Explores the mismatch between pedagogical intentions and learner outcomes and argues for learner centeredness as a central (yet relative) concept. Ways in which the relationship between teachers and learners and teaching and learning can be strengthened, e.g., experiential content, language content, and learning process, are explored, and examples…

Reports on a study of the impact of individual feedback on achievement, attitudes, and behavior in cooperative learning groups on 56 8th-grade students. Finds that individual feedback was more effective than group feedback and that individual feedback resulted in more positive relationships toward others. (CFR)

This article, in Section 1, describes language learning as learner growth or development in three interrelated areas: personal awareness, awareness of learning processes and task awareness. These are the three angles of a triangle that constitute the notion of school learning as learner education. The second section discusses how to promote the…

A naturalistic study looked at the acquisition of English by two Japanese boys, aged 4 and 8 years, during a 2.5-year stay in the United States. Data were collected through observation and transcription of spontaneous speech in daily life. Analysis included a variety of features of language use and of the acquisition process, including attitudes…

Four papers on linguistic theory and language research include: "Language Policy, Language Education, and Language Rights: Indigenous, Immigrant, and International Perspectives" (Nancy H. Hornberger), a discussion of how language policy and language education serve as vehicles for promoting the vitality, versatility, and stability of…

By drawing on the experiences of children aged 3 to 8 attending schools in Britain, Germany, Iceland, Australia, and the United States, 11 case studies of young children provide insight into what it means for children to enter a new language and culture in school. The case studies are: "Learning through Difference: Cultural Practices in Early…

This book provides an overview of research and thinking on age-related dimensions of language acquisition, intended for students, researchers, and educators with some experience in linguistics and applied linguistics. The first chapter introduces the variety of issues associated with age and language acquisition. Chapter 2 examines the evidence…

A study investigated the use of content-based tasks as central and peripheral in second language instruction. Specifically, it examined the relative effects of such tasks that were either central to the syllabus, as sources of knowledge or skills in their own right, or peripheral, as occasional source of language practice. The study was conducted…

Five working papers in linguistics and education are presented. "The Mediators: Providing Access To Texts in English in a Semi-Urban Maharashtrian College Community" (Grace Plamthodathil Jacob) examines the teacher's role in mediating cultural awareness as part of English second language education in a multilingual, non-western society.…

The curriculum guide for Ohio's secondary level programs in English as a second language (ESL) begins with background information on factors to consider in developing an ESL curriculum, including limited-English-proficient students' characteristics, the language acquisition process, skill areas to be covered, instructional goals for four major…

The manual designed to accompany a seminar for teachers concerning some of the central issues in contemporary foreign language teaching and focusing on how adults go about acquiring language includes materials for five sessions, in three sections. The first section covers language learning and acquisition in general, and contains a survey of the…

This study describes certain communication strategies used by Anglophone children learning French as a second language as well as by children whose mother tongue is French. Three groups of children in the third and fifth grades participated in the study: French native speakers, Anglophone children learning French in an immersion setting, and…

This volume consists of the following papers selected from those presented at the 1977 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages: (1) "Educational Cognitive Style: A Basis for Personalizing Foreign Language Instruction," by Derek N. Nunney; (2) "Discovering Student Learning Styles through Cognitive Style Mapping," by Helen S.…

This paper offers a way to adapt foreign language instruction to individual learner needs and difficulties. The approach consists of two parts: (1) various sources of learner problems are identified and discussed briefly; and (2) over 50 remedial classroom activities are presented and described. These activities are designed to treat specific…

The influence of mother-tongue interference is examined on the basis of data from two tests at different levels of English proficiency: a commercial-college level, covering 4-5 years of English studies, involving a composition and translation test, and a preuniversity level, covering 7-8 years of English studies, with a multiple-choice test. A…