Proposes that formal properties of speech reflect individuals' mental processes during problem solving, focusing on ways native and non-native speakers of English construct narrative. In difficult tasks, speakers cope by externalizing their inner order as private speech, whose content and formal properties reflect cognitive processes. It is argued…

Discusses variation in interlanguage and suggests two hypotheses to explain such variation as multiple internal representations of a form and processing errors. Suggests that second language learners can initially represent new forms as prototype schemas, and that such non-discrete representations are a third source of variation in interlanguage.…

Describes an assignment designed to dispel prospective English teachers' dichotomous ideas about language ("right" or "wrong"); gain a sense that more than one dialect could be accepted; and understand that the variations from the handbook rules ("errors") might even be rhetorically based. (TB)

Provides a survey of computer assisted instruction as applied to the Old English language from the work of the late 1980's pioneers to December 2001. Each instructional item--whether a website, java exercise, or an online course--is reviewed and URLs are provided in footnotes. Reviews are accompanied by pertinent background and practical advice.…

Examines the source of poor readers' comprehension failures in spoken sentences containing complex syntactic structures. Although research literature indicates that the difficulties poor readers display are usually associated with some aspect of phonological processing, other components of language processing may be involved. (58 references)…

Presents the theoretical framework for examining texts in educational contexts. An actual reading lesson is analyzed in terms of the text structure and content, the nature of student-teacher interaction with the text, and post-reading discussion of the text. Tables outline the text structure and contrast teacher manual recommendations to actual…

Examines some possible relationships between research in second language acquisition (SLA) and foreign language teaching. Special reference is made SLA research findings about the order of acquisition of grammatical items, and to a model of application for such findings to classroom practice. (23 references) (Author/CB)

Describes the benefits that storytelling can have on the development of listening and reading comprehension and the enhancement of oral and written expression. Presents an example of how storytelling was used to realize these benefits in a third-grade classroom. (MG)

Reports a study, using sixth graders' introspective self-reports, to determine the context in which students use knowledge about narrative text structure, how they use this knowledge, and why they do not always employ this knowledge. (RAE)

Discusses the tendency in second-language (L2) pedagogy to make fallacious comparisons between multicompetent L2 learners and monoglot speakers of the target language. The article describes the principal elements of multicompetence and presents a number of their implications for the construction of syllabi and examinations and the development of…

Examines the methodology used in the teaching of foreign languages in the Anglophone Caribbean. Although the methodology most widely used has been the grammar-translation method, there has been a shift to a more communicative methodology based on a notional-functional approach. The language situation here reflects the social and political…

It is argued that the correct placement of sentential negation with respect to model auxiliaries in Swedish is an example of delayed acquisition resulting from a parametric preference in Universal Grammar. A syntactic analysis is proposed for four recognized stages in the acquisition of negative word order in Swedish. (Contains 41 references.)…

Compares 39 native teachers' and 41 native nonteachers' perception of elementary learners' spoken Japanese. Interviews between a native speaker and a learner were audiotaped, and the 80 natives evaluated them according to grammar, fluency, vocabulary, appropriateness, comprehensibility and pronunciation. Results indicate teachers are more critical…

Research results suggest that neural networks are able to generalize the past tense form from the base form and that phonological form plays a significant role in generalizing. This conclusion questions the scope and validity of learning models currently promoted in both first- and second-language learning theories. (Contains 29 references.)…

This article examines the variable absence of the verb in "as far as" constructions, which serve as qualifiers or topic restrictors in English. (46 references) (Author/CK)