Much is known about the impact of vocabulary instruction on reading skills, word knowledge, and reading comprehension. However, knowledge of the underlying theories that guide vocabulary instruction and their potential impact on teachers' performance and/or students' achievement has not been investigated. In this content analysis, articles…

This dissertation examines how English language learners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) realize learner autonomy, especially in the context of the learner's meaning development via purposeful vocabulary acquisition. This project is a qualitative case study that engages both teachers and English learners as subjects over a prolonged period of…

Neighborhood density--the number of words that sound similar to a given word (Luce & Pisoni, 1998)--influences word learning in native English-speaking children and adults (Storkel, 2004; Storkel, Armbruster & Hogan, 2006): novel words with many similar sounding English words (i.e., dense neighborhood) are learned more quickly than novel words…

Stokes (2010) compared the lexicons of English-speaking late talkers (LT) with those of their typically developing (TD) peers on neighborhood density (ND) and word frequency (WF) characteristics and suggested that LTs employed learning strategies that differed from those of their TD peers. This research sought to explore the cross-linguistic…

This paper describes the design and development of a CALL resource that teaches aspects of word combinability (i.e., grammatical collocation, transitivity, and complementation) to tertiary-level ESL learners by integrating conceptual understanding with related text-analysis and web-based dictionary skills. The resource delivers an automated,…

Constrained skills theory is a reconceptualization of reading development that suggests a continuum of skills, with some, such as letter knowledge and decoding abilities, more tightly constrained than others, such as phonological awareness and oral reading fluency. The most constrained skills consist of a limited number of items and thus can be…

Presents six principles for the design of adaptive computer-assisted language learning (CALL) programs for vocabulary that incorporate a theory describing quality in the learning outcome and linking it to the learner's approach. Highlights include interactivity; general architecture of a software system; and diagnosis and modification. (Contains…

Most advanced second language (L2) learners find continued vocabulary growth to be one of the most difficult areas in second language learning, and vocabulary acquisition has not received little attention by researchers. As a result, no unified theory of L2 vocabulary acquisition exists, although the literature contains ample advice on how to…

Investigates whether students could more easily remember synthetic words by rehearsing with definitions, examples, or sentence composing. Concludes that students who used sentence composing performed better on a posttest than those who had rehearsed using examples and definitions. (SRT)

Employed extensively in some Soviet bloc countries to teach a variety of subjects, the Suggestive-Accelerative Learning and Teaching (SALT) method uses a combination of physical and mental relaxation exercises, music, and suggestive principles to increase learning. However, in spite of research showing its effectiveness in teaching reading skills…

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…

This journal is intended to be a vehicle for professional communication, discussion, and debate in the field of foreign language education, with a special emphasis on the instruction of adults in both commonly taught and less commonly taught languages, for functional purposes, in an intensive setting. Topics in this volume include the following:…