Challenges basic assumptions underlying the claim that reading is the major source of vocabulary acquisition in a second language, including the noticing assumption, the guessing ability assumption, the guessing-retention link assumption, and the cumulative gain assumption. Reports on three experiments in which vocabulary gains from reading were…

Examines the attributive and predicate adjectives produced by 27 students of German (L2) in both chatroom and face-to-face small group discussions. Compares the accuracy and occurrence in each context. data indicated that students produced twice the number of attributive adjectives in the chatroom. Also examined whether students produced more…

Comments on an earlier article titled, "Speaking and Writing in the University: A Multidimensional Comparison," questioning the definition of register presented as well as the scope of the study. The authors of the original article respond. (Author/VWL)

Definitions by elementary students were scored for conformity with Aristotelian form and information quality. School exposure to English was correlated with quality and quantity of formal definitions given. Results of this and a similar French-as-a-Foreign-Language exercise indicate that definitional ability depends on opportunity to practice…

Discusses the vowel contrast of the vowel systems of English and Spanish, and concentrates on the difficulties posed by the interference of the English Schwa sound. (GLR)

Discusses the regional differences within the German language and the influence these differences might have on the learning of English. The study further investigates phonological and lexical similarities between German dialects and English. (GLR)

The Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis offers an alternative to affective explanations for second-language learning difficulties and adds another dimension to the role of aptitude. The hypothesis focuses on phonological, syntactic, and semantic components of language and assumes that the individual's control over these components is crucial to…

Three broad conceptions of second-language learning and teaching (behaviorist, cognitive, and a third labeled "voluntarist") are described and compared, and issues in the choice between these different conceptions for classroom use are examined. (MSE)

After setting definitions of pragmatics, prosody, and nonverbal communication, this paper reviews politeness theories and research in these fields, discussing their implications for teaching. It is posited that learners whose first language and native culture are more similar to the target language (TL) and culture are more likely to experience TL…

A classroom experiment involving 79 first-semester Spanish students measured the relationship between foreign language vocabulary visual aids, vocabulary achievement scores, and student modality strengths. Results suggest a need for further research for devising the best combination of visual aids, particularly for predominantly visual or auditory…

Investigated the effect of semantic inconsistency on performance of an auditory sentence-grammaticality judgment task among school-age children with and without language-learning disabilities. Children judged grammatical correctness of semantically consistent sentences and correctness of grammatically inconsistent sentences. Results are discussed.…

Examines traditional techniques for teaching second-language vocabulary and compares them with the use of language games for vocabulary presentation and revision to determine which approach is more successful. (Author/VWL)

Examines the effects of negotiated interaction on the production and development of question forms in English as a Second Language (ESL). The study focused on one feature of interaction--recasts--which have recently been the topic of interactional work in second-language acquisition literature. (Author/VWL)

Summarized findings from experimental and quasi-experimental investigations into the effectiveness of second language instruction. Comparisons of average effect sizes from sample studies indicated focused second language instruction results in large target-oriented gains, explicit types of instruction are more effective than implicit types, and…

Compares conversion, a morphological process by which a word formed without explicit derivational mark, to phenomenon of multifunctionality; discusses with reference to alternative label of zero-derivation and directonality. Drawing on English and Italian second-language acquisition data, study shows process is productive from initial stages of…