These two decades have seen a surge in interest in the study of motivation throughout the field of language acquisition. Several distinguished motivational theories have been established: self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), goal-setting theories (Locke & Latham, 1990), attribution theory (Weiner, 1992), self-worth theory…

Although the relationship between research and language teaching is often discussed among applied linguists, the views of language teachers are often reported anecdotally, if at all. Our article explores how language teaching colleagues in a Canadian university view this relationship as expressed in open-ended questionnaire responses and…

In this study, the Felder learning styles inventory was administered to students who were non-English majors in a Chinese University. Descriptive statistics identified that participants do vary in their preference for particular learning styles with a great variety of learning style preferences distributed unevenly among the sample population. A…

This study explores the utility of analytic scoring for TAST in providing useful and reliable diagnostic information for operational use in three aspects of candidates' performance: delivery, language use and topic development. One hundred and forty examinees' responses to six TAST tasks were scored analytically on these three aspects of speech. G…

This paper reports on the development and evaluation of a project to support the learning of the mother tongue by children aged 4-8 years. The aim of the project was to: actively involve and engage children with learning their mother tongue for functional use; involve parents in the learning process and support them in doing so; and increase…

In a surprise announcement in December 1996 in a speech at the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs, the late Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha said "Nigeria is resolutely launching a programme of national language training that will in a short order, permit our country to become thoroughly bilingual". General Abacha's…

The community is an important stakeholder in language education, and community views are critical for the successful implementation of new language policies. This article reports on a study on multilingual language policies conducted in two primary schools in two communities in eastern Uganda, one rural and one urban, from 2005 through 2006. The…

American KFL (Korean as a foreign language) students' communicative success depends to a large extent on their ability to express interpersonal meanings with target-language resources. However, information regarding how KFL students acquire, or fail to learn linguistic politeness through classroom learning is scarce. The nature of this study is…

Draws a parallel between the process of decreolization and that of second language learning, particularly with regard to the effect of extra-linguistic factors. (AM)

Examines the role of Universal Grammar in the second-language acquisition of Japanese by English speakers. The study focuses on the acquisition of the principle that prevents overt pronouns from having quantified noun phrases as antecedents in languages (such as Japanese) that have null pronouns. (16 references) (Author/CK)

Reports on a case study of two feminist English classes in Japan. The two classes described are grass-roots examples of Japanese women combining their study of English with the study of feminism, consciousness-raising, and action in the world. (JL)

Focuses on the validation of a writing strategies questionnaire and presents the various stages in the validation process. The questionnaire was validated using a qualitative and quantitative method with two groups of participants from the target population--advanced nonnative speakers of English. (VWL)

Examines discourse on the communal identity that accompanies language shift processes, focusing on an Anglo-Argentine population. A questionnaire was administered to this population concerning what makes an Anglo-Argentine different from either of its perceived component identities. (VWL)