The study looked at the effects of correction of learners' errors on learning of grammatical features. In particular, the manner of correction (explicit vs. implicit correction) was investigated. The study also focussed on the effectiveness of explicit and implicit correction of developmental early vs. developmental late features. Fifty-six…

Perceptual training was employed to characterize individual differences in non-native speech sound learning. Fifty-nine adult English speakers were trained to distinguish the Hindi dental-retroflex contrast, as well as a tonal pitch contrast. Training resulted in overall group improvement in the ability to identify and to discriminate the phonetic…

This paper considers the problems, the properties, and the prospects of using "English as a lingua franca" as a construct and as a reality. It will therefore focus on what is meant by the term "lingua franca", what is represented as a "lingua franca", and what the debates are about English as a lingua franca. The…

It is contended that much of present-day applied linguistics for language teaching (ALLT) fails to mediate effectively, primarily because an ideological construction, emanating from a critical theory perspective, is too often imposed on everyday pedagogical practices. This has resulted in an exaggerated level of concern about the power imbalances…

The present study reports the findings of an experiment on the effects of explicit information on the learning of German case markings. Fifty-nine learners of first- and second-year German received computer-based processing instruction on German accusative case marking and word order. These learners were divided into two groups: one received…

This article offers an empirically based contribution to the growing body of studies using Conversation Analysis (CA) as a tool for analyzing second/foreign language learning in and through interaction. Building on a sociointeractional view of learning as grounded in the structures of participation in social activities, we apply CA methods to…

This paper examines multiple-response sequences (MRSs), occurring in adult Korean TESOL classrooms, to show the responses produced by students in the language classroom are not always confined within the boundaries of a single response, but are likely to be seen as mutually orienting to, and collaborating to produce a comprehensible outcome to the…

Not too long ago, Wolff-Michael Roth suggested that this space might be made into a kind of open house. The author of this article wants to use Roth's suggestion to take up his own intriguing editorial on the ontology of difference. The author wants to show that the ontology of difference is nonidentical with the ontology of difference: It can be…

While agreeing with Lardiere that the "parameter-resetting" approach to understanding second language acquisition (SLA) needs rethinking, it is suggested that a more construction-based perspective runs the risk of losing deductive and explanatory power. An alternative is to investigate the constraints on feature assembly/re-assembly in second…

Lardiere suggests that second language acquisition (SLA) researchers should pay more attention to the distribution of a given feature in source and target languages, using the distribution of [plural] in English, Chinese and Korean to illustrate. I argue that the distribution of [definite] in English shows a similar complexity, and that this has…

Across the world, technology is part of the social and academic lives of students. In particular, iPods are one of the most popular forms of technology. Wikipedia, an excellent online source for information, notes that Apple has sold more than 119 million of these portable media players as of October 2007. With iPods, students can listen to, or…

This paper reports on an empirical study that examined knowledge of eventive and stative passives in the L2 Spanish grammar of L1 speakers of English. Although the two types of passive exist in English, the difference between them is not signaled in any specific way. In Spanish, in contrast, the distinction is marked by the choice of copula: "ser"…

This paper focuses on the effects of age on second language learning, specifically in foreign language settings. It begins by pointing out that the effects of learners' initial age of learning in foreign language learning settings are partially different from those in naturalistic language learning settings and, furthermore, that studies in the…

The very idea of discussing the foreign-language requirement for graduate degrees in English is enough to drive faculty members back to their offices to grade first-year composition papers. How can they bear to hear yet again the responsible and powerful arguments in favor of the requirement--and the practical arguments against it? If they have…

This paper considers the nature of second language dialogues, involving at least one non-native (L2) speaker. We assume that dialogue is characterised by a process in which interlocutors develop similar mental states to each other (Pickering & Garrod, 2004). We first consider various means in which interlocutors align their mental states, and…