Explores episodes of classroom interaction in which there is unplanned attention to form. Data consist of periodic recordings of learners in intensive English classes over a period of 8 weeks. Analysis of data points to a strong connection between attention to form and subsequent use of those forms and indicates that this connection is affected by…

Examines how differences in point of view influence the story production of Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language students with different levels of English proficiency. Students wrote two narrative stories based on the same series of pictures, one in the first-person perspective and the other in the third-person perspective. Sample writings were…

Identifies the language learning strategies associated with the achievement of higher levels of oral proficiency in German for 100 Irish students about to complete their second year at Dublin City University. Investigates the way in which these strategies are used by those with higher and lower levels of proficiency. (Author/VWL)

Describes the Chinese-language program at Portland State University. Elements of this program include newspaper and classical courses; textbooks from China, Taiwan, and English-speaking countries; the use of characters on the first day; and a diverse student body. The university's goal is to make a solid Chinese education available to anyone in…

This article presents a replication of a study by Chaudron and Parker (1990) on the effect of discourse markedness and structural markedness on the development of noun phrase use. The study analyzed the language usage of 55 young adult Spanish learners of English, finding that only intermediate and high-level learners used zero anaphora. Contains…

Examines two teachers' approaches to the management of writing workshops for English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language students in an English proficiency course. Discusses the different approaches the teachers use and how these different approaches affect the interactions between teachers and students that take place in these workshops. (Author/VWL)

Reports on the development of a learning package for a newly introduced test in Hong Kong, the Graduating Students' Language Proficiency Assessment (GSLPA)-English. Examines reactions of teachers and students to the learning package during piloting of the materials. (Author/VWL)

Examines the role of American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines in language proficiency testing, focusing on Japanese language instruction and discussing how effective that system is in relation to university classroom instruction. Two main issues are addressed: viewing ACTFL Proficiency Tests as having the…

How second language development is assessed has been a question among English as a Second Language (ESL) faculty, since it has previously focused primarily on oral, rather than writing, development. Oral interviews and writing were compared for errors and syntactic maturity to see if any differences could be determined over a two-year period.…

This article reports on the gains that may be obtained from the use of computers to develop language skills in students of English as a foreign language. Advantages and disadvantages of using computers to teach English are presented. A set of guidelines for using computers are suggested, and two related issues in using computers in instruction are…

Investigated how well nonnative speakers (NNSs) could modify their output toward comprehensibility when interacting with native speakers (NSs) and NNSs, noting how often modified comprehensible output (MCO) was other- or self-initiated. Picture-dictation and opinion-exchange task data indicated that most repairs were self-initiated. NNS-NNS…

The results of a within-subject cross-language study of text comprehension in adult second language (L2) learners are presented. Text comprehension and sentence reading time measures were obtained for matched narrative and procedural texts in English and French from adult learners of French as a second language (FSL) at two levels of French…

This paper reports on a third study in a series aimed at investigating the issues surrounding the learning of mathematics at The University of Auckland by students who have English as an Additional Language (EAL students). As well as summarizing the earlier studies, it presents some new data showing that the problems experienced by EAL students…

This paper investigates English language literacy practices among teenagers, focusing initially on three young Singaporean students who are struggling to do well in English. By employing a conceptual framework that builds on a recent treatment of style as identity construction and drawing on interview data that recount the students' practices of…

One common procedure for oral performance testing of Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) learners is one-on-one interviewing wherein the interviewer asks questions and the child candidate responds to them. While existing research has focused primarily on outcomes elicited by such procedures, this study examines the processes…