Describes how performance in three different foreign-language tasks varied according to certain learner characteristics. The tasks are spontaneous writing, revised writing, and passage-based error detection. The writing is evaluated according to syntactic, morphological and orthographic accuracy; writing speed; and linguistic complexity. (34…

Examined the influence of language anxiety as measured by a questionnaire on achievements in English writing and reading comprehension tasks. Subjects were native speakers of Hebrew, aged 12-13 years, learning English as a second language.(Author/VWL)

Analysis of the responses of monolingual Dutch and bilingual Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese children living in the Netherlands to word association and sorting tasks revealed no significant differences among the groups. Results of the study indicated that bilingualism does not affect cognitive-linguistic development. (22 references) (Author/VWL)

Examines strategies students use while performing a listening comprehension task and the relationship between strategy use and listening ability. Eighty-three students registered for first-, second-, third-, and fourth-semester Spanish participated. The first-semester students scored the highest and the second-semester students, the lowest on…

Francophone learners of English as a foreign language performed metalingual and preference tasks requiring them to utilize second-language knowledge brought to mind under an aural priming activity or a written task. Results indicate important differences between recall with awareness and recall without awareness, which strongly suggests a positive…

Examined the validity of Dulay, Burt, and Krashen's hypothesis that the use of translation as an elicitation technique in foreign or second language (L2) research artificially increases L2 learners' reliance on the mother tongue, and accordingly, the proportion of interference errors. Examined interference errors on two elicitation tasks: an…

Reviews 32 studies regarding writing in a foreign language in the United States. Focuses on research that investigates relationships between various pedagogical practices or task types assigned and the texts produced by foreign language writers. Topics addressed include exploiting grammar instruction, computer use, task type, strategy training,…

Examines the role self- and other-initiations play in providing opportunities for modified output (MO), considered important for successful second language acquisition. Native- and nonnative-speakers of English performed three tasks: picture description, opinion exchange, and decision making. Results showed both self- and other-initiations…

This study examines whether aural processing of input in a situation of implicit instruction can build a knowledge base that is available for both comprehension and production tasks. Fifty-five Dutch students learned a miniature linguistic system based on Spanish. Three training conditions were compared in which noun-adjective gender agreement was…

Swain's (1985, 1995, 2000) output hypothesis states that language production is facilitative of second language (L2) learning. An important component of the output hypothesis involves "pushing" learners to produce appropriate, accurate, and complex language (Swain, 1993), which may occur when interlocutors provide learners with negative feedback…

By providing access, data and new forms of literacy and communication practices, it is widely accepted that networked technologies have done much to promote learner autonomy. However, in practical terms, the lack of resources, expertise and research investigations into learner interaction have all too often meant that autonomous learning is…

The purpose of the current investigation was to determine if the experimental analysis of antecedent variables conducted in English and in Spanish would identify effective and ineffective instructions for response accuracy for Spanish-speaking English language learners. An antecedent variable (i.e., directive complexity) arranged in a hierarchical…

Based on recent studies, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has been considered a tool to aid in language learning on account of its distinctive interactional features. However, most studies have referred to "synchronous" CMC and neglected to investigate how "asynchronous" CMC contributes to language learning. Asynchronous CMC possesses…

This report describes a semester of teaching a group of non-native English-speaking students, aged 17 to 40 years and how the instructor identified three elements that appeared to be necessary for a task-based, advanced English speaking class. The three elements were: (1) ongoing needs assessment; (2) collaboration between instructor and students…

Process writing and communicative-task-based instruction both assume productive tasks that prompt self-expression to motivate students and as the principal engine for developing L2 proficiency in the language classroom. Besides this, process writing and communicative-task-based instruction have much else in common, despite some obvious…