The question explored is whether native speakers'"simplified" or modified utterances, as in foreigner-talk (FT), actually facilitate comprehension for nonnative speakers hearing such utterances. It is concluded that linguistically more complex input will not necessarily impede comprehension. (49 references) (Author/LB)

The Literature Learning Project at the English Studies Department, Institute of Education in Singapore is described. It focuses on determining how well lower-level students cope with their literature texts and also tests the hierarchical properties of Hillocks' taxonomy of skills in reading and interpreting fiction. (18 references) (LB)

Studies on comprehensible input generally emphasize how input is made comprehensible to the nonnative speaker by examining native speaker speech or teacher talk in the classroom. This paper uses Hong Kong secondary school data to show that only when modification devices involve learner participation do they serve as indicators of comprehensible…

In a reading comprehension study, random parallel reading comprehension tests in Japanese and English were administered to a sample of native Japanese students enrolled in intensive English instruction at three levels of English proficiency. Evidence for a threshold competence ceiling in both languages was found. (14 references) (Author/LB)

Ways that dictation helps students learn English as a Foreign Language are discussed. Varieties of dictation are included along with one teacher's experience using it in a Chinese university. (one reference) (LB)

Reports on a two-phase study of second-language learner use of listener feedback, particularly their use of clarification questions in native speaker-nonnative speaker discourse. (29 references) (JL)

Data from Think Aloud protocols were used to determine how two groups of adult subjects approached reading. Analysis indicates that vocabulary proficiency has a power impact on psychological processing of second-language reading by novices but also that culturally determined literacy practices may be a factor. (Contains 34 references.) (LB)

An approach to teaching and testing advanced French reading comprehension of expository social science texts is presented within a "communicative-cognitive" framework. Learners receive instructions that encourage them to perceive and use the writer's overall rhetorical scheme as a conceptual-functional framework for integrating the components.…

Examines Israeli Arab students' attitudes and cultural backgrounds in relation to their reading comprehension of Jewish and Arab stories. States Arab students' motivation toward learning Hebrew as a second language is instrumental. Finds students comprehend texts from their own culture (Arab) better than those from the unfamiliar culture…

Investigated effects of multimedia reading software on reading comprehension. Twelve college students enrolled in a second semester French course were instructed to think aloud during reading of text on the computer screen. They read text under one of three conditions: full glossing, limited glossing, no glossing. Suggests computerized reading…

Examined whether readers in a third-semester Spanish course--reading the second language on a computer screen--accessed glossed vocabulary more frequently when the glosses were written in their first language or their second language. (Author/VWL)

Outlines a model for understanding the second-language reading process. Uses errors in comprehension to illustrate how the reading comprehension process works. Discusses pedagogical implications and suggestions for teaching students to develop and practice better comprehension strategies using think-alouds. (RS)

Describes a working model used to determine the target language use in a language for specific purpose test project: the Listening Summary Translation Exam in Taiwanese (LSTE/T). The purpose of the LSTE/T was to evaluate the summary translation ability of applicants who want to work as linguists in law enforcement agencies in the United States.…

Examines the effect of test method on the reading performance of two levels of early-stage second-language (L2) readers of French. The study compares two global response modes, the summary and the recall protocol. Results indicate a significant qualitative difference in the performance on the two tasks. The summaries contained significantly more…

Explores the impact of analogies and prior content knowledge on reading comprehension of expository texts by both first and second language readers. Written recall protocols were analyzed for two texts. Readers were university students of French or English as a foreign language. Analogy was to have a debilitating effect on comprehension regardless…