Investigates variability in interlanguage consonant cluster simplification strategies within the four factors--style, gender, proficiency, and interlocutor. Examined how these factors determine Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) speakers' production of English word-initial consonant clusters. (Author/VWL)

A study evaluated the language production of 12 children (ages 5-8) who continued stuttering for 36 months or more after onset, 10 who recovered 18-36 months post onset, and 10 who recovered within 18 months of onset of stuttering. The majority of the children performed in the average range on measures of language production. (Author/CR)

Discusses the work of Seiichi Makino, a scholar of Japanese, noting that his work in establishing the Japanese proficiency guidelines helped make it appear that Japanese language teaching was part of mainstream American language teaching. (Author/VWL)

Examined whether beginning second language (L2) learners who focus on Spanish derivational morphology learn more vocabulary than learners who do not, if they can apply morphological knowledge respectively and productively, and if their success depends on their L2 proficiency. (Author/VWL)

Ten native Chinese speaking children and adolescents who immigrated to the United States between the ages of 5 and 16 were studied for 3 years. Changes in their language preferences, language environments, and proficiency in English (their second language), as well as Chinese (their first language), were measured quantitatively and qualitatively.…

This research project examined the foreign language reading process of students of French faced with expository French-language texts. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of analogies in reading passages on the reading comprehension of novice and advanced French learners. (VWL)

Examines resolution of referential conflicts in second-language (L2) interaction in two different pairings of L2 learners. Pairs where the higher proficiency member was in the dominant role engaged in little interactive behavior, whereas pairs where the less proficient member was dominant engaged in substantial negotiation and interaction and were…

Examination of differences in the language-learning strategies of monolingual and multilingual adults found no clear evidence that multilinguals were superior in language-learning abilities overall, although they were more able to adjust their learning strategies according to language task requirements. (Author/CB)

Examines the production of yes/no questions by native speakers of English and speakers of Singapore English, a non-native regional variety. The findings suggest that what constitutes target-like use remains ill-defined as long as native speaker behavior is assumed, or intuited, rather than documented. (40 references) (GLR)

Examines effect of training 70 preschool children with animate agent + animate patient sentences (AAV) or animate agent + inanimate patient sentences (IAV). Children were tested with noun-noun-verb (NNV) order sentence to assess whether AAV or IAV produced better comprehension. AAV and IAV showed comparable results at age three, IAV resulted in…

Suggests ways to integrate current theories of cognition and cognitive learning in order to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of language acquisition. (CFM)

Describes an alternate view of language learning strategies that limits their application to those behaviors that are intentional and freely chosen. A model is presented that postulates that for strategies to be used, students must be aware of one or more appropriate strategies, have reason to use them, have no impediments to their use, and should…

Examines research on adult second-language learning in regard to the proposal that reflexive verbs move in logical form (LF). The results of a study of 58 adult learners of Japanese show that learners' knowledge of the reflexive "zibun" at a high-proficiency level is consistent with the LF approach. (Contains 43 references.) (MDM)

Examined how speakers of languages with zero pronouns (Japanese) and without them (English) use zero pronouns when acquiring a second language (L2) that has them (Mandarin Chinese). The findings show that L2 learners do not use zero pronouns as often as native speakers and that their use increases with proficiency. (51 references) (MDM)

In the prevailing view of ultimate attainment in second language acquisition, native competence cannot be achieved by postpubertal learners. This study offers convergent experimental evidence that suggests exceptions to this generalization. (94 references) (Author/LB)