This study examined several hypotheses about second language learning by testing them in a training format designed to teach Spanish to children in the fifth through eighth grades and to adults in night school. (JMB)

Focuses on second language learning research conducted by Valerian Postovsky and by Ellen Bialystok, with particular emphasis on Postovsky's contributions to understanding of how best to initiate second language learning and Bialystok's contributions to knowledge of effective teaching strategies and syllabi. (CB)

Discusses H. Zobl's paper, "Configurationality and the Subset Principle: The Acquisition of V' by Japanese Learners of English," and asserts that the subset principle, with certain adaptations, can apply to second language learning. In the context of Universal Grammar theory, first and second language acquisition are clearly different.…

Four publications containing the proceedings of conferences and linguistic research relating to communication are reviewed and annotated. Specific topics include interactive and interpretive strategies in discourse, general linguistics, foreign language learning, and oral French. (MSE)

Examines the process of question development in a second language. Shows that with greater English proficiency (1) there was less reliance on syntactically simple construction, (2) questions about personal information and actions and intentions questions increased, (3) requests for factual information and classification questions decreased. (SRT)

In order to show the problem second language learners face when confronted with ambiguity, this article explores the linguistic and metalinguistic strategies used by adult Dutch learners of English. These learners possess the cognitive maturity and metalinguistic skills of native speakers but resemble--in knowledge of English-- children acquiring…

Theoretical assumptions and consequences of the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH) are compared with the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, and empirical evidence favoring the former is reviewed. Pedagogical implications of the MDH, a strategy for interlanguage-intervention, and several problems revealed in the literature are discussed. (MSE)

Results of a study of two methods of morpheme quantification--one by suppliance in obligatory contexts, the other by target-like use--produced substantially different percentages of accuracy for subjects' production of the morphemes progressive "-ing," progressive auxiliary, and past irregular. This demonstrates that, as a consequence of applying…

Reports an empirical study which compared recalls of two types of stories--one well-structured and the other deliberately not well-structured--by students of English as a second language. Results indicate that the quantity and temporal sequence of story recall are affected by differences in story structure. (SED)

Describes a study that explores whether less fluent non-native listeners attend more to syntactic than to semantic cues by testing three groups: native English-speakers and advanced and intermediate non-natives. Results show that semantically acceptable responses increased progressively for intermediate, advanced, and native groups, while…

Describes a paired-associate learning experiment in which American Sign Language signs of high and low translucency and high and low cheremic similarity were presented to sign-naive subjects. One hypothesis, that translucency would facilitate learning, was confirmed; a second, that cheremic similarity would retard sign learning, was not.…

Reviews the results of research in language acquisition, interactional analysis, pragmatics, repair, error, and social and affective factors. Extracts four language teaching principles relating to acquisition activities in the classroom, the importance of affective factors, the communicative capacity of learners, and the nature and treatment of…

Emphasizes the importance of psycholinguistic research in enabling us to discover phenomena which will later be seen to have representations in the brain. In addition, the different ways a second language is learned and used, as well as the differences in the actual language structures themselves, will participate in determining brain organization…

In order to compare the foregrounding strategies of native speakers of English and advanced learners of English as a second language, 15 native speakers and 35 advanced learners produced play-by-play descriptions of the unfolding action in an animated videotape. Results show that the two groups use different strategies of foregrounding. (SED)

Discusses the current approaches to interlanguage syntax, focusing on the goal of finding consistency and pattern in syntactic variation. Some themes contributing to descriptive approaches include: the transition from morphosyntax acquisition studies to those of more complex syntax, the emergence of syntax from discourse, explicitness, and the…