Although translation is a means of intercultural communication, it represents a challenge when it comes to rendering the intended meaning of some propositions, particularly because every language has its distinctive features and structures that may not be accurately rendered into the target language. This challenge is reinforced when translation…

This paper presents an extension of the Multiple Grammars Theory (Roeper, 1999) to provide a formal mechanism that can serve as a generative-based alternative to current descriptive models of interlanguage. The theory extends historical work by Kroch and Taylor (1997), and has been taken into a computational direction by Yang (2003). The proposal…

This paper outlines some reasons for why gestures are relevant to the study of SLA. First, given cross-cultural and cross-linguistic gestural repertoires, gestures can be treated as part of what learners can acquire in a target language. Gestures can therefore be studied as a developing system in their own right both in L2 production and…

Just as learning a first language is sometimes compared to existence within the relatively sheltered world of the Garden of Eden, the process of learning a second language is viewed as analogous to survival after expulsion from the Garden into a relatively harsh world, in which the learner must come to a conscious understanding of form and meaning…

This brochure discusses, in lay terms, the degree to which language shapes thought. The first section describes briefly the questions that linguists have addressed in studying this issue, including how things such as location or time may be conceptualized differently in different language groups, offering examples from other languages in addition…

A study tested hypotheses concerning thinking in a foreign language. Specifically, it looked at whether (1) inferencing in a foreign language relies on mental models and propositional thinking; (2) the three stages of the theory of comprehension apply to understanding foreign-language discourse; and (3) propositional thinking manifests native…

Investigates factors influencing language-switching behavior in the thinking processes of a bilingual person engaged in second-language writing, based on review of literature and a case study in which an individual performs three tasks using think-aloud protocols: text composition in English (second language); written translation from Chinese…

Issues concerning the language of instruction used in teaching English to native speakers of Chinese, particularly adolescents, are discussed. The discussion draws on research in two areas: the role of language medium in the acquisition of concepts, and psycholinguistic differences between Chinese and English. It is concluded that while the…

This paper describes and compares six models for teaching second languages developed and adopted since 1840 (grammar-translation, direct, structural, situational, audiolingual, and communicative methods), and proposes a seventh, the cognitive-linguistic method, incorporating Noam Chomsky's theory of learning. The model takes both extralinguistic…

A collection of essays on bilingualism and its relationship to development of reading and writing skills includes: "Awareness of Text Structure: Effects on Recall" (Patricia L. Carrell); "Second-Language Readers' Memory for Narrative Texts: Evidence for Structure-Preserving Top-Down Processing" (Yukie Horiba, Paul W. van den…

This study investigates the development of two levels of morphological knowledge that contribute to Spanish-English bilingual students' ability to recognize cognates: the ability to recognize a cognate stem within a suffixed English word, and knowledge of systematic relationships between Spanish and English suffixes (e.g., the fact that English…

This selection of papers starts with insights into multi- and plurilingual settings, then proceeds to discussions of aims for practical work with students, and ends with visions of future developments within translation for the mass media and the impact of machine translation. Papers are: "Interpreting at the European Commission";…

Papers on language processing, culture, and language learning and teaching include: "A Theory of Intelligence as Semiosis: With a Couple of Comments on Interlanguage Development" (John W. Oller, Jr.); "Along the Way: Interlanguage Systems in Second Language Acquisition" (Larry Selinker); "Strategy and Tactics in Second Language Acquisition"…