Article dispels the following myths about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): it has neurobiological base that can only be treated with medication; it must be treated with contingency management procedures; the children do not perform well under partial reinforcement schedules; and students must receive special-education services.…

We investigated expectations regarding a writer's responsibility to proofread text for spelling errors when using a word processor. Undergraduate students read an essay and completed a questionnaire regarding their perceptions of the author and the quality of the essay. They then manipulated type of spelling error (no error, homophone error,…

A review of the relevant literature reveals that reading reversals, whether in sequence or orientation, comprise a very small proportion of the total errors made by even poor readers. Young children tend to make more reversals, yet this tendency generally disappears with age. Top-down theorists feel that the reversal tendency of young children is…

Reviews research on the possible roles that errors might play in learning to read. Contrasts a productive view of errors with the view that errors are problematic to instruction, stating that the two are compatible. Concludes that errors can have both a generative and an inhibiting function depending upon instructional conditions. (GEA)

Recent research on native speakers' reactions to nonnative speech that views listeners, speakers, and language from a variety of perspectives using both objective and subjective research paradigms is reviewed. Studies of error gravity, relative intelligibility of language samples, the role of accent, speakers' characteristics, and context in which…

Concludes that there is no adequate support for recommending that teachers attempt to increase the incidence of a child's self-corrections when reading. (FL)

Focuses on the learner's problems in producing the correct grammatical gender for a given noun in German. Discusses the complexity of gender assignment and the lengthy process of acquisition of gender. Examines error patterns made by English students of German. (Author/LMO)

Approaches proposed for educational diagnostic assessment are reviewed and identified as deficit assessment and error analysis. The development of diagnostic instruments may require a reexamination of existing psychometric models and development of alternative ones. The psychometric and content demands of diagnostic assessment all but require test…

Selected studies in three areas of second-language classroom process research are reviewed: the linguistic environment of instruction, patterns of participation, and error treatment. Also reviewed are recent applications of introspective or mentalistic research to the problem of describing the second-language classroom experience. (MSE)

Lord's, Millman's and Saupe's methods of approximating the standard error of measurement are reviewed. Through an empirical demonstration involving 200 university classroom tests, all three approximations are shown to be biased. (Author/JKS)

To investigate mistakes in the reporting of diagnostic efficiency statistics, all studies of the diagnostic performance of self-report scales in two psychological journals published between 1980 and 1991 were reviewed. Of 26 relevant studies, 9 had an error in calculation of diagnostic efficiency. Implications are discussed. (SLD)

Research on the role of the first language (L1) in second language (L2) learning is reviewed, offering historical background but focusing primarily on work within the last two decades. Attention is given mainly to two aspects of the L1-L2 relationship: positive transfer of knowledge from L1 in the process of learning L2, and negative transfer, or…

Failure to progress on the language proficiency scale is often due to lack of linguistic accuracy. Even motivated students are sometimes unable to improve proficiency ratings beyond a particular level. Pedagogical factors contributing to this problem include: focus on form and meaning at the same time; fossilization; overuse of communicative…

Lexical semantics and contrastive lexical semantics can serve as a background discipline to describe and, to some extent, to explain errors in interlanguage. Two developments in lexical semantics that are relevant in this area are the description of sense-relationships and componential analysis. Contrastive lexical semantics involves mapping the…

Certain concepts of redundancy at the phonological level are mistaken or misapplied. Three "fallacies" ("string of beads," vowel redundancy, and single error) of the nature of redundancy are explored. Although learners should be sensitized to other varieties of English, teachers should also provide a model of pronunciation that conforms to a…