA), the native speaker, interlanguage, and the language learner have fared since Firth and Wagner (1997). We review the ascendancy of these concepts and their relationship to the traditional dichotomies of language learning versus language use and individual mind…

Reports on a longitudinal study of young immigrants' spoken Danish during the first months of their stay, focusing on the Albanian-, Vietnamese-, and English-speaking adolescents' syntactic development from a functional perspective. Changes in early syntax are seen as being rooted in cognitive as well as interactional dimensions of language use.…

Posits two hypotheses arising from the great immigration to Sweden and the immigrants' use and learning of Swedish: (1) Swedish as used by immigrant children may show certain features, related to a creolization process; and (2) the Swedish language may in future show signs of influence from the varieties used by persons with immigrant background.…

Adult migrant learners of English were studied to investigate the effect of instruction on interlanguage development. Examination of the acquisition of a syntactic structure, "do-fronted questions," supported claims for the productiveness of form-focused instruction and suggested that the success of instruction depended on whether specific…

Four articles on language, culture, and interlanguage are included in this volume. The first by Karen Risager, "Sprog, kultur, og internationalisering" ("Language, Culture, and Internationalization") takes issue with the very broad perception that foreign language and culture cannot be separated in instruction. The second article,…

Five papers on bilingualism are presented. "Giving Transfer a Boost--Describing Transfer Variation in Learners' Interlanguage Performance" by Claus Faerch suggests, outlines, and illustrates a heuristic principle for describing the result of positive transfer from one language to another, based on the assumption that learners maximize…

This information sheet will assist teachers and coordinators in determining the suitability of the Certificates in English Language Literacies (CELL) curriculum for use by examining the potential target group of learners. This information also provides an overview of some of CELL's organizing features and its framework. Topics covered include:…

A study of the acquisition of Turkish and German by immigrant children in West Germany addressed three issues: (1) the role of cognitive development and age of learning in the process of language acquisition, (2) the role of transfer between languages, and (3) the effects of greater or lesser contact with native speakers of the two languages being…

A study was conducted to test various explanations of the error of unmarked noun plurals made by first generation Italian immigrants. The error appeared to be "fossilized" or not eradicated over a period of time. (SW)

This curriculum guide for Certificates in English Language Literacies (CELL) advocates "apprenticed" learning and assessment. At no stage is the learner expected to work alone, though it is expected and desired that learners eventually consolidate more skills and become more independent. This curriculum is designed so that the learner…