NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Laws, Policies, & Programs
What Works Clearinghouse Rating
Showing all 15 results Save | Export
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Philip S. Dale; Richard L. Sparks – Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2024
Despite the widespread use and effectiveness of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) composite score in predicting individual differences in L2 achievement and proficiency, there has been little examination of MLAT subtests, although they have potential for illuminating components of L2 aptitude and the mechanism of prediction. Here we use…
Descriptors: Language Tests, Native Language, Secondary School Students, Spanish
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Schepens, Job J.; van Hout, Roeland W. N. M.; van der Slik, Frans W. P. – Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2023
We investigated age-related decline in adult learning of Dutch as an additional language (Ln) in speaking, writing, listening, and reading proficiency test scores for 56,024 adult immigrants with 50 L1s who came to the Netherlands for study or work. Performance for all four language skills turned out to decline monotonically after an age of…
Descriptors: Aging (Individuals), Cognitive Ability, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Sparks, Richard L.; Luebbers, Julie; Castaneda, Martha; Patton, Jon – Modern Language Journal, 2018
A unique anxiety for foreign language (L2) learning has been hypothesized to explain students' problems with language learning. However, L2 anxiety instruments have been challenged on the grounds that they reflect students' language learning ability and/or perceptions of their language learning skills. In this study, 266 U.S. high school students…
Descriptors: High School Students, Spanish, Anxiety, Second Language Learning
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Lou, Nigel Mantou; Noels, Kimberly A. – Modern Language Journal, 2017
Some people ascribe successful language learning to an innate aptitude that cannot be further developed, at least after a certain young age (i.e., an entity mindset), while other people believe that language learning ability can be improved (i.e., an incremental mindset). The purpose of this research is to (a) introduce the Language Mindsets…
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Goal Orientation, Mastery Learning, College Students
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Sparks, Richard L.; Patton, Jon – Language Learning, 2013
The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) has been challenged on the grounds that it may also assess language learning skills. In this study, 128 students who had been administered measures of first language (L1) skills in elementary school were followed from 1st to 10th grade. Fifty-three students had completed second language (L2)…
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Native Language, Elementary School Students, Language Aptitude
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Coventry, William; Anton-Mendez, Ines; Ellis, Elizabeth M.; Levisen, Christina; Byrne, Brian; van Daal, Victor H. P.; Ellis, Nick C. – Language Learning, 2012
We present one of the first behavior-genetic studies of individual differences in school students' levels of achievement in instructed second language acquisition (ISLA). We assessed these language abilities in Australian twin pairs (maximum N pairs = 251) by means of teacher ratings, class rankings, and self-ratings of proficiency, and used the…
Descriptors: Twins, Second Language Learning, Genetics, Etiology
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Benzie, Helen Joy – Higher Education Research and Development, 2010
The current concern about low levels of English proficiency among international students who graduate from degree courses--that students' English language skills are not being developed during their higher education experience--reflects negatively on the quality of Australian higher education and its graduates. More careful selection of students…
Descriptors: Higher Education, Social Integration, Negative Attitudes, Language Tests
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Sparks, Richard L. – Foreign Language Annals, 2009
Despite the lack of empirical evidence, the term "foreign language learning disability" (FLLD) has become popular in the learning disabilities (LD) and foreign language literature. I contend that there is not a unique "disability" for foreign language learning and suggest instead that foreign language skills run along a continuum of very strong to…
Descriptors: Learning Problems, Learning Disabilities, Second Language Learning, Language Skills
Tokuhama-Espinosa, Tracey – Praeger, 2008
Globalization is on everyone's tongue, and the discussion is not only limited to economic exchange, but expands to the intermingling of cultural values. To be truly successful in the international arena, whether as an immigrant, student, businessperson, or tourist, openness toward other cultures is vital and the most obvious door to those cultures…
Descriptors: Brain Hemisphere Functions, Linguistics, Second Languages, Multilingualism
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Sparks, Richard L.; Ganschow, Leonore – Foreign Language Annals, 2007
Fifty-four students were followed over 10 years and tested with native language measures in first through fifth grades and measures of foreign language aptitude and foreign language proficiency in high school. All students had completed two years of Spanish, French, or German. Students were divided into three groups based on their scores on the…
Descriptors: Measures (Individuals), French, Spanish, German
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Widdowson, H. G. – Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 1998
Several problematic issues in second-language teaching and testing are discussed, including artificial distinctions made between the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) and appropriate usage in each, the relationship of language skills and language ability, and the distinction between language usage and language use. (MSE)
Descriptors: Language Aptitude, Language Skills, Language Tests, Language Usage
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Costino, Kimberly A.; Hyon, Sunny – Journal of Second Language Writing, 2007
This paper reports on a cross-disciplinary study by an L1 compositionist and an applied linguist investigating interrelationships among university basic writing students' responses to linguistic identity labels, their residency statuses, and their preferences for mainstream or multilingual composition. Previous L2 writing research has suggested…
Descriptors: Writing Research, Multilingualism, Language Aptitude, Basic Writing
Pressley, Michael; And Others – 1979
In five experiments, college-age students of differing foreign language-learning abilities were asked to learn Latin word translations to determine the effectiveness of the keyword method of foreign language vocabulary learning. The Latin words were the types for which it has been argued that the keyword method effects would be maximized (the…
Descriptors: College Students, Higher Education, Language Aptitude, Language Skills
Herrmann, Andrea W. – 1985
Creating a writing workshop atmosphere using computers in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom improves the opportunities for integrating all language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The computer also represents a new way of learning, emphasizing students' problem solving strategies and learning processes. Teachers…
Descriptors: Classroom Environment, Computer Assisted Instruction, Cooperation, English (Second Language)
Ada, Alma Flor; Baker, Colin – 2001
This book provides a practical introduction to questions about bilingualism. It is for parents and teachers who are themselves bilingual, for monolinguals who want to know more, for those with some intuitive understanding of bilingual situations and for those who are starting from the very beginning. The book poses questions that people often ask…
Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Bilingualism, Code Switching (Language), Cognitive Ability