Investigates whether it may still be possible to develop a word association test for assessing proficiency in a foreign language. A multiple-response word association test was constructed with careful consideration of prompt words as defining criterion. The test was administered to learners, and scores were correlated with C-test scores. Results…

Describes an easy-to-administer test of productive vocabulary that requires subjects to produce a set of word association responses to a small set of stimulus words. Argues that such a test might tap the extent of nonnative speakers' productive vocabulary more effectively than other tests in current use. (Author/VWL)

Proposes a four-level descriptive procedure for determining whether second-language word associations are native-like. The new methodology provides an enhanced way of incorporating word associations into future investigations of vocabulary learning and assessment. (Author/VWL)

Argues that social language should be delayed in a second language course until a core of factual language has been built up. The article presents an account of verb-form clustering and of some of the problems caused by discrete treatment of verb forms. It also suggests how to implement verb clustering within the context of syllabus design. (11…

Describes a study in which 26 learners of Hebrew as a second language were trained to generate associations of their own choosing to new vocabulary items. Their use of these and new associations was then examined during recall tasks over a period of a month. (Author/MES)