Papers in this issue include the following: "Code-Mixing in Hongkong Cantonese-English Bilinguals: Constraints and Processes" (Brian Chan Hok-shing); "Information on Quantifiers and Argument Structure in English Learner's Dictionaries" (Thomas Hun-tak Lee); "Systematic Variability: In Search of a Linguistic…

This study evaluated a partial-immersion program in French in Victoria, Australia, an area in which little research has been conducted to date. The program has operated at an elementary school since 1991 and is the first English/French program of its kind in Victoria. French is the language of instruction for at least 40 percent of classes, with…

Research has demonstrated that second language learners benefit considerably from form-focused instruction within the context of a communicative language program. Thus, it is suggested that second language teachers should provide guided, form-based instruction in a meaningful context. Instructional strategies based on three dimensions of…

Dealing with the relationships among language, communication, and culture, the 12 papers in this collection are divided into three parts. The first part deals with the critical issues related to language acquisition, context, and cognition. The second part presents an array of perspectives in analyzing the role of language in comparative…

The state of second language acquisition research, particularly that which is classroom-oriented, is examined in a review of 50 empirical investigations undertaken over the last 25 years. The studies were analyzed according to the following dimensions: the environment in which the data were collected (classroom, naturalistic, simulated classroom,…

This article proposes two general instructional strategies that a course designer or materials writer may use to create a second language course that makes new demands on learners, yet contains feasible learning tasks. First, course designers can manipulate task components believed to determine task difficulty, components such as input text, the…

A study investigated the usefulness of non-native speakers' subjective, relative word frequency estimates as a measure of second language proficiency. In the experiment, two subjective frequency estimate (SFE) tasks, one on French and one on English, were presented to French learners of English (n=126) and American learners of French (n=87).…

Second language acquisition (SLA) research is examined in terms of what might be used in the planning, design, and implementation of language courses. A conception of language and the communicative use of language that is appropriate for formal language teaching and learning is discussed, and different conditions are described under which second…

A study in Moncton, New Brunswick, of second language use by language minorities and native language maintenance as it relates to the linguistic groups' vitality and the individuals' attitudes toward these groups is reported. Seven research hypotheses were proposed: (1) The first language group's perception of the second language group's vitality…

Analyses of the Null Subject Parameter (NSP) suggest that several factors may influence the resetting process for second language acquisition, such as specific "trigger" data, awareness of agreement as a part of awareness of agreement (INFL), and stylistic rules such as subject postposing and anaphoric reference. Four tests were…

This newsletter discusses a Swedish research project investigating the command immigrant school children living in Sweden have of their native language and of Swedish as a second language. The project's objective is to describe the children's language proficiency and factors promoting or inhibiting it in the classroom. The study is undertaken in…

The work of researchers, theorists, and practitioners suggests that to facilitate academic success for college-level students of English as a Second Language (ESL), attention must focus on, but not be limited to, the following areas: (1) students need to become "acquirers," not just "learners," of the second language; (2)…

A review of research in self-assessment techniques for foreign language skills is based on a survey of the literature and the results of a survey of teachers, researchers, and administrators in adult education centers in many areas of the world. Two late 1970s surveys of self-assessment research and pilot experiments concerning the general…

Proficiency, which refers to a concept that is more complex than is generally acknowledged, is an overworked term in second language teaching that lacks a satisfactory operational definition. Linguistic knowledge is currently defined most often in terms of what an individual is able to do with the knowledge, as in the movement for competency-based…

A study, investigating the patterns in which Chinese learners of English as a second language (ESL) learn English interrogative structures, focused on four major classes of English questions (yes/no, wh-, alternative, and embedded) categorized into seven structural types. Data came from a test requiring rapid translation of 55 Chinese questions.…