This paper proposes that foreign-language learning problems result from difficulties with native-language learning. Research evidence is summarized showing that good and poor foreign-language learners exhibit significantly different levels of native-language skill and phonological processing ability. Potential challenges to this hypothesis are…

A competition model experiment is reported that investigated the sentence-processing strategies of English-speaking learners of Japanese and Japanese-speaking learners of English. Results indicated a correlation between learners' proficiency in Japanese and case-marker dependency in Japanese strings. (Contains 23 references.) (Author/LB)

Presents a five-step model for organizing instruction to focus on using the second language for real-life communication. These steps are listening to the spoken language, learning how the language works, building skills, role playing, and speaking in real-life situations. The teacher's role is to ask for more precise effort from the students. (CK)

Reviews the findings of the 3 research articles in this issue, focusing on Lardiere's claim that only 2 of the 15 Spanish-speakers in her study treated regular and irregular plurals differently. It is argued that Lardiere arrived at this classification arbitrarily. (five references) (MDM)

This article describes the construction of a common scale that attempts to span the English-language ability range of students in the Hong Kong secondary-school system. (JL)

Variables that constitute translation ability are discussed, based on a two-year development and validation study of job-related tests of translation ability for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The project involved the development of two parallel forms of the Spanish into English Verbatim Translation Exam (SEVTE). (five references) (LB)

Describes the Ontario Test of English as a Second Language Oral Interaction Test and reports on its use in a research project to establish procedures for certifying an advanced level or a bilingual level of proficiency. (3 references) (VWL)

Native English speakers have difficulty determining which form of direct address is appropriate in German, and students also need practice in giving commands to one another. This article describes an easily organized drill covering both areas. (Author/LB)

Given the lack of guidance for teachers regarding the role of explicit grammar instruction in the proficiency-oriented classroom, an experiment investigated how well students are able to read, learn, and use targeted grammar structures on their own. Results suggest they can learn certain kinds of linguistic structures anonymously, but others…

The effects of feedback (explicit correction) on the learning of morphological generalizations were studied in 79 adult native speakers of English with varying levels of proficiency in French. Among the findings was that the learning of absolute exceptions was more likely among advanced learners. (69 references) (Author/LB)

To address theoretical claims for the importance of negotiated interaction to the comprehension of second language (L2) input, different classroom interactional behaviors of L2 learners were compared. Results indicated that direct participation in negotiation was most effective in facilitating comprehension of less-advanced students; however, this…

A brief description of the English-language proficiency level expected of ninth-grade Israeli students introduces a tabular guide to various English readers, along with their basic vocabulary ranges. (LB)

Analysis of college Spanish students' processing of information under different conditions suggested that learners, and particularly early-stage learners, have great difficulty in attending to both form and content. (22 references) (Author/CB)

Discusses the treatment of idioms in language learning, specifically questions that need to be addressed when decisions are made on the role of idioms in language-learning programs. Particular emphasis is on the extent to which idioms present a particular source of misunderstanding and confusion for learners. (Author/VWL)

A feature shown to affect learners' performance on tests of spoken interaction is the gender of the person with whom the learner interacts. To test this hypothesis, 12 Japanese learners were interviewed, once by a man and once by a woman. Comparison of scores indicated that in all but one case the learners performed better when interviewed by a…