The paper reports some of the results of a preliminary survey of the language proficiency of matriculation students of French in Britain and Australia. The technique used (especially the use of Chief Examiners' reports) is justified and the deficiencies that exist in current matriculation examinations are noted. In particular, the examinations are…

These 16 papers in French and English deal with questions related to the purpose of learning a language, one's native language as well as a second one. Specifically, the presentations deal with the following topics: (1) consideration of learners' needs; (2) the usefulness of learning English in Quebec; (3) the tension between knowledge and…

A general model for second language learning is proposed in this paper. First, this model aims to describe different components (input, intake, integration, output) of the learning process in terms of the information (explicit/implicit, linguistic/sociolinguistic) to which the learner is exposed. Secondly, the model serves to identify the stages,…

In a study of developmental reading behaviors, errors of 75 Spanish-English bilingual students (grades 2-9) on the McLeod GAP Comprehension Test were categorized in an attempt to ascertain a pattern of language difficulties. Contrary to previous research, bilingual readers minimally used native language cues in reading second language materials.…

A study examined the relationship between syntactic complexity and overall accuracy in the written English of 30 advanced learners of English from five different native language groups. Results show similar patterns of error distribution, a similar level of relative strength in syntax, and relative weakness in morphology. (Author/MSE)

This third volume by the Centre for Language in Education (CLE) is intended to bring together a number of concerns currently under review at the Centre. Articles in this issue include: "Managing Open Learning" (Vicky Wright); "Self-Assessment of Foreign Language Skills: Does It Work?" (George Blue); "Language Awareness and…

This study investigates the ways adult second language learners deal with errors and trouble sources in their conversations with one another. Specifically, it describes the repair work done by the second language learners, the extralinguistic features accompanying these repairs and the differences between repairs made by speakers at different…

This is a report on a child's English and French speech before, during and after a summer vacation in France. The findings are based on recorded samples of her speech in both languages elicited at three times: (1) immediately preceding the trip at age 3 years, 8 months; (2) 2 and l/2 months later; and (3) again 2 and l/2 months after her return to…

Errors can be considered concrete representations of stages through which one must go in order to acquire one's native language and a second language. It has been discovered that certain errors appear systematically, revealing an approximate system, or "interlanguage," behind the erroneous utterances. Present research in second language…

The influence of mother-tongue interference is examined on the basis of data from two tests at different levels of English proficiency: a commercial-college level, covering 4-5 years of English studies, involving a composition and translation test, and a preuniversity level, covering 7-8 years of English studies, with a multiple-choice test. A…

This preliminary study examines what the effects of additional time and different media have upon the overall quality of English language learner's written assessment tests. Sixteen intermediate-level students (L1 Cantonese), enrolled at a satellite campus of an American university within Asia, manually wrote a 45-minute timed placement test in…

The case study examined the development of English writing skills in a native Russian-speaking college student with no previous instruction in English as a Second Language. It drew on writing samples from 2 years of English language instruction. Theories of first and second language acquisition, especially in written expression, are analyzed in…

Articles in this annual serial include the following: "Four decades with the Computer" (Winfred P. Lehmann); "The Uses of the Personal Computer in the Humanities" (James W. Marchand); "Digging in the Dictionary: Building a Relational Lexicon To Support Natural Language Processing Applications" (Martha Evans, Judith…

Fourteen articles are presented in this volume on contrastive linguistics. The articles and authors are as follows: "A Brief Falsificationist Look at Contrastive Sociolinguistics" (K. Janicki); "The Locus of French Gender Control" (W. A. Bennett); "On the English Perfect Tense and Current Relevance Implicatures" (J.…

The language learner is activated by exposure to primary linguistic data in the target language, categorizes that data and deduces from it a system of rules or hypotheses. When the language acquisition process is successful, as is virtually always the case in first language acquisition, the learner's rule system corresponds to that of the speech…