This instructional intervention investigated the potential for the text reconstruction task "dictogloss" to facilitate the learning of English verb-noun collocations, for example 'carry a risk'. Research has shown that learners have difficulties in using such collocations, but few useful instructional techniques are on offer.…

This article provides a microscopic view of learners' first encounters with multimodal texts in their primary EFL classrooms. It is argued that multimodal texts create opportunities for language development in the primary EFL classroom: they offer different access points for comprehension, invite participation, and motivate repeated practice so…

Lessons designed to teach reading and listening typically concentrate on the use of higher-level skills and strategies, such as predicting, scanning, inferencing, understanding text structure, or activating background knowledge. Given that these normal communication skills are already available to students for mother-tongue use, they should…

Visual texts are part of everyday communication and they have the potential to carry multiple layers of meaning. This complexity is what makes them an ideal resource not only for language learning, but also for developing learners' intercultural communicative competence and cultural awareness. Cultural meanings are not locked into these materials;…

Michael Swan and Catherine Walter (see EJ1142765) take issue with the current emphasis in the teaching of listening and reading on higher-order skills-and-strategies training. They argue that L2 learners typically already possess the relevant skills and strategies necessary for listening and reading in L2, and, by implication, can and do deploy…

ESL learners can find it challenging to use English in a way that is pragmatically appropriate to the situation and interlocutor. In this article, we explore the impact of increased proficiency on learners' pragmatic performance. ESL learners in Australia at four proficiency levels completed three role plays, and we analysed how the learners…

This paper reports on a comparative study of pauses made by L2 learners and native speakers of English while narrating picture stories. The comparison is based on the number of pauses and total amount of silence in the middle and at the end of clauses in the performance of 40 native speakers and 40 L2 learners of English. The results of the…

Describes the use of a particle-led analysis of phrasal verbs to reduce English-as-a-Second-Language students' frustration in learning about phrasal verbs. (Author/CB)

A solution is proposed to the traditional, unexplained use of optional backshifting in teaching past tenses of English verbs. The solution is based on correct and explicit formulation of the past tense examples used, so that optional backshifting would be unnecessary and inappropriate. (MSE)

Five assumptions about the nature of verbal communication are discussed in relation to the communicative needs of second-language learners: that communication is meaning-based, conventional, appropriate, interactional, and structured. Implications for foreign-language teaching are examined. (Author/MSE)

Calls for greater attention to the perceptual processes involved in second language listening, and particularly to the part they play in breakdowns of understanding. Suggests employing basic auditory phonetics as a means of classifying, diagnosing, and predicting problems of lexical segmentation. (Author/VWL)

Looks at the ways grammar and vocabulary are interconnected and suggests some implications for language teaching. Suggests that language teachers focus on word patterns to encourage four aspects of language learning: understanding, accuracy, fluency, and flexibility. (four references) (Author/CK)

Two complementary theoretical approaches to children's foreign language acquisition, the monitor theory and theory of negotiation, are outlined. Three useful teaching techniques (meaningful practice, communication games, and children's playground games) are discussed in light of these theories, and related issues in syllabus and materials design…

Hypothesizes that organizational problems in second-language (L2) writing may result from the employment of first-language (L1) drafting strategies. The article maintains that research in L2 writing processes has not paid attention to the conditions for the transfer of L1 composing strategies into L2 writing. Pedagogical implications are…

Viewing language learning as another skill acquisition process allows correction to be seen differently. An "error" occurs when knowledge is faulty, a "mistake" when only the performance is faulty. Mistakes can be corrected when (1) the student desires correction; (2) knows what is correct; (3) knows a mistake has occurred; and…