This study tracks the development of syntactic complexity in the writing of two beginning German as a second language learners with English as a first language over four semesters of collegiate language study by using developmental profiling techniques applied to an annotated learner corpus. The focus of the investigation is on individual…

The opinions of second language learning (L2) theorists and researchers are divided over whether to use authentic or simplified reading texts as the means of input for beginning- and intermediate-level L2 learners. Advocates of both approaches cite the use of linguistic features, syntax, and discourse structures as important elements in support of…

This study is intended to assist teachers of advanced second language students with the problems of vocabulary errors. The aim is to help avoid the formation of incorrect hypotheses about vocabulary when it is first presented, and more importantly, to help teachers deal with errors as they occur. (SL)

Presents study conducted to determine whether sentence combining approach would increase rate of written syntactic development of college students of French, German, and Spanish. Results show it is effective for teaching some aspects of writing to intermediate foreign language students. (BK)

When college students (N=124) studying French performed a cloze test, translated additional text, and recalled the reading, results indicated that both syntactic and vocabulary proficiency positively affected reading comprehension and recall of text. This supports continued attention to grammar and vocabulary-building exercises for students in…

A study was conducted to determine the extent to which listening comprehension is impaired when students are confronted with the colloquial use of French, as opposed to its formal use. It was found that amoung 128 prospective French teachers who participated in the study, there existed a low comprehension level of colloquial French, a discrepancy…