This paper investigates the use of a generic piece of software, the "Copernic Summarizer" (www.copernic.com) as a language learning tool and considers two discrete pedagogical approaches used as part of its integration within the context of teaching and learning a foreign language. Firstly, this paper will present a brief overview on the emerging…

A cognitive lab technique (n=156) was used to investigate interactions between individual factors and item factors presumed to affect assessment validity for diverse students, including English language learners. Findings support the concept of "access"--an interaction between specific construct-irrelevant item features and individual…

This article examines variant word order in subordinate clauses, in particular clauses introduced with "weil" in spoken discourse. Current studies point to discourse-pragmatic conditions that guide the placement of the verb in second or final clause position. An analysis of empirical speech data shows that German speakers use both V2 and VF in…

San Jose State University is planning to ban Skype, a popular Internet telephone service, from the campus network because of concerns about security and bandwidth. University administrators say that the technical aspects that make Skype effective also make it dangerous and potentially crippling to a university's network bandwidth. Skype has a…

This study, a partial replication of Bruhn de Garavito (1999a; 1999b), investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by French- and English-speaking adults at an advanced level of proficiency. The L2 acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by native French and…

In order to investigate second language (L2) processing at ultimate attainment, 20 first language (L1) English and 20 L1 Dutch advanced to near-native speakers of German as well as 20 native Germans were tested in two experiments on subject-object ambiguities in German. The results from a self-paced reading task and a speeded acceptability…

Teaching pragmatic competence in Korean-as-a-foreign language (KFL) settings is still an underdeveloped area, when compared to teaching other language areas, such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The first step to enhance pragmatic language teaching in foreign language (FL) education is to raise the FL instructors' and students'…

This study examined the reading performance on the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery--Revised (WLPB-R), in Spanish and English, of 183 Spanish-speaking students in kindergarten through grade 2 in 3 schools with 4 instructional programs for English learners: structured English immersion, transitional bilingual, developmental bilingual, and dual…

Validation of a classroom observation measure for use with English Learners (ELs) in grade 1 was the focus of this study. Fourteen teachers were observed during reading and language arts instruction with an instrument used to generate ratings of instructional quality on a number of dimensions. In these classrooms we assessed the reading…

There is concern among second language educators in Canada that male students are losing interest in studying French as a second language (FSL). In response, in the fall of 2003, a study was conducted to investigate gender differences in second language (L2) motivation among Grade 9 core French students. Building upon the traditional model of L2…

The study drew on an 80,000-word corpus consisting of narrative texts produced in response to picture prompts by 210 beginner-level francophone learners of English (11-12-year-olds). The unique feature of the corpus is its longitudinal character: The samples were collected at four 100-hour intervals of intensive language instruction, during which…

The purpose of this article is to analyze the issues and challenges faced by English Language Learners (ELLs) and the public schools that absorb them. Ample research has been conducted on the intrinsic validity of standardized assessments, and separately, on the factors affecting the assimilation and integration of ELLs. However, the reliability…

Some Grade 4 educators have expressed feelings of ineptitude regarding the support of ESL (English Second Language) learners with limited English proficiency as they do not know how to support these learners effectively. Their litany emphasises ESL educators' need for supportive and preventive intervention. A story-based Language Enrichment…

The ways in which children learn a language--be it their mother tongue or their second language--can have a strong influence on their success in school. Researchers in linguistics and early child development have tried to determine the factors that can help and hinder language acquisition in young children, with some conflicting results. In this…

"Beyond Tracking" responds to the a sobering assessment of American high schools by delineating and promoting an innovative and well-defined notion of multiple pathways. The book's authors clearly distinguish their use of the term "multiple pathways" from any updated version of the tracking system that marked so many American high schools during…