Despite the importance of lexical diversity (LD) in L2 speaking and writing performance, LD assessment measures are known to be affected by the number of words analyzed in the text. This study aims to identify LD measures that are least affected by text length and can be used for the analysis of short L2 texts (50-200 tokens). We compared the…

In this study we examined how the introduction of a parallel finger-tapping task influences second language (L2) speech encoding mechanisms and monitoring processes, and how the level of proficiency impacts the efficiency and accuracy of L2 performance under single and dual task conditions. The results indicate that imposing dual task demands had…

In this paper the prosodic structure of American Sign Language (ASL) narratives is analyzed in deaf native signers (L1-D), hearing native signers (L1-H), and highly proficient hearing second language signers (L2-H). The results of this study show that the prosodic patterns used by these groups are associated both with their ASL language experience…

Universities are facing severe cuts in funding and a transformation of both the economic model underpinning higher education and the relationship between students, tutors and universities and the traditional forms of support for students' learning may be eroded. At the same time, mobile communications, instant messaging and social networking are…

English-speaking children understand and produce generic expressions in the preschool years, but there are cross-linguistic differences in how generics are expressed. Three studies examined interpretation of generic noun phrases in three- to seven-year-old child (N=192) and adult speakers (N=163) of Mandarin Chinese. Contrary to suggestions by…

The fuzziness of assessing second language speaking performance raises two difficulties in scoring speaking performance: "indistinction between adjacent levels" and "overlap between scales". To address these two problems, this article proposes a new approach, "confidence scoring", to deal with such fuzziness, leading to "confidence" scores between…

In this paper, discourse analytical methods are applied to data from two middle school classrooms, as a teacher, researcher, and students' engage in research based curricula (Martinez, Orellana, Pacheco, & Carbone, 2008; Orellana & Reynolds, 2008) designed to leverage students' language brokering skills and facilitate discussion about languages.…

Proponents of the verbal behavior approach to instruction for individuals with autism have identified mand training as a starting point for early intervention. Mand training is a process whereby the learner is taught to request highly preferred items under conditions when those items are most valuable. A hypothesized benefit of this approach is…

In present-day society students are no longer expected to learn for stable employment, but for lifelong employability. This implies a major shift in educational approach. Previous research has shown which characteristics of learning environments correlate with students' competences to self-direct their careers, but until now this had not inspired…

Objectives: Authors assessed the impact of a public-speaking competition on the level of interest in psychiatry of Ghanaian medical students. Method: An inter-medical school public-speaking competition was organized to promote psychiatry as a fulfilling career option for Ghanaian medical students. Feedback questionnaires were completed by the…

The workforce in the United States is becoming more diverse. To help students prepare to work and live in a diverse society, the author developed a lower-division course called "Communication Ethics and Diversity." After this course, students should be able to: (1) define diversity and communication ethics; (2) understand a variety of…

The ihear[R] Internet Therapy Program (ihear) provides effective, individualized, and interactive therapy that is tailored to each child's specific needs through a secure, high-quality Internet connection. The program brings listening and spoken language services directly to schools and families. The foundation for ihear is based on the St. Joseph…

Most theories of semantic memory characterize knowledge of a given object as comprising a set of semantic features. But how does conceptual activation of these features proceed during object identification? We present the results of a pair of experiments that demonstrate that object recognition is a dynamically unfolding process in which function…

Speakers generally outperform signers when asked to recall a list of unrelated verbal items. This phenomenon is well established, but its source has remained unclear. In this study, we evaluate the relative contribution of the three main processing stages of short-term memory--perception, encoding, and recall--in this effect. The present study…

Three categorization experiments investigated whether the speaking rate of a preceding sentence influences durational cues to the perception of suprasegmental lexical-stress patterns. Dutch two-syllable word fragments had to be judged as coming from one of two longer words that matched the fragment segmentally but differed in lexical stress…