Examines the relationships of individual difference variables to end-of-training proficiency ratings in speaking and reading for a large sample of adults in intensive training in a wide range of languages at the U.S. Department of State. Variables included tested cognitive aptitude, learning strategies, learning styles, personality, motivation and…

Immigrant and refugee students at the University of California, Berkeley, were surveyed in spring 1980 to assess their needs. Of the 311 mailed questionnaires, 208 responses were received. The data were analyzed by language group, class level, and immigrant/refugee status. The major areas of difficulty for these students were the large amount of…

This book presents 16 peer-reviewed papers from a 2000 conference on second language research. Part 1, "Formal Investigations of SLA," includes "L2 Acquisition of English Liquids: Evidence for Production Independent from Perception" (Laura Catharine Smith); "Is L2 Learning the Same as L1 Learning? Learning L2 Phonology in…

Creating a writing workshop atmosphere using computers in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom improves the opportunities for integrating all language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The computer also represents a new way of learning, emphasizing students' problem solving strategies and learning processes. Teachers…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 32 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) textual relations within the written and spoken modes; (2) the construction of stance in conflict narrative; (3) the relational base theory of phrase…

A study of the relationship of learner characteristics to success in beginning English examined the language aptitude, learning motivation and attitudes, spatial relations, study habits, and years of English instruction of 97 seventh-grade students in a Thai government school. The analysis focused on these variables as they related to the…

This manual deals with the Lau Center's technical assistance approach for assisting school districts in their efforts to develop an educational master plan to meet compliance guidelines of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as it pertains to limited or non-English-speaking students. The following areas are addressed: (1) impact of "Lau v.…

This book provides a practical introduction to questions about bilingualism. It is for parents and teachers who are themselves bilingual, for monolinguals who want to know more, for those with some intuitive understanding of bilingual situations and for those who are starting from the very beginning. The book poses questions that people often ask…

The purpose of this bulletin is to help teachers, supervisors, administrators, and other educators improve the English skills of culturally different youth. In an effort to gather available research and successful classroom practices, the Secondary Schools Section of the U.S. Office of Education invited a group of leaders to participate in a 3-day…

This study compares the performances of 16 advanced and 19 beginning English language learners on a listening comprehension task that focused on linguistic and pragmatic processing. Processing pragmatic meaning differs from processing linguistic meaning because pragmatic meaning requires the listener to understand not only linguistic information,…

Two studies at the Defense Language Institute (California) investigated the contribution of several variables to prediction of post-language-training proficiency: (1) scores on a general vocational aptitude battery and a language aptitude battery, both used to screen potential students; (2) scores on other cognitive measures not used in the…

A collection of papers, all by the author, looks at a variety of theories and theoretical approaches from linguistics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics and their applications to the teaching of English as a second language. Two studies are also presented. Titles include: "Content Schemata and Second Language Learning";…

Selected papers from the annual meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics include the following: "The Scope of Applied Linguistics" (a brief introduction by Paul Meara); "Grading and Professionalism in ELT (English Language Teaching)" (Gillian Brown); "'The Arm of the Chair Is Where You Use For To Write': Developing Strategic…

The book discusses in detail a variety of practical and theoretical issues in identifying and addressing second language learning problems. Intended primarily for classroom teachers working with late teenagers or adults, it focuses on learning styles, affective factors, and learning strategies. Real and composite case studies are presented…

Drawing on recent psychological and neurological research on how individual differences might interact with learning a particular language, the study examines how psycholinguistic research and theory can help in assigning military personnel to language training and to a given language. Using the Defense Language Institute's Defense Language…