This study developed an original instrument that measures pragmatic comprehension in Japanese as a foreign language (JFL). It examined the ability to comprehend implied meaning encoded in conventional and nonconventional features and the effect of proficiency on comprehension. There were 63 college students of Japanese at 2 proficiency levels who…

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…

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…

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)

Analysis of responses of native French-speaking (N=10) and English-speaking (N=10) college French instructors rating students' errors in French revealed that (1) native French speakers were more critical evaluators than native English speakers; (2) teachers were generally more critical evaluators than students; and (3) more fluent speakers were…