Focuses on foreign language research on learner strategies. Outlines the different types of strategies used by foreign language learners, and discusses ways to assess students' strategy use. (SR)

Summarizes claims made in three studies that adopt a morphological approach to nonnative speaker-native speaker divergence. Examines these claims in terms of the morphological and syntactic theories presupposed and points to a number of problems. (Author/VWL)

Responds to a previous article on research in second-language learning, challenging the need for discussion on the promises and problems, and asserting the need to report definitive results. (Author/JL)

Provides a brief outline of six key issues that have been recurrent in the field of language education and seeks to promote further discussion of these issues. The outline is based on reviews of the relevant contents of three sources that are widely read by language educators in Australia. (Author/VWL)

Provides a description of passing for a native speaker as a form of second language (L2) ability. Discusses ethnographic research into success in second language learning and explains why other approaches tend to identify a significantly lower incidence of high-level achievement. Data suggest age of exposure to the target language is less crucial…

Identifies three areas of research relevant to examining literacy acquisition in bilinguals, explains the contributions of each, and associates each with a skill required by monolingual and bilingual children in the development of literacy acquisition skills. (Author/VWL)

Offers a concluding summary to a special issue of the journal on applied linguistics as an emerging discipline. Raises concerns and discusses future directions. (Author/VWL)

Examines the possible and specific relationships between first language (L1) acquisition and second language (L2) acquisition to show that a number of assumptions warrant closer inspection. Explores problems in distinguishing L1 from L2 acquisition from three different perspectives: individual language learner histories, the data, and the…

Describes a framework for research into the effects of cognitive abilities on second language acquisition (SLA) that is based on four interlocking hypotheses. These hypotheses are drawn from research in psychology, education, and SLA, and where possible, evidence is presented to support each of them. (Author/VWL)

In this article, I argue for adopting an ethical lens that interrogates our ends and purposes when generating research on second language learning and teaching, in light of concerns surrounding questions about the uses and users of our work. Such an ethical lens would help us transform our methodological and epistemological debates and would also…

This paper describes a set of simulations which explore the way different features of lexical organisation affect the probability of finding a pair of associated words in a set of five randomly selected words. The simulation is equivalent to giving Ss a set of five words and asking if they can identify a pair of associated words among them. The…

This article argues for the crucial role of alignment in second language acquisition, as conceptualized from a broadly sociocognitive perspective. By "alignment," we mean the complex processes through which human beings effect coordinated interaction, both with other human beings and (usually human-engineered) environments, situations,…

Researchers have claimed that recasts might be ambiguous as feedback. Because recasts serve a dual function, as both feedback and conversational response, learners might not always interpret them as feedback (e.g., Lyster & Ranta, 1997). This study explores how learners interpret recasts they notice (as responses to content, negative evidence,…

Despite the prevalence of bilingualism, language acquisition research has focused on monolingual infants. Monolinguals cannot learn minimally different words (e.g., "bih" and "dih") in a laboratory task until 17 months of age ( J. F. Werker, C. T. Fennell, K. M. Corcoran, & C. L. Stager, 2002). This study was extended to 14- to 20-month-old…

One of the questions frequently asked in second language (L2) lexical research is how L2 learners' patterns of lexical organization compare to those of native speakers (NSs). A growing body of research addresses this question by using word association (WA) tests. However, little research has been done on the role of language proficiency in the…