The Null Subject Parameter (NSP) has long been considered pertinent to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) studies, especially when the native language (NL) and target language (TL) have different NSP settings. The study aimed to investigate whether seventy English L2 learners in Puerto Rico who were native Spanish speakers transferred their L1…

Many language learners lack the motivation to read complex texts. Because high-immersion Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly reported to be highly motivating, the goal of our study was to compare English as a Second Language (ESL) learners' (N=79) motivation while reading a story with subtitles in VR (experimental group) versus reading the same…

English language learners are often more grammatically accurate in writing than in speaking. As students focus on meaning while speaking, their spoken fluency comes at a cost: their grammatical accuracy decreases. The author wanted to find a way to help her students improve their oral grammar; that is, she wanted them to focus on grammar while…

Dynamic assessment (DA) as an alternative to psychometric-based testing focuses on the collaborative dialogue between the learners and the mediator to move the learners from their current capabilities. This study represents a web-based qualitative inquiry in online DA which aims at addressing the inadequacy of the diagnostic feedback of the…

Based on the discrepancies found in many Malaysian English language textbooks, a detailed analysis on the way modal auxiliary verb forms and their semantic functions were introduced and presented in texts and exercises in five Malaysian textbooks was done. For that to be achieved, a qualitative page-by-page content analysis was applied. From the…

The behavior of the "It's...who..." type of construction and its relation to defining and non-defining relative clauses is examined. Reference is made particularly to suprasegmental features. Parallels are drawn to French relative constructions. (SCC)

Explains how grammars and textbooks can present the formal tense relations of English in a concise, uncomplicated way. (PM)

A COURSE, COMPLETE WITH DETAILED LESSON PLANS AND PRACTICE DRILLS, HAS BEEN DEVELOPED AT SAN DIEGO STATE COLLEGE, TO PROVIDE THE ADULT SPANISH-SPEAKING STUDENT WITH A BASIC FOUNDATION IN AMERICAN-ENGLISH GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE, AS WELL AS AN AMPLE DAILY AND PROFESSIONAL VOCABULARY. THE IDEA OF TRANSLATING CONCEPTS AND VOCABULARY IS USED TO TEACH…

Examines the negative consequences of using pedagogical grammars of English dominated by theoretical models which affect English as a second language composition. Limitations of these "models" include: lack of broad vocabulary, semantically "empty" verbs, and an emphasis on the use of awkward grammatical structures, which are regarded as more…

A study investigated the ability of 75 Italian secondary school students to subordinate in English. The students were learning English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) through formal instruction. The differences in learning a foreign language in formal versus informal situations are discussed, and a study of two adult Italians learning ESL informally is…

Presents one viewpoint regarding the teaching of irregularities of language structure in courses on English as a Second Language, particularly irregularities of morphology and syntax. It is argued that the vocabulary and morphology of English could be simplified if certain constraints were removed and proposes that certain common language patterns…

Paper prepared under contract with the Defense Language Institute, English Language Branch, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and presented to the staff and faculty of the Institute in 1972. (RS)

The thesis that classroom instruction in the grammatical forms of a language is undesirable, currently held by a number of applied linguists, is rejected. However, although it has been found that inducement of grammatical consciousness is not necessarily a pedagogical liability, its worth depends to a large extent upon the kinds of facts to be…