Offers tips on how to study effectively at home for class and how to benefit from class time. Discusses teacher expectations of the foreign-language learner. (Author/CK)

Compares English acquisition of German students in English immersion (IM), non-immersion, and non-IM groups from the same school as the IM groups. Examines whether English vocabulary learning occurs incidentally while students are learning history or geography taught in English and whether learning abilities activated in the IM classroom are the…

This article describes a 4-step protocol for selecting and facilitating production of a first vocabulary in children with specific language impairment using a focused language stimulation approach. Focused language stimulation includes general language stimulation techniques and, in addition, requires frequent, highly concentrated repetitions of…

Twenty-eight hearing college students were trained on 30 signs from American Sign Language that had been classified as iconic, opaque, or abstract. Students learned and retained iconic signs better than opaque or abstract. A videotaped presentation mode produced greater consistency in scores than computer-assisted instruction. (Author/JDD)

This article focuses on development, elaboration, and measurement of word repertoire from world knowledge, as well as factors affecting the word-learning process and vocabulary assessment and remediation methods such as definition and association tasks. Several alternatives for vocabulary expansion based on world knowledge principles are also…

Curriculum modifications are presented, along with empirical support when available, for teaching spelling vocabulary to students with learning disabilities. The article discusses selecting words to be learned, daily testing and practice of small word sets, strategy training, self-regulation, motivation, students helping each other, and frequent…

Comparison of the attitudes of Japanese and American high school students toward rote learning and more "creative" learning and their performance on rote learning tasks revealed that Japanese students viewed rote learning more positively than Americans and performed significantly better on rote-based second-language word recall and…

Emphasizes that teachers of adult second language learners who are used to developing concepts in a subject area alone must adjust their teaching to include the development of language, culture, and prior experience differences. Presents activities using the newspaper to teach vocabulary, pronouns, possessive pronouns, and noun plurals. (RS)

Examines differences in secondary students' vocabulary learning from original and revised contextual information. Finds that the revised passages generated significantly higher scores for both ability groups on the definition and importance measures but not on the indication of knowledge measure. (MG)

An approach to the teaching of English to part-time adult students in a course in China aimed at opening up and developing the vocabulary of the students through a variety of text-related activities. Wall posters were used as a basis for an extended session of fluency-focused activities, through which students became independent users of English.…

Examines second-language vocabulary knowledge and acquisition by reviewing research on levels of lexical proficiency and on qualitative differences in the oral and written communication of French immersion students as compared to that of their francophone peers. Argues for improved vocabulary instruction in immersion programs. (MDM)

Compares 39 native teachers' and 41 native nonteachers' perception of elementary learners' spoken Japanese. Interviews between a native speaker and a learner were audiotaped, and the 80 natives evaluated them according to grammar, fluency, vocabulary, appropriateness, comprehensibility and pronunciation. Results indicate teachers are more critical…

Addresses the question of how computer-assisted language learning should be designed to promote second language lexical fluency. The discussion reviews findings in the psychological literature concerning the nature of lexical development, the transfer of appropriate learning, and the conditions that promote automaticity in skilled performance. (43…

Reviews studies on the representation of words and their meanings in bilingual memory. The roles of the following variables in bilingual memory organization are discussed: the level of proficiency in the second language (L2), the strategy of learning the L2, the interval between previous and current use of L2, and the L2 learning environment. (43…

Describes a university-level English-as-a-Second-Language program that includes integration of text and film that bolsters the extensive reading process. Criteria for the selection of resource materials included a challenging vocabulary, an interesting plot, compatibility of film and text version, and universal themes. Integrating books and films…