Recent currents in language learning research highlight the social and emergent aspects of second language (L2) development and recognize that learners need opportunities for interaction in meaningful contexts supported by explicit attention to language itself. These perspectives suggest new ways of conceptualizing the challenges faced by children…

In this article, I describe studies conducted over 25 years with secondary and post-secondary L2 learners in the United States. The evidence from these studies shows that there are important connections between students' early L1 skills and their L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency and that individual differences in students' L1 skills in elementary…

Describes immersion programs in the United States and Canada and reviews results of evaluative research pertaining to them. Discusses findings with respect to students' native-language development, academic achievement, and second language proficiency. Also discusses the suitability of immersion for students with distinctive, potentially…

Examines the efficacy of foreign language programs at the elementary school level by looking at three programs--immersion, partial immersion, and foreign language in the elementary school--currently found in 15 schools in the United States. Comparisons are made by measuring achievement in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. (SED)

Suggests that children learning English as a second language will profit more from interaction in meaningful situations with native speakers of English than from separate language instruction with other nonnative learners. (DD)

The point of departure of this study is the well-known hypothesis according to which structures that involve the syntax-pragmatics interface and instantiate a surface overlap between two languages are more vulnerable to crosslinguistic influence than purely syntactic domains (e.g. Muller and Hulk, 2001). In exploring the validity of this…

Ten 1975-80 surveys and studies of FLES programs reported: Americans approve of FLES programs; children profit from FLES programs which stress interpersonal communication skills; and children develop increased interest in academic programs. Positive correlation exists between practice and proficiency in second language acquisition. Different…

Notes the great demand for information on promising practices for teaching language-minority students. Introduces the succeeding articles in this issue, noting how all the authors argue for the need to pull together what is known about effective teaching, second-language acquisition, applied cognitive research, and cross-cultural communication…

Examines controversial interactions between children, a group generally overlooked in second-language acquisition research. Specifically, the research focuses on (1) whether children can negotiate for meaning, (2) what strategies they use, and (3) whether there are differences between the ways adults and primary school children negotiate for…

A study is made of ways in which three children forgot a foreign language in which they had been immersed. Specifically considered are whether the last things learned are the first things forgotten, and whether forgetting entails unlearning in reverse order from the original learning process. (Author/RM)

Reports on an experiment designed to compare the linguistic ability of English-speaking students of French to that of native French-speaking students, through sentence repetition, in order to draw some conclusions regarding approximative grammars. (AM)

This study examined several hypotheses about second language learning by testing them in a training format designed to teach Spanish to children in the fifth through eighth grades and to adults in night school. (JMB)

Japanese elementary school children were administered a series of trials in a paired-associate learning paradigm. It was shown that younger children learn foreign words faster than older children. (JB)

Reports on an attempt to establish a research or "observation" base for a comprehensive list of English oral language errors that a student will most likely make as a result of coming from a Spanish speaking background. (DD)

Reports on a content-based elementary Chinese as a foreign language program. Focuses on classroom language activities that are designed and implemented to serve the dual goals of language development and cultural learning. Investigated how classroom activities are organized to integrate culture/content and language learning for young beginners.…