A goal of this double issue of English Teaching: Practice and Critique is to collectively consider what we mean when we talk about knowledge about language. How have our understandings changed over time? What are the implications of these new understandings for pedagogy in the field of language teaching? These are necessary and important…

This paper explores the long and winding road to integrating linguistic approaches to vernacular dialects in the classroom. After exploring past roadblocks, the author shares vignettes and classroom practices of her collaborator, Rachel Swords, who has succeeded in bringing Contrastive Analysis and Code-switching to her second and third-grade…

This paper presents a study in which we examined spelling mistakes made by 34 learners of German in an online CALL exercise. We analyzed a total of 374 spelling errors that occurred in 341 words and subsequently classified them along four dimensions: (a) competence versus performance, (b) linguistic subsystem, (c) language influence, and (d)…

This study examined sentence processing in emergent bilingual children and young adults in both English (second language -- L2) and Spanish (first language -- L1). One hundred participants from five different age groups (5;4-7;11, 8;0-10;11, 11;2-13;11, 14;0-16;8 years, and college-age adults) participated in this study. An online sentence…

Studies of language issues in postcolonial Hong Kong are abundant. While the majority is concerned with the language policy and medium of instruction, there seems to be insufficient discussion on the subject matter of our English lessons, which, this paper argues, are ideology-ridden. Following the tradition of critical discourse analysis and…

This paper describes the development of an innovative web-based environment for English language learning with advanced data-driven and statistical approaches. The project uses various corpora, including a Chinese-English parallel corpus ("Sinorama") and various natural language processing (NLP) tools to construct effective English…

Informed by knowledge of linguistics, research findings in the areas of monolingual and bilingual acquisition, dyslexia and speech therapy clinical practice, five factors are proposed to argue that the acquisition of English by young non-native learners can be enhanced by learning activities which take into account factors of developmental…

This study reports an investigation of the genre components and pragmatic strategies of letters of applications written by Jordanian Arabic--English bilinguals. Specifically it is set up to trace how far novice non-native speakers of English are able to utilise the generic components and politeness strategies of the target language that strongly…

This study investigated the thoughts and feelings of teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL) concerning use of literature appreciation as a strategy for second language teaching. Subjects were 20 native-English-speaking teachers of a variety of courses at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) Institute for Applied Language Studies. In…

This report details the development of computer software to teach English-as-a-Second-Language skills for medical diagnosis. Design of a prototype unit of multimedia materials using a common authoring tool required about 300 hours of work over a period of 9 months. The report describes the overall design of the courseware, hardware used, stages of…

This collection of essays on pronunciation theory and practice as it relates to second language instruction includes: "Pronunciation Assessment in the ESL/EFL Curriculum" (Janet Goodwin, Donna Brinton, Marianne Celce-Murcia); "Empowering Students with Predictive Skills" (Wayne B. Dickerson); "Intonation: A Navigation Guide for the Listener" (Judy…

A study investigated the linguistic behavior of three groups of speakers in reacting to accusatory complaints: (1) native speakers of Italian residing in Italy (SI); (2) native speakers of Canadian English residing in Toronto (CE); and (3) speakers of Italian residing in Toronto, first-generation immigrants, defined as speakers of Italian as a…

This study tested a refined version of the discourse domain hypothesis, which defines the discourse domain as a topic area in which second language learners demonstrate extensive, current, and important knowledge, including both cognitive and affective dimensions. The study tested the results of previous studies, which showed that learners show…

The study focused on problems that Finnish learners of English (NNS) encounter with epistemic modality in conversational interaction with native speakers of English (NS). Epistemic modality refers to modal expressions that convey the speaker's commitment to the truth of the propositions he is expressing (e.g., "surely he…

A study of the discourse of book reviews in several academic disciplines examines how interaction of text and context varies across disciplines. Sixty academic book reviews in linguistics, chemistry, and economics were analyzed for rhetorical structure and for the communicative goal of the genre, that of evaluating knowledge production. The book…