Examines the nature of interlanguage as it affects second-language learning and teaching, focusing on the language transfer phenomenon, fossilization, how error analysis and error correction can be improved through understanding of interlanguage, native speaker norms, international varieties of English, and the contribution of interlanguage to…

This study sought to establish a hierarchy of error gravity for different types of common errors in American learners' spoken Russian by surveying 75 native and nonnative speakers of Russian, including teachers and nonteachers. Grammatical accuracy was considered one of the most important issues in learners' spoken Russian by all the respondents.…

Compares spelling of adult second-language English users with native children and adult first-language users, using data from 1993 NFER survey of L1 children, from a UK university English-as-a-Foreign Language test for overseas students and work by overseas students in England. Comparison showed similar error rates and distribution of errors…

Examined why adults learning second languages make frequent errors in lexical form. More and less fluent bilinguals in English and Spanish performed a translation recognition task in which they had to decide whether the second of two words was the correct translation of the first. Less fluent participants experienced more interference for…

It is suggested that contrastive linguistics, the systematic comparison of two languages, be considered in the preparation of instructional materials and as a choice of teaching methods and techniques for training tranlators and interpreters. The contrastive analysis hypothesis suggests that the major source of errors committed by learners of a…

A learner's awareness of success, failure, and error potential encountered in free speech in a second language was studied with three subjects. The speech of adult learners of English as a Second Language was recorded and replayed to the subjects, who were asked to listen to their utterances and to recall the mental experience that surrounded each…

The pedagogical usefulness of contrastive analysis (CA) is examined and suggestions are offered on ways to use it in foreign language instruction, with particular reference to instruction in English as a Second Language in India. Some of the literature that maintains that CA is almost useless to language teachers is reviewed and answered. The…

This volume on second language learning contains the following eleven articles: "The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis," by Ronald Wardhaugh, "Students' Errors and the Learning of French as a Second Language," by Magdelhayne F. Buteau, "Error Analysis and Second Language Strategies," by Jack C. Richards, "Induced Errors," by Nancy Stenson, "Global…

Discusses some general principles for planning corrective instruction and exercises in English as a second language, and follows with examples from the areas of phonemics, phonology, lexicon, idioms, morphology, and syntax. (IFS/WGA)

A report on a study exploring the relationship between observed variability in second-language speech and the process in which correct variants are acquired and incorrect ones are replaced. Three phonological variables in the English speech of French-Canadian second-language speakers in Montreal were investigated. The method, results and…

Recommends the use of recorded passages in the source language, English, for translation into the target language, Spanish. Oral comments about linguistic difficulties are in Spanish. (MLA)

A description of introductory university French courses in Japan where communication needs have effected a change in student motivation. The objectives, learning conditions, role of error analysis, linguistic obstacles, teaching goals and methods, course content, and new perspectives are discussed. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

A procedure involving dialogue and an oral paraphrase of a text is suggested as a means of developing communication skills. Student errors in communicative exchange compared with their errors in structural and prepared exercises, recurring sources of errors, and utilization of these sources in productive learning situations are discussed. (AMH)

The formation of relative clauses in the work of 48 Italian high school students of English as a foreign language who performed a variety of written and oral tasks is analyzed. Results indicate that markedness can be a valid predictor of interlanguage but that it can also constrain intertask variability. (CB)

A Confidence-rating scale accompanying answers on a listening test helps distinguish between learners who select answers based on effective self-monitoring and those whose answers are based on poor self-monitoring. The latter are more likely to do so subsequently as well. Test items and a rating scale are illustrated. (Author/LMO)