Reports on a study of high school students on the relationship between the types of listening comprehension strategies used, the frequency of their use, and the differences in reported use across four variables: level of language proficiency, gender, listening ability, and learning style. (Author/JL)

Examines the inferencing procedures used by university-level second language (L2) learners of French to guess at the meaning of unfamiliar words in a written L2 text. The article combines qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and compares the strategies used by students assessed as high or low in French proficiency relative to their…

Explores conceptual syntheses advancing second language (L2) word recognition research and uncovers agendas relating to cross-linguistic examinations of L2 processing in a cohort of undergraduate students in France. Describes connections between word recognition and reading, overviews the connectionist construct, and illustrates cross-linguistic…

Examined the validity of the pragmatic approach to test difficulty put forward by Child (1987). This study investigated whether the Child discourse-type hierarchy predicts text difficulty for second-language readers. Results suggested that this hierarchy may provide a sound basis for developing foreign-language tests when it is applied by trained…

Studies the effect of vocabulary glossing on reading comprehension in second-language learning. Findings reveal that there was a significant effect for glossing but no significant interactions between the treatment and any of the other variables, i.e., psychological type, tolerance of ambiguity, proficiency, frequency of gloss use, perceived value…

Describes and assesses current and past communicative language learning exercises used by the Foreign Service Institute's Russian Program to "break down" classroom walls with activities encouraging language acquisition, including immersion experiences, internships, speaking tracks, and language/area integration. Sample activities are…

Finds that, among 2100 Hispanic elementary students in a four-stage bilingual program, primary language achievement, instructional level, and oral English performance were important indicators of English reading achievement scores and readiness for reclassification to an all-English program. Contains 17 references and 9 tables. (Author/SV)

Second-language narrative development was investigated by focusing on the evaluative use of modal verbs. The data consist of 45 retellings of 6 model stories by 8 Panjabi-speaking youth. Evidence is given for the development of evaluative syntax with age and/or increasing language experience of proficiency and also for inherent individual…

Whether phonological awareness skills develop in a specific pattern and whether they transfer to another language were studied in 2 experiments with 126 English- and Spanish- speaking kindergartners and 1st graders. Results indicated that cross-language transfer can be detected in skills that are still developing. (SLD)

Students at the U.S. Air Force Academy participated in a study of Chinese language skill acquisition. Findings included more rapid and accurate character recognition was associated with higher proficiency; printed frequency had the greatest effect upon accuracy of naming; character density correlated with recognition accuracy; and denser…

Illustrates the comprehension-monitoring process used by first (L1) and second (L2) language readers of English as they read expository prose and compares the comprehension-monitoring strategies of L1 and L2 readers with respect to two problems: locating a referent and defining a vocabulary item. (59 references) (GLR)

Examined the discourse patterns used by a native speaker of English while explaining the rules and playing the board game Monopoly with three college students of varying levels of English proficiency (low nonnative, good nonnative, and native). It found that the "teacher" must modify her speech to enable the nonnative speakers to…

A case is made against the use of computer-assisted text analysis, including style analyzers and grammar checkers, with nonproficient second-language or basic-skills student writers. The inaccuracy of analysis, limited feedback, and type of revision behavior encouraged are cited. (33 references) (Author/LB)

Describes a longitudinal study of four Vietnamese-speaking 4-year olds' acquisition of English as a second language in a bilingual preschool over one year. The research examined the learners' English-language output in interaction between the teacher and peers, and identified the key factors that influenced their development of English. (TJQ)

Describes the first- and second-language literacy levels of a sample of Turkish children living in the Netherlands and identifies factors related to individual variation in literacy performance. Measures of school literacy were taken in both Turkish and Dutch. Results indicated that these children attained lower levels of literacy than did their…