Discusses student communication in a second language in terms of comprehensibility, irritation, acceptability, communicative strategies, the personality of the second-language speaker, and the differences in perception of the communication by native speakers and nonnative speakers, who are teachers of the language. Recommendations for classroom…

Describes an experiment designed to determine which language errors interfere to the greatest degree with comprehension by native speakers of the language. For this purpose, an instructor prepared a list of most serious Spanish language errors which was submitted to native speakers for evaluation in terms of comprehension and acceptability. (MES)

Describes a research project using cloze procedure to measure language proficiency. Discusses test construction and various approaches to test scoring, concluding that results suggest a need for further examination of the random cloze format and acceptable scoring as a means to determine student proficiency in German. (MES)

This article presents evidence of syntactic transfer from Chinese to English based on data obtained from 710 Hong Kong Chinese ESL learners at different proficiency levels. Three methodologies were used: self-reporting in individual interviews, translation (with and without prompts), and grammaticality judgment. The focus of the study was on 5…

Examines the role of constructive feedback in adult foreign language error correction. Gives guidelines applying to written work and discusses indirect and direct correction treatments. While stressing the value of the former as an opportunity for discovery learning, favors a combination of the two as the most effective technique. (MES)

This article deals mainly with the pedagogical application of error analysis and error correction, and directs itself to foreign language and second language teachers and to teachers of speakers of nonstandard dialects. (CLK)

Spanish-speaking learners of Portuguese often transfer features of Spanish language to Portuguese. Learner errors, including those caused by Spanish interference, are analyzed by contrasting Portuguese and Spanish grammar. (SW)

Evaluation of the Russian oral and written proficiency of third-year university students (N=9) suggested a clear relationship between the students' initial oral proficiency ratings and the grammatical accuracy of their written compositions; the lower a student's oral proficiency rating, the greater the average number of written mistakes, and vice…

Comparison of college students' (N=14) graded and ungraded Spanish compositions revealed that, when they anticipated receiving a grade, students wrote longer compositions with more complex sentences. However, the type and number of errors varied among students. (CB)

A pilot study is described which illustrates a methodology that can be used in determining the relative importance of different error types according to evaluations made by native speakers and presents preliminary results concerning the relative importance attached by native German teenagers to errors committed in German by English speakers. (SW)

Describes a study undertaken to assess interference from two languages for learners of French. Suggests that susceptibility to interference is related to a number of factors, such as level of proficiency in the target language, and the degree and type of similarity between the target and the base language. (MES)

Comparison of the effects of error- versus message-oriented written feedback on second-language students' essays found that error corrections and rule reminders did not significantly improve students' written accuracy or enhance the ideational quality of their writing, whereas message-related comments promoted writing proficiency. (63 references)…

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.…

Describes a study designed to examine native speakers' reactions to errors contained in compositions written by advanced Spanish students, as a measure of error seriousness and a guide for selective correction. Suggests that errors interfering with comprehension should be eliminated first, followed by those that elicit negative reactions from…

Reviews the results of six studies which indicated that the output of students involved in an immersion program was linguistically faulty, and suggests ways in which immersion programs can be made more effective and lead to greater linguistic competence as well as communicative competence in its students. (CB)