This study provides concrete evidence of ecological, dialogical views of languaging within the dynamics of coordination and cooperation in a virtual world. Beginning level second language learners of Chinese engaged in cooperative activities designed to provide them opportunities to refine linguistic actions by way of caring for others, for the…

Describes the nature of competence in English and illustrates why and how a pluralistic model of communicative competence should and can be applied in addressing three major pedagogical issues in nonnative contexts: (1) the language model strived for, (2) intelligibility, and (3) the particular competence learners are to develop. (21 references)…

This study focuses on changes in listener ability to identify a language after brief periods of exposure. Specifically, it looks at whether minimal exposure to spoken samples of a language improve identification of novel samples and in what ways exposure materials affect listener performance. (Author/JL)

Discusses how deflexion counters certain grammaticalization-related claims and emphasizes the socio-cultural context of overall grammar, arguing that grammaticalization changes must be understood in the context of a grammar's history as a whole. Using data from Swedish, shows that deflexion (directly or indirectly) results in the upgrading of…

Assesses the nature and value of grammaticalization. Attempts to show that grammaticalization is derivative, that it has no status of its own but relies on other processes and mechanisms of linguistic change that exist independently of grammaticalization but that provide the explanations for the phenomena involved in grammaticalization.…

Emphasizes sociolinguistic factors--the contexts of grammaticalization--which rarely play a role in the grammaticalization literature. Stresses the need to focus on the perspective of individual speakers as well as to address the issue of how extremely long-term trends in grammars can be replicated through the actions of speakers. (Author/VWL)

Introduces the articles in this issue of "Language Sciences," which are dedicated to taking stock of both grammaticalization and so-called "grammaticalization theory." This introduction sets the stage for other papers by surveying the large range of definitions of grammaticalization in the literature and placing them in…

Scrutinizes claims that grammaticalization is a process and tests diachronic grammaticalization-based claims regarding the so-called Pro-Drop parameter. (Author/VWL)

Grammaticalization is often regarded in the literature as a distinct process requiring explanatory machinery unique to its own domain. Argues, on the contrary, that grammaticalization is simply a cover term for certain syntactic, semantic, and phonetic changes, all of which apply independently of each other. (Author/VWL)

Discusses why Japanese students frequently passivize certain intransitive English verbs. It is suggested that students might make this error because they associate adversity with the passive construction and use passives whenever adversity is implied. Discussion of other expressions implying adversity and implications for both applied and…

It is argued that the concept of genre-based language teaching is both useful in the first language and also in the second- and foreign language classroom. The theoretical basis for the concept of genre is also outlined. (60 references) (GLR)