Explored how third-year-level university students represented an assigned reading-to-write task as indicated by the type of papers they produced, and the relationship between the linguistic quality of those papers and the type of task representation. Findings suggest that the ability to interpret a reading-to-write task appropriately is dependent…

Examines comparable speech and writing samples in the British and American components of the International Corpus of English (ICE) to study properties of coordinate structures in English. Findings indicate that "and" is a primary coordinator, that "but" and "or" are more peripheral, and that the concept of…

Examines methodological issues related to the approach to be used in writing a textbook for foreign language students of Russian. These issues center around practical communication; the treatment of grammar; and the use of the target language, authentic materials, and audiovisual materials. Results indicate that grammar explanations and complete…

Reports the results of a study for which 25 parents were asked questions about what they believed would constitute the ideal English curriculum. Offers suggestions for how teachers can enhance their relationships with parents and educate them about modern approaches to teaching literature and writing. (TB)

Discusses the integration of Fluent 2, a two-medium immersive conversational language learning environment, into the pedagogical environment. The article presents a strategy to provide teachers and other designers of language lessons with tools that will enable them to produce lessons they consider appropriate. (seven references) (Author/CK)

Examines arguments for "focus on form," a term referring to the incorporation of implicit grammar instruction within communicative English-as-a-Second-Language lessons, and suggests ways to adapt this approach to English-as-a-foreign-language settings where grammar instruction has never left the classroom. Several types of form-focused activities…

Native Spanish early and late acquirers of English and Vietnamese early and child acquirers of English made grammaticality judgments of sentences in their second language. Native acquirers of English were not distinguishable from native English speakers, whereas native Spanish late acquirers had difficulty with all aspects of the grammar tested…

Investigates whether Spanish- and Turkish-speaking learners of English discover the semantic and syntactic constraints on the causative/inchoative alternation in the absence of overt morphological clues. Results of a picture judgment task show that second language learners do discover these properties and that overall verbs appear to cluster in…

Offers suggestions for drawing attention to form and content in both introductory language courses and upper-division content courses. By implementing strategies for revising traditional speaking and writing tasks through "creative personalization," students can enhance critical thinking skills across the language/literature curriculum…

Reports findings of an investigation of how English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writers edit their academic papers. Interviews were conducted with 50 university students: 10 ESL writers (graduate students) whose final drafts exhibited grammatical accuracy, and 40 ESL writers (undergraduates) whose final drafts exhibited frequent and varied…

Outlines principles that computer-assisted language learning (CALL) educators can follow in designing effective input-oriented tasks targeting grammar instruction, drawing on the latest advances in understanding of the interaction between internal cognitive processes and foreign-language learning. A prototype CALL application using these…

Argues that with regard to an important part of verbal morphosyntax (Tense-Aspect-Mood or TAM), it is possible to speak of a Standard Average European. Focus is on origins and evolution of TAM-markers, or TAM-auxiliation, suggesting that particular verb structures provide conceptual sources for auxiliation, and that it has an areal configuration…

Describes a nationwide survey of business communication teachers, soliciting input on how English-as-a-second language students' written communication skills were assessed. Makes comparisons based upon teachers' gender, age, number of years of teaching experience, and geographic location where they teach. Indicates that business communication…

Two experiments investigated how child and adult speakers of English and Kannada (Dravidian) interpret scopally ambiguous sentences containing numerally quantified noun phrases and negation. Results showed that 4-year-olds' interpretations were constrained by the surface hierarchical relations (the c-command relations) between sentence elements…

Reports findings of a classroom experiment involving French-speaking English-as-a-Second-Language learners. An experimental group did weekly cloze dictation activities designed to focus their attention on unstressed grammatical words. Learners' accuracy in verbal and nominal morphology on the pre- and post-tests revealed the experimental group…