Outlines steps for selecting software for use in English-as-a-Second-Language insurrection. Steps include the following: 1) determine the goals and needs of the program, faculty, and learners; 2) narrow down the search among different options; 3) take time to evaluate the software. Provides two examples of how the process can work in different…

Examines debate over educational language policy in Botswana and Tanzania. Proposes that descriptions of classroom practice are necessary for effective educational language planning. Describes bilingual code switching and reliance on teacher-centered recitation routines. Argues that more creative and effective teaching and learning can be…

Describes a project that a middle school ESOL teacher and a university professor designed to challenge middle school ESOL students--immigrants from Bosnia and Mexico--to enhance their academic literacy through social interaction by sharing their own expertise as ESOL learners with a group of future ESOL teachers enrolled in a TESL literacy methods…

Argues that the study of second-language acquisition theory can be enhanced through time-series research designs. Within the context of investigating the effects of second-language instruction, four main reasons for using T-S design are identified. (95 references) (Author/CK)

Examines teacher-student exchanges in three content-based language classrooms. Data reveal persistent archetypal patterns of classroom interaction; teachers speak most of the time, and they initiate the majority of the exchanges by asking display questions, whereas student-initiated requests are referential. (30 references) (Author/CK)

Points out that earlier research (1991) indicates that adult second language (L2) learners have difficulties determining the relationship between obligatory verb-raising and verbal inflection. Results of the experiments reported here indicate that L2 competence includes a deficit affecting only the lexical or morphosyntactic mechanisms involved in…

Suggests second language acquisition research can help promote change in language teachers' methodological beliefs and practices. Drawing on diffusion of innovations research, an area of sociological inquiry, examines a theoretical framework for understanding change in language education, and discusses practical applications supporting…

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…

Twelve subjects in university-level beginning Japanese were interviewed bi-monthly to determine how propositional negation emerged in their interlanguage. Findings show varied negation patterns were used over time and that an ordering effect was observed in the predicate environment in which negation is acquired first.(19 references) (Author/CK)

Examines the discursive structures and linguistic resources of the interactional environments influencing the development of individual communicative competence, with specific reference to providing speaking opportunities to students studying Spanish as a second language. Findings reveal that the ways in which topics are developed differ from how…

Examines a series of naturally-occurring phone calls between a young child and his grandmother in the child's second language (L2), Portuguese. Notes that during the calls the child's L2 appears to increase in complexity, but is subsequently abandoned. Argues that this abandonment requires an examination of the language's role in the larger…

Examines whether strategy training orienting second language (L2) students' attention toward referential processes improves their comprehension of Japanese narrative. Findings revealed that experimental students comprehended the story at the macro level significantly better than control students, suggesting that the strategy training is beneficial…

Discusses the incorporation of "service-learning" into college curricula. Describes a project linking classroom language to the target culture. Results indicate that students increase their awareness of the communicative value of the target language, reflect on their own learning, and learn a second language in context. (eight…

Although many foreign language instructors assess oral skills in their program, many hesitate to incorporate multiple oral evaluations because of the perceived disadvantages of time-cost and added stress. This article underscores the significant advantages of oral assessments and encourages instructors toward that goal by presenting five types of…

Presents results of a study of the use of the dative with the genitive prepositions "(an)statt,""trotz,""wahrend" and "wegen" based on two corpora. Notes that a comparison of these two computerized corpora shows that no clear trend exists regarding the increased use of the dative with these prepositions in…