From different viewpoints, the relationships among studying English as a foreign language (EFL), teaching EFL, and training teachers of EFL are likened to those of triangle, parallelogram, and circle. Goal-setting, organizational/situational analysis, and task analysis are discussed. (two references) (LB)

Describes two grammaticality judgment tasks--one in French and one in English--developed based on differences between the two languages vis-a-vis middle constructions. The tasks were administered to Anglopone and Francophone advanced and very advanced learners of their second language, and to unilingual groups with the same first languages.…

Studied communicative outcomes of nonnative speaker interactions and presents a methodological framework for the analysis of different solutions to referential problems encountered in a task. The framework permits identification of what types of participation arrangements might result in more or less beneficial interactions for learners. (Contains…

Examines theoretical views of language use, learning, and teaching that underlie the work on tasks. Two broad and disparate views are identified: the psycholinguistic perspective and a perspective based on sociocultural theory. (Author/VWL)

Investigated the performance of three pairs of adult English-as-a-Second-Language students on a writing task assigned in class. The main source of data was transcripts of pair talk. Results show that students working in pairs may not necessarily work in a collaborative manner, but where they do collaborate may have an effect on task performance.…

In a task-based approach to learning, learners will often meet new vocabulary "in passing" as they pursue communicative goals. Argues that such encounters can be turned to the learners' advantage and that rather than remove difficult words, teachers should consider a number of cooperative options for exposing learners to new words during…

Uses a sociocultural framework to suggest task engagement as a viable construct in second language learning research. Examines second language learner data to identify task engagement as it emerges, unfolds in dialogic activity, and becomes associated with he transformation of task, self, and group. (Author/VWL)

Examined word recognition in early fluent Spanish-English bilinguals using a single word presentation lexical decision task. Reaction times (RT) and event-related brain potentials were measured while subjects made a lexical decision on words and pseudowords in either Spanish or English. Result show associative priming as measured by RTs but both…

Examines sentence matching, a methodology frequently used in the second language literature to determine notions of grammaticality of nonnative speakers. Native speakers of French and second language learners of French performed a sentence-matching task focusing on three areas of French grammar: adverb placement, subject-verb agreement, and…

Reports on an investigation into the role played by knowledge of both "icraab" and vocabulary in the reading comprehension of American learners of Arabic as a foreign language. Two groups, proficient and less proficient, of nonnative readers of Arabic read an expository text, wrote an immediate recall protocol in their first language to measure…

Offers immersion classroom data focusing on the use of collaborative tasks related to the content to be learned that draw learners attention to formal properties of French. Such tasks provide both oral practice and lead to more accurate language use. (Author/VWL)

The extent to which learners conform to the structure, aims and linguistic demands of a task is often seen as the responsibility of the materials writer and/or teacher. Given a logical rubric, well-designed task and clear classroom instructions, it is often assumed that the task will be approached as intended. When a task is enacted differently,…

This study examined the effect of structural and content characteristics of language tasks on foreign language learners' conversational negotiations. In a 2x2 Greco-Latin square design, degree of structural support of language tasks, students' degree of familiarity with German video segments, and task order were varied. Twenty-eight pairs of…

This paper describes an approach to task evaluation that emerged out of the process of the negotiated development of a course between two co-teachers. The course was co-taught by one ELT specialist and a specialist in a subject area. The teachers were equal partners in this self-contained course. While teaching a new class, the teaching partners…

This study investigated the effects of second language (L2) proficiency differences in pairs and patterns of interaction on L2 learning, making use of both qualitative and quantitative data. We designed the study in such a way that four different "core" participants interacted with higher and lower proficiency "non-core"…