Addresses the effectiveness of the oral proficiency interview in assessing foreign language skills, responding to arguments regarding the logic of the interview method, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines and levels of proficiency, and the relationship between linguistic knowledge and the bases of…

The results of this study indicate that a well-designed, on-campus interview conducted by experienced English-as-a-Second-Language teachers who are given structured training in evaluating oral proficiency can be used as an alternative instrument if a standardized test like the Test of Spoken English (TSE) is not readily available. (24 references)…

This study of the automatic word and sign recognition of 66 hearing and deaf adults found that responding in sign took longer and created more Stroop interference than responding orally, independent of hearing status. Deaf subjects showed greater automaticity in recognizing signs than words, whereas hearing subjects showed greater automaticity in…

Comparison of the narratives of 16 children with word-finding problems and 16 normal children (grades 1-6) found that children with word-finding disorders did not differ in language productivity but manifested significantly more word-finding characteristics in their narratives. Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed. (Author/DB)

Rebuts the monolithic view of language in which languages are discrete entities which clash in bilingual communities by suggesting that immigrant communities tend to develop mixed vernaculars in which children may well achieve fluency in the language of the larger society. Circumstances under which such fluency does not develop are identified.…

Examines the conceptual fluency theory in second-language teaching, illustrating the concept and offering examples of its feasibility in several languages. The paper suggests that to ignore metaphor is to ignore a large segment of the native speaker's competence. It also makes suggestions for second-language teachers wishing to make conceptual…

Conversational and narrative language samples from 47 subjects with Down syndrome (ages 5 to 20) were compared with those from 47 control subjects matched for nonverbal mental age. Down syndrome children differed from controls in number of different words, in total words, in mean length of utterance, and in total utterance attempts per minute.…

A survey of 70 U.S. expatriate workers found that most learned the culture of their host country through reflective learning. Factors helping their adjustment included previous cross-cultural experience, language competence, long-term relationship with hosts, and information about the host country from both home and host sources. (Contains 29…

Addresses three issues important to second language learner output: (1) negotiation of meaning; (2) learner production; (3) and repair work. Explains the theoretical background based on research findings, and suggests ways some of these findings may be applied to classroom situations. (Author/VWL)

Although most teachers claim to practise communicative language teaching (CLT), many do not genuinely do so. In this paper, we examine some of the reasons for teachers' resistance to CLT use. We provide a theoretical analysis that focuses on one of the greatest challenges facing CLT methodology-how to promote automatic fluency within this…

This study asked whether aphasic adults show different noun/verb retrieval patterns based upon their clinical categorization as fluent or nonfluent. Participants selected either the noun or the verb meaning of target words, as presented in three contexts. The framework was that nouns (associated with temporal lobe function) are processed, stored,…

Temporal control has often been suspected to be a critical factor in intonation production. In particular, disturbance in the production of fundamental frequency (F0) associated with intonation in patients with aphasia has been attributed to a primary underlying deficit in speech timing. The present study examined the speech timing abilities of…

In two experiments, we tested for lingering effects of "verb replacement" disfluencies on the processing of garden path sentences that exhibit the main verb/reduced relative (MV/RR) ambiguity. Participants heard sentences with revisions like "The little girl chosen, uh, selected for the role celebrated with her parents and friends". We found that…

In three experiments, 18-month-olds were tested in a deferred imitation paradigm. Some infants received verbal information during the demonstration and at the time of the test (full narration), and some did not (empty narration). When tested after a 4-week delay, infants given full narration exhibited superior retention relative to infants given…

Two experiments used a magnitude estimation paradigm to test whether perception of disfluency is a function of whether the speaker and the listener stutter or do not stutter. Utterances produced by people who stutter were judged as "less fluent," and, critically, this held for apparently fluent utterances as well as for utterances…