Paper presented at Indiana University, Bloomington on February 24, 1971, under the auspices of the Committee for Research and Development in Language Instruction. (VM)

The subject of language learning of children in bilingual families is considered in this paper. The author discusses practical problems and provides examples from his own family situation in which his children learned French, English, and German. The possibility of language mixture is discussed and the author presents some tentative conclusions…

One of the several causal mechanisms for errors made by adult second language learners is interference from the native language. This paper attempts to account for the cognitive nature of interference by proposing two psycholinguistically based principles that will explain various types of production and perception errors made of second language…

For years language teachers have conducted error analysis for remedial purposes. More recently error analysis has assumed a developmental purpose, namely as a clue to the process of acquiring a second language. Causes of learner errors, such as interference from the first language, confusing aspects of the second language, or learners fostering…

This study focuses on a native speaker of Chinese, in her 40's, who began to learn English in her late 20's when she emigrated to the United States. It was discovered that the subject was able to self-correct nearly every error she made in casual speech when the errors were pointed out to her after their commission. Furthermore, in nearly every…

This article reviews some of the research literature dealing with factors which contribute to success in acquiring second language speaking skills. Language attitudes, cognitive style variables (i.e., field dependence and independence; overgeneralization and negative transfer from the native language), personality variables (tolerance of…

Two questions arise from attempts to develop reading comprehension in scientific French: (1) should the concentration be mainly on vocabulary, or on grammar as well, and if so, what aspect of grammar; and (2) should the students' native language be taken into account, and if so, in what way: by translating, or through a systematic comparison of…

This essay considers three areas in Spanish grammar that generally cause difficulty to English-speaking learners: the use of "ser" and "estar," the difference in use between the preterite and imperfect tenses, and the use of the subjunctive. Like most problematic grammatical elements in any language, these points are difficult for non-native…

Discusses the value of classifying the errors adult language learners make and of comparing them to errors made by children. It is suggested that teachers correct student errors in the same way parents correct children's errors in order to encourage successful learning. (CFM)

Ausubel distinguishes two kinds of human learning: (1) rote learning, relevant only to a small fraction of human learning, is the mechanistic formation of discrete, isolated traces in cognitive structure, usually through a process of conditioning; (2) meaningful learning, characteristic of most human learning, is a process of "subsuming"…

This paper discusses the relationship between language development and cognitive development in children within the framework of a French-English bilingual school situation. Initially the document covers the language development of the infant learning English; the author then describes specific problems of educating the English-speaking child with…

This report describes an experiment concerned with a possible relationship between the inability to learn basic educational skills, such as reading and writing, and the inability to organize incoming stimuli for communication purposes, in spite of adequate intellectual potential. The study had three main tasks. The first problem was to develop a…

Comprehension for the foreign language learner is discussed, and it is claimed that comprehension is not a by-product of the other skills but should be taught and tested throughout a course of study. The channel or medium used in communication will influence the understanding of the message. Differences involved in reading and listening…

A general model for second language learning is proposed in this paper. First, this model aims to describe different components (input, intake, integration, output) of the learning process in terms of the information (explicit/implicit, linguistic/sociolinguistic) to which the learner is exposed. Secondly, the model serves to identify the stages,…

This book of readings includes: "Language Didactics and Applied Linguistics" (William Mackey); "Psycholinguistics and Second Language Teaching" (H. H. Stern); "Linguistic Theory" (Noam Chomsky); "Some Psycholinguistic Controversies" (John Oller, Jr.); "The Cognitive Strategies of Language Learning" (John Macnamara); "Conditions for Language…