A survey of 70 U.S. expatriate workers found that most learned the culture of their host country through reflective learning. Factors helping their adjustment included previous cross-cultural experience, language competence, long-term relationship with hosts, and information about the host country from both home and host sources. (Contains 29…

Addresses three issues important to second language learner output: (1) negotiation of meaning; (2) learner production; (3) and repair work. Explains the theoretical background based on research findings, and suggests ways some of these findings may be applied to classroom situations. (Author/VWL)

Although most teachers claim to practise communicative language teaching (CLT), many do not genuinely do so. In this paper, we examine some of the reasons for teachers' resistance to CLT use. We provide a theoretical analysis that focuses on one of the greatest challenges facing CLT methodology-how to promote automatic fluency within this…

This study asked whether aphasic adults show different noun/verb retrieval patterns based upon their clinical categorization as fluent or nonfluent. Participants selected either the noun or the verb meaning of target words, as presented in three contexts. The framework was that nouns (associated with temporal lobe function) are processed, stored,…

Temporal control has often been suspected to be a critical factor in intonation production. In particular, disturbance in the production of fundamental frequency (F0) associated with intonation in patients with aphasia has been attributed to a primary underlying deficit in speech timing. The present study examined the speech timing abilities of…

In two experiments, we tested for lingering effects of "verb replacement" disfluencies on the processing of garden path sentences that exhibit the main verb/reduced relative (MV/RR) ambiguity. Participants heard sentences with revisions like "The little girl chosen, uh, selected for the role celebrated with her parents and friends". We found that…

In three experiments, 18-month-olds were tested in a deferred imitation paradigm. Some infants received verbal information during the demonstration and at the time of the test (full narration), and some did not (empty narration). When tested after a 4-week delay, infants given full narration exhibited superior retention relative to infants given…

Two experiments used a magnitude estimation paradigm to test whether perception of disfluency is a function of whether the speaker and the listener stutter or do not stutter. Utterances produced by people who stutter were judged as "less fluent," and, critically, this held for apparently fluent utterances as well as for utterances…

A recent forum in "JFD" (28/3, 2003) evaluated the status of evidence-based practice in fluency disorders, and offered recommendations for improvement. This article re-evaluates the level of support available for some popular approaches to stuttering therapy and questions the relative value placed on some types of programs endorsed by the forum.…

This article presents a description of some pragmatic expressions ("oder so," "und so," "oder wie") rarely found in textbooks, but common in everyday conversation. Though often treated as vague or superfluous, these expressions perform important functions in interpersonal communication. Focusing on these easily identifiable phrases can help…

No empirical studies exist comparing the effectiveness of the two prevalent foreign language methodologies, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS), at helping students achieve second language acquisition. In turn, the purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to…

This study examined the features of the classroom discourse in eight Algebra I classes from two urban high schools with diverse student populations. In particular, by using the discursive analysis perspective, the type of communication between teachers and students was examined. The study investigated to what extent teachers' patterns of discourse…

In order to extend the multicultural horizons of neuropsychological assessment in the Chinese mainland, a battery of eight commonly used neurocognitive tests assessing motor speed, verbal and visual-spatial memory, language fluency, attention, and executive functioning were given to 224 Mandarin-speaking school children (107 boys and 117 girls)…

This article looks at the use of art in developing students' prewriting ability. The activities, strategies, and objects used provide students with the background knowledge, motivation, vocabulary, structure, and fluency they need to compose and rehearse written pieces. The article describes research conducted on the effects of combining art with…

The importance of repetition in the acquisition of lexical items has been widely acknowledged in single-word vocabulary research but has been relatively neglected in collocation studies. Since collocations are considered one key to achieving language fluency, and because learners spend a great amount of time interacting with their textbooks, the…