Second language (L2) writing researchers have demonstrated that bilingual writers draw on their native language to fulfill task requirements. A growing number of individuals are learning a language beyond their second, and, despite an increased interest in third/additional language (L3/Ln) development, few empirical studies have considered writing…

Focuses on linguistic interference patterns which impede the progress of Italians learning English as a second language in Canada. (RL)

Exercises exploiting the proximity of two French registers (vernacular and standard) are proposed as a means of solving interference problems in Acadians learning standard spoken French. (MSE)

Reports on research into the validity of the theory of interlanguage, based on evidence of interference of the native language in Dutch students of French. (AM)

Discusses the theoretical foundations of both basic approaches to contrastive analysis, the predictive, "a priori" version, and the explanatory, "a posteriori" version. Analyzes problems in both approaches, and states that explanatory investigations must be divorced from "classical" contrastive analysis and used with a more realistic methodology…

Several kinds of interference in the transfer of reading skills from the first to the second language are considered, and implications for second language classroom instruction are discussed. (MSE)

An adult learner of Spanish presents a diary outlining the process of learning Spanish during her five-week program in South America. (AM)

Presents a method, based on a contrastive analysis, for teaching English-speaking students of French how to express concepts of motion in the target language. (AM)

Students of French are now more fluent orally than their counterparts of a few years ago. They are using, however, a more anglicized French. The causes are three: (1) unawareness of the value of words; (2) infrequent use of reference material, specifically the dictionary; (3) lack of adequate knowledge of basic rules. (CFM)

Describes a reading experiment with two groups of English speaking children attending French immersion programs. The two groups, from grades 3 and 6 respectively, were tested in both English and French for their ability to recognize spelling patterns and to make positive transfers from one language to the other. (MES)

Results of a study of sound system acquisition of five-year-old students of English-as-a-second-language show that first- and second-language learners exhibit similar but not identical simplification processes, and that evidence for a common developmental sequence in acquisition of consonant sounds was limited. (MSE)

Reports on a study investigating the occurrence of spelling errors in the French dictations of French-speaking Ontarians. The frequency of errors was compared to that of French speakers from Quebec. Results indicate that spelling interference from English is present for French-speaking Ontarians in far greater degree than from French speakers from…

A description of language acquisition and second language learning by adults in terms of method and achievement. Some socio-psychological and neurophysiological reasons for the possible differences between children and adults are briefly discussed. There is a sizable bibliography. (AMH)

Issues relating to the psychoeducational evaluation of bilingual children from French immersion programs are presented using data from an in-depth study of a young learning disabled girl, discussed in reference to Cummins' theory of cross-linguistic transfer. (Author/MSE)

Describes a method used to identify and correct errors made by French Canadian learners of English, studying at a total-immersion summer program. (AM)