Reports the results of research attempting to document the role of learners' linguistic output in drawing their attention to linguistic form and in acquiring the form. Compares experimental and comparison groups that participated in a pretest, two post-tests, and four learning tasks. (Author/VWL)

Describes a working model used to determine the target language use in a language for specific purpose test project: the Listening Summary Translation Exam in Taiwanese (LSTE/T). The purpose of the LSTE/T was to evaluate the summary translation ability of applicants who want to work as linguists in law enforcement agencies in the United States.…

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…

This study of students at the University of Tampere (Finland) analyzes how changes in relevance criteria are related to changes in problem stages during the task performance process in information retrieval. Provides a conceptual framework, including Kuhlthau's information search process model and prior knowledge; and compares bibliographic…

Two experiments related structure of a task to underlying cognitive mechanisms. Found that 3-year olds were no better at predicting behavior from partially true beliefs than from entirely false beliefs. Three- and 4-year olds, and autistic children had distinct performance profiles across tasks. Concluded that conceptual foundations for a…

Analyzes certain features of work tasks and relates these features to types of information people are looking for and using in their tasks, patterning of search strategies for obtaining information and relevance assessments in choosing retrieved documents. The major claim is that these information activities are systematically connected to task…

English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners in two countries participated in two parallel experiments testing whether retention of vocabulary acquired incidentally is contingent on amount of task-induced involvement. Results are discussed in light of the construct of task-induced involvement. (Author/VWL)

A grammaticality judgment test based on five structures of English grammar was administered in oral and written form. Two groups were formed by separating participants who began learning English at younger and older than 15 years of age. Performance patterns were different for the two groups, the linguistic structure tested affected participants'…

Studies the collaborative output of students engaged in grammar dictation tasks in a British English-as-a-foreign-language context. Investigated the effect of pre-task focus on form work on task output processes. Focus is on how the framework of Language Related Episodes used by other researchers was refined to analyze second language output…

This research used resource allocation theory to generate predictions regarding dynamic relationships between self-efficacy and task performance from 2 levels of analysis and specificity. Participants were given multiple trials of practice on an air traffic control task. Measures of task-specific self-efficacy and performance were taken at…

The authors of this article report on a preliminary study of 18, 4- and 5-year-old children, followed by a longitudinal study of 44 children, who were tested in the first, second, and third grades. The children's ability to detect the ambiguity of lexically ambiguous sentences (e. g., "The children saw the bat lying by the fence") and…

A dual-processing paradigm was used to investigate information processing limitations underlying specific language impairment (SLI). School-age children with and without SLI were asked to recall verbal and spatial stimuli in situations that varied the number of tasks that were required and the speed at which stimuli were presented. Children…

This study investigates the oral language skills of 8-year-old children with impaired reading comprehension. Despite fluent and accurate reading and normal nonverbal ability, these children are poor at understanding what they have read. Tasks tapping 3 domains of oral language, namely phonology, semantics, and morphosyntax, were administered,…

Background: Three years before the present study, 19 preschool children participated in a phonological and metaphonological intervention programme. The phonological intervention programme was based on non-linear phonological analyses. The metaphonological intervention programme included both rhyming and alliteration tasks and was directly targeted…

The task inventory approach is commonly used in job analysis for establishing content validity evidence supporting the use and interpretation of licensure and certification examinations. Although the results of a task inventory survey provide job task-related information that can be used as a reliable and valid source for test development, it is…