Assessing use of language learning strategies has become commonplace around the world. One strategy assessment tool is the questionnaire, which usually asks students to report on their typical, general use of language learning strategies. Because of this general focus, most questionnaires do not require respondents to complete an actual language…

This article examines the relationship between group and individual patterns of variation in one area of the grammar: verbal morphology. The results of studies of the acquisition of English and Hungarian verbal morphology by Chinese learners show that individual patterns of variation closely match group patterns on several dimensions. Multivariate…

This article reports on an empirical study undertaken at the University of the North, South Africa, to test personal classroom observation and anecdotal evidence about the persistent gap between writing and spoken proficiencies among learners of English as a second language. A comparative and contrastive analysis of speech samples in the study…

Investigated the use of 50 common second language learning strategies by English for academic purposes students across eight disciplines--building, business, computing, engineering, English, mathematics, primary education, and science--in a university in Hong Kong. Compared and contrasted strategy use across disciplines and examined relationships…

Using an analytical framework that combines insights from a variety of previous studies, the current paper aims to contribute to the description of the joint construction of meaning in pedagogical discourse, in particular in one-on-one teacher-student interaction in writing conferences in a Japanese-as-a-foreign language (JFL) class. The argument…

Alternative assessment procedures have made consistent inroads into second and foreign language assessment practices over the last decade. The original impetus for alternative assessment methods has been predicated more on the ideological appeal this approach offers than on firm empirical evidence that alternative assessment approaches actually…

In Spanish-monolingual Colombia, social pressures push for access to early 50 = 50% Spanish-English medium instruction from the age of five. Parents and school administrators consider this the best way to achieve bilingualism. This article takes a first general look at the effects of this type of bilingual education on the Spanish and English…

In this paper, I discuss current interest in educational reform in Puerto Rico, the need for better and more appropriate assessment tools, the growing realisation in the USA that two-way bilingual programmes can provide an effective vehicle for fostering the development of bilingual proficiency, bicultural competence and subject-matter knowledge…

In this essay, ESL students in their first year of college discuss their feelings about the use of literature in composition courses and offer qualified support for its inclusion. In particular, the lit-comp issue is especially complex where ESL students are involved, as literary texts in English can prove daunting to read and write about for…

Thirty-three preschool children who were learning English as a second language participated in 16 weeks of either comprehension-oriented or letter/rhyme-focused small group instruction. Pretests and posttests of book vocabulary, story comprehension, print concepts, letter naming, writing, rhyming, and English oral proficiency were given. Children…

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) contains a direct writing assessment, and examinees are given the option of composing their responses at a computer terminal using a keyboard or composing their responses in handwriting. This study sought to determine whether performance on a direct writing assessment is comparable for examinees…

This article discusses how the critical examination of "culture as difference" and "culture as hierarchy" is often lacking in the Spanish language classroom. As such, the author suggests that the current challenge in the Spanish language classroom is to identify techniques to enhance not only students' language proficiency but also their cultural…

This research project aimed to establish the attributes that are sought by schools in New South Wales when they are selecting new language teachers. The research provided some insight into the decision makers' "wish lists" of desirable attributes. The findings of the project include useful data for employers, teachers, teacher educators,…

The students in 21st-century public middle schools are increasingly diverse in terms of language proficiency, cultural and ethnic representation, and varied levels of poverty; and, yet, they are being educated in a political climate that encourages mainstreaming special education and gifted services in the regular classroom. Given this context,…

This case study investigated the revising patterns and intentions in L1 and L2 of Japanese writers with various writing experiences. Three participants were selected through purposeful sampling to do within-case comparisons. One participant was an experienced writer in both Japanese and English; one was an experienced writer in Japanese, but not…