In commercial materials for the teaching of second language (L2) pronunciation, common bottom-up approaches segment phonology into a series of discrete and decontextualized linguistic components with rules that students are encouraged to internalize. Such approaches seem out of step with recent second language acquisition (SLA) theory and research…

This review article evaluates the intersection of the content of two recent anthologies in second language (L2) phonology. One of the books lays out both the methodological context and theoretical underpinnings of the field, whereas the other volume reports 11 empirical studies on the L2 acquisition of several aspects of pronunciation by adult…

The present study investigates 2-way bilingual immersion (TWBI) as a potentially viable pedagogical model for adult language learners. A review of the literature on TWBI at the K-6 level is provided, followed by an examination of key issues in adult second and foreign language education. Implications for potential adult TWBI programs are discussed…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how retrospective verbal reports can contribute to our understanding of the factors influencing the interlanguage development of tense and grammatical aspect. The goal was to gain insights into (1) the mental representations second language learners hold of tense and grammatical aspect, and (2) the…

This study sets out to examine the pragmatic competence of Cantonese adult learners of English possessing different levels of proficiency when performing the speech act of requesting for a formal purpose in writing. Pragmatic judgment--one of the two aspects of pragmatic competence--was examined by studying the most proficient group (i.e., native…

Investigates the role of topic-comment structure and the frequency of topic-prominence in the oral interlanguage of Chinese- Japanese-, Korean-, Arabic-, Farsi-, and Spanish-speaking adult students of English as a second language. Results indicate that second language learning is generally characterized by an early topic-comment stage, independent…

Describes the "Competition Model" (Bates and MacWhinney, 1982) dealing with second-language sentence processing by bilinguals and research that has further developed theories dealing with the model. (CB)

Phonetic deviations occurring in the French of native Dutch-speaking university students are explained by a theory stating that every new rule entering the learner's linguistic competence produces a hypercorrective correlate. The theory is said to permit prediction of the differences in timing between foreign and native learning of French. (MSE)

This study examines the role of interlanguage transfer in lexico-semantic development in adult native Japanese-speaking learners of English as a second language in reference to two questions: (1) what constrains the initial hypothesis the student makes about the new target language word? and (2) what constrains a restructuring process of a…

Reports on the first attempt to develop an observation procedure based on the "profile analysis" approach to assess the syntactic and morphological development of adult learners of English as a second language. Problems with criteria assessment are described, and suggestions for refinement are given. (Author/DJD)

The first part of a larger planned investigation, this study examines the use of "por" and "para" by nine Peace Corps volunteers in oral interviews at the end of training and roughly one year later, to trace their acquisition over time, in two learning contexts. (24 references) (LB)

Examines the expression of temporality in the basilang speech (the earliest stage of second language development) of five adult subjects. Temporality is studied from three perspectives: morphology, semantics, and pragmatics. The taxonomy provided by the pragmatic analysis best captures the expression of time at this level of interlanguage…

A study examined the effect of a job-related approach to language learning on a fossilized learner of English as a second language. The subject was a bilingual female nurse with 20 years' residence in the United States. Her oral and written output was thoroughly analyzed and her social and linguistic needs for interacting with patients and…

Examines the role and significance of systematic error correction and explicit grammatical explanation in adult foreign language education. The type and nature of certain grammatical errors which are characteristic of the interlanguage of Arab learners of English as a second language and which seem insusceptible to defossilization are…

The role of language transfer in the acquisition of English as a second language as indicated in the production of relative clauses was examined. Analysis of adult Arab students' written responses to a variety of test types revealed that (1) language transfer is a significant factor in second language acquisition; (2) there is a distinction…