In this Methods Showcase Article, we illustrate mixed-effects modeling with a multinomial dependent variable as a means of explaining complexities in language. We model data on future-time reference in second language Spanish, which consists of a nominal dependent variable that has three levels, measured over 73 participants. We offer step-by-step…

In empirical applied linguistics research it is essential that the key variables are operationalized in a valid and reliable way, and that the scores are treated appropriately, allowing for a proper testing of the hypotheses under investigation. The current article addresses several theoretical and practical issues regarding the use of measurement…

Reviews the notions of system and variability as applied to interlanguages, especially with respect to variability in the syntax of second language learners. Summarizes the findings of Huebner with respect to referentiality and then examines some new data collected 20 months after the end of the initial study. (SED)

Reviews the history of applied linguistics together with the history of the journal "Language Learning," indicating the journal's particular place in that larger history and honoring its 50th anniversary. (Author/JL)

Responds to a previous article on research in second-language learning, challenging the need for discussion on the promises and problems, and asserting the need to report definitive results. (Author/JL)

In response to a previous article (Bialystok) on perspectives on the development of applied linguistics, this article begins by adding its own perspectives to what has already been offered. The article concludes by discussing the research agenda for the future. (Author/JL)

This meta-analysis pools data from 25 years of research on the order of acquisition of English grammatical morphemes by students of English as a second language (ESL). Some researchers have posited a "natural" order of acquisition common to all ESL learners, but no single cause has been shown for this phenomenon. Our study investigated…

The TOEFL was taken by 159 non-native speakers of English in Tehran, Iran, who also took a cloze test and two dictations. Results revealed that Listening Comprehension, cloze and dictation were more highly correlated with each other, and with the remaining parts of the TOEFL, than the latter were with each other. (Author/KM)

Focuses on one particular psychological dimension, extraversion-introversion. The relatively small number of linguistic studies in which extraversion is focused on as an independent variable suggests that applied linguists believe it unrelated to speech production or language learning. Argues that this suspicion is based on a misunderstanding…

Contrastive analysis a priori predicts facts of possible errors in learning a second language that contrastive analysis a posteriori cannot explain. In a study of relative clause formation, the latter approach shows that students have no trouble, whereas the former approach shows the task to be so difficult that they avoid it. (AG)

Reviews research on student motivation for second-language learning from the standard applied linguistics approach. The utility of other concepts of motivation to such research conducted at the micro, classroom, and syllabus levels is discussed as well as informal, out-of-class, and long-term factors. (188 references) (Author/CB)

Argues that further progress in applied linguistics and second-language acquisition will be achieved through collaboration with researchers in other fields. Three examples of research problems are provided that would profit from collaboration with applied linguists: the definition of language proficiency, the neural basis of language functioning,…

From perspective of a psycholinguist, discusses three leading questions that have arisen from foundational, descriptive second-language-acquisiton studies: Why are certain L2 constructions learnable and others not?; In considering input requirements, is it fair to say that adult learners can take advantage of metalinguistic information about the…

Revised version of a paper presented at the TESOL Convention, March 1971, New Orleans, La. (VM)

Results of a diagnostic test revealed that Thai students have no more trouble in learning English prepositions than others learning English as a second language; all the groups had difficulty. Error analysis was found to be just as effective in explaining mistakes as contrastive analysis. (AG)