Three psycho-educational principles are outlined (additive bilingual enrichment principle, interdependence principle, and sufficient communicative interactive principle) to illustrate research on the maintenance of Frisian among native speakers and the development of Frisian fluency among native Dutch speakers. (Author/CB)

Describes the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages oral proficiency interview and its applications as a measure of French language competence in Canada. Suggests that, as a curriculum-free, criterion-referenced assessment, this test could provide a common national yardstick for both student achievement and teacher qualification.…

Looked at both "wrong words" found in translation texts and "different words" found by comparing vocabulary elicited by Norwegian students and native English speakers in response to test questions. Aims of the study were to establish how learners make wrong lexical choices and what effects these have on discourse; and see to…

Uses an analogy of Fordist and post-Fordist production management processes as a way of shedding light on language learning, particularly at the tertiary level. The article argues that Fordist methods provide an analogy for the way language teaching has been organized in the past. Post-Fordism provides a new analogy for the development of language…

The integration of text analysis programs into realistic classroom writing activities was examined in a study of 39 university students. English-as-a-foreign-language students' own revision processes, teachers' feedback, peer editing, and two commercial packages (Grammatik and Complete Writer's Toolkit) were assessed. Attitudes toward the programs…

In a study of first-language transfer and second-language (L2) acquisition of reflexive binding, the interpretation of English reflexives by native speakers of Serbo-Croatian was investigated using two types of written sentence comprehension tasks. Results support the transfer hypothesis and suggest learners have access to Universal Grammar in L2…

Reviews what has happened in the field of second-language teaching over the past decades and examines the development of the process approach to writing by comparing it with the traditional product approach. A critical evaluation of the new approach follows and forms the premise for recommending a philosophy of eclecticism. (41 references) (CK)

Presents findings from case studies of adult Canadians who successfully maintained the French second-language skills they first learned at school. Results suggested that higher initial proficiency and amount of second-language use were both positively related to the level of retained proficiency. Subjects were virtually unanimous on seeing regular…

Examined the ability of 72 Polish university students of English to respond appropriately to the formulaic greeting "How are you (doing) (today)?" Found that nearly half of these advanced language students failed to perceive the formulaic nature of the question. (MDM)

Compares the effects of two visual advance organizers on comprehension and retention of a written passage in a FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary School) Program: (1) "Video" and (2) "Pictures + Teacher Narrative". Investigators randomly assigned 62 students to 1 one of 2 conditions. "Video" was the more effective organizer of the two. (23…

The American phenomenon of pervasive monolingualism is considered, and potential implications of the North American Free Trade Agreement are described. Five second-language learning/teaching areas are projected: language for specific purposes; obligatory language study; exchange programs; technological advances; and information resources.…

This paper examines the effect of formality in three different situations on the oral production of French interlanguage. An analysis of 39 Dutch-speaking students revealed that, contrary to predictions, the more formal situation does not lead to higher accuracy rates. (23 references) (Author)

Describes a genre-based approach to content writing instruction used in a fifth-grade social studies class in which the majority of the students came from English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) backgrounds. A unit on explorers and exploration used narrative, descriptive, persuasive, and expository writing assignments to improve the students'…

Argues, on the basis of research carried out in Canada and Belgium, that not only does the formal learning of the ancestral language in school enhance the overall cognitive abilities of immigrant children but also constitutes the optimal means by which such children can gain literacy in the dominant language. (37 references) (MDM)

Discusses hypermedia as presentation, representation, and construction tools. Emphasizes the importance of technologies that can be adapted to individual needs in a global context; and promotes hypermedia as a construction tool in the education of second-language learners. (JKP)