Investigates the contribution of first language (L1) reading ability and second or foreign language (L2) proficiency to L2 reading comprehension, by focusing on the compensation between L1 reading ability and L2 proficiency among Japanese university students. Demonstrates the mutual compensation between L1 reading ability and L2 proficiency. (SG)

Reports two experiments that address effects of differential pre-reading instructions. Suggests that instruction that monitors procedural representations helps readers with foreign language (FL) proficiency to construct situational representations, but is of little help to solve an inference problem. Finds that individuals generate different…

Investigates the use of text structure as a tool to facilitate and improve English-as-a-foreign-language students' comprehension of a text written in a foreign language. Explains the results of an experimental study carried out to analyze the relationship between use of rhetorical organization that a text employs on the one hand, and the…

This paper reports on the findings of an investigation into the perceptions held by English students aged 16-18 years regarding listening comprehension in French and how they view the reasons behind their success or lack of it in this skill. The study suggests that listening comprehension is the skill in which students in the post-compulsory phase…

Difficulty in the early stages of second language listening is sometimes said to derive from too heavy a reliance upon bottom-up information. Less experienced listeners supposedly focus so much attention upon identifying sounds and words that they have no time or mental capacity left for building higher-level units of meaning. However, there is…

For students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), reading exercises are critical not only for developing strong reading comprehension, but also for developing listening, speaking, and writing skills. Prior research suggests that social, collaborative learning environments are best suited for improving language ability. However, opportunities…

In the last 15 years or so, language testing practitioners have increasingly favored assessing vocabulary in context. The discrete-point vocabulary measure used in the old version of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) has long been criticized for encouraging test candidates to memorize wordlists out of context although test items…

Many programs designed to compute the readability of texts are narrowly based on surface-level linguistic features and take too little account of the processes which a reader brings to the text. This study is an exploratory examination of the use of Coh-Metrix, a computational tool that measures cohesion and text difficulty at various levels of…

In the componential approach to modelling reading ability, a number of contributory factors have been empirically validated. However, research on their relative contribution to explaining performance on second language reading tests is limited. Furthermore, the contribution of knowledge of syntax has been largely ignored in comparison with the…

This study examined whether differences in phonological awareness were related to differences in speech comprehensibility. Seventeen adults who learned English as a foreign language (EFL) in academic settings completed 14 tests of phonological awareness that measured their explicit knowledge of English phonological structures, and three tests of…

This report is an evaluation of "Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies," an instructional program for use in elementary school classrooms to improve student proficiency in reading and math. It was developed for use with students with diverse academic needs, including English language learners. Although other programs emphasize peer-to-peer…

This work is intended to find replies to practical questions, such as how well native speakers of Spanish are decoded by native speakers of English, which errors interfere with decoding by the listener, and what the implications of the study might be for teaching. Fifteen Chileans were asked to tell stories in English, and several panels of native…

This paper presents arguments in favor of using partial dictation as a test of foreign language proficiency. In this kind of test, subjects listen to recordings of material in the foreign language and are required to fill in missing words in a written version of the recordings. Partial dictation is preferable to ordinary dictation in that: (1) it…

Progress in the teaching of oral comprehension depends partly on the isolation of factors which block comprehension. Research in conjunction with an experimental course in English as a second language led to the definition of errors due to: (1) insufficient knowledge of the language and the cultural context of its use, and (2) a failure to…

This study tests the claim that word learning and retention in a second language are contingent upon a task's involvement load (i.e. the amount of need, search, and evaluation it imposes), as proposed by Laufer and Hulstijn (2001). Seventy-nine beginning learners of Spanish completed one of three vocabulary learning tasks that varied in the amount…