Examined the influence of language anxiety as measured by a questionnaire on achievements in English writing and reading comprehension tasks. Subjects were native speakers of Hebrew, aged 12-13 years, learning English as a second language.(Author/VWL)

Analysis of the responses of monolingual Dutch and bilingual Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese children living in the Netherlands to word association and sorting tasks revealed no significant differences among the groups. Results of the study indicated that bilingualism does not affect cognitive-linguistic development. (22 references) (Author/VWL)

Describes issues which are common to all research methodologies and some that were unique to the assessment techniques used in the Child Development Project (CDP) in San Ramon, California. Looks at the limited amount of time given assessments and the "fluid" nature of measurements. Notes that CDP issues involved observations,…

Investigates the differential generalization of components within and across functional skills in teaching routines to eight severely retarded students. Finds large individual differences and significant main effects due to type of activity, with a tendency for the same components to generalize across routines. (FMW)

Examines strategies students use while performing a listening comprehension task and the relationship between strategy use and listening ability. Eighty-three students registered for first-, second-, third-, and fourth-semester Spanish participated. The first-semester students scored the highest and the second-semester students, the lowest on…

Two studies conducted with elementary-age children who displayed behavior problems (some with mild mental retardation) found that task preferences, task demands, and adult attention showed a positive relationship to improved behavior for some subjects. The studies were conducted in an outpatient clinic and a classroom. (Author/JDD)

Francophone learners of English as a foreign language performed metalingual and preference tasks requiring them to utilize second-language knowledge brought to mind under an aural priming activity or a written task. Results indicate important differences between recall with awareness and recall without awareness, which strongly suggests a positive…

Looks at teaching methods and the effects on student performance. Examines beginning teachers interactions with 84 nonmusic major students. Assesses components of proactive teaching and self-perceptions of success. Focuses on teacher feedback in relation to student success. Recommends professionals apply task analysis principles to music learning…

Reports on a survey of academic libraries that was conducted to supplement findings of cost studies by providing measures of efficiency and effectiveness for cataloging departments based on reported productivity, number of staff, task distribution, and quality measures including backlogs, authority control, and database maintenance. Identifies…

Examined the validity of Dulay, Burt, and Krashen's hypothesis that the use of translation as an elicitation technique in foreign or second language (L2) research artificially increases L2 learners' reliance on the mother tongue, and accordingly, the proportion of interference errors. Examined interference errors on two elicitation tasks: an…

Reviews 32 studies regarding writing in a foreign language in the United States. Focuses on research that investigates relationships between various pedagogical practices or task types assigned and the texts produced by foreign language writers. Topics addressed include exploiting grammar instruction, computer use, task type, strategy training,…

Examines the role self- and other-initiations play in providing opportunities for modified output (MO), considered important for successful second language acquisition. Native- and nonnative-speakers of English performed three tasks: picture description, opinion exchange, and decision making. Results showed both self- and other-initiations…

Background: Dyslexia is now generally acknowledged to involve difficulties in phonological processing. However, the links between reading difficulties and speech difficulties remain unclear. Method: In the present study, 17 children with speech difficulties between the ages of four and six were compared to children with a family history of…

This study examines whether aural processing of input in a situation of implicit instruction can build a knowledge base that is available for both comprehension and production tasks. Fifty-five Dutch students learned a miniature linguistic system based on Spanish. Three training conditions were compared in which noun-adjective gender agreement was…

Swain's (1985, 1995, 2000) output hypothesis states that language production is facilitative of second language (L2) learning. An important component of the output hypothesis involves "pushing" learners to produce appropriate, accurate, and complex language (Swain, 1993), which may occur when interlocutors provide learners with negative feedback…