Presents arguments for the view that pidginization can be a model of early second language acquisition, decreolization can be a model for later second language acquisition, and creolization is inappropriate for any aspect of this process. (Author/AM)

Reports on an experiment conducted on 23 Israeli kindergarteners and 16 Israeli college students, which used a variant of a semantic differential test in order to test the hypothesis that young Israeli children, like adults, ascribe sexual meanings to words without regard to grammatical gender. (Author/AM)

Addresses one problem brought about by the confusion around the concept of communicative competence and the communicative approach to second language teaching. Considers the belief that communication, as opposed to language, should be the conceptual center of second language instruction, and then suggests a framework for representing the…

Investigates interaction between application of communicative strategies and narrative discourse features. The data draws upon research in narrative discourse collected from one student of Moroccan Arabic. The study suggests that the subject resorted to a number of strategies to compensate for her linguistic deficiencies and that application of…

Explores the relationship between student participation in the English as a second language classroom and proficiency in English, use of the target language outside the classroom, and field sensitivity. Results of cloze tests and in some cases, oral interviews, indicate no significant relationship. These findings are discussed with respect to the…

Conducted experiment to determine how the presence of sandhi-variation, a common characteristic of spoken English that reduces the perceptual saliency of many of its features, affects the comprehensibility of English unit. Results indicated that sandhi-variation is an important input-intake filter for English learners but not for those whose…

Ninety-eight children whose first language is Hawaii Creole English (HCE) acquired English without a formal language program while maintaining their first language. Learning the dominant variety of the language in a bicultural/bidialectal environment did not adversely affect performance in HCE. (PMJ)

This paper describes research that investigated the influence of the listener on the dialectal code-switching behavior of a group of Chinese-Thai bilingual teachers. (CFM)

This article reports major findings of a longitudinal, naturalistic study of the acquisition of English as a second language by a five-year-old Japanese girl. The emphasis is on empirical findings rather than on any particular theoretical orientation. (Author/POP)

Two experiments explored factors affecting the influence of visual (lip-read) information on auditory speech perception, the "McGurk effect," in advanced learners of English as a Second Language and native speakers of English. Results demonstrate the influence of first language on the information value of the cues and audiovisual…

In a supplement to Sasaki's 1993 study, six of the same participants took different types of second-language proficiency (SLP) tests, a foreign language aptitude battery, and an intelligence test. Results revealed differences in information processing between the high and low SLP groups. (Contains 35 references.) (Author/LB)

Four issues concerning aspects of the validity of the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery are examined: (1) whether the subtests assess the attributes claimed; (2) the relationship of the subtests to higher order constructs; (3) whether the strategy for measuring affective variables influences correlations with achievement measures; and (4)…

Reports on a two-phase study of second-language learner use of listener feedback, particularly their use of clarification questions in native speaker-nonnative speaker discourse. (29 references) (JL)

Provides an historical sketch of form-focused instruction research, defines what is meant by form-focused instruction, and discusses the main research methods that have been used to investigate form-focused instruction in terms of a broad distinction between confirmatory and interpretive research. (Author/VWL)

In this longitudinal study in which a second language was used as the sole or major medium of instruction, the experimental group performed as well as or better than the control groups with respect to language skills, academic skills and cognitive development. Pupils could also communicate effectively in their second language. (AG)