Argues that awareness of the relationship between language and the sociocultural context in which it occurs is important for students and teachers. The article suggests that everyday, ephemeral texts can be easily collected and categorized according to genre for teaching and cross-cultural comparison. (19 references) (Author/CK)

This study sought to establish a hierarchy of error gravity for different types of common errors in American learners' spoken Russian by surveying 75 native and nonnative speakers of Russian, including teachers and nonteachers. Grammatical accuracy was considered one of the most important issues in learners' spoken Russian by all the respondents.…

Investigated whether topic-prominence transfer is a universal developmental stage or a transferable typology by analyzing the behavior of 46 native speakers of English learning Chinese, a subject-prominence (SP) language, as a second language. Results found that the learners displayed a process of systematically transferring English SP features to…

Investigated whether the methodologies of explicit and implicit language instruction account for differences in the identification of grammatically well-formed sentences for college students of Spanish. Results showed that students receiving implicit instruction scored significantly higher in a grammaticality judgment test than those receiving…

Describes a teaching effort to make second-language learning more attractive to students by placing them at the center of the learning experience. This approach generates exchange of information among students, between students and professors, and between students and the computer. The approach also allows students to work at their own speed. (14…

Describes a project to create a centralized database of digitized sound accessible from distributed personal computers for the study of foreign languages. The system is also comprised of the tools to manage and distribute the sounds, a combination constituting a unique attempt to provide a universal structure to describe, categorize, and listen to…

Compares the empiricist approach of structural linguistics with the rationalist approach to language learning. In practice, a combination of ideas from both philosophies is usually applied to the instruction of second-language learners. Language learning occurs even in the absence of theory. (SLD)

Discusses how understanding translation in new ways can enrich language programs and serve today's students' more practical needs, noting that learning to be fluent is not the same as learning to be a translator. The article offers suggestions for preparing students to understand what translation entails and shows how translation can stimulate…

Reports the preliminary results of an ongoing study of the benefits of building repetition into a communicative task in an English for Specific Purposes course. Compares the performances of two learners at markedly different levels of English proficiency and finds that both benefited from the opportunity to recycle communicative content as they…

Discusses the tendency within Spanish universities to separate linguistic theory from methodology in language teaching. Suggests linguistic theoretical input should not be taught independently of pedagogical considerations. Focuses on overcoming some of the problems based on the existing gap between theoretical input and pedagogical teacher…

Reports on a study of Grade 6 students in two French immersion classrooms who learned how to talk about chemical reactions. Results show that these students were able to improve how they "talk science" by appropriating certain characteristics of scientific discourse. (Author/VWL)

Examines whether Korean students learning English as a Second Language show chain shift of a similar kind to that demonstrated in first language acquisition, and if so, whether there is any difference between first language acquisition and second language acquisition with respect to affected sounds. (Author/VWL)

Discusses how English-as-a-foreign-language textbooks published according to the Korean Ministry of Education standards incorporate speech act behaviors of apology and compliments for Korean middle school learners of English and suggests what can be done to better equip students with pragmatic competence by analyzing 24 textbooks.(Author/VWL)

Examines learner attitudes toward classroom learning of English, with particular focus on collectivism versus individualism, attitudes towards authority, and types of achievement motivation. Data are collected from eight Asian and three European countries. Although many attitudinal differences occur between individual countries, striking…

Describes a shock language activity exercise that gives mainstream students a realistic taste of the challenges faced by their English language learning peers and a greater respect for linguistic and cultural differences. The activity transforms the typical U.S. classroom into a typical Japanese classroom. (Author/VWL)