This state-of-the art paper focuses on the poorly explored issue of foreign language aptitude, attempting to present the latest developments in this field and reconceptualizations of the construct from the perspective of neuroscience. In accordance with this goal, it first discusses general directions in neurolinguistic research on foreign…

This volume is both a state-of-the-art display of current thinking on second language development as a complex system. It is also a tribute to Diane Larsen-Freeman for her decades of intellectual leadership in the academic disciplines of applied linguistics and second language acquisition. The chapters therein range from theoretical expositions to…

The present study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between English Language Teachers' autonomy and their Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP). To this end, a group of 200 experienced English language teachers at various language schools in Tehran, inter alia, Asre Zaban Language Academy, were given two questionnaires namely Teaching…

Providing a comprehensive survey of cutting-edge work on second language learning, this "Handbook," written by a team of leading experts, surveys the nature of second language learning and its implications for teaching. Prominent theories and methods from linguistics, psycholinguistics, processing-based, and cognitive approaches are…

Little empirical research on bilingual beginning teachers has been conducted to examine their actual linguistic performance in the classrooms in Australia and other English-speaking countries. This study investigates the bilingual beginning Mandarin teachers' use of English in Mandarin classes in Australian primary and secondary schools, focusing…

The process of matching teaching materials and methods to the student's learning style and ability level in foreign language classes is explored. The Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) model offers a diagnostic process for the identification of style. This process can be applied to the language learning setting as a way of presenting material to…

The following articles are included: (1) "Neurolinguistic Considerations on the Optimum Age for Second Language Learning" by Terence M. Walsh and Karl C. Diller; (2) "Major Variation in Language Skills Apparently under Genetic Influence (Discussed from the Viewpoint of Human Evolution)" by Brenda K. Sladen; (3) "Language Learning Strategies: Does…

Recent brain mapping studies have provided new insights into the cortical systems that mediate human speech perception. Electrocortical stimulation mapping (ESM) is a brain mapping method that is used clinically to localize cortical functions in neurosurgical patients. Recent ESM studies have yielded new insights into the cortical systems that…

Responds to L. Eubank and K. R. Gregg article (this issue), suggesting that they present a narrow view of language that they wish the field of language acquisition to share. It is suggested that Eubank and Gregg contend that the only thing to be explained is the human capacity for grammatical competence. This belief discounts, misrepresents, or…

Two aphasic patients speaking Brazilian Portuguese and presenting the characteristics of Broca's aphasics were analyzed in relation to their capacities to express null subjects in two different grammatical persons: 1st and 3rd persons. The analysis consisted of looking at the means obtained from the two aphasic patients and their individual…

The main tenet of the theory is that the minimal experimental situation for making psychological observations is a conversation. The theory is exemplified by work on learning and teaching using CASTE which is itself a physical embodiment of the theory in the form of a vehicle for observing conversations. (Author)

Suggests that Goad & Ingram's (1987) argument in favor of a cognitive model of phonological development failed to recognize the uniqueness of each individual's neural and vocal structures, ignored documented variability in the phonetic patterns of prelexical infants, and inexplicably assumed that inter-child variability implied the operation of…

Hypothesized that counselors would be rated higher on social influence, client satisfaction, and willingness to see the counselor when they matched client predicates than when they mismatched. Results indicated that knowledge of a client's primary representational system may be of help in increasing a counselor's social influence. (RC)

This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain-behavior correlations in a group of 16 children (9- to 12-year-olds). Activation was measured during a semantic judgment task presented in either the visual or auditory modality that required the individual to determine whether a final word was related in meaning to one…

The diagnostic problem presented by children without obvious neurological, cognitive, genetic, emotional or environmental basis for their atypical or delayed language development is discussed. One unresolved issue is whether the deficits of such dysphasic children are linguistic or are more fundamental cognitive or perceptuomotor deficits. A…