In lieu of language lab attendance, second-year language students had the option of attending a drama lab. This program has met with great success. The objective of the lab is to improve skills in pronunciation, intonation, and stress patterns. Also, an environment is created in which the student feels at home with the target language. (PJM)

Discusses second language learning in the context of linguistic and societal needs of the learner. (AM)

Briefly discusses the clash between student needs and teaching methods witnessed in the Irish branch of the Alliance Francaise, and acts as an introduction to a discussion of three specific methods. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article contrasts the prescriptive and descriptive meaning of the word "grammar," with examples drawn from the French verb system. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article discusses the role of phonetics in second language teaching, and stresses the importance of considering the whole speech event in adapting phonetics to instruction. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

In this interview, Julian Edge talks to the interviewer about choices of language use available in professional development groups and in master's programs. (Author/VWL)

Reviews recent research on the application of sociocultural theory to second language (L2) acquisition, focusing on activity theory and the relevance of motives and goals for L2 learning, the role of private speech in L2 learning, and learning in the zone of proximal development. An annotated bibliography discusses 8 important works in the field.…

This case study examined the acquisition of pronominal reference by a Moroccan learner of Dutch with little formal education. It details the subject's acquisition of Dutch pronouns and their use in standard-like and nonformulaic conversation. (eight references) (MDM)

This study investigated the usefulness of a test designed to explore speaker awareness of linguistic constraints on the variable omission of "ne" by native speakers of French and learners of French as a second language. Results suggest speakers do have awareness of some constraints and that some advanced nonnative learners have a particular…

Argues that important insights about language use are gained through examination of quantitative linguistic data. Discusses corpus-based research and examines common lexical verbs across registers, aspect across registers, and co-occurrence. (Author/VWL)

Looks at early immersion in Irish among children from diverse language backgrounds. Examines the children's frequency of target language use and the effect of the group's linguistic mix on that use. Results show relatively low levels of target language use even by native speakers. (Author/VWL)

Compares he use of linguistic metaphor and conceptual metaphor in a corpus of English and Spanish financial reports published in newspapers during the October 1997 stock market crash. Findings indicate much similarity in conceptual and linguistic metaphors between the two languages, but some differences in the frequency of particular linguistic…

Examines the use of "then"/"after that" by Vietnamese and Chinese learners of English as a Second Language, suggesting that this temporal adverb poses as much of a learning challenge as morphological means of temporal reference. Shows that a learner's usage is monitored by a looser notion of salience, which emerges from the…

Examines two areas of applied linguistics: corpus analysis and critical discourse analysis, where linguistic description makes claims to be directly relevant to real world problems in language use and learning. (Author/VWL)

A comprehensive phraseological study of Esperanto, based on detailed test analyses, participant observation and surveys, reveals both similarities and differences in comparison to ethnic or national languages. Relatively high level of metalinguistic consciousness and creativity were observed, coupled with widely differing attitudes towards the…