A study used error analysis to examine and compare the English language proficiency and language learning patterns of two native Japanese speakers, aged 15 and 17. Data were elicited verbally from the subjects, with more elicited from the older, and analyzed for error patterns. Results indicate striking similarities in error patterns; however, a…

It has been argued that the acquisition of the English article system is delayed for most second language (L2) learners until the very final stages of learning. This paper examines the difficulties of the acquisition of this system by Persian speakers. It suggests that no single available theory can account for the causes of the learners' errors,…

Examines how speakers and listeners make judgments on the relationship and truth of propositions connected by subordinating conjunctions. (EKN)

Describes a study that tests whether the sociolinguistic differences observed in essays in German are a carry-over from the native Scottish English. A previous study is described which tested the hypothesis that social class influences linguistic behavior and could be a cause for errors in a foreign language. (AMH)

Discusses why Japanese students frequently passivize certain intransitive English verbs. It is suggested that students might make this error because they associate adversity with the passive construction and use passives whenever adversity is implied. Discussion of other expressions implying adversity and implications for both applied and…

Provides information on how to spot the kinds of errors that occur in student compositions as the result of word-for-word translations from on-line translation programs such as "Babelfish." Provides a brief history of such programs, explains how they function, and offers solutions to this problem facing foreign language teachers. (Author/VWL)

Examines lexical interference from the perspective of language proficiency in a study of Iranian English-as-a-Foreign-Language learners. Subjects were given two tests--a proficiency test and a test on similar lexical forms--to investigate whether there is any relationship between the two variables in question. Results indicate that there is a…

Speech samples from 3 hearing-impaired children (ages 9-11) were videotaped for judgment by 5 teachers in audio-only and audio-video condition. When a teacher evaluated a child's speech using both auditory and visual information, fewer errors were typically noted than if the child's speech was evaluated using only auditory information. (Author/JDD)

Integrates the phonological research concerns of two language-learning populations: (1) adults acquiring a second language, and (2) children learning to correct functional speech sound errors. The basic theoretical and pedagogical aims overlapped for the two populations, and the results of research on either population had strong potential for…

Reports on the speech difficulties of four French immersion anglophone students participating in a three-month interlinguistic exchange. Each student was interviewed three times, and the transcripts were analyzed for linguistic, sociolinguistic, and sociocultural errors in oral French and for performance evaluation by the students. (51 references)…

This paper reports on a small-scale study of the outcomes generated by 15 underachieving English-as-a-Foreign-Language university writers copying text displayed on a computer monitor under pressure of time. Analysis of student's copied texts showed that various inaccuracies that were not in the original had passed into the copied version,…

Analyzes the case of a Vietnamese-speaking science student who has repeatedly failed an English competency examination that analyzes essay content, rhetorical organization, and preparation for writing. Raises questions regarding the purposes, development, and evaluation of writing competency tests. (RDS)

A corpus-based approach is used to describe types of spelling errors, concluding that there are a variety of sources for the differences in the sound system of English and the first language of the students in the study. The teaching of spelling and the inclusion of a contrastive analysis approach in English courses are advocated. (20 references)…

Studies the role played by native language transfer and task formality in the second-language acquisition of the Spanish voiced stop phonemes /b d g/ and their spirantized variants to identify specific problems affecting learners. Results indicate that native language transfer markedly inhibits acquisition of the voiced spirants. (21 references)…

Typical markup methods for providing feedback to foreign language learners are not applicable to languages not written in a strictly linear fashion. A modification of Hart's edit markup software is described, along with a second variation based on a simple edit distance algorithm adapted to a general Southeast Asian font system. (10 references)…