This article presents a survey of computer-based tracking in CALL and the uses to which the analysis of tracking data can be put to address questions in CALL in particular and second language acquisition (SLA) in general. Adopting both quantitative and qualitative methods, researchers have found that students often use software in unexpected ways,…

Results of an exploratory factor analysis study designed to examine and refine the Corrective Feedback Instrument are reported. The Corrective Feedback Instrument-Revised replaces the Corrective Feedback Instrument and consists of 30 items that can be used to encourage conversations about giving, receiving, and clarifying corrective feedback in…

A key issue in the field of second language acquisition has been the difficulty of specifying accurate measures of implicit language knowledge. This paper describes the development of an elicited imitation test. Its design differs from that of most other elicited imitation tests in that it (a) requires test takers to focus attention first on the…

A number of interaction researchers have claimed that recasts might be ambiguous to learners; that is, instead of perceiving recasts as containing corrective feedback, learners might see them simply as literal or semantic repetitions without any corrective element (Long, in press; Lyster & Ranta, 1997). This study investigates learners'…

Participants completed 5 laboratory examinations during which the number of responses permitted (1 response, up to 4 responses) and the timing of feedback (no feedback control: Scantron form; delayed feedback: end-of-test, 24-hr delay; immediate feedback: assistant, response form) were manipulated. Participants completed a 100-item cumulative…

Reports an error in "Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of 5- to 8-year-old girls" by Helga Dittmar, Emma Halliwell and Suzanne Ive ("Developmental Psychology," 2006 Mar, Vol 42[2], 283-292). A substantive error occurs in the Body shape dissatisfaction section on page…

Failure to progress on the language proficiency scale is often due to lack of linguistic accuracy. Even motivated students are sometimes unable to improve proficiency ratings beyond a particular level. Pedagogical factors contributing to this problem include: focus on form and meaning at the same time; fossilization; overuse of communicative…

This paper encourages the use of Total Quality Management (TQM) tactics and other strategies as a practical means of fostering a quality culture in institutional research offices of higher education institutions. In particular, four approaches are advocated for understanding and minimizing errors: (1) use of TQM tactical tools to enhance work…

An intensive discussion of the immediate phonetic correction approach in second language instruction looks at the rationale for phonetic correction, describes the immediate method, and refines it into seven specific methods. The first chapter, on phonetic correction in general, examines the past and present reasons for using the technique, its…

This analysis looks at the humorous use of second-speaker repeats to initiate conversational repair. It is proposed that consideration of joking repeats forces reanalysis of the organization of conversational repair. The preference analysis theory is rejected in favor of a locally governed analysis of conversational repair in which participants…

A study investigated the impact of task definition on students' revising strategies to determine whether college freshman writers could revise globally if instructed to do so and if those global revisions would result in improved texts. Data were elicited from 38 students enrolled in two entry-level college writing courses. Participants, randomly…

Adult "redoing" sequences (expansions and repeats) in conversations between adult and child (age 1;6) are analyzed with a conversational analytic approach, and two ways in which redoing sequences are involved in the initiation of repair are explored. It is proposed that a redoing sequence picks up a child's utterance and displays it for some kind…

The study set out to investigate how textual enhancement (TE) as a form of input enhancement and increasing the comprehensibility of input via simplified input (SI) might impact adult L2 French learners' acquisition of the past participle agreement in relative clauses and their comprehension of three texts in which the target forms were embedded.…

Describes the use of computers for grading assignments in beginning and intermediate reporting and writing programs at Texas A&M University. Indicates that students store assignments on a computer network, where the instructor can access them to grade them. Describes techniques for making electronic corrections clear and provides sample…

Uses experimental and control group data to show that students' correction of grammatical and lexical error between assignments reduces such error in subsequent writing over he semester without reducing fluency or quality. Further examines how error correction should be done. (Author/VWL)