Students' engagement and determination require the use of self-regulated learning strategies to facilitate adequate preparation. This article reports a research study that looks into how eight instructors, who were trained to promote self-regulation, interact with 18 students of a Bachelor of Arts program in English language teaching in Bogotá.…

This two and a half year study examines how non-native English-speaking Burmese refugee students from first to third grades made meaning of scientific informational texts. The study is framed by sociocultural theory and transactional theory. Primary data were drawn from 160 student retellings of scientific informational texts. Secondary data…

Studies on the human language system have brought to the fore two key aspects. First, the prime function of language is communication. Second, language exists in the social world. The language learning process takes place within the sociocultural context and the relevant macrostructures that influence language use and development. According to the…

Describes a million-word corpus for English-Italian translation students. Outlines the design, which makes multiple types of comparisons possible among originals and translations and illustrates how to use the corpus to teach sociocultural insights, discourse-structuring expressions, and lexical patterns. (Author/VWL)

This article discusses the use of the formal and informal forms of address in French from a sociolinguistic standpoint, and considers the implications of the issue for second language instruction. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

A study examined the production of three speech acts by a small group of Korean learners of English at a high beginning level. In comparing disagreements, requests, and suggestions, it was found that although the students demonstrate the ability to increase the level of politeness used, their disagreements tended to be direct and unmitigated. It…

This paper focuses on an important aspect of second language acquisition, namely, the complex set of modifications in the rules governing the forms and functions of the new language that are required by specific sociocultural contexts. These adjustments in language, or shifts in register, play a crucial role in interpreting utterances for social…

A study investigated a model that takes into account the influence of conceptual, cultural, and linguistic variables in formation of verbal and nonverbal concepts in bilingual children. This triple-interaction model states that concepts are represented in three ways: (1) nonverbally as abstract categories; (2) symbolically by means of…

A study investigated the production of conventional conversational openings by five advanced learners of Kiswahili with experience in the Kiswahili speaking environment. Native speakers of Kiswahili usually engage in lengthy openings including several phatic inquiries (PIs) and phatic responses (PRs). The number and manner in which the PIs and PRs…

A study investigated requests as speech acts in "Zulu English," the English of Zulu first-language speakers, seeking to explain miscommunication in interactions between Zulu- and English-speakers by pointing to pragmatic transfer as one possible cause. Data were collected by means of a series of discourse completion tests in Zulu, Zulu…

This paper discusses the profession of teaching English as a second language. The problems encountered in classes taught by untrained amateurs are discussed, and the strategies of the professional teacher are outlined. She or he begins by finding out who the students are, what they need to know, and how they will have to use English. In this way,…

This course is designed to enable students to function in other classes in the curriculum, especially history, science, and math. Emphasis is on mastery of the use of the simple past tense in questions, answers, and negative and affirmative statements--in contrast to the present indefinite used in generalizations. Stress is placed on the…

In studying the role of context in speech act performance, the tradition has been to use controlled elicitation instruments that allow for manipulation of social dimensions. The assumption is that by controlling social context, all respondents will assess social relations very similarly, although little research has dealt with the validity of this…

This study investigated differences between communication norms in English and Japanese in a unique situation in which the speech acts of "asking for permission" and "requesting" merge. Focus was on the pair-verbs "borrow" and "lend." Subjects were 26 native speakers of English, mostly teachers, and 64…

A study analyzed repetition in the discourse of students of Spanish as a second language working on a writing assignment in collaborative dyads (n=5). Results show the sociocultural and mental activity was mediated by repetition of both first- and second-language utterances, whose effect was to create and maintain a shared perspective of the task…