This article reports findings from a strategy intervention study involving a treatment class (N=20) and a comparison class (N=20) in an ESL oral setting. Oral communication strategies were taught to the treatment class. A data-collection method comprising stimulated recall interviews that aimed to investigate respectively the learning process…

Reports on a study which sought to identify and examine the effects of certain learning strategies--practice, monitoring, and inferencing--on second language learning. (AM)

Reports on an experiment designed to reveal how the learner's passive foreign language vocabulary is built up, what role the context plays, what kinds of learning strategies are involved, and whether a false competence results from these strategies. (IFS/WGA)

A self-observation and self-report procedure is proposed that will assist teachers in discovering their students' learning strategies and may generate knowledge about the second language learning process. Transcriptions of segments of interviews with four students illustrate the procedure involved in eliciting student strategies. (Author/RM)

Summarizes current cognitive psychological knowledge concerning second language vocabulary acquisition and discusses implications for the development of effective computer-assisted vocabulary acquisition methods. (85 references) (Author)

Human capacity for language acquisition is not strictly compartmentalized, with one acquisitional mechanism for the native language and others totally unrelated to it; rather, it consists of a unified mechanism flexible enough to handle various differences in external settings. This learning system operates on the formal properties of the…

Addresses the question of how computer-assisted language learning should be designed to promote second language lexical fluency. The discussion reviews findings in the psychological literature concerning the nature of lexical development, the transfer of appropriate learning, and the conditions that promote automaticity in skilled performance. (43…

What is notably missing in the teaching of foreign language vocabulary is a systematically elaborated strategy for vocabulary acquisition that is based on the findings of linguistics and learning psychology. The practical implications of such a double anchorage in linguistics and psychology are outlined in a proposed model of a semantization…

Reviews factors influencing reversals of expectations for language-learning outcomes. This article touches on psychological and neurological data regarding individual differences in language-learning mechanisms and focuses on cross-linguistic psycholinguistic analysis that indicates that different target languages offer a wide variety of learning…

A study of the acquisition of Swedish vocabulary by adult immigrants examined both the kinds and contexts of words learned. It found that simple and common words form the bulk of the vocabulary learned, and that frequency of input, complexity of input, and communicative need guide the learning process. Frequency refers to the frequency of both…

It is proposed that in studying the development of children's speech, the findings in the data are heavily influenced by what is expected to be found on the basis of our theoretical preconceptions. This phenomenon is actually more widespread than has previously been acknowledged, and our expectations about how children learn language may have to…

Using current mind/brain research, this paper explores the "hidden curriculum" in the contexts of teaching, learning and supervision. It explains ways in which current research on the nature of learning can fit into today's typical, "clinical" teaching techniques. The importance of respecting individual modes of learning is stressed; further to…

An examination of second language learning focuses on how universal cognitive processes in language learning and individual differences account for differences in language learning patterns. An introductory section gives background information suggesting that psycholinguistic factors in language learning should receive more attention for two…

The many dimensions of individual differences that make each learner a challenge to the foreign language teacher are discussed. The teacher must interpret the information and provide differentiated environments to "match" these differences. Emphasis is placed upon learning styles and learning strategies. An historical perspective of adapting…

Certain proposed theories on second language acquisition, their justifications, and their predictions about English are examined in this paper. The first section discusses the process of second language acquisition; the stages and strategies learners use and progress through on their way to mastery are described. The second section discusses the…