The development of an English for Academic Purposes placement test is described that aims to reflect an integrated approach to language use. It approximates natural language behavior by providing a series of tasks that each contribute to the overall context of language use. (42 references) (Author/LB)

Describes a computer program designed to provide language learners with the relevant knowledge to recognize or produce linguistic forms appropriate to a given setting, and to choose one form among a set of similar alternatives. Shows how the influence of pragmatic factors are explored by contrasting learner usage with a computer-based model.…

An oral practice system of "chats" in the classroom functions as an extemporaneous speaking exercise or chat (without notes or prompt sheets), occurring between two students for a minute or so at the beginning of class, following which the presenters respond to other students' questions. (CNP)

Investigates one aspect of language use in focus on form--metalanguage. Reports on a study to identify how metalanguage was used and the relationship between the use of metalanguage and the occurrence of students uptake moves in focus on form. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the lexical element "yeah," observed in the speech of nonnative speakers of English whose native language is Mandarin. Using the framework of conversation analysis, discusses the same-turn repair environment in which the token "yeah" occurs but reveals that the token serves as an additional component, doing something…

Explores the notion that the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) classroom is an important site for the production and regulation of gender. Based on post-structuralist thinking, explores the notion that language learning shapes gender. Traces the relationship between language and gender in applied linguistics. (Author/VWL)…

This study investigates the orientation of language-use practices during in-class peer work of second-year college learners of German in three different sections (classes) of a multi-section course, taught by three different teachers at a public American Midwestern research university. Qualitative analyses of recordings made over the course of an…

In line with recent critiques of communicative language teaching (Byrnes and Maxim 2004; Byrnes 2006), this paper considers how instances of spontaneous, creative language play can afford access to a range of linguistic practices that are often devalued or ignored in classrooms. To this end, it examines how university students in an advanced…

Since language is socially mediated and context dependent, it would be expected that learners' use of language learning strategies may vary with the environment. Using the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990), this study examines the language learning behaviors and thought processes of two geographically and…

This study aims to investigate the role of mediation in the learning process from a sociocultural perspective, activity theory in particular. This study was carried out in a primary English immersion school within the CCUEI Programs in Mainland China. Data were collected mainly through observations and interviews, which were then supplemented by…

Adult English as a second language (ESL) students learning English outside of traditional academic settings are an understudied population of second language learners. The purpose of the research reported here is to contribute to meeting the instructional needs of these students more effectively by investigating the relationships between their…

Drawing on data from 14 communities in California and Texas, this paper examines the variability in language and literacy resources across communities with large numbers of Latino families. Spanish-speaking children live in communities that vary considerably with respect to language use, ethnic composition and education levels. Children's…

This article examines colonial language policies and practices at the government Central School, Hong Kong--the so-called Eton of the East--in the second half of the nineteenth century. The article, which draws on a range of unpublished primary sources, seeks to enhance our knowledge of an important episode in Hong Kong's educational history and,…

This study explored the affective factors influencing students' learning of Catalan across different year levels in a multilingual school community in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). Questionnaires were distributed to 176 students, from 12 to 17 years of age, registered in a public secondary school, the majority of whom were not born in Catalonia.…

This study compared the uses of emotion vocabulary in narratives elicited from monolingual speakers of Russian and English and advanced American learners of Russian. Monolingual speakers differed significantly in the distribution of emotion terms across morphosyntactic categories: English speakers favored an adjectival pattern of emotion…