This article explores the possibility of combining in the same course heritage learners who are borderline or seminative speakers with advanced language learners of Russian. After providing typology of advanced language learners in Russian and establishing that register and genre can be the focal point of such a course, the article discusses the…

This study investigates the performance of a spell checker designed for native writers on misspellings made by second language (L2) learners. It addresses two research questions: 1) What is the correction rate of a generic spell checker for L2 misspellings? 2) What factors influence the correction rate of a generic spell checker for L2…

Learners exposed to an artificial language recognize its abstract structural regularities when instantiated in a novel vocabulary (e.g., Gomez, Gerken, & Schvaneveldt, 2000; Tunney & Altmann, 2001). We asked whether such sensitivity accelerates subsequent learning, and enables acquisition of more complex structure. In Experiment 1, pre-exposure to…

This article focuses on how attitudes toward HLLs [heritage language learners] have changed, both with regard to program development and in learning and teaching. First, the ambiguity towards heritage language preservation is illustrated by examining historical aspects of heritage languages in the United States. Secondly, a closer look at two…

This paper is concerned with a specific case of L3 acquisition: the starting position for English vowel acquisition by infant German-Italian bilinguals will be investigated in light of prototype theory. The chosen example of triple language contact is characterised by consecutive bilingualism as the basis of L3 acquisition, where the learners' L2…

The study reported on in this paper used a framework of benefits, challenges and solutions to categorize data from a design experiment using synchronous online communication for learning French as a second language (FSL). Participants were 92 Grade 6, FSL students and four teachers from urban and rural areas of Newfoundland, Canada. Data…

The aim of this study is to investigate the act of apologizing with subjects from two different levels of English proficiency to find out whether there are similarities and differences between these groups and whether they approach native speaker apology norms. 20 subjects in intermediate level, 20 subjects in advanced level and 5 native speakers…

Despite the lack of empirical evidence, the term "foreign language learning disability" (FLLD) has become popular in the learning disabilities (LD) and foreign language literature. I contend that there is not a unique "disability" for foreign language learning and suggest instead that foreign language skills run along a continuum of very strong to…

From an epistemological perspective, Wilhelm von Humboldt's studies on the Oriental and East Asian languages and writing systems (Egyptian hieroglyphs, Sanskrit, Chinese, Polynesian) raise the question of his position in the Orientalist discourse of his time. Said [Said, E.W., 1978. "Orientalism. Western Conceptions of the Orient, fourth…

This article challenges the categorisation of English into national forms, arguing that this obscures differences in usage within a nation and ignores genres and registers that exist around the world. Further, I suggest that in addition to examining the spread of English around the world, scholars should study the ubiquity of various discourses…

Despite the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) government's determination to implement the "mother tongue education" policy amid strong social resistance one year after the handover, English remains a prestigious language in society. The need for Putonghua (Mandarin/Standard Chinese) is also increasing following ever-expanding…

Since the phenomenon of fossilization in interlanguage is proposed by Selinker in 1972, it has drawn much attention and commonly acknowledged at home and abroad. This paper introduces the definition, classification, presentation, and causal factors of fossilization in an attempt to help Chinese students better understand the phenomenon and avoid…

This study investigates the interface between speech and gesture in second language (L2) narration within Slobin's (2003) thinking-for-speaking (TFS) framework as well as with respect to McNeill's (1992, 2005) growth point (GP) hypothesis. Specifically, our interest is in whether speakers shift from a first language (L1) to a L2 TFS pattern as…

This study introduces a typological model of the "conceptual language-specific approach" to the L2 research on the acquisition of tense-aspect. The model is based on the typological notion of prominence, classifying languages into tense-prominent and aspect-prominent (Bhat 1999) and the L1 research proposal that language-specific…

This article explores international student teaching (IST) within the narratives of a prospective language teacher from the midwestern region of the United States. With a focus on one participant, the case study highlights significant factors that relate to the IST experience in Ecuador. A corpus generated from verbal protocols collected over a…