Looks at how speech-interactive computer-assisted language learning can help the classroom teacher carry out recommendations from immersion-based approaches to language instruction. Emerging methods for pronunciation tutoring are demonstrated from Carnegie Mellon University's FLUENCY project, addressing not only phone articulation but also speech…

Describes some of the dilemmas that nonnative English teachers face as they are exposed to competing discourses of educational ideologies and market forces and have to reconcile the contradictory demands of global pressures with the local conditions in which they work. Argues that it is vital to resist a simple transfer of teaching approaches and…

Discusses aspects of context from a relevance-theoretic perspective and considers how this may lead to a better understanding of how language learners recover verbal input. Proposes that the way context is defined affects (1) the relationship between knowledge of language and context and (2) the way speakers access assumptions in everyday…

Reviews research findings of studies dealing with distance-education programs; describes the results of a distance-learning study implemented with secondary school students learning Spanish; and identifies questions that must be addressed as the foreign-language profession attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of distance learning in current…

Presents the sources and solutions of listening-comprehension anxiety as reported by foreign-language students and discusses the pedagogical implications that relate to the results. (Author/VWL)

Observes and analyzes Japanese senior high school students' errors due to language transfer. The study focuses on written language, is based on classroom research, and provides possible ways of explaining second-language acquisition. (Author/VWL)

Investigates whether there is any difference in the degree of difficulty between subject wh-questions and object wh-questions in the acquisition of wh-questions by Korean learners of English. Two experiments were conducted: a comprehension task and a production task. Results show the subject wh-questions are much easier for Korean learners than…

After a brief introduction to the development of New Phonics, an innovative course designed for Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language learners, this article describes the contents of the course for beginners, i.e., the techniques, exercises, and teaching materials for grade 7.(Author/VWL)

Explains how selections from "English Teaching Forum" articles were incorporated into methodology courses to form a successful 30-hour semester. The pilot course, which has five groups of students studying methodology, concluded with a questionnaire that brought a vast majority of enthusiastic responses.(Author/VWL)

Examined factors that predict foreign-language anxiety. Subjects included 10 university students; a setwise multiple regression analysis revealed that seven variables (age, academic achievement, prior history of visiting foreign countries, prior high school experience with foreign languages, expected overall age for current language course,…

Examines the language-learning strategies employed by 58 bilingual primary school-aged children. Also investigated whether the types of language-learning strategies used by these learners are moderated by whether they were born in Australia, the cultural group in which they belong, whether they had received English-as-a-Second-Language help, and…

Describes the experience of preparing Venezuelan English-as-a-Foreign-Language students at lower intermediate level to perform a Trinidadian dialect play before an international audience during a short course. The exercise was used to teach local culture in relation to the native culture of the students and also to teach functional and grammatical…

Explores the effect of individual speaking style on the self-correction behavior of second-language speakers. The project involved 30 Hungarian learners of English studying at various levels of proficiency and made use of self-report data. (Author/VWL)

Explores test usefulness in alternative assessment and discusses self-assessment, portfolios and diaries, video and peer observations, and peer assessment. The concept of washback (how the test affects processes of learning and instruction) and concerns about alternative assessment are also addressed. Considerations for implementing alternative…

Describes the establishment of a course for long-distance learners in Korea. Students studying English conversation who left school to work in other cities finished their course via telephone. (Author/VWL)