This article describes how effectively multimedia learning environments can assist second language (L2) students of different spatial and verbal abilities with listening comprehension and vocabulary learning. In particular, it explores how written and pictorial annotations interacted with high/low spatial and verbal ability learners and thus…

Vocabulary knowledge has long been considered critical to children's successful reading comprehension. When children increase their reserves of word meaning, they also broaden their thinking and become aware of new semantic and conceptual relationships. Their broadened awareness, in turn, increases reading comprehension and writing abilities. Many…

Developing academic literacy skills in Classical Arabic (L1), Hebrew (L2) and English (FL) among 10th-grade Bedouin students in Southern Israel is of central importance, in light of the country's policies regarding trilingual education for this sector. This paper presents the findings of research which examined the impact of a teaching model where…

In reading research, studies on good and poor reader characteristics abound. However, these findings remain largely scattered in applied linguistics and cognitive and educational psychology. This paper attempts to synthesize current theory and research on the topic in the past 20 years along 3 dimensions: language knowledge and processing ability,…

The cognitive demands of summary writing are dependent upon the type of summary to be produced. This paper reports part of a larger study in which 157 Chinese undergraduates were asked to write summaries of extended English texts in both English and Chinese. It examines the differential effects of the use of the two languages on summarization as a…

This study investigates the impact of a five-week intermediate Spanish course on the listening comprehension ability of 48 participants in short-term study abroad programs, and compares these groups with 92 peers enrolled in a similar course on the home campus. While both on-campus and study abroad groups experienced similar gains in listening…

This study investigated the effects of three instructional conditions on precursors to successful reading for Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELL). The study was conducted using a randomized, alternate treatment control group design specifically targeting phonological awareness (PA) listening comprehension (LC), and decoding in a…

The crucial role of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension has been well recognized in first language (L1) situations and this has appeared to be true of second language (L2) settings as well. However, in relation to a sociocultural context such as Singapore, where English is designated as an L1 in the school curriculum but the majority of…

Over a three-year period, from 1971 to 1973, a series of three experimental intensive language sessions was held in Malta for university professors and researchers who wanted to improve their knowledge of English as a second language. Each session consisted of from 20 to 30 participants and lasted 2 weeks. The general objectives of these courses…

A resource kit for the teaching of listening comprehension in French at the beginning elementary level is represented by a teacher's guide and a handbook entitled "The Maple Sugar Industry." The guide offers sample activities and lesson plans, as well as a complete procedure for conducting a listening comprehension test. Instructions are given for…

Reviews current research on listening comprehension and development of listening tests and considers four issues in detail: 1) the meaning of context in listening testing; 2) the concept of criterion referenced tests; 3) the notion of specific purposes in testing; and 4) the use of technology in listening tests. Issues for future research are…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for seventh-year French immersion, as revised in 1998. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum revision, links between the core curriculum and French immersion, underlying principles of second language instruction, the revised curriculum's objectives and…

The report, entirely in French, describes Alberta's curriculum for eighth-year French immersion, as revised in 1998. An introductory section offers background information on the curriculum revision, links between the core curriculum and French immersion, underlying principles of second language instruction, the revised curriculum's objectives and…

Provides the theoretical underpinnings to a very successful project that involves high school teachers in the development of carefully sequenced student materials for the German video series "Deutschlandspiegel." (22 references) (Author/OD)

A study conducted in a Canadian secondary school found that students with a larger inventory of native English vocabulary were better able to recognize cognates in French language instruction. (MLA)