This article explores ways in which learners' achievements can be assessed and reflected in both the domains of linguistic performance and subject-content learning. The content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approach adopted by the authors is one in which language learning and content learning are truly integrated and where neither…

The theme of this volume, complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) as dimensions of second language production, proficiency and development, represents a thriving area of research that addresses two general questions that are at the heart of many studies in second language acquisition and applied linguistics: What makes a second language (L2)…

This paper examines the differences between second-language learners and heritage learners of Russian in terms of their linguistic performance, a finding supported by current research (Andrews, 2001; Kagan & Dillon, 2001/2003), examines the implications of these differences for the creation of testing tools, and offers a sample of a test designed…

The relationship between family language policy (FLP) and language choice, language use, proficiency in Russian and Hebrew, codeswitching (CS) and linguistic performance was studied in Russian-speaking immigrant parents and their Russian-Hebrew bilingual preschool children. By means of Glaser's Grounded Theory, the content of sociolinguistic…

Although all bilinguals encounter cross-language interference (CLI), some bilinguals are more susceptible to interference than others. Here, we report on language performance of late bilinguals (Russian/German) on two bilingual tasks (interview, verbal fluency), their language use and switching habits. The only between-group difference was CLI:…

Purpose: The principal aims of this study were to detect phonetic measures (consonant inventory, intelligibility, frequency, and types of phonological errors) associated with lexical and morphosyntactic ability and to analyze the types of phonological processes in children with different language skills. Method: The sample was composed of 30…

The study reported in this article investigates the development of sociolinguistic competence among second-year (US university-level) L2 learners of French who were given systematic instruction on sociolinguistic variation as part of their normal coursework. We focus on the variable use of the negative morpheme "ne" in verbal negation. Drawing…

In this study we investigate the linguistic performance of a school age French-Greek simultaneous bilingual boy with specific language impairment (SLI) on the production of subject-verb agreement, object clitic pronouns and wh-questions. In addition, we compare his performance on these linguistic structures with that of two French-Greek bilingual…

Students' perceptions of their classroom English tests play a crucial role in affecting their performance. Hence, the present study is interested in soliciting college students' perceptions of their classroom English tests to find out the reasons behind test difficulties. Participants were 585 female college students chosen randomly from all grade…

The earliest stages of adult language acquisition have received increased attention in recent years (cf. Carroll, introduction to this issue). The study reported here aims to contribute to this discussion by investigating the role of several variables in the development of word recognition strategies during the very first hours of exposure to a…

This article presents a descriptive and Co-Constructive Approach to feedback related to performance in the interpersonal mode of communication on the Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA). The goal of this research study was to describe the discursive features of effective IPA feedback. To this end, critical discourse analysis of a feedback…

The present study explores the use of conjunctions in simple versus complex argumentative tasks performed by second language (L2) learners as a specific measure for the amount of reasoning involved in task performance. The Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2005) states that an increase in cognitive task complexity promotes improvements in L2…

The research project reported in this chapter consists of three studies in which syntactic complexity, lexical variation and fluency appear as dependent variables. The independent variables are task complexity and proficiency level, as the three studies investigate the effect of task complexity on the written and oral performance of L2 learners of…

This exploratory study focuses on four non-native English speaking secondary content teachers in a short-term immersion program aimed at introducing them to language teaching methods for secondary school content instruction through the medium of English. Such programs have been found to have largely mixed results for language performance. This may…

This chapter will present a research synthesis of a series of studies, termed here the Ealing research. The studies use the same general framework to conceptualise tasks and task performance, enabling easier comparability. The different studies, although each is self-contained, build into a wider picture of task performance. The major point of…