Provides a description of passing for a native speaker as a form of second language (L2) ability. Discusses ethnographic research into success in second language learning and explains why other approaches tend to identify a significantly lower incidence of high-level achievement. Data suggest age of exposure to the target language is less crucial…

Examined second language learners' ability to use their second language knowledge in production, exploring form/meaning relationships. Groups of native English speakers watched video segments four times while recording their own online rendition in Spanish, viewing either repeated or different segments each time. Results indicated that task…

This study investigated the relationship between examinee proficiency and the structure of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Speaking Proficiency in English Assessment Kit (SPEAK). Specifically, using multi-group structural equation modeling, this study tested two competing hypotheses about the relationship: whether or not…

This article describes part of an investigation into the reliability and potential benefits of incorporating peer assessment into English language programmes. Undergraduate Engineering students attending a university in Hong Kong were asked to assess the English language proficiency of their peers - among other assessment criteria, such as…

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have cognitive disabilities resulting from trisomy 21. Language-learning difficulties, especially expressive language problems, are an important component of the phenotype of this population. Many individuals with DS are born into bilingual environments. To date, however, there is almost no information available…

To investigate factors that motivate Japanese high school students to read English extensively, I assessed 219 female high school students who participated in an extensive reading program for 1 academic year. The results showed that the 2 most influential factors were students' intrinsic motivation for first language (L1) reading and second…

Although most researchers recognise that the language repertoire of bilinguals can vary, few studies have tried to address variation in bilingual competence in any detail. This study aims to take a first step towards further understanding the way in which bilingual competencies can vary at the level of syntax by comparing the use of syntactic…

The purpose of this study was to identify potential general outcome indicators (GOIs) of language proficiency. Brief narratives were elicited from 45 kindergarten, first-grade, and third-grade children using single-picture scenes and a standardized protocol. Measures of language productivity, verbal fluency, and grammaticality were examined for…

This article describes the results of a study of future bilingual teachers' perspectives on the importance of Spanish, their heritage language, in their careers. The study examined the participants' experiences with Spanish throughout their education, their perceptions of the role of Spanish instruction in their teacher preparation program, and…

The native speaker still has a privileged position in English language teaching, representing both the model speaker and the ideal teacher. Non-native-speaker teachers of English are often perceived as having a lower status than their native-speaking counterparts, and have been shown to face discriminatory attitudes when applying for teaching…

While both the causes and effects of students' language learning anxiety have been a frequent focus of many investigations, few have explored anxiety in the context of upper-level language classrooms. Through a qualitative analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 21 advanced students of Spanish, this study found that, indeed, many of these…

One of the questions frequently asked in second language (L2) lexical research is how L2 learners' patterns of lexical organization compare to those of native speakers (NSs). A growing body of research addresses this question by using word association (WA) tests. However, little research has been done on the role of language proficiency in the…

Among the biggest challenges of teaching at a Christian institution of higher education is determining how best to integrate issues of faith into our teaching. Beginning level foreign language classes pose unique challenges for this integration because the students' language skills do not allow them to engage in extended discourse. Referring to…

Different speakers may pronounce the same sounds very differently, yet listeners have little difficulty perceiving speech accurately. Recent research suggests that listeners adjust their preexisting phonemic categories to accommodate speakers' pronunciations ("perceptual learning"). In some cases, these adjustments appear to reflect general…

The English immersion teaching approach adopted by SEIB of GDUFS in China was developed on the basis of the immersion theory which was originally developed in North America. Its purpose is to create a learning environment in which the students acquire knowledge in business with English as the main carrier. The adoption of this approach aims to…