Surveys the problems of coordinating theory with practice in applied linguistics and language teaching within the context of the disconnections of theory from practice in theoretical linguistics. Explores the basic frameworks of language science in terms of the applicability and proposes an alternative program. (49 references) (Author/CK)

Investigates the linguistic and metalinguistic transfers that arise when French students learn comprehension and production in English. Analyzes how part of the metalinguistic knowledge they have of French is transferred into their metalinguistic knowledge of English, especially concerning simple preterite vs preterite + "be" +…

Discusses the tendency in second-language (L2) pedagogy to make fallacious comparisons between multicompetent L2 learners and monoglot speakers of the target language. The article describes the principal elements of multicompetence and presents a number of their implications for the construction of syllabi and examinations and the development of…

Reports on a longitudinal study of the relationship between productive phonological ability and awareness in children under the age of six. The study followed 45 subjects with variant productive phonology levels from the mean age of 3 years, 6 months to 6 years, 0 months. As a child matures in productive phonology, accompanying exponential growth…

This study investigated the relationships among selected aspects of normal language development, emerging metalinguistic skills, concepts about print, and family literacy experiences in 43 preschoolers from various socioeconomic backgrounds. It found that family reports of literacy activities were associated with income and that children's…

A discussion of communicative language teaching of children of about eight focuses on their unique communication capacities and needs, particularly in the school environment, on the importance of teaching communication strategies as a social and linguistic tool, on developing metalinguistic competence, and on the role of the imagination in…

Presents results of a study of six kinds of linguistic education software. Discusses treatment of language as an object rather than as a means of communication. Reports that the software promotes reflection on language and metalanguage awareness in a social and educational context by stimulating children's interest in playing with language. (DK)

Investigation of the development of metalinguistic consciousness examines bilingual children's perceptions of language contact in a situation of marked social imbalance between their first and second languages. The exploratory investigation focused on how school-age bilinguals view written forms in Spanish and Nahuatl. Forty-five Spanish/Nahuatl…

Suggests that language awareness, or consciousness raising, has great potential in second-language learning. Language awareness presents students with linguistic data so they can work out grammatical rules for themselves. Offers a variety of examples of possible language-awareness lessons, first for the teaching of English, then for the teaching…

Discusses language awareness activities for sensitizing trainee English-language teachers to suprasegmental phonological features in English, with particular reference to features associated with the concept of "stress timing." Discusses stress timing and how it relates to English, and examines the quasi-authentic material drawn from a television…

A Chicana bilingual teacher from Arizona lived with a middle-class Mexican family during a 5-week Mexican immersion program. Her complaints about "harsh reactions" toward her and her Spanish showed how her use of a few stigmatized characteristics of nonstandard Spanish were judged by standard Spanish speakers to indicate an uneducated…

The aim of the current research was to examine pre-service, general and special education teachers' attitudes to and knowledge of metalinguistics (awareness of language structure) in the process of learning to read. Effective teachers of reading, writing, and spelling need to understand the relationship between speech and print because these basic…

Tandem language learning--a configuration involving pairs of learners with complementary target/native languages--is an underexploited but potentially very powerful use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in second-language pedagogy. Tandem offers the benefits of authentic, culturally grounded interaction, while also promoting a pedagogical…

This paper reviews studies of teacher cognition in relation to the teaching of grammar in first, second, and foreign language classrooms. Teacher cognition encompasses a range of psychological constructs and these are reflected in the research reviewed here. Thus, in turn, I discuss studies of teachers' declarative knowledge about grammar, of…

Recent research by Swain (2000a, 2000b, 1998, 1995), Swain and Lapkin (2001, 1998, 1995) and Kowal and Swain (1997, 1994) has examined the role of collaborative tasks in focusing immersion students' attention on the need for explicit knowledge of grammatical forms and lexical items in the production (especially written) of French texts. This is…