Contends that Lightbown (2000) manifests a misconception of the relationship between applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and language teaching. Suggests that it does so by failing to see he direct causal link between the field and the pre-1985 developments in language teaching, and by failing to address the unrecognized failure of…

Responds to Sheen's (2002) critique of a review article on the relationship between second language acquisition research and classroom second and foreign language teaching. The focus of the response is to clarify points made in both a 1985 and the 2000 articles and challenging Sheen's interpretation of those points. (Author/VWL)

Discusses various language border theories for the Belgian-Northern French area, and summarizes the results of 40 years of research into the development of the Romance-Germanic language border at large. Suggests that a late Roman Latin-Germanic opposition has functioned as a direct predisposition for the early medieval Romance-Germanic language…

Surveys developmental stages and the current research environment for systemic functional linguistics in contemporary China and presents a considered and detailed explanation of the popularity of Hallidayan linguistics among contemporary Chinese scholars. (Author/VWL)

Describes the work by Silvio Ceccato regarding machine translation systems and procedures, exploring such aspects of his work as functional philosophical approaches to machine translation, notional spheres, correlational analysis, and type classifications. Ceccato envisioned many of the methods that are now being applied in machine translation…

A review of the literature regarding native and second language reading leads to suggestions for reading strategies to use in the foreign language classroom. These strategies involve appropriate text selection, prereading activities, and such aspects of reading as skimming, decoding, intensive reading, and comprehension. (CB)

An analysis is made of research focusing on how speaking and listening activities are relevant to the language classroom. Current thinking is reviewed on spoken language, with a focus on pronunciation, as a medium of information transfer and of interpersonal exchange. (66 references) (GLR)

Examines the connection between empirical studies of interaction involving second-language learners and the specific claims of Krashen's Input Hypothesis, as modified by Chaudron, White, and Swain. (36 references) (GLR)

Describes the CHILDES/BIB electronic bibliographic database, its contents, and its relationship to the CHILDES database. CHILDES is a depository of child language corpora and is the publisher of CHAT (a transcription manual) and CLAN (an electronic package for child language research). (GLR)

Argues that communication is the primary function of language and that the signification function can be derived from it. Several theories of language are considered for their attitude toward the communication function. (26 references) (Author/VWL)

Specifies language acquisition processes in terms of brain mechanisms to explain the variable success achieved by early and late learners and proposes a brain-based model for language acquisition on the basis of the literature. Two conditions for full acquisition of a language are motivation and grammatical ability. The neural underpinnings for…

Describes general changes in sentence length, typical clause and modifier patterns, connectedness and structural explicitness over the last 400 years. Finds that the printed sentence has become shorter, the flow of information more direct, and the connections between nominalizations more implicit. Suggests that the printed sentence will continue…

This paper discusses the biological and social views of grammar with reference to recent research on grammar and language acquisition, arguing that grammars are individual constructs existing in the minds of individual speakers. Contains 24 references. (MDM)

Examined synchronic and diachronic data for clefts and relative clauses in English, arguing that "it"-cleft complements do not differ syntactically from restrictive relative clauses. The diachronic data further show that cleft complements and restrictive relative clauses have changed together over time and at the same rate. (48…

Reviews the logic of neuropsychological inference in the context of connectionist modeling, focusing on the inference from double dissociation to modularity of function. Argues that connectionism appears to create no additional problems for the traditional neuropsychological approach. (50 references) (MDM)