Human raters are normally involved in L2 performance assessment; as a result, rater behavior has been widely investigated to reduce rater effects on test scores and to provide validity arguments. Yet raters' cognition and use of rubrics in their actual rating have rarely been explored qualitatively in L2 speaking assessments. In this study three…

Dramatic advances in personal computer technology have given language teachers access to vast quantities of machine-readable text, which can be analyzed with a view toward improving the basis of language instruction. Corpus linguistics provides analytic techniques and practical tools for studying language in use. This volume includes both an…

The following papers of relevance to second language instruction are compiled here: (1) "Bilingual Math in a Monolingual Classroom: A Field Study," by Elizabeth M. Baricevic; (2) "Ideologie et pedagogie: reflexions sur le manuel de francais au programme de '3e annee secondaire' en Algerie," by Jeanne Adam; (3) "Pedagogic…

An intensive case study in learning a second foreign language, which is part of an applied linguistics course for teachers/teacher trainees offered at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) is described. Attention is directed to: case study rationale and objectives; student orientation and preparation; and areas of focus and the…