The following papers are included: (1) "The Theoretical and Practical Relevance of Simple Codes in Second Language Acquisition" (Krashen); (2) "Talking to Foreigners versus Talking to Children: Similarities and Differences" (Freed); (3) "The Levertov Machine" (Stevick); (4) "Acquiring a Second Language when You're Not the Underdog" (Edelsky and…

Recent studies have shown that the behavioristic theory of learning is not adequate as a model for language acquisition. Far from being the linear accumulation of a series of automatic reflexes, language acquisition is a cognitive process in which individuals construct and test hypotheses and where there is considerable variation from learner to…

Learning to read in a foreign language has always been considered as belonging to the field of language teaching. But there is a case for viewing the learner as training in reading too. This article analyzes the reasons, drawn from research (mostly psycholinguistic) on the reading process, that lead us to consider the learner as an "apprentice…

This issue of the "SLANT" Newsletter for researchers in second language acquisition is highlighted by a report of research on second language acquisition by immigrant workers in West Germany (including research in progress and a bibliography). Also included are reports from various language acquisition conferences; a listing of summer…

AN EXPERIMENT AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY WITH EIGHT COLLEGE FRESHMEN INVOLVED A SEMIAUTOMATIC METHOD OF TEACHING A RAPID INTRODUCTION TO THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF GERMAN DERIVED FROM AN OPERANT CONDITIONING ANALYSIS OF VERBAL BEHAVIOR. THE PREDOMINANT FEATURE OF THE PROGRAM WAS A MATCHING-TO-SAMPLE TECHNIQUE UTILIZING A TEACHING MACHINE AND CARDS. THE…

An investigation of the naturalistic acquisition of a second language phonology, based on the case of a native Icelandic speaker learning the fricatives and affricates of English, reveals that neither transfer hypothesis nor the developmental hypothesis alone provides an adequate explanation of second language phonological development. This…

In this paper two questions are raised: (1) Is there any meaning to current research? (2) Is meaning important to the language acquisition process? It is necessary to explore the nature of research in general to evaluate what kind of research we are doing. This leads us to consider next the content of research on human learning and on the…

This four volume study and report was undertaken to aid students of English as a second language by encouraging them to make use of fixed expression (cliche) as a nonliteral filler when speaking. Over 135,000 words of natural language were examined and a range fixed expressions were isolated and placed into the categories of interjection,…

The notes and articles in the present compilation constitute, for the most part, reports of work in progress by the Language Research Foundation staff, and are circulated to interested scholars for the purpose of inviting comments, criticism, and suggestions. Contents include: (1) "The Export of TESOL: Are Audio-lingual Techniques Universally…

The formulas presented in this paper provide the means for showing the ease with which scientific information can be passed from one language into another. The formulas are based on several factors. The linguistic barrier can be measured to illustrate the relative degree of difference between two languages based on a comparison of vocabulary,…

Relatively few studies have been made of the history of the international language Esperanto, although materials for its study are fairly complete. As a linguistic phenomenon, that is, a language in continuous use for almost a century but without national roots, it has also had little systematic study, though a considerable literature on the…

Reports on an experiment designed to compare the linguistic ability of English-speaking students of French to that of native French-speaking students, through sentence repetition, in order to draw some conclusions regarding approximative grammars. (AM)

Contrastive psycholinguistic analysis of second language acquisition was undertaken with bilingual students taught primarily in French and with bilingual students taught in both English and Spanish. Three types of contrastive comparisons are made on the results of production tests administered to students. (SW)

A report on a study to identify the relationship between subjects' age and their ability to imitate critical sounds of German. By having 210 American subjects repeat 20 critical German sounds in a non-critical context, a hierarchy of these sounds was established. Methodological conclusions are indicated. (AMH)

In this study the inadequacies of rules governing the present perfect in isolated sentences are discussed and then two contextual factors thought to be connected with current relevance and the use of the present perfect are described. These factors are experimentally shown to influence use of the present perfect significantly. (CHK)