The authority of the monolingual native speaker, unchallenged until now, has been questioned recently because of postmodern and postcolonialist trends. It is now valid to view learners of German as border-crossers between cultures, as bilingual/bicultural individuals. Ownership of the German language is neither a birthright nor an acquired right,…

Argues that the concept of "teaching method" is unlikely to disappear and explores the middle ground between a position that method is not useful in language teaching and one that recognizes some value for such a construct for the profession. (Author/VWL)

Features excerpts from selected articles that reflect major trends in English language teaching during the past 40 years. The four articles include the following: "Realistic and Real English"; "Teaching Composition to Large Classes"; "Coping with Large Classes"; and "One Step Beyond ESP: EDP." (Author/VWL)

Summarizes the content of existing websites devoted to second language research and indicates areas that need to be improved. Resources relevant to varieties of work that take place under the heading of "second language research" are analyzed and evaluated based on their utility for the researcher. (Author/VWL)

In response to Ellis (2002), which focuses on frequency in language processing, language use, and language acquisition, this article argues in favor of a role for frequency in several areas of second language acquisition, including interactional input and output and speech processing. Also discusses areas where L2 acquisition appears to proceed…

An author reacts to a series of responses written in regard to an earlier article by the author on frequency in language processing, language use, and language acquisition. Addresses a number of issues raised in the responses and concludes by emphasizing that language acquisition is a process of dynamic emergence and learners' language is a…

Discusses IN-VISION, a 5-year technology challenge grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education that supports K-12 Spanish and technology use in rural schools. (Author/VWL)

Discusses dependence and frequency data in second language acquisition research and investigates the violation of the "independent observation" assumption as well as the effect of including interaction terms in frequency data analysis. Argues in favor of using multifactorial frequency data analyses over multiple chi-squares to take into account…

Responds to an article on top-down versus bottom-up analyses of interlanguage data in second language acquisition research that argues in favor of using multifactorial frequency data analyses over multiple chi-squares to take into account dependence and interaction of the frequency data. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the question of whether inborn mechanisms underlying linguistic development include actual grammatical categories and principles or are of a more general character. Recent proposals suggest a possible convergence of views on this matter, with implications for the study of both first language acquisition and second language learning.…

Examines Tomlin and Villa's (1994) analysis of attention and Leow's (1998) attempt to operationalize this model. Argues that Leow's efforts to provide empirical support for the model fall short of that goal. (Author/VWL)

Examined whether context marked for grammatical gender can constrain the processing of homphone words in French. Homophones whose different meaning are associated with words of different genders were used in two cross-modal semantic priming experiments. (Author/VWL)

Attempts to validate a psycholinguistic model of language processing. One experiment designed to provide insight into the model is TALK, is a system developed to promote conversational fluency in non-speaking individuals. TALK, designed primarily for people with cerebral palsy and motor neuron disease. Talk is demonstrated to be a viable tool for…

Through a literary and philosophical analysis of the poem "Metaphors of a Magnifico" by Wallace Stevens, expresses the need in applied linguistics to address the individual's experience of language. Argues that applied linguistics works with idealized abstractions that sanitize and exclude the "private residue of the individual experience."…

Suggests that authentic illustrated children's books are ideal vehicles for German as a foreign language students not only for language acquisition and grammar practice but also for studying aspects of "landeskunde." Describes how picture books can be used in the German classroom for studying social and cultural issues. (Author/VWL)