This investigation examined the acquisition of five complex English syntactic structures by Egyptian and Israeli adult learners at different levels of proficiency. Carol Chomsky's methodology, as adapted by d'Anglejan and Tucker, served to assess comprehension of these structures. The responses of the Egyptians and Israelis, which were similar to…

This selective bibliography is divided into 2 main sections. The first deals with Thai-English contrastive studies and lists 3 books, or sections in books, and 11 journal articles. The second section deals with error analysis for Thai speakers learning English and lists 2 journal articles. The entries range in date from 1955 to 1974. The books…

This paper reports on a study undertaken to investigate the relationship between elicited imitation data and comprehension data, as measured by a picture-identification task and a second language (L2) to first language (L1) translation task, and between elicited imitation data and production data, as measured by a spontaneous production task and…

Provides a detailed analysis of techniques used for second language vocabulary assessment and the implied assumptions about the underlying construct of vocabulary knowledge. The article notes that existing measures of vocabulary size are uninformative as to the depth of knowledge that learners have about particular words. (56 references)…

Analysis of reading comprehension errors made by 22 Spanish-speaking fourth-graders in decoding English text found that comprehension "errors" began at the word level and advanced to larger misinterpretations at the sentence level. The cognitive processes of English language learners when comprehending English texts showed individual differences,…

Compares the effectiveness of Nihongo-CALI (Japanese Computer Assisted Language Instruction) with non-CALI workbook instruction. Findings reveal that given the same grammar notes and exercises, ongoing intelligent computer feedback is more effective than simple workbook answer sheets for developing learners' grammatical skill in producing Japanese…

Describes a computer program that takes multiple-choice cloze passages and compiles them into proofreading exercises. Results reveal that such a computerized test type can be used to accurately measure the proficiency of students of English as a Second Language in Hong Kong. (14 references) (Author/CK)

Specific tools and techniques to help students of English as a Second Language overcome pronunciation problems are presented. The selection of problems addressed is based on the frequency and seriousness of errors that many native Chinese-speaking learners produce. Ways to resolve various problems (e.g., missing final consonants, misplaced stress…

A study investigated Koreans' use and misuse of the English passive, from a pragmatic perspective, with attention to the possible source of errors. Subjects were 200 college students at two universities in Korea who were English majors or minors or taking English as an elective course, divided equally between sophomores and juniors. The subjects…

Based on results from research on children's spelling, it has been established that spelling errors produced by ESL students in this study of 6th grade students parallels the errors of native speakers of English in the same classroom. The ESL students are also impacted by cross-linguistic influence of the phonology of their native tongue. This…

A discussion of computer-based language instruction examines the quality of materials currently in use and looks at developments in the field. It is found that language courseware is generally weak in the areas of error analysis and feedback, communicative realism, and convenience of lesson authoring. A review of research under way to improve…

A study examined the written English proficiency of Windsor, Ontario francophone eighth-graders being educated entirely in French and compared it to norms for English-speaking eighth-grade children educated in English or French. Results suggest that these francophone students compare favorably with anglophone groups in syntactic maturity and…

Issues related to school instruction in students' heritage or ancestral language are discussed, particularly in regard to dialect-speaking children or children with some degree of competence in the language. The first chapter considers similarities and differences between second language instruction and heritage language education. The findings on…

This study examined reading in a second language among 12 fourth and fifth grade Mexican American bilinguals. The children's oral reading and recall was taped. Oral reading errors were categorized and tallied. The reading performance was evaluated by a system-oriented analysis of recall and of reading errors where "error" was defined as any…

These proceedings on language testing include the following papers: (1) "The Style Test," by H. Bonheim; (2) "Testing between the Cultures: A Case Study of ESP Testing in Non-idealized Situations," by R. Brunt; (3) "Graded Objectives and Tests in British Schools," by M. Buckby; (4) "The Spanish Attributive Construction SER/ESTAR + Adjective: Real…