Currently, there is a practical demand and necessity for research on how English-as-a-second language (ESL) learners acquire literacy skills, such as spelling. One important issue of this research agenda is how ESL learners apply first-language knowledge to learning to spell in English. Twenty-seven studies were reviewed that investigated the…

The existence of optionality in acquisitional data presents a problem to the view that developing grammars do not include more than one grammatical system at any stage. In this article data from Greek and Spanish, on the one hand, and English, on the other, constitute the background for the discussion of the existence of "true" optionality in…

The "No Child Left Behind Act" establishes federal education policy for the United States, with a heavy focus on accountability through high-stakes testing. Provisions specific to English language learners (ELLs) include the mandate for their inclusion in state math tests, even for newcomer students enrolled for less than one year. Most…

Test method facet has been considered as an important factor affecting the testee's performance on a test. That is, a test used to assess a particular ability would yield different results when different test methods are used to gauge the same trait. The language of presentation is an aspect of test method conceived of as affecting the performance…

The ever increasing explosion of highly attractive multimedia resources on offer has boosted the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning of modern languages. The use of ICT to assess languages is less frequent, however, although online testing is starting to develop. This paper examines the national…

In this article authenticity is defined by componential concepts, common to spoken and written communication through language, which frame assessments of interchanges produced for "high-stakes" examination purposes. They are referents for analysis and critique of International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme evaluations of second and foreign…

Although Keenan and Comrie's (1977) noun phrase accessibility hierarchy (NPAH) has been shown to predict the difficulty order of relative clauses (RCs) in SLA, most studies of the NPAH have been on European languages. This paper tests the prediction for Japanese. Study 1 analyzes RCs in an oral interview corpus from 90 learners of Japanese at four…

Pragmatic proficiency has been incorporated in the EFL teaching and testing syllabi in China, but the corresponding tests still focus on linguistic competence. The gap between the teaching and testing is mainly due to the lack of generally accepted measures of communicative abilities such as pragmatic competence. This study developed a…

This study examined development of pragmatic comprehension ability across time. Twenty native speakers and 92 Japanese college students of English completed a computerized listening task measuring ability to comprehend two types of implied meaning in dialogues: indirect refusals (k = 24) and indirect opinions (k = 24). The participants'…

In preparing teachers of English language learners (ELLs), teacher educators face a formidable challenge in the area of reading. Reading is a complex skill that is critical to ELLs' academic achievement. Given the complexity and importance of reading and reading instruction, what topics should be addressed by teacher educators in methods courses?…

In this article, we report on an investigation that aimed to describe adolescent multilinguals' use of the different languages they were learning at school when performing a translation task. We wanted to find out whether written translations of a mother tongue text into the learner's different foreign languages would reflect a multilingual rather…

In this article, I describe a practical application of the Roussos and Stout (1996) multidimensional analysis framework for interpreting group performance differences on an ESL reading proficiency test. Although a variety of statistical methods have been developed for flagging test items that function differentially for equal ability examinees…

The authors examined the relationship between pedagogy, classroom organization, and student achievement gains. Participants in this nonequivalent pretest and posttest control-group design were 23 teachers and 394 students (Grades 3 to 5) in 2 public elementary schools serving predominantly low-income Latino English learners. The authors found that…

Three influences on second language learning, one individual (intelligence) and two sociocultural (social class and social context) are discussed. All three factors are seen as difficult to measure and resistant to change through deliberate educational policy action. Each is defined, particularly in relation to the language learning situation.…

Telecommunicated learning has been available since the 1930s, with the use of radio for instruction. Research has been conducted on its effectiveness, but little that focuses on the specifics of language learning. In the past two decades, language telecourses have proliferated and are used widely for adult education. This article reports on the…