Error analysis has been presented as a means of "finding a shorter way" in the analysis of learners' difficulties in foreign languages. The alternative starts with a comparison of the native and foreign languages in order to predict such difficulties. The two types are complementary rather than mutually exclusive. (Author/MSE)

This transcript and guide of a two-cassette course is designed to assist Hispanic immigrants erase their foreign accents. The course is appropriate for either individual or group study. The guide includes narrative and taped demonstrations of American English that pinpoint typical phonological barriers and pronunciation difficulties and provide…

A study examined the effectiveness of English dictionaries in assisting in error correction by beginning learners of English as a second language. Lexical errors made in examinations were collected and coded by type, and the usefulness of the "Longman Active Study Dictionary", designed for ESL learners, in helping to correct the errors was…

This article reports on a study to identify listening, and aural comprehension difficulties experienced by students of English, specifically RELC (Regional English Language Centre in Singapore) course members. The most critical errors are discussed and conclusions about foreign language learning are drawn. (CLK)

Preliminary results from a longitudinal study of English-speaking children and adults learning Dutch in natural situations suggest that 12- to 15-year-olds learned faster than either older or younger subjects during their first 6 months in Holland. All age differences had disappeared in a group of advanced subjects (English-speakers who had been…

This is a slightly abbreviated version of part of a report commissioned at the end of 1995 by the Queensland Department of Education, Peninsula Region, and carried out with the help of teachers at Thursday Island State High School. It analyses some formal language differences between written Standard Australian English and spoken Torres Strait…

The interlanguage hypothesis, as it accounts for some of the problems and complexities inherent in second language learning, is described. This approach is compared with the strong version of the contrastive analysis hypothesis. Strengths and weaknesses of the interlanguage hypothesis are examined. (Author/RM)

Results of a study of sound system acquisition of five-year-old students of English-as-a-second-language show that first- and second-language learners exhibit similar but not identical simplification processes, and that evidence for a common developmental sequence in acquisition of consonant sounds was limited. (MSE)

A study of certain aspects of second language learning among three university students, all in an advanced ESL class at UCLA. An error analysis of written verb forms was undertaken. An examination of correction revealed that it was neither systematic nor enlightened enough to actually influence error production. (Author/RM)

Discusses the use of English for purposes of comparison and illustration in teaching German grammar. (RS)

Paper presented at Indiana University, Bloomington on February 24, 1971, under the auspices of the Committee for Research and Development in Language Instruction. (VM)

Examined Korean and Chinese college-level ESL learners for relative reliance on phonological and orthographic processing in English word identification. Found that Korean, but not Chinese, students made more false positive errors in judging stimuli that were homophones to category exemplars than in judging spelling controls. Chinese students made…

A study compared how native speakers of Spanish and English produced four English word pairs that are morphologically related but differ in stress and vowel quality. The magnitude of differences observed suggests that second language learners acquire stress placement and vowel reduction in English on a word-by-word basis. (Author/MSE)

The author discusses the preparation of a test of reading comprehension in Italian as a Second Language for Spanish university students and analyzes the results of the test. The article includes the reading passage and the test. (CFM)