While there is general agreement that conversational interaction can facilitate interlanguage development, much of the research on interaction has been conducted in experimental laboratory settings. Questions have been raised about the generalizability of the benefits observed in the laboratory to the classroom setting. The current research…

Based on Carol Chomsky's methodology, an attempt was made to investigate the sequence of acquisition of a set of complex English structures by adult second language learners. The results indicated a development pattern analogous to that reported by Chomsky for child native speakers. (MS)

Draws a parallel between the process of decreolization and that of second language learning, particularly with regard to the effect of extra-linguistic factors. (AM)

Attempts to characterize and contrast aspects of functional organization of neuropsychological systems carrying out primary language acquisition and two types of nonprimary language acquisition: secondary language acquisition and foreign language learning. There appears an intrinsic neurofunctional basis for the greater facility of young children…

Assesses the self-monitoring abilities of intermediate English-as-a second-language students enrolled in a pronunciation/listening course indicated three subgroups: those who improved their ability to choose correct answers but not their self-monitoring ability; those who regressed in ability to choose correct answers but significantly improved…

The author's response to James Flege's critique (in this issue of "Language Learning") regarding earlier research on second-language timing patterns is presented. (LMO)

Written and oral data were evaluated by native speaking judges to ascertain the extent to which they could identify the members of the same native language group on the basis of either phonological or syntactic evidence. Results are presented and other research data are examined to see if they support these findings. (SED)

Considers whether scores on cloze items are generally sensitive to amounts of context in excess of 10 words on either side of them and, if not, when they are sensitive to long-range constraints. Concludes that some are sensitive to constraints that reach beyond 50 words on either side of a blank. (SED)

Supports use of multiple paradigms for the measurement of individual differences in the search for explanations of natural language. Rather than a single paradigm discipline, they offer a wider scope of inquiry--phenomena of interest, types of questions, and forms of explanations, as well as opening the discipline to inspiration and analogy from…

Reports on a study designed to yield data that would suggest a reason for the reported morpheme sequence. A significant correlation was found between the common morpheme difficulty order of the learners and the frequency of occurrence of these morphemes in adult native-speaker speech. (Author/RM)

Research described was partially supported by a fellowship from the U.S. Office of Education. (VM)

Studies of second language acquisition often employ analytical concepts defined relative to the target language. This practice can be a serious obstacle to investigation of crucial questions about the nature of the learners' languages. This comparative fallacy's drawbacks are illustrated through a framework designed to study interlanguage…

Suggests that the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) be revised to incorporate a notion of degree of difficulty which corresponds to the notion of typological markedness. (Author/CFM)

Presents a theoretical perspective of second language learning which explains cross-cultural problems in terms of conflicting culturally determined definitions of reality. The article contends that students' difficulties in learning a second language often stem from a lack of understanding of the social context of the language. (Author/POP)

The results of this study raise serious questions about the validity of cross-sectional studies of second language acquisition based on instrument-solicited morpheme data. The analysis of spontaneous data examined longitudinally suggests that such data may provide richer insights into the second language acquisition process. (Author/POP)