Language learning and teaching – theory and practice ... · Possible teaching implication arse suggested: learners do need some informatio on grammarn , especially verb forms, largel

Language learninginstruction can best be examined in process-orientedstudies of classroom discourse. A segment of class-room interaction is microanalysed to reveal a struc-ture of classroom interaction that combines the goalsof communication and instruction. In addition, thecomprehensive analysis reveals insights into theteacher's thinking as she deals with the instructional

constraints produced by a class of intermediate stu-dents who do not share a common language back-ground. The article concludes with an evaluation ofthe effectiveness of this type of interaction for lan-guage learners. It also recommends engaging teach-ers in micro-analysis in order to improvepedagogical practices in L2 classrooms.

97-332 Vespoor, Marjolijn and Winitz, Harris (U. of Missouri). Assessment of thelexical-input approach for intermediate language learners. IRAL (Heidelberg, Germany),35,1 (1997), 61-75.

The effectiveness of lexical-field instruction wasassessed for intermediate learners of English enrolledin a 15-week university English as a second languageprogramme. In the first investigation, students wereassigned to the language laboratory to read and listento accompanying cassettes of 13 books, each ofwhich was designed to teach a common lexical field,such as walking, business, transportation, and enter-tainment. Students in the control group attendedEnglish grammar, reading, and speaking classes, butdid not take the lexical-field books. Students in the

lexical-field group showed greater language achieve-ment on the Michigan Battery Test. In the secondinvestigation, two groups of students took the lexi-cal-field books, but one group was assigned also toEnglish courses in speaking or grammar. There wasno significant difference in the language achieve-ment of the two groups as measured by the sametest. These results suggest that lexical-field instruc-tion is an effective procedure for teaching generallanguage knowledge through the meaning system.

97-333 Watts, Noel (Massey U., New Zealand). A learner-based design model forinteractive multimedia language learning packages. System (Oxford), 25,1 (1997), 1-8.

In this article an examination is made of the designfeatures of interactive multimedia packages for lan-guage learning. Different approaches may beemployed in the design of interactive multimediapackages. Design models which follow technology-driven approaches are dominated by hardware con-siderations. Learner-based design models, however,focus on the needs of users and seek to utilise to themaximum the technological resources available forlearning purposes. This leads to the discussion of

possible components of a design model for interac-tive multimedia programs appropriate to up-to-datelanguage learning requirements. Each of these com-ponents is examined and the implications for pro-gram design are highlighted. The conclusionadvanced is that the potential of interactive multi-media for language learning is high but that to realisethis potential designers will need to break with thetechnology-driven models of the past and develop amore learner-based orientation.

Language learning97-334 Amer, Aly A. (Sultan Qaboos U., Oman). The effect of the teacher's readingaloud on the reading comprehension of EFL students. ELT Journal (Oxford), 51, 1 (1997),43-7.

Although reading aloud receives considerableemphasis in English as a first language, it is tradition-ally discouraged by English as a foreign language(EFL) teachers and methodology specialists. Thisarticle suggests that reading aloud is particularlyimportant for EFL learners at the early stage of learn-ing. Beginning readers tend to read word by word.Reading aloud helps them read larger semantic unitsrather than focusing on graphic cues. The purpose ofthis study was to investigate the effect of theteacher's reading aloud on the reading comprehen-

sion of EFL students reading a story. 75 students par-ticipated in the study. The experimental group had astory read aloud to them by the teacher, whereas thecontrol group read the story silently. Two dependentmeasures were used: a multiple-choice test and astory frame test. Results showed that the experimen-tal group outperformed the control group on bothmeasures. This indicated that reading aloud by theteacher may have a significant positive effect onlearners' reading comprehension.

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Language learning and teaching

97-335 Araujo Carreira, Maria Helena (U. of Paris III). Indices linguistiques et con-struction du sens: une etude exploratoire de I'activite de lecture des sujets francophonesen portugais. [Linguistic indicators and construction of meaning: how French speakersread Portuguese.] Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee (Paris), 104 (1996), 411-20.

This paper reports a study which tested the assump-tion that speakers of one or more Romance lan-guages are at an advantage when attempting to readand understand material written in another,unknown Romance language. A group of nineFrench speakers (four knowing only French and fivewith another Romance language in addition) wereasked to read a newspaper story in Portuguese, a lan-guage new to them, and to summarise the mainevents while 'thinking aloud', in order to reveal the

approach and strategies they were using to try andunderstand the text. Results showed that the twogroups used different interpretive strategies. Furtherexperiment into ways of assisting comprehension iscalled for so that effective materials for teachingreading of an unknown neighbour language can beproduced. [An appendix includes the text of thenewspaper article used in the experiment togetherwith a chronology of the events contained in it.]

97-336 Bakunas, Boris (National Louis U.). Promoting idea production by novicewriters through the use of discourse-related prompts. Applied Psycholinguistics(Cambridge), 17, 4 (1996), 385-400.

This study asked whether exposure to discourse ele-ments affects idea production in novice writers.Different types of prompts were given to 127 high-school subjects following the cessation of produc-tion. One prompt, termed contentless, was purelymotivational; the other, a discourse prompt, con-veyed a motivational message as well as informationabout the discourse structure of the problem/solu-

tion text. Subjects given discourse prompts gener-ated significandy more idea units than those giventhe purely motivational variety. Also, subjects in thediscourse-prompting condition spent more timegenerating ideas. The results held across topic inter-est and achievement levels, suggesting that instruc-tion in discourse elements may prove beneficial.

97-337 Bartelt, Guillermo (California State U.). The ethnography of second languageproduction. IRAL (Heidelberg, Germany), 35,1 (1997), 23-35.

This paper is an ethnographic exploration of theprocesses that underlie second language (L2) pro-duction as perceived by L2 learners themselves,based on an analysis of introspective post-hoc writtenaccounts by learners of English as a second language(ESL). These non-scientific mental representations,or folk models, are naive, but they may play a crucialrole in L2 production and comprehension, and maytherefore impact on pedagogy. The pervasive anal-ogy with which the subjects of this study operatedwas one of high speed translation (a process with a

clearly linear sequence), together with a subcompo-nent of conscious grammatical rule application.Current American ESL teaching methods do notmatch this mental framework of translation andgrammatical monitoring, and may be at odds withlearners' expectations. The author concludes that,since empirical evidence is lacking to support theadequacy of communicative approaches, mental folkmodels are worthy of consideration in pedagogicalcontexts.

97-338 Bouchard, Robert (U. Lumiere-Lyon 2). Competence argumentative et pro-duction ecrite en langue etrangere et maternelle. [Argument skill and the production ofwritten texts by non-native and native speakers.] Langue Frangaise (Paris), 112 (1996),89-105.

This paper, part of a larger study into the pragmatic ment by French NNSs. Two adult French NNSsand discursive competence of non-native speakers were given a collective essay-writing task. The text(NNSs), examines the construction of written argu- they produced, together with the transcript of their

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Language learningdiscussions in French around the writing process, iscompared to similar data from two native Frenchspeakers. It is demonstrated that the NNSs have ahigh level of competence in oral argument and usecomplex argument metadiscourse, but that this com-petence is not reflected in the written product.They fail to reread and revise their written text,which consists of a series of unconnected phrasesrather than showing evidence of construction of anargument superstructure. The native speakers use

many more connectors and frame their argument inan introduction. The paper suggests that NNSs' dif-ficulties in producing a written argument are not dueto a lack of skills in argument, rather that the transi-tion to a second language destabilises their technicalabilities. It is further suggested that native speakerscan draw on cultural models of 'good' written argu-ment acquired through the education process, whichare not available to NNSs.

97-339 Carrasco Perea, Encarnacion (U. Stendhal, Grenoble). Pour une optimisationdes liens de parente a I'interieur du triangle frangais-catalan-espagnol dans uneapproche didactique de la comprehension ecrite du Catalan. [Using the similaritiesbetween French, Catalan and Spanish in the teaching of Catalan reading comprehen-sion.] Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee (Paris), 104 (1996), 503-12.

Twenty French-speaking students, of whom ten hadonce studied Spanish, were asked to read a text inCatalan, an unknown language (cognate with androughly equidistant from French and Spanish), andwere then asked questions about it. The generalcomprehension scores of the two groups were, sur-prisingly, almost the same, but the former Spanishlearners were much better at recognising cognates

and avoiding 'false friends'. Detailed reasons aresuggested, including the effects of neighbouringwords, and orthographical and grammatical similari-ties between Spanish and Catalan. Older theories oflanguage transfer, which focused entirely on produc-tion, are revealed as inadequate to explain compre-hension.

97-340 Degache, Christian (U. Stendhal, Grenoble). La reflexion 'meta' de lecteursfrancophones confrontes a I'asynchronie narrative d'un fait divers en espagnol. ['Meta-reflection' by French-speaking readers faced with non-chronological narrative in aSpanish newspaper report.] Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee (Paris), 104 (1996),479-90.

Six pairs of French-speaking readers were asked toread a Spanish newspaper report and put events inchronological order. Three pairs had had a shortcourse in reading skills, the others formed a controlgroup. Each pair was left alone with a tape-recorderto think aloud and discuss their answers, thenexplain them to a researcher. The tapes wereanalysed to show the reasoning used. Broadly speak-ing, the control group relied more on lexical and

grammatical clues, and sometimes made incorrectgeneralisations; the experimental group were rathermore flexible and open-minded in their expectationsand made more use of ideas about text structure.Possible teaching implications are suggested: learnersdo need some information on grammar, especiallyverb forms, largely for reassurance, but the mainfocus should be on the structure and logic of a text.

97-341 DeKeyser, Robert M. and Sokalski, Karl J. (U. of Pittsburgh). The differentialrole of comprehension and production practice. Language Learning (Cambridge, MA),46,4(1996), 613-42.

This article presents a replication of experiments byVanPatten and Cadierno in 1993, which found thatinput practice is better than output practice for com-prehension skills and no worse than output practicefor production skills in a second language (Spanish).It is argued that these findings are at variance withpredictions of skill acquisition theory, and that the

results may be due to the specific second languagestructures used, as well as to some imperfections inthe research design. The present authors' results with82 first-year Spanish as a second language studentsindicate that the relative effectiveness of productionversus comprehension practice depends on the mor-phosyntatic complexity of the structure in question,

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Language learning and teaching

as well as on the delay between practice and testing.The findings basically reflect the predictions of skillacquisition theory that input practice is better forcomprehension skills, and output practice for pro-

duction skills, but these patterns are obscured whenboth testing time and the morphosyntatic nature ofthe structure in question favour one skill or theother.

97-342 Deprez, Christine (U. Paris V). Talking about oneself, talking about one'sbilingualism: interviewing learners and bilinguals about their lives and life-stories. Aile(Paris), 7 (1996), 155-80.

Recent work on bilingualism and on languageacquisition and learning has shown the importanceof a holistic approach to the learner, in which theindividual's background and discourse are docu-mented and analysed. This article discusses, criticallyappraises and illustrates the value and use of theautobiographical interview as an instrument forobtaining such data. Three very different interviews

are presented (with an Indian student, a Turkishhousewife and a Cambodian teenage refugee) andtheir accounts are subjected to textual analyseswhich make it possible to identify and examine anumber of socio-psychological factors influencingself-image, including motivations, value-judgementsand emotions, and the way they relate to languageand language learning.

97-343 Derwing, Tracey M. (U. of Alberta) and Munro, Murray J. (Simon Fraser U) .Accent, intelligibility, and comprehensibility: evidence from four L1s. Studies in SecondLanguage Acquisition (New York), 19, 1 (1997), 1-16.

This study was designed to extend previous researchon the relationships among intelligibility, perceivedcomprehensibility, and accentedness. Accent andcomprehensibility ratings of transcriptions ofaccented speech from Cantonese, Japanese, Polishand Spanish intermediate English as a second lan-guage students were obtained from 26 native Englishlisteners. The listeners were also asked to identify thefirst language backgrounds of the same talkers and toprovide information on their familiarity with the

four accents used in this study. When the results ofthis study were compared with the authors' earlierstudy of learners of high proficiency, speaker pro-ficiency level did not appear to affect the quasi-independent relationships among intelligibility,perceived comprehensibility, and accentedness;however, the relative contributions of grammaticaland phonemic errors and goodness of prosody dif-fered somewhat. Ability to identify the speakers' firstlanguages was influenced by familiarity.

97-344 Dewaele, Jean-Marc (Birkbeck Coll., U. of London). Variation dans la composi-tion lexical des styles oraux. [Variation in the lexical composition of oral styles.] IRAL(Heidelberg, Germany), 34, 4 (1996), 261-82.

This study seeks to show that variation in the com-position of the lexicon at token-level between moreand less formal oral styles is identical to the variationbetween written and oral discourse. It is argued herethat speakers deictically anchor their utterances in anon-linguistic spatio-temporal context, and that thedegree of context-dependence is reflected in the

composition of the lexicon. More informal styleswill be characterised by a higher proportion of pro-nouns, verbs and adverbs which are deictal words parexcellence. An analysis of advanced French interlan-guage data revealed an amount of interindividualvariation that correlates with the subject's degree ofextroversion.

97-345 Gajo, Laurent and others (U. of Neuchatel). La pluralite des contextes et deslangues: une approche interactionnelle de I'acquisition. [Multiple contexts and multi-lingualism: an interactional approach to acquisition.] Bulletin Suisse de LinguistiqueAppliquee (Neuchatel, Switzerland), 64 (1996), 61-86.

This paper seeks to show that language learningtakes place in many different contexts both in andout of the school situation, and calls for a socially-sit-

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uated conceptualisation of second language acquisi-tion. The study is based on the micro-interactionalanalysis of recordings of around 50 pre-adolescent

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Language learningPortuguese migrants in Neuchatel, in three differentsituations: in the language classroom (French andGerman classes), in interviews with the researcher,and in peer-group interaction. Analysis of theserecordings demonstrates the variety of contexts inwhich language learning takes place, and shows theimportant role of the social actors themselves in con-structing these contexts. Successful communicationand learning are demonstrated in the multilingualsituation through actors' creative use of the differentlanguages available to them, and it is suggested that

bilingualism should be seen as neither an advantagenor a problem, rather as a potential resource forlearning to be exploited when the situation allows.The study concludes that teachers and studentsshould be trained to be open to the multiple possi-bilities for language learning in different situations,and to be reflexive about their own roles in con-structing these situations, in order to maximiseopportunities for language learning in and out of theclassroom.

97-346 Gajo, Laurent (U. of Neuchatel). Le bilingue romanophone face a une nou-velle langue romane: un atout bilingue double d'un atout roman? [Does a Romance lan-guage bilingual confronted by another Romance language enjoy a double advantage?]Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee (Paris), 104 (1996), 431^0.

This article reports on a study designed to test thehypothesis that Romance bilinguals (i.e. bilingualspeakers of two Romance languages) and mixedbilinguals (i.e. bilingual speakers with only oneRomance language) would adopt different strategiesin order to understand and acquire an unknownRomance language. A mixed group of monolingualand bilingual French speakers were tested on theircomprehension of an Italian newspaper article, andwere interviewed about the strategies they used.

The results showed that, while the bilinguals weremarkedly more successful than the monoglots, theRomance bilinguals were only marginally superiorto the mixed bilinguals, the latter relying more ontheir strategic competence and the former makinggreater use of their linguistic competence. It is sug-gested that ways be found to develop and maximisethe strategic competence of learners. [An Appendixincludes the guidelines for the interview.]

97-347 Gombert, Jean-Emile (U. Bourgogne-LEAD-CNRS). Metalinguistic processesand language acquisition. Aile (Paris), 8 (1996), 41 -55.

This article concentrates on terminological and cax-onomic problems involved in the investigation ofmetalinguistic activities, which are regarded as a sub-set of metacognitive processes operating at differentlevels of language, including phonology, semanticsand syntax. With respect to language, three types ofmetacognitive processes are identified, includingprc-symbolic conditioned responses, out-of-con-sciousness cognitive management processes (i.e.epilinguistic behaviours such as self-repair), and con-

scious reflective processes giving rise to self-referringknowledge about language. This metalinguisticknowledge of language structures and systems is sup-plemented by meta-textual or pragmatic processeswhich relate language to context of use. Althoughepilinguistic control is a prerequisite, it is suggestedthat the acquisition of metalinguistic competencelargely depends on cultural factors, in particular theinstitutionalised teaching and learning of the writtenlanguage.

97-348 Griffin, Gerry (Bournemouth U.) and Harley, Trevor A. (U. of Warwick). Listlearning of second language vocabulary. Applied Psycholinguistics (Cambridge), 17,4(1996), 443-60.

The learning of second language vocabulary in listsof word pairs is a widespread practice. A basic practi-cal question in this respect is whether it is moreeffective for nonfluent bilinguals to learn word pairsin first language-second language order (L1-L2), orvice versa. To date, experimental psychology has notgiven a clear answer to this question, partly becauseit has not addressed the relevant issues directly. Thisarticle reviews some aspects of psychology that arerelevant to L2 vocabulary list learning and reports on

an experiment conducted with comprehensive(high) school students, aged 11-13, who were learn-ing French. The experiment examined the presenta-tion of vocabulary items to be learned. It was foundthat presenting items in L1-L2 order was the moreversatile form of presentation if both production andcomprehension of L2 items were required on thepart of the learner. The theoretical implications ofthe findings, relating to the structure of the bilinguallexicon, are also discussed.

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Language learning and teaching

97-349 Gu, Yongqi (Hong Kong Inst. of Ed.) and Johnson, Robert Keith (U. of HongKong). Vocabulary learning strategies and language learning outcomes. Language Learning(Cambridge, MA), 46, 4 (1996), 643-79.

The aim of the research reported here was to estab-lish the vocabulary learning strategies used byChinese university learners of English and the rela-tionship between their strategies and outcomes inlearning English. 850 sophomore non-Englishmajors at Beijing Normal University were asked tocomplete a vocabulary learning questionnaire.Replies were correlated with results on a vocabularysize test and on the College English Test(CETBAND2). Participants reported using a widevariety of vocabulary learning strategies. In a multi-ple regression analysis, Self-Initiation and SelectiveAttention, two metacognitive strategies, emerged aspositive predictors of CETBAND2 scores.

Contextual guessing, skilful use of dictionaries, note-taking, paying attention to word formation, contex-tual encoding, and activation of newly learnedwords also positively correlated with the two testscores. However, visual repetition of new words wasthe strongest negative predictor of both vocabularysize and general proficiency. Furthermore, strategiesaiming at vocabulary retention only related more tovocabulary size than to English proficiency. Fiveapproaches to learning were identified. These strat-egy combinations, rather than individual strategies,may have made the difference in these people'slearning.

97-350 Hird, Bernard (Edith Cowan U., Western Australia). The incompatible objec-tives of groupwork in FL learning: a study of Chinese-English codeswitching. Language,Culture and Curriculum (Clevedon), 9, 2 (1996), 163-75.

The pedagogical assumptions underlying the use ofgroupwork in teaching English as a foreign language(EFL) are examined. It is argued that the practice,which derives from a monolingual setting, underes-timates the complex dynamics of code-switchingbetween target language and mother-tongue in lan-guage learning. In particular, it is argued that it maybe counterproductive to attempt to force the targetlanguage on personal, pragmatic communicationsbetween learners as they attempt to negotiate andmanage their own learning. A tapescript of adultChinese learners of English in a small group discus-

sion showed that limited competence in the targetlanguage was rarely the reason for a switch fromEnglish to Chinese. Rather, the switches had a defi-nite function in the negotiation and management ofthe discussion. Five categories of code-switch aredistinguished, each with a different organisationalfunction. The paper concludes that the primary roleof small group discussion FL learning should be inthe development of collaborative learning strategiesin the mastery of content rather than interpersonalcommunication in the target language.

97-351 Hoadley-Maidment, Elizabeth (The Open U., UK). From 'story' to argument:the acquisition of academic writing skills in an open-learning context. Language andEducation (Clevedon), 11,1 (1997), 55-68.

This paper examines the acquisition of academicwriting skills by adult students studying by distancelearning. A pilot study was carried out with studentsstarting study in social sciences or arts and humani-ties with the Open University (UK). The studyfocused on student perceptions of learning academicwriting skills measured through interviews and ques-tionnaires. These were compared with tutor feed-back comments on the students' essays. Analysis ofthe data indicated that, while the experience of

Open University students is in many ways similar tothat of all university students, the text-based natureof distance learning is an important variable. Thisaffects both the way in which students acquire writ-ing skills and the development of their identity asacademic writers. Variations in the discourse of theacademic subjects studied in multi-disciplinarycourses also affected the learning process, with dif-ferences being found between the arts and humani-ties students and social science students.

97-352 Koda, Keiko (Carnegie Mellon U.). L2 word recognition research: a criticalreview. The Modern Language Journal (Madison, Wl) 80, 4 (1996), 450-60.

The major purpose of this paper is to explore con-ceptual syntheses that advance second language (L2)

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word recognition research and, in so doing, uncovernew agendas relating to cross-linguistic examinations

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Language learningof L2 processing. The paper fint describes connec-tions between word recognition and reading and thespecific ways in which efficient word recognitioncontributes to comprehension performance. It thenprovides a brief overview of the connectionist con-struct and an expanded consideration of word recog-nition skills development from this vantage point.

inFurther, it illustrates cross-linguistic variationsword recognition processes by comparing and con-trasting response patterns among readers in differentorthographic systems. Finally, the paper exploresconceptual frameworks for L2 word recognition,through which ongoing L2 empirical studies aresubsequently examined.

97-353 Kuhlemeier, Hans (Nat. Inst. for Ed. Measurement, Arnhem) and others.Attitudes and achievements in the first year of German language instruction in Dutchsecondary education. The Modern Language Journal (Madison, Wl), 80, 4 (1996),494-508.

This article reports a study of the relationshipbetween students' attitudes towards the subject ofGerman, the course material, and the teacher, andstudents' achievements in German as a foreign lan-guage. Attitudes and achievements were measured atthe beginning and end of the first year of German(i.e., the second year of Dutch secondary school). Asexpected, students who had a positive attitude rated

higher in achievement than those having negativeattitudes, both at the beginning and at the end of theschool year. Direct (causal) effects of students' atti-tudes on achievement (and vice versa) could not beestablished. Students enrolled in a communicativecourse had a more positive attitude toward theircourse material than those studying in a grammati-cally oriented course.

97-354 Lankamp, R. (U. of Leiden). The effects of social-contextual factors on thequality and quantity of apprehension in EAP writing. UNESCO ALSED-LSP Newsletter(Copenhagen), 19, 2 (1996), 22-30.

The study of writing apprehension may yield a bet-ter understanding of the personal factors whichinfluence writing. Little research has been carriedout on whether writing apprehension is largely thesame across social contexts. This study examineswhether social context has any effect on the qualityand quantity of writing apprehension in English forAcademic Purposes (EAP). Subjects were 145 first-year student writers, all of whom were Dutchnative-speakers in their fint year of EAP at fourDutch universities. Information on levels of writingapprehension and associated factors was obtained bymeans of a questionnaire based on the Horwitz

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale.Multiple linear regression analyses were used toidentify differences in levels of apprehension and incontributory factors. Results suggested that socialcontext has a relatively weak effect on levels of EAPwriting apprehension and factors affecting suchapprehension. No significant differences in levels ofwriting apprehension were observed across the sam-ples. Worries about proficiency appeared to be themost important factor affecting writing apprehen-sion. Possible explanations for these results are dis-cussed, and it is suggested that type of instructionmay have some effect on writing apprehension.

97-355 Lantolf, James P. (Cornell U.). Review article: SLA theory building: 'Letting allthe flowers bloom!' Language Learning (Cambridge, MA), 46, 4 (1996), 713-49.

This article presents a postmodernist critical analysisof the second language acquisition (SLA) theorybuilding-literature as primarily represented in thewritings of Beretta, Crookes, Eubank, Gregg, Long,and to some extent Schumann. It is argued that thereis no foundational reason to grant privileged status tothe modernist view of SLA theory these scholars

espouse; and that scientific theories are metaphoricalconstructs which are elevated to theoretical statusbecause they are 'taken seriously' by their develop-ers. All of which argues against cutting off anywould-be SLA theory before it has the opportunityto be taken seriously (i.e. to bloom).

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Language learning and teaching97-356 Li, Shuyun and Munby, Hugh (Queen's U.). Metacognitive strategies in sec-ond language academic reading: a qualitative investigation. English for SpecificPurposes (Oxford), 15, 3 (1996), 199-216.

This paper adds to the growing literature on sec-ond language reading of specialised academic mater-ial. It reports on a qualitative investigation designedto provide a concrete picture of the metacognitivestrategies used by English as a second language (ESL)students in their academic reading. Two Chinesegraduate students participated in the study for overtwo months each. Analyses of the data, which weregathered by in-depth interviews, think-aloud ses-sions, and journals, revealed ESL academic reading

to be a very deliberate, demanding and complexprocess in which the students actively invoked arepertoire of metacognitive strategies drawn fromvarious sources. They shared the profiles of compe-tent readers in both first and second language. Thedata also suggested that the participants were quiteaware of their cognitive process in reading, and wereable to verbalise the strategies they used. The impli-cations for ESL teaching and research are discussed.

97-357 Lightbown, Patsy M. (Concordia U.) and Spada, Nina (McGill U.). LearningEnglish as a second language in a special school in Quebec. The Canadian ModernLanguage Review (Toronto, Ont), 53, 2 (1997), 315-55.

A number of schools in Quebec offer intensiveEnglish as a Second Language (ESL) classes inFrench language schools. In most of these, francoph-one students have full-day ESL classes, every day forfive months of one school year. In the remainingfive months, they complete the other subject matterfor their grade level. In the 'special school' describedin this study, all students are in Grade 6 and all areintensive ESL classes. Students use English in a vari-ety of communicative interactions, both inside and

outside the ESL classroom, throughout the schoolyear. Students' English language performance wasassessed: little difference was found between thosewhose intensive ESL course was in the autumn orwinter terms. Results suggest that the 'ambientEnglish' in this school permits students to achievehigher levels of English than comparable students inintensive ESL courses in schools where English isspoken only in the ESL classroom.

97-358 Lin, Yue-Hong (U. of Tamkong) and Hedgcock, John (Monterey Inst. ofInternat. Studies). Negative feedback incorporation among high-proficiency and low-proficiency Chinese-speaking learners of Spanish. Language Learning (Cambridge, MA),46,4(1996), 567-611.

Recent investigations of metalinguistic input havefocused on processes in which learners incorporatenative speaker-generated feedback; evidence of theinfluence of metalinguistic feedback, however,remains inconclusive. This study, based on conversa-tional data, analyses the incorporation patterns offour well-educated but low proficiency Chineseimmigrants to Spain and four high-proficiencyChinese university students with extensive formaltraining in Spanish. Analyses revealed striking differ-

ences in the detection of ungrammaticality and innegative feedback incorporation. Whereas the fouruniversity students evinced awareness of error andsuccessfully incorporated native speakers' correc-tions, the four immigrants manifested little sensitiv-ity to negative feedback, suggesting that theirinterlanguage systems were closed to further modifi-cation. Results indicate that the internalisation ofnegative feedback may depend upon learners' meta-lingual receptivity.

97-359 Little, David (Trinity Coll., Dublin). Learner autonomy: some steps in theevolution of theory and practice. Teanga (Dublin), 16(1996), 1-13.

This article explores the concept of autonomy insecond language learning by tracing some steps inthe evolution of theory and practice. The first sec-tion relates Holec's definition of learner autonomy

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to self-instruction in language learning, while thesecond section describes a successful attempt to pro-mote autonomous learning in a school classroom.The third section then elaborates a theory of learner

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Language learningautonomy designed to apply equally to these twovery different kinds of language learning. The fourthsection describes how the theory is currently beingapplied to language learning projects in the Centre

for Language and Communication Studies (CLCS),Trinity College, Dublin. Finally, the conclusionbriefly suggests how the theory of learner autonomymight be further explored and elaborated.

97-360 Lyster, Roy (McGill U.) and Ranta, Leila (Concordia U.). Corrective feedbackand learner uptake: negotiation of form in communicative classrooms. Studies in SecondLanguage Acquisition (New York), 19,1 (1997), 37-66.

This article presents a study of corrective feedbackand learner uptake (i.e. responses to feedback) infour immersion classrooms at the primary level.Transcripts totalling 18.3 hours of classroom interac-tion taken from 14 subject-matter lessons and 13French language arts lessons were analysed using amodel developed for the study and comprising thevarious moves in an error treatment sequence.Results include the frequency and distribution of thesix different feedback types used by the four teach-

ers, in addition to the frequency and distribution ofdifferent types of learner uptake following eachfeedback type. The findings indicate an overwhelm-ing tendency for teachers to use recasts in spite of thelatter's ineffectiveness at eliciting student-generatedrepair. Four other feedback types - elicitation, met-alinguistic feedback, clarification requests, and repe-tition - lead to student-generated repair moresuccessfully and are thus able to initiate what theauthors characterise as the negotiation of form.

97-361 Malheiros-Poulet, Maria-Eugenia (U. Lumiere Lyon). La lecture commereformulation a differents niveaux du message textuel. [Reading as reformulation atdifferent levels of the textual message.] Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee (Paris), 104(1996), 451-60.

Eight French-speaking learners of Portuguese atbeginner level were asked to read and summarise aPortuguese newspaper text. Their answers wereanalysed for correct and incorrect elements at vari-ous levels of textual organisation: illocutionaryintention, narrator identity and stance, sequentialorganisation, word-level cohesion, etc. All subjectsunderstood some features of the text, but most alsomade serious errors. Some subjects, after achieving a

degree of global comprehension, relied too much ona story schema already familiar to them ('Baby dieswhen Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusion'),and thus misunderstood some important points. It issuggested that, while research of this type can iden-tify different levels in the comprehension process,longitudinal studies of individual learners are alsoneeded to guide a teaching programme.

97-362 Mason, Beniko (Internat. Buddhist U., Osaka) and Krashen, Stephen (U. ofSouthern California). Extensive reading in English as a foreign language. System(Oxford), 25, 1 (1997), 91-102.

This paper reports three experiments which theauthors cite as confirming the value of extensivereading in English as a foreign language (EFL). Inextensive reading, students do self-selected readingwith only minimal accountability, writing brief sum-maries or comments on what they have read. InExperiment 1, 'reluctant' EFL students at the uni-versity level in Japan did extensive reading for onesemester. They began the semester far behind tradi-tionally taught comparison students on a cloze test,but nearly caught them up by the end of the semes-ter. In Experiment 2, extensive readers outper-

formed traditionally taught students at both a presti-gious university and a two-year college. InExperiment 3, extensive readers who wrote sum-maries in English made significantly better gains on acloze test than a comparison class that devoted agreat deal of time to cloze exercises. Gains made byextensive readers who wrote in Japanese weregreater than comparisons, but the difference was notsignificant. Those who wrote in Japanese, however,made gains superior to both groups on a measure ofwriting and in reading speed.

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Language learning and teaching97-363 Mauranen, Anna (U. of Joensuu, Finland). Discourse awareness and non-native speakers of English. Zeitschrift fur Fremdsprachenforschung (Bochum,Germany), 7, 2(1996), 137-53.

Everyday language awareness is typically based onlay concepts, with some overtones from educationalsystems, and is characteristically ethnocentric. Yetresearch suggests that language and thought, includ-ing discourse patterns, are culture-specific. In cross-cultural encounters, implicit assumptions aboutlanguage can give rise to cultural clashes, or moresubdy to tacit disadvantaging of foreign-language(L2) speakers, including those with a good commandof the L2. This paper reports the exploration ofthese issues in a study of exchange students in their

foreign and domestic universities, based on inter-views and participant observation, which focused onthe way students and teachers see language at uni-versity, including students' problems and strengths.It is shown that people hold two fundamentally dif-ferent notions of language, one resembling a tradi-tional lexico-grammatical view, the other a morelayman-like notion of discourse. Moreover, the twouniversity systems show striking differences ingenres, but this is ignored by teachers to the dis-advantage of foreign students.

97-364 Moore, Daniele (Ecole Normale Superieure de Fontenay/Saint-Ctoud). Boueestranscodiques en situation immersive ou comment interagir avec deux langues quand onapprend une langue etrangere a I'ecole. [Codeswitching lifebelts for an immersion situa-tion or how to interact in two languages when learning a foreign language in school.] Aile(Paris), 7 (1996), 95-121.

Use of the mother-tongue (LI) in immersion classesis often viewed negatively; this paper suggests thatthe pupils' use of LI, when interacting with theteacher, functions as a distress signal, eliciting teacherstrategies which aid acquisition. Using extracts from20 hours of video data from French immersionclasses for Spanish 5-year-olds, three research ques-tions are addressed. How do learners introduce LI insecond language (L2) utterances? How do teachersreact to requests for permission to operate bilin-gually? What means do teachers adopt to guidelearners towards potential acquisition progress?Analysis of three teachers interacting with theirclasses shows that learners rarely move into a bilin-

gual mode without first seeking permission to breakthe rules of the unilingual immersion classroom. Itsuggests that there are two distinct ways of managingthese cries for help. 'Relay codeswitching' con-tributes more directly to the co-construction of adiscourse: the teacher accepts the pupil's contribu-tion in LI and continues the conversation in thepupils' L2 without commenting linguistically.'Springboard codeswitching' involves linguisticfocus on the part of the teacher: the pupil's contribu-tion in LI is accepted but attention is focused on themissing language; this is seen as contributing moredirectly to the process of language acquisition.

97-365 Nicoladis, Elena and Genesee, Fred (McGill U.). Word awareness in secondlanguage learners and bilingual children. Language Awareness (Clevedon), 5, 2 (1996),80-90.

It has often been claimed that early bilingualism con-fers some cognitive advantages on children, includ-ing enhanced word awareness. Evidence for thehypothesis has been mixed. Some studies haveshown enhanced word awareness in bilingual chil-dren, while others have not. The present studyexamined word awareness in 4-year-old children,

comparing bilinguals and second language learnerswith monolingual children. The study controlled formany of the methodological problems in previousstudies, including the possibility of enhanced wordawareness due to early reading. The results suggestthat experience with a second language does notpromote word awareness at this age.

97-366 Parry, Kate (City U. of New York). Culture, literacy, and L2 reading. TESOLQuarterly (Alexandria, VA), 30, 4 (1996), 665-92.

This article examines the relationship between cul-tural membership and individual language learning

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behaviour, a relationship that has so far beenaddressed chiefly through questionnaire research

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Language learningaimed at documenting different cultural groups'learning styles. This article suggests an alternativeapproach which aims to be more insightful byfocusing on a narrower range of behaviour — i.e. sec-ond language (L2) reading strategies - and a definedset of literacy-related practices. Research on thesetwo areas is first briefly reviewed, and data are thenpresented on the strategies for English academicreading tasks used by two quite different groups: sec-ondary school students in northern Nigeria and uni-versity graduates in China. Their strategies werestrikingly different: the Nigerian students showed a

marked preference for top-down methods of solvingcomprehension problems, while the Chinese stu-dents reported a strong tendency to use bottom-upones. These strategies are then related to the differ-ent language backgrounds and experiences of liter-acy of the two groups of students. It is concludedthat cultural background is an important factor in theformation of individual reading strategies, but thatthis should not lead to a simple cultural determinism;individual variation must always be acknowledged,as well as the fact that both individuals and culturesmay change in the very process of L2 learning.

97-367 Preston, Dennis R. (Michigan State U.). Whaddayaknow?: The modes of folklinguistic awareness. Language Awareness (Clevedon), 5, 1 (1996), 40-74.

A common approach to language awareness isthrough the contrast between folk and scientificknowledge, the former usually getting brief atten-tion and being assigned little value. This paperargues that the folk awareness of language may becharacterised in several different ways, having to dowith a wide variety of linguistic characterisations(e.g. overt 'availability', 'degree of accuracy', abilityto 'control' language varieties, and the level of speci-ficity of folk knowledge). Only the second of thesehas to do directly with the folk versus linguist

dichotomy, although cognitive constraints on whatnon-linguists 'usually' know are important factors.More important, however, at least for speakers ofAmerican English, are the constraints imposed bynotions of language 'correctness'. In addition, folklinguistics is shown here to be a dynamic area ofstudy, perhaps best uncovered by the analysis ofongoing discourses about language in speech com-munities. Finally, the value of folk linguistic aware-ness for both its scientific merit and its importance toapplied concerns is briefly discussed.

97-368 Prince, Peter (U. of Provence). Second language vocabulary learning: the roleof context versus translations as a function of proficiency. The Modern Language Journal(Madison, Wl), 80, 4 (1996), 478-93.

A widespread view of vocabulary learning is that it isadvisable to make the shift away from learningwords with their translations and to rely on secondlanguage (L2) context as soon as possible. Such faithin context learning has not always received experi-mental support, however, nor is it commonly sharedby L2 learners. An experiment in which subjectswere tested on their recall of newly learned wordswas conducted to determine the relative advantagesand disadvantages of both context learning and

translation learning as a function of learner profi-ciency. The subjects were 48 university studentswho had been studying English for between five andeight yean. Results reveal a superiority of translationlearning in terms of quantity, but an inability on thepart of weaker learners to transfer their knowledgeinto L2 contexts. The possible reasons for this arediscussed, and it is suggested that alternative learningstrategies that combine the advantages of the twotechniques should be explored.

97-369 Schmitt, Norbert (U. of Nottingham) and Meara, Paul (U. of Wales,Swansea). Researching vocabulary through a word knowledge framework: wordassociations and verbal suffixes. Studies in Second Language Acquisition (New York),19,1 (1997), 17-36.

This study examines how two types of word knowl-edge, word associations and grammatical suffixknowledge, change over time both receptively andproductively. 95 secondary and post-secondaryJapanese students were tested on three word associa-tions and inflectional and derivational suffixes for

each of 20 verbs, once near the beginning of theiracademic year and once near the end. The resultsshowed their average vocabulary gain was 330words. The students showed rather poor knowledgeof the allowable suffixes for the verbs, especially thederivative suffixes. Likewise, the subjects did not

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Language learning and teachingshow very good mastery of the verbs' word associa-tions. Even for verbs rated as known, the students asa group were able to produce only about 50% of theword associations possible on the test as judged bynative speaker norms. Word association knowledge

and suffix knowledge were shown to correlate witheach other and with total vocabulary size. The sub-jects overall had from 19 to 25 percentage pointsmore receptive knowledge than productive knowl-edge.

97-370 Schnitzer, M. (U. of Puerto Rico). Knowledge and acquisition of the Spanishverbal paradigm in five communities. Hispania (Greely, CO), 79, 4 (1996), 830-44.

A study in Puerto Rico of the regular verbal inflec-tion system of Spanish, in which adult and childnative speakers participated in a completion taskinvolving nonsense verbs, revealed that adults haverelatively poor knowledge of Spanish grammar.Many adults may no longer have as well-defined amental grammar of their language as children dowhen the latter use it to acquire their language. Thispaper reports on four replication studies with largerpopulations in Monterey, Mexico; Mexico City;Toledo, Spain; and Buenos Aires. Findings from thefirst three situations were similar to those of the orig-inal study, in that adult performance was far from

perfect on the task, and children consistently outper-formed adults. It is hypothesised that adults' knowl-edge of their language may be of a less productivesort than that of children, and that previous linguisticability may ossify once language is acquired. TheBuenos Aires study used a slightly different testinstrument to accommodate the locally-distinct ver-bal paradigm. Results contrasted with the otherstudies in that no significant difference was foundbetween the overall performance of adults and chil-dren. It is suggested that this verbal paradigm and thepresence of the vos form in Argentinian Spanish mayhave led to the contrasting results.

97-371 Spack, Ruth (Tufts U.).The acquisition of academic literacy in a secondlanguage: a longitudinal case study. Written Communication (Thousand Oaks, CA),14,1 (1997), 3-62.

This study examines the reading and writing strate-gies of one student, Yuko, over a 3-year period andtraces the process she went through to acquire col-lege-level academic literacy in English, her secondlanguage. Multiple data sources included interviewswith the student and two of her political scienceprofessors, classroom observations, and texts from 10courses in three disciplines, including course materi-als and the student's writing, with instructors' com-ments. The investigation was enriched by a

cross-cultural perspective, for Yuko described learn-ing strategies in two languages and learning environ-ments in two countries, Japan and the United States.Data analysis suggests that her educational back-ground shaped her approach to U.S. academic dis-course practices and the way she theorised aboutthose practices. Her theory and her analysis of herown experience changed over time, raising ques-tions about cross-cultural interpretations of studentlearning.

97-372 Taillefer, Gail F. (U. des Sciences Sociales, Toulouse). L2 reading ability: fur-ther insight into the short-circuit hypothesis. The Modern Language Journal (Madison,Wl), 80, 4 (1996), 461-77.

The notion of a language proficiency threshold thatshort circuits the transfer of reading ability from thenative language (LI) to foreign or second language(L2) reading has been raised and explored over thelast 15 years. Questions remain as to the preciseinteraction of LI reading ability and L2 proficiencyin L2 reading comprehension, notably in differentkinds of reading tasks. These two factors functionedas independent variables in this study wherein 53French university students read preprofessionalEnglish texts. Both cognitive complexity of tasks andstudents' L2 proficiency levels were allowed to vary,

and although both predictor variables showed statis-tically significant relationships to the dependent vari-able, their relative importance appeared to dependon the reading task as well as on the readers' L2 pro-ficiency. The more difficult the task, the moreimportant L2 knowledge became, but it could notbe affirmed that LI reading ability gains importanceas L2 language proficiency increases toward thresh-old level. Finally, French students were comparedwith a similar sample of 28 native speakers.Pedagogical implications revolve around adaptingteaching to reading purposes and to strategy training.

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Language learning97-373 Tench, P. (U. of Wales, Cardiff). Methodology in phonological interlanguage.IRAL (Heidelberg, Germany), 34, 4 (1996), 241-60.

This paper is a review of current practice in thestudy of phonological interlanguage as reported inIoup & Weinberger: Interlanguage Phonology (1987),but supplemented by studies from Argentina and theUK. The methodology of some 22 pieces ofresearch is surveyed in terms of subjects, rangeof phonological features, 'synchronic' and 'dia-chronic' approaches, techniques and materials,audio-recording and transcription. Assessment of

data by trained phoneticians is queried in a discus-sion on pure vs. applied aims in interlanguageresearch. If intelligiblity of the learners' pronuncia-tion is to be assessed, it is considered that untrainedjudges are more appropriate. The advantages anddisadvantages of formal techniques are discussed.Ten stages of a full-scale study of interlanguagephonology are presented.

97-374 Tost, Manuel A. and Gauchola, Roser (Autonomous U., Barcelona). La nega-tion: une approche interlinguistique. [Negation: a cross-language approach.] Etudes deLinguistique Appliquee (Paris), 104 (1996), 461-70.

This article lists ways of expressing negation inFrench, Catalan, Spanish and Italian, and classifiesthem along various dimensions: as lexical or gram-matical, 'integral' (complete utterances) or not,strong or weak, and finally as spatial ('nowhere'),temporal ('never') and so on. All four systems meetthe same communicative needs, but they follow dif-ferent patterns: for example no in Spanish can be

integral, like French non, or non-integral, likeFrench nc.pas, whilst French ne...que ('only') canbe in Spanish solo, solamente, no..sino or no...mas que.Especially difficult for learners are idiomatic phrases,not structurally negative, such as French Tu paries!(literally 'You talk!') or Spanish Y unpepino! (literally'And a cucumber!'), both expressing disbelief.

97-375 Walters, Joel and Wolf, Yuval (Bar-Man U., Israel). Language awareness innon-native writers: metalinguistic judgments of need for revision. Language Awareness(Clevedon), 5,1 (1996), 3-25.

93 subjects participated in a series of experimentsinvestigating how the number of errors from differ-ent linguistic sources affects evaluative judgmentsabout the need for revision in a non-native lan-guage. In the first three experiments, groups of non-native and native writers of English as well as EFL(English as a foreign language) teachers were exposedto bifactorial combinations of syntactic and lexicalerrors incorporated in passages from an English com-position textbook. Subjects were exposed individu-ally to all factorial combinations of errors from bothsources and asked to judge how much effort wasneeded to make the passages well written. Resultsfrom all three experiments show lexical errors hav-ing a greater effect. Employing the framework ofinformation integration theory and functional mea-

surement, it was found that non-native writers usedan additive rule to integrate information from bothsources, while native writers used differential averag-ing. Non-native writers participated in two addi-tional experiments, where cohesion errors werecombined bifactorially and trifactorially with syntac-tic and lexical errors. Lexical and cohesion errorsshowed greater effects than syntactic errors. Anadditive rule was used to integrate syntax with eitherlexicon or cohesion, while a differential averagingrule was used for the integration of lexicon withcohesion. The procedure was adapted for a class-room experiment; it included actual error correctionalong with metalinguistic judgment. The findingsconform to those of the previous experiments.

97-376 Wen, Qiufang (Nanjing U.) and Johnson, Robert Keith (Hong Kong U) . L2learner variables and English achievement: a study of tertiary-level English majors inChina. Applied Linguistics (Oxford), 18,1 (1997), 27-48.

This paper reports a study in a Chinese context ofsecond language (L2) learner variables and their rela-tionship to English achievement. To establish the

variables, a questionnaire was administered to 242students, second-year English majors from five ter-tiary institutions. Their Chinese and English profi-

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Language learning and teachingciency on entry were established through matricula-tion examination scores; and their English achieve-ment through their proficiency test scores oncompletion of the two-year intensive English pro-gramme. 16 learner variables were established, and ahypothetical causal model was constructed.Relationships within the model and between learnervariables and achievement were examined throughPartial Least Squares analysis, and it was found thatsix variables had direct effects. Three were traits thatexisted prior to students' admission, i.e. Sex, andProficiency in first and second language. The other

three were formed by clusters of strategies relating toVocabulary learning, Tolerating ambiguity (Risk-taking), the only negative direct effect, and Mother-tongue avoidance. Management strategies had thestrongest direct effect on English achievement.Finally, the direct effects of belief variables on strat-egy variables were examined and found to be strongand consistent. Selective qualitative data are usedthroughout to provide further insight into and illus-trations of differences in strategy use between moreand less successful learners.

97-377 Zhao, Yong (Michigan State U.). The effects of listeners' control of speechrate on second language comprehension. Applied Linguistics (Oxford), 18,1 (1997),49-68.

Speech rate has been identified as a major factoraffecting listening comprehension. Despite the com-mon-sense belief that slower rates facilitate listeningcomprehension, empirical studies have yielded con-tradictory findings. A review of previous studies ofspeech rate and listening comprehension revealedmethodological problems. Using a novel approachand recent developments in computer technology,this study examined the issue of speech rate and lis-

tening comprehension from a different perspective.Subjects were 15 non-native speakers of English at aU.S. university. By giving the control of speech rateto the students and by attending to individualsinstead of groups, this study concluded that (a) whengiven control, students' listening comprehensionimproved and (b) improved listening comprehen-sion was achieved by slowing down the speech rate.

Language testing97-378 Chalhoub-Deville, Micheline (U. of Minnesota). Theoretical models, assess-ment frameworks and test construction. Language Testing (London), 14,1 (1997), 3-22.

This article reviews the usefulness of several modelsof proficiency that have influenced second languagetesting in the last two decades. The review indicatesthat several factors contribute to the lack of congru-ence between models and test construction, andmakes a case for distinguishing between theoreticalmodels, which attempt to represent the proficiency

construct in various contexts, and operational assess-ment frameworks, which depict the construct inparticular contexts. Additionally, the article under-scores the significance of an empirical, contextu-alised and structured approach to the developmentof assessment frameworks.

97-379 Cheng, Liying (U. of Hong Kong). How does washback influence teaching?Implications for Hong Kong. Language and Education (Clevedon), 11,1 (1997), 38-54.

There is some evidence to suggest that tests havewashback effects on teaching and learning. Theextensive use of test scores for various educationaland social purposes in society nowadays has madethe effect of washback a distinct educational phe-nomenon. This paper presents preliminary researchfindings on the washback effect of the Hong KongCertificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) inEnglish in Hong Kong secondary schools byemploying various methodological techniques suchas two questionnaires, interviews and classroomobservations in sampled schools. It further discusses

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the nature of washback effect, the major teachingand learning aspects influenced by it, the differentstages of washback effect, and the types of washbackeffects observed. Preliminary results indicate thatwashback effect works quickly and efficiently inbringing about changes in teaching materials, whichis due largely to the highly adaptable and commer-cial nature of Hong Kong society, and slowly andreluctantly and with difficulties in the methodsteachers employ. It is suggested that the latter effectmay be caused by the constraints imposed uponteaching and teachers in the present schools.

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