Developing second/foreign language (L2) comprehension skills can represent a challenging endeavor for learners with autism spectrum condition (ASC) because their social and verbal cognition may be impaired in terms of abstract reasoning, organizing, and retelling events, inferring intentions, and identifying emotions contained in a text. Thus, it…

Michael Swan and Catherine Walter (see EJ1142765) take issue with the current emphasis in the teaching of listening and reading on higher-order skills-and-strategies training. They argue that L2 learners typically already possess the relevant skills and strategies necessary for listening and reading in L2, and, by implication, can and do deploy…

Strategic text processing was investigated for English as a foreign language learners who processed and recalled a text when they read for expression, for image, and for critique. The results indicated that, although the amount of content recall (i.e., products of comprehension) was similar, the relative contributions of second language (L2)…

This paper contributes to the literature on the transferability of grapho-morphological awareness (GMA) for second language (L2) learners by analysing L2 learners' knowledge of morphology in reading. GMA helps readers to identify grammatical categories, infer meanings of unfamiliar words, and access stored lexical information. Previous research…

This study furthers research in three crucial related areas: (1) comparing various online glossing and vocabulary learning tools; (2) language teaching and learning using a more natural bilingualized approach to developing online reading skills in a second or foreign language; and (3) comparing the relative level of enjoyment and effectiveness…

Students of English as a Second Language (ESL) in an academic program must be able to write paraphrases, but they often lack strategies for accomplishing this complex task successfully. The process requires skill in reading, comprehension, analysis, selection of new structures and vocabulary, and integration into a written product. Paraphrases…

Research in second language acquisition and reading in particular indicate that certain literacy skills transfer across languages. This study examines the reading strategies used by advanced Korean and Chinese ESL learners. Particular attention is devoted to how word recognition and processing skills developed in learners' native languages (L1)…

The application of language processing skills between 2 languages with dissimilar morphosyntactic features was investigated with 72 American university students learning Japanese. Results suggest that learners' first- and second-language knowledge both play a significant role and that the linguistic knowledge and coding capability for text…

Justifies the teaching of vocabulary recognition strategies from vocabulary development exercises and reviews five such strategies. These strategies are: (1) inferring from context, (2) identifying lexical familiarization, (3) unchaining nominal compounds, (4) synonym search, and (5) word analysis. (Author/SED)

How can one better use modern CALL resources to help language learners to build up a larger target language (TL) vocabulary quickly? A major need that quickly becomes apparent at the intersection of the fields of second language vocabulary acquisition (SLVA) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is the lack of sufficient research with…

Describes how to use a language-processing model to develop holistic reading strategies for college-level English-as-a-Second-Language students. The paper explains how to use an English reading processor, develop a supplementary reading program, access students' background knowledge, and find methods that work, noting that this model will nurture…

An approach to teaching top-down comprehension of spoken language in business Spanish instruction is presented. The approach is based on a model of reading comprehension using successful reading strategies that use-top-down processing, and relies on development of learners' understanding of certain important concepts they will encounter in…

This paper presents the results of a research study carried out with Mexican college students to analyze the relationship between readers' cognitive styles (field dependent/independent) and their performance at different levels of written discourse processing in Spanish (L1) and English (L2). The sample for the study included 452 undergraduate…

This study investigated and compared the effects of two test formats (free response and multiple choice) on English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners' reading comprehension. The tests, together with a checklist of test-taking strategies and retrospective questionnaires concerning more general reading strategies, were administered to 57 ESL…

The approaches used for reading instruction in the United States and in the People's Republic of China are different and incompatible. In China, English reading is taught intensively, through close-reading or detailed oral analysis of brief texts and with great attention to individual words and phrases. This "bottom-up" processing style,…