Combines methods to probe the learning strategies of two unsuccessful learners as they completed four activities (an interview, a verb exercise, a cloze passage, and a composition). These unsuccessful learners, when viewed through a task demand model, emerged as active strategy users, though they sometimes applied strategies inappropriately. (38…

Reviews theoretical and research literature on learner strategies and self-directed language learning, particularly concerning the role of metacognitive knowledge in learning. Argues that too little attention is given to the function of metacognition in language learning. Practical implications for second-language instruction are discussed.…

Discusses themes that relate to the connections between first- and second-language acquisition. Specific focus is on the following issues: whether there is a language instinct; what input could and does teach the child; rules and representations (i.e., how language resides in the individual); individual differences in language acquisition; and…

Discusses students classified as learning disabled in regard to foreign language requirements, since institutions are now obligated by the Americans with Disabilities Act to teach these students. Criteria on which these students are classified as learning disabled for foreign language study and granted waivers of course substitution to fulfill the…

Finds that English-speaking students learning Japanese were most likely to obtain correct answers when interpreting novel kanji compounds (words consisting of two or more Chinese characters) when both words in isolation and contextual clues were available. Shows that morphological analysis is an independent strategy from guessing word meanings…

Compared grammaticality judgment (GJ) test data with dehydrated sentence test data, collecting data about verb movement from three levels of adult second-language (L2) Spanish learners. The GJs of L2 learners were consistent, suggesting that a relationship exists between a standard GJ test and a dehydrated sentence test and noting that GJ data are…

Focuses on one particular psychological dimension, extraversion-introversion. The relatively small number of linguistic studies in which extraversion is focused on as an independent variable suggests that applied linguists believe it unrelated to speech production or language learning. Argues that this suspicion is based on a misunderstanding…

Describes the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), a private, non-profit, non-affiliated organization in Washington, DC (with a satellite division in Sarasota, Florida). CAL conducts a wide range of activities, including research, teacher education, analysis and dissemination of information, design and development of instructional materials,…

Discusses one form of repetition found in ordinary conversation, a form where a speaker produces a first saying, and subsequent to that, a second saying within the same turn. Proposes that this particular form of repetition is used by speakers as a storytelling technique in the accomplishment of the action of resumption. (Author/VWL)

Argues that there are potential benefits in incorporating computer-based text analyses into methods for researching talk and educational activity in classrooms. Discusses the strengths and weaknesses of some existing approaches to the study of talk and collaborative activity and suggests ways that computer-based analysis of transcribed talk can…

Circumlocution can prevent communication breakdown and is a required function at the Advanced level on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Scale. To encourage this communicative strategy, researchers conducted a study of two intermediate college French classes: one that encouraged circumlocution and…

In response to a published study of second-language input processing and processing instruction, a relatively new concept in language teaching, misinterpretations of theoretical and conceptual issues are pointed out and methodological concerns about the study are discussed. (MSE)

Fossilization is a the term used generally to denote what appears to be a state of permanent failure on the part of a second-language learner to acquire a given feature of the target language. This article reviews different accounts of this phenomenon and offers another account. The implications of this new account of fossilization for…

Synthesizes work on research concerned with the influence of a second language on speaker's first language competence in late bilingualism. Research in the areas of phonology, morphosyntax, lexis, semantics, pragmatics, rhetoric, and conceptual representations suggests that borrowing, convergence, shift, restructuring, and loss result from the…

Discusses an updated perspective of good language learners that takes into account sociocultural and poststructural views of second language acquisition. Suggests the study of successful language learning should include the ways in which learners' participation is received and acted upon within the communities in which they use their second…