College students (n=204) who had difficulties in both foreign language and math (FLD/MD), only math difficulties, or only foreign language difficulties (FLD) were studied. The students with FLD showed a pattern of deficits on subtests measuring grammar and spelling, long-term memory, and visual phonology. More males were referred for FLD.…

Investigated vocabulary use in the writing of 65 secondary school multi-grade and multi first language intermediate English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners at a Greater Vancouver public secondary school. Proposes systematic vocabulary instruction based on teacher-directed interaction and negotiation and psycholinguistic principles of word…

Describes an English for academic purposes (EAP) course for Chinese Master of Business Administration students. The course combines teaching language, study, and acculturation skills; some students are required to complete 240 480 hours of intensive four skills English before undertaking the course. Successful completion of the course constituted…

Reports on research describing similarities and differences between expert and novice writing in the problem-solution pattern, a frequent rhetorical pattern of technical academic writing. A corpus of undergraduate student writing and one containing professional writing consisted of 80 and 60 recommendation reports, respectively, with each corpus…

Many South African students who enroll in higher education are underprepared and have low reading ability. Outlines the reading strategic component of an English for professional purposes course offered for such students in a technology-enhanced environment. Results indicate that students who received strategic reading instruction received higher…

Aims to answer the following research questions: (1) Are general English ability and specific purpose English ability related to computer skills? and (2) Is general English ability transferable to specific purpose English ability? Subjects were third year science students enrolled in an English for academic purposes course. (Author/VWL)

Discusses various class activities conducive to second-language learning. These include working on a legal document, group singing, a presentation on environmental pollution resulting from plastic bags, and listening to a tape on an organization and then posing and answering questions regarding dealings with that group. (CK)

Discusses the production of multimedia language learning systems based on the "form-to-content" movement designed to meet Belgium's multilingual criteria. Presents research aimed at reversing this movement into "content-into-form": i.e., starting from existing contents, how can the potentiality of a system be conceptualized in…

Illustrates the advantages of laboratory research into second language acquisition (SLA) by describing two studies of acquisition of second language syntax. The first, conducted in Wales, addresses the question of whether human morphological abilities can be understood in terms of associative processes, and the second presents a bootstrapping…

Examines the effects of simplified input in early second language (L2) acquisition of English by experimentally manipulating language input to two groups of learners and then assessing their acquisition longitudinally within a controlled laboratory setting. Findings reveal that the dual task of acquiring vocabulary and grammar does not hinder…

Examines the effects of learning words grouped in semantic sets, using Japanese words paired with artificial words. A principal finding was that there was a main effect against learning semantically related words at the same time. The article concludes that presenting students with wordlists of new words in semantic clusters, rather than in…

Describes an attempt at an English grammar program for the first year of secondary schooling in Queensland, Australia linked to the grammatical features introduced in the students' second language programs. Outlines the stages of development, including examination of the second language texts and of English course books and deciding on a…

A study investigated differences in sentence interpretation, with case marking and lexical-semantic cues systematically manipulated, of 20 native English-speaking learners of Japanese (JFLs) (10 beginners, 10 intermediate) and 10 native Japanese-speaking learners of English. Results show: greater animacy effect with the verb "see" than "eat";…

Examines claims that unconscious second language learning under implicit and incidental conditions is insensitive to measures of individual differences in cognitive abilities, in contrast to learning under conscious rule-search and instructed conditions. Findings revealed that only in the incidental condition was the extent of learning and…

Argues that successful dual enrollment foreign language programs can be established with cooperation and ongoing communications among administrators and instructors at all levels. Emphasizes that most cooperate to overcome differences in educational philosophy, curricula and program goals. (six references) (Author/CK)