Discusses research findings in relation to oral communication tasks in English. The article concludes that, although direct linkage between task type, language output, and language acquisition has not been established, informed pedagogic choices can be made using the concepts of control of information and communication goal. (22 references)…

Reports a study of first-year A-level college students studying a foreign language in southwest England. The results concern students' perceptions of the way they chose their A-level subjects and of those subjects a few weeks into the courses. Results reveal a lack of confidence among the girls despite their superior academic qualifications to the…

Examines the extent to which foreign language use should play a prominent part in a course. The article discusses subject knowledge; factors affecting students' language skills; course objectives, structure and content; student reaction to questions about tutor input and the topics appropriate for teaching in the foreign language; and perceived…

Describes the creation of a flexible and varied family-school partnership for second-language learning at a Montessori preschool. Highlights how the program provided students with an opportunity to participate in second-language learning in an optimal environment while providing parents access to home-based activities that were in concert with…

As part of a national policy to increase access to modern foreign/ second languages at the elementary level, voluntary generalist elementary teachers with some proficiency in relevant languages were provided intensive professional development in language teaching methodology with a view to heir implementing the policy in their schools. Presents…

Examines whether reading aloud in the classroom is an appropriate student-centered method of teaching reading. Describes how using this method to study Steinbeck's novel, "of Mice and Men," provides a structural, sociolinguistics, cultural, and stylistic knowledge through a combination of explanation and active engagement. (Author/VWL)

Outlines steps for selecting software for use in English-as-a-Second-Language insurrection. Steps include the following: 1) determine the goals and needs of the program, faculty, and learners; 2) narrow down the search among different options; 3) take time to evaluate the software. Provides two examples of how the process can work in different…

Examines debate over educational language policy in Botswana and Tanzania. Proposes that descriptions of classroom practice are necessary for effective educational language planning. Describes bilingual code switching and reliance on teacher-centered recitation routines. Argues that more creative and effective teaching and learning can be…

Describes a project that a middle school ESOL teacher and a university professor designed to challenge middle school ESOL students--immigrants from Bosnia and Mexico--to enhance their academic literacy through social interaction by sharing their own expertise as ESOL learners with a group of future ESOL teachers enrolled in a TESL literacy methods…

Argues that the study of second-language acquisition theory can be enhanced through time-series research designs. Within the context of investigating the effects of second-language instruction, four main reasons for using T-S design are identified. (95 references) (Author/CK)

Examines teacher-student exchanges in three content-based language classrooms. Data reveal persistent archetypal patterns of classroom interaction; teachers speak most of the time, and they initiate the majority of the exchanges by asking display questions, whereas student-initiated requests are referential. (30 references) (Author/CK)

Points out that earlier research (1991) indicates that adult second language (L2) learners have difficulties determining the relationship between obligatory verb-raising and verbal inflection. Results of the experiments reported here indicate that L2 competence includes a deficit affecting only the lexical or morphosyntactic mechanisms involved in…

Suggests second language acquisition research can help promote change in language teachers' methodological beliefs and practices. Drawing on diffusion of innovations research, an area of sociological inquiry, examines a theoretical framework for understanding change in language education, and discusses practical applications supporting…

Studies the effect of vocabulary glossing on reading comprehension in second-language learning. Findings reveal that there was a significant effect for glossing but no significant interactions between the treatment and any of the other variables, i.e., psychological type, tolerance of ambiguity, proficiency, frequency of gloss use, perceived value…

Twelve subjects in university-level beginning Japanese were interviewed bi-monthly to determine how propositional negation emerged in their interlanguage. Findings show varied negation patterns were used over time and that an ordering effect was observed in the predicate environment in which negation is acquired first.(19 references) (Author/CK)