Language learning and teaching – theory and practice...Language learnin ang d teaching 93-395 Widdowson, H. G. ELT and EL teachers: matters arising. ELT Journal (Oxford), 46, 4 (1992),

Language learning and teaching-theoryand practice

Theory and principles93-387 Alderson, J. Charles and Wal l , Dianne (Lancaster U ) . Does washbackexist? Applied Linguistics (Oxford), 14, 2 (1993), 115-29.

The notion of 'washback' is common in thelanguage teaching and testing literature, and testsare held to be powerful determiners of what happensin classrooms. Claims are made for both negativeand positive washback, and some writers go so faras to claim that a test's validity should be measuredby the degree to which it has a beneficial effect onteaching. However, very little evidence has beenpresented to support the argument that testsinfluence teaching, and what evidence has appearedtends to be based on teachers' accounts of whathappens in the classroom rather than on observations

of teaching and learning. This article explores thenotion of washback and advances a series of possibleWashback Hypotheses. It then reviews the empiricalresearch in general education and in languageeducation to see what insights can be gained intowhether washback actually exists, how it can bemeasured, and what accounts for the form it takes.The article concludes with a series of proposals forfurther research into a phenomenon on whoseimportance all seem to be agreed, but whose natureand presence have been little studied.

93-388 Gass, Susan M. (Michigan State U.). Second-language acquisition: past,present and future. Second Language Research (Utrecht), 9, 2 (1993) 99-117.

This article considers the relationship betweensecond-language acquisition (SLA) and other dis-ciplines. It begins by reviewing the history of SLAstudies, relating them to the broader picture ofapplied linguistics and language pedagogy. It isargued that the recognition of SLA as a field which

can make valuable contributions to other fields isessential for the continuation and vitality of thefield. Specific examples of how SLA has beenimportant to the fields of linguistics, pedagogy andpsychology are given.

93-389 Girard, Denis (Ministry of National Education). EFL in French primaryschools; which way forward? English Studies Information Update (Manchester), 11(1993). 28-30.

The surge of interest in France in primary foreignlanguage teaching in the 1960s had almost com-pletely faded out by 1975 due, more than anythingelse, to the lack of continuity between teaching atprimary and secondary levels.

If the new wave of interest is to succeed, primarylanguage teaching must be fully integrated with

other learning activities; there must be clearlydefined objectives, sufficient teachers, adequatelyand appropriately trained, and continuity intosecondary teaching. The most promising approachwould seem to be one based on 'learning to learn'and the fostering of language awareness.

93-390 Kronenberg, Werner. Lieber bilingual nach Europa als sprachlos in dieZukunft. [Europe in the future: better two languages than none!] Die NeuerenSprachen (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), 92, 1/2 (1993), 113-50.

Bilingual education is characterised by the naturallink between "teaching in the first foreign language,conceived of as a partner language to the mothertongue, and teaching in one or more of the socialsciences, with the partner language being used afterbilingual initial and transition periods. The desiredaim, which is to achieve as high a degree ofproficiency as possible in both languages, is thus

interlinked with that of acquiring an understandingof the culture, in a process which cannot be affordedas extensively or intensively by normal languageteaching. The endeavour to meet these educationaland methodological challenges, which remainsubject to constant revision as bilingual coursesare extended, represents a major contribution toEuropean understanding and integration.

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Theory and principles

93-391 Maier, Wolfgang (Fremdspracheninstitut, Munich). Theorie et pratiquede I'enseignement primaire des langues vivantes. [Theory and practice of primaryschool modern language teaching.] Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee (Paris), 89(1993). 57-71.

The existence of a united Europe necessitatescompetence in 'trans-national communication',including multilingualism and appreciation of cul-tural differences. The objective should generally betrilingualism according to Weinrich's formula 'firstlanguage plus X plus English'. Primary teaching ofmodern languages is the first step in a Europeaneducation which should exploit the cultural andlinguistic openness of children, develop the totalityof their personalities and shape the teaching of

traditional primary-school subjects. The teaching ofa new language and culture should be tailored tochildren's level of development, and should be as'transparent' as possible, enabling the children toformulate correct hypotheses about language. An' existential progression' will allow children to gainaccess, by action, thought, feelings and words, to asmuch as possible of the world of the foreignlanguage and culture.

93-392 Preston, Dennis R. (Michigan State U.). Variation linguistics and SLA.Second Language Research (Utrecht). 9, 2 (1993), 153-72.

Sociolinguistics (here called variationist linguistics)has been misunderstood and misrepresented insecond-language acquisition (SLA) research. In spiteof that, several productive studies (many of whichuse the VARBRUL statistical program) have madesignificant contributions to our understandings ofvariation in SLA data, contributions which touchon the linguistic and not the social concern of suchdata. The failure of SLA researchers who belong tothe so-called ' dominant paradigm' (or Chomskyan

or Universal Grammar (UG) research programme)to realise that belief in a so-called variable com-petence is not a prerequisite to variation studies hasbeen particularly harmful. On the other hand, thefailure of sociolinguists to take psycholinguisticmatters seriously has been another serious drawbackto interfield co-operation; a summary of a plausiblevariationist psycholinguistics (within an SLA settingand allowing UG interpretation) is provided.

93-393 Schmitt-Gevers, Hilde. La notion d'aisance dans la production et lareception orales en langue etrangere. [The notion of 'fluency' in speaking andunderstanding a foreign language.] Melanges CRAPEL (Nancy, France), 21 (1993),1 29-48.

What exactly is meant by 'fluency' in speaking orunderstanding a foreign language ? In an attempt toanswer this question, the author first consulted thetechnical literature on foreign language teachingand learning and then interviewed 60 foreignlanguage users. This enables her to put forward a

definition of' fluency' which can be used in foreignlanguage teaching, learning and evaluation. Thedata were also checked to see if the meanings of'fluency' suggested by the language users inter-viewed varied according to their age, occupationor culture.

93-394 Stainton, Caroline (Nottingham Polytechnic). Language awareness:genre awareness - a focused review of the literature. Language Awareness(Clevedon, Avon), 1, 2 (1992), 109-21.

This review recognises the problem of providing asystematic understanding of language awareness(LA). It looks at different perspectives on LA andelucidates the problems involved not only indefining this notion but also in understanding theprinciples behind the various terms used in theliterature to refer to LA. Further clarification isprovided through the proposal of a dynamic modelof LA which facilitates discussion of different aspectsof this multifarious notion. The consequent dis-

cussion focuses on different types of knowledgeabout language and also the sensitive issue ofintervention. Consideration of developments andcontroversies surrounding work on LA suggests thevalue of exploring the concept of genre awareness.A discussion of this concept points to both positiveand negative aspects of genre study. Genre is an areaof language study which can be productivelyexplored by those working in the field of LA.

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Language learning and teaching

93-395 Widdowson, H. G. ELT and EL teachers: matters arising. ELT Journal(Oxford), 46, 4 (1992), 333-9.

There are too many glib definitions and method-ological assumptions in EFL which trivialise thepotential complexity of the profession and itstheoretical bases. For example, the emphasis onpragmatic meaning (language in use) as a favouredmethodology does not, perhaps, take account of theprimary role of grammar (and explicit grammaticalanalysis and recourse to 'the rules'), particularly atthe sentence level.

The use of language to express attitude, belief orsocial value is insufficiently accommodated incurrent methodology. Language is ideologicallyloaded, along with culturally-specific implicationsand insinuations. If teachers do not engage studentsin the business of recognising socio-cultural mean-

ings, then the educational process is trivialised andincomplete — in effect, an impoverished pragmatics.This would then provide a minimal basis forawareness of other cultures/communities, which issupposedly a central aim of English for InternationalPurposes. Theorists/practitioners need to rememberwhy students want to learn English.

The export of 'native speaker' ESOL expertise,and the cultural condescension behind it, arecriticised, particularly as the 'teacher trainers' areoften little more than EFL teachers with minimaleducational qualifications, putatively bringing ' rev-elation' to countries with long and distinguishedacademic traditions.

93-396 Zechmeister, Eugene B. (Loyola U. of Chicago) and others.Metacognitive and other knowledge about the mental lexicon: do we know howmany words we know? Applied Linguistics (Oxford), 14, 2 (1993), 188-206.

The authors asked a diverse sample of laypersons(N = 69), as well as a small group of scholars(N = 5), about the number of words they knew,about the number of words in the English language,about the size of English-language dictionaries,and about other topics related to vocabulary size.Respondents in both groups typically viewed theirpersonal lexicon as containing less than 40,000words, and the size of their active vocabulary as nomore than 20,000 words. An attempt was made toreconcile these estimates based on metacognitiveknowledge of lexicon size with estimates derived

from empirical studies on vocabulary size, whichoften have indicated a much larger adult mentallexicon. It is argued that estimates of a very largemental lexicon are misleading, and that a carefulanalysis of the goals and methods of studiesproviding these estimates together with dataobtained from several recent studies of vocabularysize, suggest a more moderate-sized lexicon, onethat actually is closer in size to how people are likelyto respond when asked: 'How many words do youknow ?'

Psychology of language learning93-397 Bailly, Sophie. 'Les filles sont plus douees pour les langues': enqueteautour d'une idee recue. ['Girls are more gifted at languages'-an enquiry into apreconception.] Melanges CRAPEL (Nancy, France), 21 (1993), 43-57.

It is often said that girls learn to talk earlier thanboys and are more proficient than them. If this isreally the case, girls might also be superior to boysin second-language learning and acquisition. Thisarticle reviews several American studies comparingverbal ability among boys and girls in their mother

tongue. It goes on to show that girls are not asverbally superior as could be expected. It wouldappear that socio-cultural expectations of goals aresuch that they tend to facilitate girls' access tolanguage and foreign language competence.

93-398 Bell, James H. and Johnson, Reta E. Effect of lowering the readinglevel of a health education pamphlet on increasing comprehension by ESL adults.TESL Canada Journal (Montreal), 10, 1 (1992), 9-26.

Does lowering the reading level of a health educationpamphlet actually increase the comprehension byadult readers for whom English is a second language ?

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The reading level of a general pharmacy educationhandout was lowered by changing vocabulary,sentence structure, and organisation; by highlight-



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Psychology of language learninging the main idea of each point; and by writingan introduction designed to catch attention andfocus reading. Low-intermediate and advancedEnglish as a Second Language (ESL) college studentsread either the unaltered (24 students) or altered (25students) version of the pamphlet, which wereestimated to be at the grade 12 and grade 7 levelrespectively according to the Flesch-Kincaid read-ability formula. Subjects than answered a freewritten test and a short-answer test. There was no

statistically significant difference in the readingcomprehension scores of the two groups on the freewritten test (p = 014) or on the short-answer test(p = 0-59). Health educators and ESL professionalsshould be wary of using readability formulas toestimate the suitability of materials for ESL readers,and of assuming that lowering the reading level ofmaterials means increasing comprehension evenwhen some changes beyond the lexical and syn-tactical are made.

93-399 Black, Janis H. Learning and reception strategy use and the clozeprocedure. Canadian Modern Language Review (Toronto), 49, 3 (1993), 418-45.

This study investigates the learning and receptionstrategies used by successful and less successful first-year university students of French as they completeda rational cloze passage. Data gathered via think-alouds and retrospective reporting were examinedand lists of strategies were established and cat-egorised. On the basis of these categories, strategieswere analysed in terms of the effect of (d) frequency,(b) quality and (c) clustering of strategy use on

performance. The results suggest that, while fre-quency may provide some indication of a particularstrategy's usefulness on this task, it is quality andclustering of strategy use that are clearer predictorsof successful item closure. In addition, findingssuggest that the more difficult the cloze deletion, themore complex the strategy cluster needed for itssolution.

93-400 Cichocki, W. and others (U. of New Brunswick, Canada). Cantonesespeakers and the acquisition of French consonants. Language Learning (Ann Arbor,Mich), 43, 1 (1993), 43-68.

This article reports the findings of research on theacquisition of French consonants by native speakersof Cantonese. An error analysis based on a carefulphonetic transcription of production data resulted ina scale of difficulty of consonants in both initial andfinal positions. Several of the major patterns of

difficulty are explained by the Markedness Dif-ferential Hypothesis. On the basis of errors found,and which are not perfectly predicted by thistheory, it is shown that there is an interaction oflanguage acquisition with markedness reversals.

93-401 Clercy, Christine and Bosi, Louise (U. of Moncton). 'Plusieurs gensont-ils de la misere avec I'ecrit? Une experience de recherche de norme. [ 'Do manypeople have trouble with wri t ing?' A research experiment on norms.] Bulletin of theCAAL (Montreal), 14, 2 (1992), 57-69.

When the time comes to correct papers, languageteachers have the final word. Which is the normthat they apply? The aim of the experiment, asdescribed in this paper, was to analyse the approachesused in marking papers by members of a groupfrom the University of Moncton that worked on

the norm and the regional variation. Comparisonswere made between results from the group's workwith those based on a survey of a larger group ofteachers of French as a first language. The ex-periment focuses on the question of norm perceptionin a minority linguistic group.

93-402 Cohen, Andrew D. (U. of Minnesota) and Olshtain, Elite (Tel-AvivU.). The production of speech acts by EFL learners. TESOL Quarterly (Washington,DC), 27, 1 (1993), 33-56.

Descriptions are now available of the speech act production of these speech act utterances. Thisrealisations of native speakers in given situations andof expected deviations from these patterns in thespeech of non-native speakers. Still largely lacking isa description of the processes involved in the

paper reports a study describing ways in which non-native speakers assess, plan, and execute suchutterances. The subjects, 15 advanced Englishforeign language learners, were given six speech act

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situations (two apologies, two complaints, and tworequests) in which they were to role play alone witha native speaker. Retrospective verbal report pro-tocols were analysed with regard to processingstrategies in speech act formulation. The studyfound that in executing speech act behaviour, half ofthe time respondents conducted only a generalassessment of the utterances called for in the situationwithout planning specific vocabulary and gram-

matical structures, often thought in two languagesand sometimes in three when planning and exe-cuting speech act utterances, utilised a series ofdifferent strategies in searching for language forms,and did not attend much to grammar on pro-nunciation. In an effort to characterize the speechproduction of the respondents in the study, threedifferent styles seemed to appear: metacognisers,avoiders and pragmatists.

93-403 Duff, Patricia A. (U. of British Columbia). Syntax, semantics and SLA:the convergence of possessive and existential constructions. Studies in SecondLanguage Acquisition (Bloomington, Ind), 15, 1 (1993). 1-34.

This paper examines the intersection of syntax andsemantics in second-language acquisition (SLA), aperspective on language learning that has receivedrelatively little attention in the past, in order toanswer the following question: Why do English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners tend to use thesame morpheme (e.g., HAVE) for Possessives (P)and Existentials (E), when English has separateforms (HAVE, THERE BE) for these two functions ?

Working within a functionalist framework, dataare analysed from the longitudinal case study of aCambodian adult who, despite formal ESL in-

struction and residence in an English-speakingcommunity, persistently uses the form has for bothP and E. Although first-language transfer can beinvolved as a partial explanation for this, it alonecannot account for the systematic conflation of Pand E in interlanguage. Rather, it is argued that theshared semantic properties of P/E, together withsyntactic, pragmatic, and perceptual characteristicsof native language, interlanguage, and secondlanguage constructions, make this overlap im-minently transferable, especially in untutored orlow-level instructed SLA.

93-404 Enginarlar, Husnii (Middle East Technical U.. Ankara, Turkey). Studentresponse to teacher feedback in EFL writing. System (Oxford), 21, 2 (1993),193-204.

While providing effective feedback to studentwriting has been a perennial concern of writingteachers and researchers, student reaction to varioustypes of feedback has received relatively littleattention. This study surveyed the attitudes of 47freshman students at Middle East Technical Uni-versity to the feedback procedure employed by twoEnglish Composition I instructors. The procedureinvolved mainly: (a) indication of linguistic errorswith codes, and (b) various types of brief commentsto help students improve their drafts. The 20-itemquestionnaire, consisting of impressionistic ratingquestions and open-ended items, revealed that thestudents have a highly favourable opinion of the

utility and didactic value of this feedback procedure.The subjects' ratings of time and effort required ofstudents and teachers suggest that the studentsperceive such review work as a type of co-operativelearning in which the amount of work andresponsibility is shared by students and teachers. Thequantitative findings and related student commentsare also interesting in that they reveal differentstudent orientations to teacher feedback in revisionwork, corroborating Radecki and Swales' earliertentative findings. The conclusion discusses theimplications of the study and offers recommen-dations for fruitful feedback to EFL student writing.

93-405 Feitelson, Dina and others. Effects of listening to story reading onaspects of literacy acquisition in a diglossic situation. Reading Research Quarterly(Newark, Del), 28, 1 (1993), 71-9.

The high rate of reading difficulties among Arabelementary students is generally attributed to thefact that beginning reading instruction is in literaryArabic, whereas prior to school entry all speechaddressed to children is in a local vernacular. Oneside-effect of young children's lack of familiarity

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with literary language is that parents do not read tochildren from books. The present study investigatedwhether listening to stories in literary Arabic wouldhave salutary effects on kindergarten children'semergent literacy skills. The 258 children in theexperimental treatment listened to teachers' story



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Psychology of language learningreading daily for 5 months. Teachers in the controlclasses (49 children) pursued a Ministry of Educationprogramme to enhance expressive language skills.In posttest measures of listening comprehension andpicture-storytelling, children in the experimentalclass outperformed control classes on comprehensionand active use of language. These differences in

picture-storytelling were significant at the 0-01 levelof type-token ratio, proportion of clauses, expressionof causal connections, and use of study endings.These results demonstrate that children can acquirea second register exposure in school within thelanguage of their home being stigmatised orabandoned.

93-406 Flowerdew, John and Miller, Lindsay (City Poly, of Hong Kong).Student perceptions, problems and strategies in second-language lecturecomprehension. RELC Journal (Singapore), 23, 2 (1992). 60-79.

This paper adopts an ethnographic approach to thestudy of second language lecture comprehension. Itstudies a group of 30 first-year Hong Kong Chinesestudents listening to lectures in a BA TESL methodscourse. Data were collected regarding the lecturecomprehension experience of these students bymeans of questionnaires, diary studies, classroomobservation, and in-depth interviews. The analysisof these data focuses on students' perceptions of thelecture experience (attitude, self-rating of com-prehension level, what students look for in a lecture,

etc.), their problems (speed of delivery, terminologyand concepts, concentration, etc.) and the strategiesthey use to try to overcome these problems (pre-and post-lecture reading, peer or lecturer help,attempts to concentrate harder, note-taking, etc.).

As well as providing important information forthe programme in question, the results of this studyhave wider implications for both lecturers to non-natives and ESL specialists preparing students tostudy through the medium of English.

93-407 Foster-Cohen, Susan H. (Northern Arizona U.). Directions of influencein first- and second-language acquisition research. Second Language Research(Utrecht), 9, 2 (1993), 140-52.

This article explores ways in which studies insecond-language acquisition (SLA) research canilluminate first-language acquisition research. Thediscussion revolves around the issues of learnerstrategies, individual variation, the acquisition oflate learned structures, bilingualism, the role of

Universal Grammar (UG) and the fate of obsoleteknowledge in acquisition. It is argued that second-language research in these (and other) areas canprovide fresh insights into familiar problems andraise issues not commonly given consideration infirst-language acquisition studies.

93-408 Geva, Esther (Ontario Inst. for Studies in Education) and Ryan, Ellen B.(McMaster U.). Linguistic and cognitive correlates of academic skills in first andsecond languages. Language Learning (Ann Arbor, Mich), 43, 1 (1993), 5-42.

Using the theoretical frameworks proposed byCummins and by Bialystok and Ryan, this researchwas designed to shed light on the relationshipbetween cognitive correlates and linguistic skills infirst (LI) and second (L2) language, and the extentto which performance on academic tasks in L2 canbe predicted by these factors. The study wasconducted with 73 grade 5-7 children attending abilingual English—Hebrew day school. The testbattery included a measure of intelligence, measuresof linguistic knowledge in LI, measures of readingcomprehension in LI and L2 and static and workingmemory measures in LI and L2.

Evidence was found for the theoretical notionthat with increased speed of basic processing in L2,

higher level cognitive processes involved in linguis-tic and oral communication in academic settings arefacilitated. Additionally, results suggest that childrenwho can more systematically employ analyticfunctions in their LI are more likely to do so in theirL2 as well, and that performance on linguisticallydemanding tasks such as reading in L2 can be moreaccurately predicted with the aid of information onmemory storage and executive control functions, incombination with underlying intelligence and L2oral proficiency. Results highlight the importantrole that memory plays in performing linguistictasks in L2 and help to explain underlying abilityfactors related to Cummins' interdependence hy-pothesis.

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93-409 Holmquist, Jonathan Carl (Temple U.). Social and psychologicalcorrelates of achievement: Spanish at Temple University. Modern Language Journal(Madison, Wis). 77, 1 (1993), 34-44.

Some 215 students from six different course levelsparticipated in a survey to discover whether therewas any correlation between attitudes to Spanishand Spanish speakers and exposure to Spanish on theone hand, and achievement in the language on theother.

A further survey a year later targeted a sample of383 students, all belonging to the three lower courselevels. Instrumental attitudes were found to be moresignificant than integrative ones at the lower levels,whereas the opposite was true at the higher levels.

Findings also suggested that the relationship

between attitude and achievement in foreign lan-guage study might be causal. However, there wassufficient correlation between achievement andcertain specific student attitudes and background tosuggest that the situation of foreign languagestudents could be ameliorated, even at basic levels,by concentrating on the instrumental 'whys' orbenefits of language study. Furthermore, oppor-tunities for foreign travel and contact with nativespeakers can help students to develop the integrativeattitudes linked to continuing achievement inforeign language learning.

93-410 Horiba, Yukie (U. of Massachusetts). The role of causal reasoning andlanguage competence in narrative comprehension. Studies in Second LanguageAcquisition (Bloomington, Ind), 15, 1 (1993), 49-81.

The study investigates the role of causal reasoning insecond-language (L2) narrative comprehension.Subjects read and recalled texts that were eitherhigh or low in causal coherence. This read-and-recallprocedure was repeated. Half of the subjects reportedtheir thoughts during reading. The major findingwas that first-language (LI) readers recalled the highcoherence texts better than the low coherence texts.Advanced L2 readers showed a similar advantagefor the high coherence texts, but only in theirsecond reading. Intermediate readers' recall was

lower and showed no advantage for highly coherenttexts. The verbal report data generally supportedthese patterns. These results indicate that L2 readershave difficulty detecting the higher-order causalstructure in texts. This structure is a centralcomponent of LI readers' mental representation ofthe information in a text. As L2 readers' skillsimprove, their ability to detect causal relationsincreases, although even advanced L2 readers mayneed a second reading to do so.

93-411 Jamieson, Joan (Northern Arizona U.). The cognitive styles ofreflection/impulsivity and field independence/dependence and ESL success. ModernLanguage Journal (Madison, Wis), 76, 4 (1992), 491-501.

The author outlines previous studies of cognitivestyles as they relate to L2 acquisition, and defines theterms Reflection/impulsivity and Field Indepen-dence/Dependence. The R/I pairing describes thedisposition to reflect on the solution to a problemwhere several alternatives are presented versus thewillingness to 'guess'. Field independence/dep-endence involves the extent to which a personperceives part of a field as discrete from itssurroundings, rather than being embedded. A studyis described in which L2 learners immersed in thetarget culture were compared, via the MatchingFamiliar Figures Test, the Group Embedded FiguresTest, and the Test of English as a Foreign Language

(TOEFL); these three tests are outlined [excerpts], asare the administration and the subsequent statisticalanalyses undertaken [tabular data].

The results indicated that Field Independence wasmoderately related to high proficiency scores, aswas Impulsivity; it seems that fast-accurate per-formers were better language learners than eitherpure 'reflectives' or 'impulsives'. However, thereappeared to be no direct correlation between FieldIndependence and Impulsivity. The conclusionposited in other studies, that Reflectives are sig-nificantly more Field Independent than Impulsives,is not supported by the author's research.

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Psychology of language learning

93-412 Jenkin, Heather and others (York U., Ontario). Understanding text in asecond language: a psychological approach to an SLA problem. Second LanguageResearch (Utrecht), 9, 2 (1993), 118-39.

The study is an attempt to assess the way in whichsecond-language learners form mental represen-tations of information they read. Subjects wereasked to read passages in their first and secondlanguages and to demonstrate comprehension of theinformation by using it to make a judgement of avisual display of the same information. Following

this there was a surprise recognition task todetermine whether or not they still had access toverbatim representations of the passages. The resultsshowed that information read in a second languageis represented differently from the same informationread in subjects' first language.

93-413 Johnson, Patricia (The American U., Washington, DC). Cohesion andcoherence in compositions in Malay and English. RELC Journal (Singapore), 23, 2(1992), 1-17.

Empirical studies on cohesion in written discourseof native and non-native speakers of English indicatethat judgments of writing quality may depend onoverall coherence in content, organisation, and stylerather than on the quantity of cohesion. However,the studies concerning non-native speakers ofEnglish have not included data from the firstlanguage nor controlled the language and culturalbackground of ESL writers.

This study examines cohesion in expository essayswritten in Malay and in English by native speakersof both languages and in ESL by Malaysian writers.Sample compositions evaluated holistically as'good' or 'weak' in quality were submitted byMalaysian teachers of composition in Malay and byAmerican teachers of native and non-native speakersof English. T-tests performed on the data obtainedfrom a cohesion analysis of text indicate no

differences in the amount of cohesion between'good' and 'weak' compositions written in Malayby native speakers (20) or in English by native (20)and Malay speakers (20).

'Good' compositions written in Malay havemore intersentence semantic ties (e.g. reiterationand collocation) than 'weak' compositions. How-ever, 'good' compositions written in English bynative speakers have more intersentence syntacticties (e.g. reference and conjunction) than 'weak'compositions. The development of content in thecompositions written in Malay in comparison tothose written in English by native speakers indicatea crosscultural variance in conditions for quality. Inaddition, compositions in ESL demonstrate a de-velopmental stage in the usage of syntactic cohesivelinks and the organisation of material, reflectingprevious writing experience in the Malay language.

93-414 Koda, Keiko (Ohio U.). The effects of lower-level processing skills on FLreading performance: implications for instruction. Modern Language Journal(Madison, Wis). 76. 4 (1992), 502-12.

The article describes an investigation into lower-level verbal processing skills (word recognition andletter identification) and reading proficiency. Pre-vious research findings in LI and FL reading areoutlined, particularly the 'limited capacity model',wherein readers heavily involved in verbal pro-cessing are assumed to have fewer cognitivecapacities available for higher-level decoding. Theproject involved 58 American college studentsenrolled in a Japanese language programme, andused a test battery consisting of cloze and sen-tence/paragraph comprehension items. The authorprovides an overview of the communicative in-structional methods used in the associated teaching

programme, and also describes the Japanese Kana/Kanji orthographic systems.

The results [tabular data] revealed a complexcorrelation between word/letter recognition andtext comprehension measures: different lower-levelprocessing skills are, seemingly, required to performvarying comprehension tasks at different stages ofproficiency. Moreover, low-level processing skillsare especially important when the FL employs adifferent orthographic system from the learner's LI.This implies that the target FL writing systemshould be taught as early as possible. Further researchis needed into how readers at different proficiencylevels alter their comprehension strategies.

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93-415 Koster, Cor J. (Free U., Amsterdam) and Koet, Ton (Hogeschool vanAmsterdam). The evaluation of accent in the English of Dutchmen. LanguageLearning (Ann Arbor. Mich), 43, 1 (1993), 69-92.

English native speakers and Dutch teachers ofEnglish were asked to judge the English pro-nunciation of two Dutchmen. Although there wasa fairly large consensus between the English andDutch judges, the former were more tolerant. TheEnglish native speakers found more fault withconsonants, whereas the Dutch judges objectedmore to incorrectly realised vowels.

In a second experiment, native speakers of Englishas well as experienced and inexperienced Dutchspeakers of English (teachers and students, respect-

ively) were asked to indicate on five 7-point scaleswhether they found the English of Dutch peopleugly or beautiful, monotonous or melodious, etc.There was considerable agreement in the globalassessment of pronunciation. British listeners, again,showed themselves more tolerant in finding thepronunciation of Dutch speakers more pleasant andless ugly than did Dutch teachers of English, afinding ascribed to the Dutch teachers' unduefastidiousness.

93-416 Kraemer, Roberta (Tel Aviv U., Israel). Social psychological factorsrelated to the study of Arabic among Israeli high-school students: a test of Gardner'ssocioeducational model. Studies in Second Language Acquisition (Bloomington,Ind), 15, 1 (1993), 83-105.

This study investigated the generalisability ofGardner's socioeducational model for second-language learning to a highly different social con-text from that in which the model was developed.Specifically, the study examined Jewish high-schoolstudents in Israel learning Arabic as a foreignlanguage in a setting characterised by a high degreeof intergroup conflict. Four tenets were identified asforming the essential core of Gardner's theory.These could be expected to apply across widelydiffering contexts in order to support the gen-eralisability of the model. Other elements in themodel, as well as the degree of relationship betweenvariables, may be specific to the social context. Themain hypothesis posited an expanded version ofGardner's model that included additional constructs— both general and context specific.

The subjects for this study were 484 pupilsstudying Arabic in the 10th grade in regular highschool programmes. The instruments consisted ofwritten questionnaires that were administeredduring two regular class periods. Teachers' markswere collected at the end of the school year. Thehypothesis was tested using linear structural relations(or LISREL) causal modeling techniques. Regardingeach of the four core elements in Gardner's theory,it was concluded that the model was indeedgeneralisable to the context of this study. Otherrelationships between variables in the model areinterpreted in light of the specific language learningcontext.

93-417 Kreuz, Roger J . and Roberts, Richard M . (Memphis State U ) . Whencollaboration fails: consequences of pragmatic errors in conversation. Journal ofPragmatics (Amsterdam), 19, 3 (1993), 239-52.

This study assessed pragmatic errors and how theyaffect the collaborative process of conversation.Specifically, these higher-level pragmatic errorswere compared to lower-level phonological andlexical errors. Each type of error was embedded inshort conversations which were either read or heardby subjects. Subjects were asked to provide speakerevaluations and realism ratings. They also were

asked to recall the errors after a short delay. In allconversations that contained errors, speakers whomade the errors were evaluated negatively. How-ever, for those conversations that contained prag-matic errors, the listeners also were evaluatednegatively. The results suggest that pragmatic errorsmust be examined in a collaborative context fortheir effects to be properly evaluated.

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93-418 Laufer, Batia (U. of Haifa) and Eliasson, Stig (Uppsala U.). Whatcauses avoidance in L2 learning: L1-L2 difference, L1-L2 similarity, or L2complexity? Studies in Second Language Acquisition (Bloomington, Ind), 15, 1(1993), 35-48.

Among the structural and lexical factors claimed toaccount for avoidance in second language learningare (a) cross-linguistic difference, (b) cross-linguisticsimilarity, and (c) intrinsic complexity of the secondlanguage features avoided. This paper examinespatterns of avoidance and preference for phrasalverbs or equivalent single-word verbs amongSwedish learners of English. The authors assumedthat if the subjects avoided English phrasal verbs,particularly the figurative ones, even though phrasalverbs exist in Swedish, this would indicate thatinherent semantic difficulty of second-languageforms was the main factor contributing to theavoidance behavior. If, on the other hand, thelearners did not show any preference for one-wordverb forms in English, or indeed favored the phrasalforms, this would support the assumption thatavoidance or non-avoidance depends largely ondifferences or similarities between the native and theforeign language.

A multiple-choice test and a translation test weregiven to two groups of advanced Swedish-speakinglearners of English. Each test consisted of 20sentences, allowing for the choice of either a phrasalor a synonymous single-word verb. The test answersshowed that the Swedish learners avoided neitherphrasal verbs in general nor the figurative ones inparticular, regardless of whether the verbs weresimilar to, or different from, their Swedish trans-lation equivalents. Furthermore, the results werecompared to the avoidance patterns of a group ofadvanced Hebrew-speaking learners of English.From the comparison it emerged that the Swedishlearners used significantly more phrasal verbs thanthe Israelis, notably figurative ones. These resultssuggest that the avoidance is determined more by asystemic incongruence between the first language(LI) and the second language (L2) than by theinherent difficulty of L2 forms.

93-419 McKeown, Margaret G. Creating effective definitions for young wordlearners. Reading Research Quarterly (Newark, Del), 28, 1 (1993), 17-31.

The author examined the relative effectiveness ofdictionary definitions and definitions revised toaddress problems found in traditional definitions.Dictionary definitions were analysed from a cog-nitive processing perspective to describe why younglearners have difficulty using such definitions tounderstand word meanings. Definitions were re-vised according to principles that arose from theanalysis. Two tasks compared the effectiveness ofthe two types of definitions. In the first, 24 fifthgraders were presented with 12 words, 6 havingdictionary definitions and 6 with revised definitions,and asked to use the words to write sentences. The

dictionary definitions yielded 25% acceptable and75 % unacceptable sentences. Revised definitionsyielded 50 % of each sentence type. In the secondtask, 60 fifth graders were presented nonwordsubstitutes for 12 words and definitions of thewords, and asked to answer questions. Reviseddefinitions led to significantly more responses thatdemonstrated a characteristic use of the word (p <0-001). Thus, revised definitions were more effectivein helping students understand typical correct usesof words. Implications for classroom practice andfor the design of student dictionaries are discussed.

93-420 Nyikos, Martha (Indiana U.) and Oxford, Rebecca (U. of Alabama). Afactor analytic study of language-learning strategy use: interpretations frominformation-processing theory and social psychology. Modern Language Journal(Madison, Wis), 77, 1 (1993), 11-22.

The statistical approach of factor analysis is used tocharacterise and describe the key types of foreignlanguage learning strategies in a sample of universitystudents. Language learning strategies can be dividedinto five types. These range from the formal, rule-oriented strategies which use analytic, bottom-upskills to functional ones characterised by the social

use of language in realistic communicative situations[examples with discussion]. The former are usedmost and the latter least frequently; it is argued thatthis is due to current academic testing practiceswhich emphasise grade achievement over effective-ness of communication. Thus choice of strategiesdepends on existing reward systems. In a dis-

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cussion of the implications for the classroom, it is the beliefs and behaviour that retard languageclaimed that activities and grading systems stressing learners' progress,communication can go a long way toward altering

93-421 Oxford, Rebecca (U. of Alabama) and others. Learning a language bysatellite television: what influences student achievement? System (Oxford). 21, 1(1993). 31-48.

A group of 107 students participated in a majorstudy exploring the factors that influence languageachievement when instruction is delivered bysatellite television. Factors included the students'motivation, learning styles, learning strategy use,gender, previous language learning experience, andcourse level. Motivation was by far the mostsignificant determiner of achievement, and learningstrategy use was also very influential. Gender and

learning style (visual, auditory, and hands-on)played potentially important roles, although pre-vious language learning and course level were notespecially explanatory. Specific implications areincluded for satellite language teaching, a deliverysystem that promises to become more widely usedthroughout the world as advances in technologycontinue.

93-422 Pearson, Barbara Zurer and others (U. of Miami). Lexical developmentin bilingual infants and toddlers: comparison to monolingual norms. LanguageLearning (Ann Arbor, Mich). 43, 1 (1993), 93-120.

This study compares lexical development in asample of 25 simultaneous bilingual and 35 mono-lingual children for whom semilongitudinal datawere collected between the ages of 8 and 30 months.A standardised parent report form, the MacArthurCommunicative Development Inventory, was usedto assess the children's receptive and productivevocabulary in English and/or Spanish. A method-ology was devised to assess the degree of overlapbetween the bilingual children's lexical knowledgein one language and their knowledge in the other.Using the measures presented here, there was no

statistical basis for concluding that the bilingualchildren were slower to develop early vocabularythan was the monolingual comparison group. Thewide range of vocabulary sizes observed at theseages in normally developing children was observedin these bilingual children as well. The closecorrespondence of the pattern of the bilinguals'growth in two languages at once to monolinguals'growth in one suggests that norms for lexicaldevelopment in bilinguals should be made withreference to the children's performance in twolanguages together.

93-423 Peronnet, Louise (U. of Moncton). Pour une grammaire de la variation.[Towards a grammar of variation.] Bulletin of the CAAL (Montreal), 14, 2 (1992),131-42.

When the time comes to correct papers, languageteachers have the final word. Which is the normthat they apply? The aim of the experiment, asdescribed in this paper, was to analyse the approachesused in marking papers by members of a groupfrom the University of Moncton that worked on

the norm and the regional variation. Comparisonswere made between results from the group's workwith those based on a survey of a larger group ofteachers of French as a first language. The ex-periment focuses on the question of norm perceptionin a minority linguistic group.

93-424 Prefontaine, Clemence (U. of Quebec at Montreal) and Lecavalier,Jacques (Coll. of Valleyfield). La mesure de I'intelligibilite des textes non litteraires.[Measurement of the comprehensibility of non-literary texts.] Bulletin of the CAAL(Montreal), 14, 1 (1992), 95-109.

Traditionally, comprehensibility has been defined as this article, the authors define and describe a newa concept far more complex than readability, mainly comprehensibility formula that accounts for fourbecause it considers at the same time the difficulty of readability factors: micro- and macrostructure ofthe micro- and the macrostructure of the text. In text, conceptual comprehensibility, and difficulties

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with specific passages as expressed by some readers.They contend that any readability formula shouldreflect the complex reality of the reading en-

vironment: a text, a reader, and a transactionbetween the text and the reader.

93-425 Sparks, Richard L. (Coll. of Mount St. Joseph, Cincinnati, Ohio) andGanschow, Leonore (Miami U., Oxford, Ohio). The impact of native languagelearning problems on foreign language learning: case study illustrations of theLinguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis. Modern Language Journal (Madison, Wis), 77,1 (1993). 58-74.

The Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis suggeststhat many learners who find it hard to learn aforeign language also have problems with theirmother tongue. These 'linguistic deficit' (LD)students perform well in 'intelligence' tests and inother academic subjects, and their language prob-lems usually relate specifically to phonology andsyntax rather than semantics: for example, theymay be unable to divide speech into phonetic units.It seems that such cognitive problems, rather thanlow motivation, explain many cases of failure inforeign language learning. Teaching methods suchas the Orton—Gillingham method, used for teachingmother-tongue reading and writing to dyslexia

sufferers, work well in teaching foreign languages toLD students.

On the basis of interviews with over 200 goodand poor FL learners, the authors present five'prototypes', distinguished by high/low perform-ance in the areas of phonology/syntax/semantics,and in one case by low motivation. They recom-mend that educators should be prepared to lookfor cognitive explanations of poor FL performance,to use existing diagnostic instruments, to recognisethe existence of different learner types, and toconsider methodologies beginning with explicitteaching of sounds and symbols.

93-426 VanPatten, Bill (U. of Illinois) and Cadierno, Teresa (Arhus U ,Denmark). Input processing and second-language acquisition: a role for instruction.Modern Language Journal (Madison, Wis), 77, 1 (1993), 45-57.

The authors attempt to make a connectionbetween input processing and instruction. Given theemphasis placed on input (i.e. language that encodesmeaning) in second-language acquisition, instruc-tion as direct intervention on a learner's strategies ininput processing should have a significant effect onthe learner's developing system. Results of a studyof second-year university-level Spanish classes sup-port this claim. Furthermore, instruction is ap-parently more beneficial when it is directed towards

how learners perceive and process input rather thanwhen instruction is focused on having learnerspractise the language via output. Learners whoreceive instruction that attempts to alter inputprocessing receive a double bonus: better processingof input as well as knowledge that is apparently alsoavailable for production. The results give support toinput processing as a critical aspect of classroomsecond-language acquisition.

93-427 West, Richard F. and others. Reading in the real world and itscorrelates. Reading Research Quarterly (Newark, Del), 28, 1 (1993), 35-50.

Solitary individuals waiting for flights in an airportdeparture lounge were classified as either readers(engaged in recreational reading for 10 consecutiveminutes) or nonreaders by an experimenter un-obtrusively observing their behaviour. Of the 217subjects, 111 were classified as readers and 106 asnonreaders. Individuals classified as readers scoredhigher on several recognition checklist measures ofprint exposure that can be administered in a matterof minutes. Individuals judged to be high in printexposure — on the basis of either an inference fromtheir airport behaviour or an inference from their

responses on the checklist measures — displayed moreextensive vocabularies and cultural knowledge thandid individuals low in print exposure. Althoughengagement in literacy activities was correlatedwith both age and education, exposure to print wasa substantial predictor of vocabulary and culturalknowledge even after differences in age andeducation were controlled. The results, taken inconjunction with the outcomes of several relatedstudies, suggest a more prominent role for exposureto print in theories of individual differences incognitive development.

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93-428 Williams, Marion and Burden, Bob (U. of Exeter). A closer look atpsychology in teaching a language to young learners. English Studies InformationUpdate (Manchester), 11 (1993), 19-24.

Although much work has been done on themethodology of EFL for young learners, not muchhas been published on the theory underpinningpresent approaches. It is argued here that thepsychologist Reuven Feuerstein's theory of 'med-iated learning' [i.e. learning through the mediationof a teacher] is relevant to language teaching. The 12key factors in mediated learning are studied andtheir application to the teaching of language to

young learners is considered. The first three factorsare of general application: learners must understandwhat is asked of them, they must understand whythey are doing a task and the learning activity musthave a more general application beyond thelanguage being practised. The other nine factorsmay only apply to some tasks and depend on theculture in which learning is taking place.

93-429 Winne, Philip H. and others. A model of poor readers' text-basedinferencing: effects of explanatory feedback. Reading Research Quarterly (Newark,Del), 28, 1 (1993), 53-65.

Twenty-four third-to-fifth grade poor readers wereread passages that included five types of information:problem statement, rule related to the problem,critical fact fitting the rule that solved the problem,spurious information that apparently would solvethe problem, and facts. In instruction, an inferencequestion was asked followed by one question abouteach type of information. In an inductive condition,tutors provided specific feedback about students'answers to all six questions; students had to induce

processes. In an explicit condition, tutors added tofeedback by explaining and demonstrating theprocess for combining information about theproblem, rule, and critical fact to create an inference.The pretests revealed that poor readers could makelow-level text-based inferences. Both instructionalconditions boosted overall comprehension, butinference-making was detectably better whenstudents received explicit feedback.

Research methods93-430 Christie, Katrien (U. of Delaware) and Lantolf, James P. (Cornell U ) .The ontological status of learner grammaticality judgments in UG approaches to L2acquisition. Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata (Rome), 3 (1993), 31-57.

This paper looks at the question of whether UG(Universal Grammar)-based L2 research can borrowresearch methodologies from theoretical linguisticswithout first determining their relevance for inter-language grammars. After discussion of thereliability and validity of tasks eliciting gram-maticality judgments, especially introspection, therefollows a description of a study intended toinvestigate the effects of UG in one aspect oflearning Italian as a foreign language, the Pro-dropparameter [the omission of the subject pronoun].The results showed surprising variation in theperformance of the two tasks set, ranging from nearnative speaker performance in one task to that

expected of learners in the other - i.e. learnersseemed to draw on UG in one task, but not in theother.

It is concluded that, based on this study at least,the two tasks drew on different types of knowledge- the learner's true interlanguage and knowledgetaught about the language - which would indicate avirtual independence of intuition and performancefor L2 learners. This may indicate that introspectivedata in language acquisition research should be usedwith caution, since, in early L2 learners at least, theyseem to be unreliable, though more advancedlearners are more likely to produce valid intro-spection data.

93-431 Roberts, Jonathan Roy (U. of Reading). Evaluating the impacts ofteacher research. System (Oxford), 21, 1 (1993), 1-19.

Findings are presented from two studies into theeffects on teachers of self-directed classroom re-

search. The first concerned the evaluation of aresearch-based part-time MA for English state-

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Research methodsschool teachers. Overall, the scheme was found toproduce clear benefits on an individual level, largelyin terms of teachers' revised perceptions andattitudes. The second study was of the effects of aone-year collaborative action research project by agroup of English language teachers. This aimed toimprove teachers' skills in teaching and managingmixed-ability classes in terms of communicativeapproaches and, as in the earlier study, an im-provement on the individual level was noted. Theuse of a repertory grid as a tool for feedback in

reflection by teachers on their own performance isdiscussed.

The gains from action research, such as a boost inmoral and self confidence, are attitudinal and notquantifiable. Collaborative research can reveal toteachers how students view their instruction, pro-vide new models of how to act and so lead to radicalrethinking. Such charge is likely to occur when theresearch addresses a collectively perceived need butis ultimately dependent upon the leadership style ofsenior staff.

Error analysis93-432 Asselin, Claire and McLaughlin, Anne (U. of Quebec at Montreal). Leserreurs Iinguistiques recontrees dans les ecrits des etudiants universitaires: analyse etconsequences. [Linguistic errors found in the writing of university students: analysisand conclusions.] Bulletin of the CAAL (Montreal), 14, 1 (1992), 13-30.

The production of learning and testing instrumentsin written language requires, in order to meet all therequirements of linguistic validity, the previousknowledge of all categories of linguistic errors madeby writers in their texts and, for each category oferror, the knowledge of its relative frequency. Theauthors analysed 376 texts written in 1986 byuniversity students in various programmes at theUniversity of Quebec at Montreal. These 376 testsexplore nine different subjects, different types ofdiscourse (narrative, argumentative, informative,expressive, incitative, etc.), different types of text

(editorial, letter, essay, resume', article, request forfinancial aid for a research project, etc.), and twowriting situations (with and without the help ofworks of reference). The grid used for the analysisincludes six categories (syntax, grammar, vocabu-lary and semantics, dictionary spelling, punctuationand word breaks at the end of a line) containing 58subcategories. The authors present the results oftheir analysis and the conclusions drawn from itconcerning the production of learning and testinginstruments in written French for post-secondary-school-level adults.

93-433 Colson, J. P. (Inst. Libre Marie Haps, Brussels). The acquisition of Dutchas a foreign language: natural order, interference and monitoring. Rassegna Italiansdi Linguistica Applicata (Rome).3(1992). 115-32.

The results are reported of three tests administeredto different groups of adult learners of Dutch. Thegroups varied in size and other respects, but alllearners had English, French or German as mothertongue. The first test was a short written com-position, the second a 'monitor test' of variousgrammar points, the third an oral interview. Errorson each test were analysed, and the percentage oferrors apparently due to first language interferencewas computed.

Interference errors were found to be rare in

morphology, and it is claimed that the error patternhere supports Krashen's 'natural order hypothesis'.Among syntactic and lexical errors, however,interference was much more frequent. Many errorswere made in tests one and three which scarcelyoccurred in the grammar test, apparently supportingKrashen's ' monitor hypothesis'. Interference errorswere more frequent among speakers of more closelyrelated languages, notably German, and also morefrequent among non-Belgians who began Dutch asadults than among Belgians who began it at school.

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Testing93-434 Alderson, J. Charles (Lancaster U.) and Buck, Gary (East Texas StateU.). Standards in testing: a study of the practice of UK examination boards inEFL/ESL testing. Language Testing (London), 10, 1 (1993), 1-26.

It is often asserted that the UK tradition in languagetesting is different from the North Americantradition. Whereas in North America it is considerednormal practice to examine the psychometricproperties of tests, in the UK more emphasis isthought to be placed on test content. However,there has been no systematic study of this stereo-typical view. The research reported in this articleaimed to investigate the issue by examining thepractices of UK EFL/ESL examination boards. Asurvey was carried out in two phases, using an open-ended instrument in phase one and a detailedquestionnaire in phase two. The results, presented

and discussed in some detail, show that no acceptedstandards exist which UK boards adhere to, thatcurrent practice and procedures followed by theboards vary greatly, but that information appears toexist within some boards which could attest to thequality of their examinations. However, that in-formation is not publicly or easily available. Thearticle argues that the time is ripe for the de-velopment of a set of standards boards shouldfollow, and for a public discussion of thoseprocedures that would be most appropriate toensure that standards were met.

93-435 Amer, Aly Anwar (Tanta U.). Teaching EFL students to use a test-takingstrategy. Language Testing (London), 10, 1 (1993), 71-7.

This study investigated the effect of teaching a test-taking strategy to EFL students on their performanceon EFL tests. Eighty-two 7th-grade students par-ticipated in the study. The experimental group (n =40) was taught the components of a test-takingstrategy: to read the instructions carefully, toschedule their time appropriately, to make use ofclue words in the questions, to delay answering

difficult questions, and to review their work inorder to check their answers. The results showedthat the experimental group outperformed thecontrol group (n = 42). The findings suggest thatthere is a positive relationship between test-per-formance and skill in test-taking. The findings alsosuggest support for training EFL classroom teachersto provide instruction in test-taking strategy.

93-436 Berrier, Astrid (U. of Quebec at Montreal). Practiques interactives:evaluation possible? [Interactive activities: is evaluation possible?] Bulletin of theCAAL (Montreal). 14, 1 (1992), 31-46.

The complexity of speech makes testing difficult.This paper examines three grids for testing oralinteraction: Bales' (1972), Seltner's (1985) andBouchard's (1984). After the grids are presented,their classroom use is discussed. In general, the gridscontain too many criteria, some of which are

unsuitable for the classroom. Overall, they requireadaptation. A simplified Bouchard grid is thenapplied to a five-student interaction. Followingthese analyses, a number of simple criteria fortesting verbal classroom interaction and commentson the profile of' the best oral student' are given.

93-437 Lussier, Denise and others. Measuring second language (L2)proficiency in high school level exchange students. Canadian Modern LanguageReview (Fredericton, New Brunswick), 49, 3 (1993), 526-49.

This paper reports on a study designed to identifyappropriate standardised instruments to measureEnglish as a second language (ESL) performancewithin a language contact experience. The purposeof the study was to define operationally, accordingto recognised academic standards, the ESL level ofhigh school exchange students after a three-monthstay in an English milieu. The instrument identified

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as the most appropriate would later serve as one ofa battery of instruments for pre/posttesting toexamine ESL proficiency gain. The subjects were185 French native-speaking high school levelstudents. Five different standardised language pro-ficiency tests (SLEP, CELT, TOEFL, MTELP, andCAT) were used. Test results were compared toappropriate corresponding norm groups. Three



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Testing

tests were identified as potential instruments. Dis-cussion of final test selection includes considerationof the different factors contributing to test per-

formance within this context. The implications andlimitations of this type of testing for languagecontact experiences is addressed.

93-438 Mills, Jean. In their element? Standard Assessment Tasks and mothertongue. Multicultural Teaching (Hanley. Staffs.), 11, 2 (1993), 31-4.

A small-scale investigation was undertaken bybilingual classroom assistants and ESL teacherscarrying out Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs)with 6-8-year-old bilingual pupils. Some features ofthe SATs were found to be problematic even beforethe bilingual issue was considered. Some of the taskswere also culturally biased, and did not lendthemselves to bilingual responses: Panjabi and Urdu,for example, express seasons and weather conceptsdifferently from English and were therefore notvery appropriate for a SAT about types of weather.Familiarity with the bilingual assistant was found to

be important, not least because the assistant wasalready aware of the children's abilities. Many of thechildren preferred to use English at school, but themother tongue played a supporting and confirmingrole, for example in repeating questions or in-structions. By being allowed flexibility in theirchoice of language, the children had a greaterchance of success, but few schools have the resourcesto offer bilingual testing. The blanket assumptionthat it is unfair to test children in mother tongueunless they have been taught in it does not appear tobe justified.

93-439 Rost, Detlef H. (Philipps-U. Marburg). Assessing different components ofreading comprehension: fact or fiction? Language Testing (London), 10, 1 (1993),79-92.

The starting point of this study was the debateabout the structure of LI reading comprehension.Kalb, Rabenstein and Rost claim to assess severaldifferent subskills of reading comprehension withthe test battery Lesen und Verstehen - Diagnose(Reading and Comprehension - Assessment) (RuC-A)they designed specially for this purpose. To checkthis, 220 second-grade German elementary-schoolpupils were tested with the RuC-A. The resultsshow medium-to-high correlations for the eightsubtests (056 ^ r ^ 085), and some correlationcoefficients are nearly as high as the correspondingsubtest reliabilities. Corrected for attenuation, theyreach 0-66 < rk ^ 099. Depending on the theo-

retical perspective, factor analyses (with the reliabili-ties of the subtests as communalities) yield eitherone broad factor, ' General reading competence'(accounting for 85 % of the nonchance variance) or,at most, two factors, 'inferential reading compre-hension' and 'vocabulary' (accounting unrotatedfor 85 % and 6 %, rotated for 55 % and 36 % of thereliable variance). As in other comparable LI read-ing comprehension tests, RuC-A apparently cannotmeasure several clearly distinguishable componentsof reading comprehension. A reliable and validdiagnosis of typical LI reading comprehensionprofiles is not possible.

93-440 Shohamy, Elana (Tel Aviv U., Israel). Beyond proficiency testing: adiagnostic feedback testing model for assessing foreign language learning. ModernLanguage Journal (Madison, Wis), 76, 4 (1992), 513-21.

The characteristics of ' school' and ' external' lan-guage testing contexts are considered and it ismaintained that the former has been insufficientlystudied. The primacy of external tests, administeredthrough agencies such as ACTFL, has had asometimes negative 'backwash' effect on the edu-cational process. Actual classroom instruction insuch a situation becomes 'measurement driven',resulting in a prescriptive, 'top-down' narrowingof the scope of what is taught.

Tests are but one component in the educationalprocess, and should provide meaningful data toinform, diagnose and modify. Good test information

helps to improve learning/teaching (and, indeed,testing itself). The article outlines a Testing/Assessment model [diagrams] realised via a Hebrewas a Foreign Language project in Canada and theUnited States, wherein the participating schoolsactively collaborate with an external test designteam. The testing scheme described takes account ofproficiency (language needed in 'real life'), achieve-ment (the language learned during the schoolprogramme) and norm/criterion referencing.

It is concluded that the Assessment Modelaccommodates the various multiple factors in theeducational process, and taps a whole range of

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Language learning and teachingcommunicative, linguistic ability. Tests constructedthrough continuous collaboration/data collection

are, purportedly, the most effective instruments ofinstructional change.

93-441 Wal l , Dianne and Alderson, J. Charles (Lancaster U ) . Examiningwashback: the Sri Lankan impact study. Language Testing (London), 10, 1 (1993),41-69.

Language tests are frequently criticised for havingnegative impact on teaching - so-called 'negativewashback'. Some writers believe that it is possibleto bring about positive change in language teachingby changing tests. However, neither positive nornegative washback on classrooms has been es-tablished empirically by observation of classrooms.This article seeks to redress this situation by reportingon an innovative study of the impact of a newEnglish examination in Sri Lanka on languageteaching. Although impact is demonstrated on thecontent of teaching, no evidence was found for any

Curriculum planning

influence of the test on how teachers taught. It isargued that studies of washback need to relateteachers' attitudes to and understanding of exams toobservations of classrooms in order to understandwhy teachers teach the way they do, and why testsmight not have the impact that is frequently asserted.It is concluded that the supposition of washback ascurrently formulated is an oversimplified account ofthe relationship between tests and teaching and it issuggested that the complexity of that relationship,and of curricular innovation more generally, needsfurther exploration.

93-442 Butzkamm, Wolfgang. Bilingualar Unterricht-Fragen an die Forschung.[Bilingual teaching: a consideration of research.] Die Neueren Sprachen (Frankfurtam Main, Germany), 92, 1/2 (1993), 151-61.

Bilingual sections of German grammar schools havemainly been the effort of enthusiastic teachers whoworked hard, in collaboration with the educationauthorities, to develop a viable model of schoolingover the years. Schools of this type exist in othercountries, notably in Canada and Wales, wherecontent-based subjects are taught in the medium ofa second or foreign language. Comparable ex-perimental schools or school programmes in Ger-many, however, have not been the subject of anyresearch. This article sets out to define a number ofquestions for research with a view to (a) evaluatingwhat has been achieved to date; (b) developing and

testing teaching materials for courses in content-based subjects that have not been included inbilingual programmes up to now; (c) inquiring intopossible variations and extensions of the schoolmodel; (d) investigating key methodological issuesinvolved in combining foreign language teachingwith subject-matter teaching in the foreign lan-guage. It is to be expected that comparing andcombining the teaching and research traditions ofvarious (school) subjects will result in a betterunderstanding of what constitutes successful teach-ing.

93^443 Kastner, Harald. Zweisprachige Bildungsgange an Schulen in derBundesrepublik Deutschland. [Diglossic programmes in German schools.] DieNeueren Sprachen (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), 92, 1/2 (1993), 23-53.

Bilingual programmes form a new and increasinglyvisible component in the structural development ofeducation in the school systems of the Germanstates. They are an extension of the model thatemphasises the learning of foreign languages at themiddle and upper levels of secondary school andhave expanded the areas in which the model isapplied. Nearly all of the modern foreign languagesare represented in the bilingual programmes, no-tably English, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish andRussian, with varying degrees of distribution andregional concentrations.

The article provides an historical overview of

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bilingualism as an educational phenomenon andobjective in Europe, including the current Europe-wide, bilateral and cross-border specifications forbilingual programmes at schools in Germany andthe forms of organisation for bilingual programmesin line with the national regulations pertaining tocourse plans, curricula and working tools for theteacher. It also highlights the common characteristicsand variations on models of these programmes andconcludes with verifiable crossborder problems andperspectives.

The presentations are based on the officialdocuments available.



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Curriculum planning

93-444 Kelmes, Erwin. Profil und Entwicklung des bilingualen deutsch-franzosischen Zweiges am Gymnasium Kreuzgasse, Koln. [Profile and development ofthe German-French bilingual stream at the Kreuzgasse Gymnasium, Cologne.] DieNeueren Sprachen (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), 92, 1/2 (1993), 54-68.

After presenting the goal of a bilingual programme,which is to develop students' language ability tonear-native competence through increased exposureto the language in language- and content-basedsubjects, this paper goes on to describe the profile ofa bilingual French programme, with special em-phasis on teaching objectives, the classroom lan-guage, subject matter, evaluation of achievementand teaching materials in the bilingual subjects.

The development of enrolment in the pro-gramme, in addition to the wide range of variation

in the students' foreign language competence at thestart, are indicative of the problems related toimplementing the bilingual programme and theresulting pedagogical challenge. Tables included atthe end of the article provide a comparative statisticaloverview showing the number of beginning stu-dents (age 10-11) and the number of studentsenrolled in the bilingual German-French pro-gramme, as well as the number of graduates (age18-19), in relation to the total student populationfrom 1970/71 to 1992/93.

93-445 Lapkin, Sharon and others. Research directions for core French inCanada. Canadian Modern Language Review (Fredericton, New Brunswick), 49, 3(1993). 476-513.

In this paper existing empirical research on coreFrench is reviewed and research directions areproposed. The review is organised under four mainheadings: program design, program objectives and

outcomes, curriculum issues, and teacher education.Among the research priorities identified is the needto experiment with alternative designs for thedelivery of core French.

93-446 Otten, Edgar and Thiirmann, Eike. Bilinguales Lernen in Nordrhein-Westfalen: ein Werkstattbericht - Konzepte, Probleme und Losungsversuche.[Bilingual learning in Northrhine-Westfalia: a report of the workshop-outlines,problems and an attempt at solutions.] Die Neueren Sprachen (Frankfurt am Main,Germany), 92, 1/2 (1993), 69-94.

This paper gives an outline of bilingual learning inNorthrhine-Westfalia as a strategy of intensifyingsecond-language learning in the classroom, ofdeveloping cross-curricular approaches to learningand of preparing learners for the challenges ofincreased mobility. Based on four examples takenfrom bilingual curriculum/materials developmentat the Landesinstitut - the Northrhine-Westphalian

State Institute for Curriculum Development and In-Service Training in Soest - the authors present anemerging model of bilingual learning and aspects ofits embodiment in actual learner materials. In thecontext of increasing interest in content-basedlearning they address questions of revising com-municative orthodoxies in the light of developingacademic cognitive proficiency.

93-447 Schiitz, Helmut. Politik bilingual: Anmerkungen zum Unterricht imSachfach Politik in deutsch-englischen Zweisprachenzweigen an Gymnasien inNordrhein-Westfalen. [The bilingual teaching of politics: some comments on theteaching of politics in the German-English bilingual streams in grammar schools inNorthrhine-Westfalia.] Die Neueren Sprachen (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), 92, 1/2(1993), 94-113.

Even though the teaching of politics in Northrhine-Westfalian bilingual-wing grammar schools followsthe same curricular guidelines that are binding forordinary courses in political studies, the use ofEnglish as the dominant classroom language willrender necessary modification in its methodologyand the overall approach to the subject. After a briefconsideration of major implications of ministerial

decrees concerning bilingual wings, the author triesto assess the compatibility of British teachingmaterials. As the integration of subject-learning andlanguage instruction must be regarded to be thepivotal element in bilingual teaching, emphasis isplaced on practical suggestions of how to implementlanguage-learning strategies in subject classrooms.

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93-448 van Lier, Leo (Monterey Inst. of International Studies). Not the nineo'clock linguistics class: investigating contingency grammar. Language Awareness(Clevedon, Avon). 1, 2 (1992). 91-108.

An innovative focus on language in teacher edu-cation is essential for the success of languageawareness. One goal is to promote the emergence ofa new discipline, educational linguistics (no more'linguistics as usual'), another goal is the facilitationof efficient language education in the schools. LA,both in teacher education and in schools, must beexperiential (based on teachers' language knowledgeand expertise), task-based (based on real-life con-cerns and projects), and critical (examining the rolesof language in life). The implementation of LA atthe teacher education level, along the lines discussed,will bring into focus a number of themes or topics

that relate education to linguistics, such as cor-rectness, cross-cultural communication, languagelearning, classroom interaction and variation. Forillustrative purposes one of the most crucial themes,contingency grammar, is explored in some detail. Itis argued that contingency grammar, defined asways of displaying attentiveness to other turns,forms the essence of learning through socialinteraction. The investigation of contingency intheir own classrooms will lead teachers to a greaterunderstanding of the ways in which they go abouttheir teaching, and it will encourage them to reflecton the role of language in educational processes.

93-449 Weller, Franz-Rudolf. Bilingual oder zweisprachig? KritischeAnmerkungen zu den Moglichkeiten und Grenzen fremdsprachigen Sachunterrichts.[Bilingual or diglossic? Some critical comments on the possibilities and limitations ofsubject teaching through a foreign language.] Die Neueren Sprachen (Frankfurt amMain), 92. 1/2 (1993). 8-22.

The article attempts to clear up some of theconfusion that has characterised the use of the term'bilingual' in the debate on language policy in theschools, and warns against adopting out of handtypologies and programmes for bilingual education,especially from the United States and Canada,which are being offered to fill the gap in psy-cholinguistic theory in current 'bilingual' teachingpractice in Germany.

The article concludes with an outline of problemswhich need to be solved in order to develop atheoretical and didactic approach to multilingualismin the schools. The term 'bilingual' is hard todifferentiate and gives rise to many misunder-standings; however, it has been retained in thiscontext for heuristic reasons, since, strictly speaking,it would not be suitable for an adequate descriptionof the issues involved in foreign language teaching.

Course/materials/syllabus design93-450 Ellis, Rod (Temple U. Japan). The structural syllabus and second-language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly (Washington, DC), 27, 1 (1993), 91-113.

This paper examines the case for a structural syllabusin the light of second-language acquisition research.It argues that a structural syllabus cannot easily serveas a basis for developing implicit knowledge of asecond language because of the learnability problem- learners are often unable to learn the structuralproperties they are taught because the manner inwhich they are taught does not correspond to theway learners acquire them. It is possible, however,to envisage a role for a structural syllabus based ona weak interface model of L2 acquisition. This roleconsists of intake facilitation (i.e. causing learners topay attention to specific formal features in the input

and to notice the gap between these features and theones they typically use in their own output. Astructural syllabus can also serve as a basis for theconstruction of problem-solving tasks designed todevelop learners' explicit knowledge of grammaticalproperties. It is argued that this knowledge mayfacilitate subsequent intake. The role proposed for astructural syllabus, therefore, is a substantial one. Itis recognised, however, that such a syllabus willneed to be used alongside some kind of meaning-based syllabus, which is designed to provide learnerswith opportunities for communicating in the secondlanguage.

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Course/materials design

93-451 Flowerdew, John (City Poly., Hong Kong). Concordancing as a tool incourse design. System (Oxford), 21, 2 (1993), 231-44.

Computerised text analysis programs (concord-ancers) are now available for use on personalcomputers. Drawing upon experimental work doneat Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman,this paper shows how such programs can be used asa tool in course design. The starting point is a corpus

of written and/or spoken text from the targetcommunicative situation. From this data-base com-puter text-processing can provide criteria for: (a)the selection and grading of items for the syllabus,and (b) the authentic contextualisation of these itemsin learning materials.

93-452 Maury, Nicole (U. of Toronto). La norme dans I'exploitation dedocuments sonores en langue seconde: consequences de sa necessite. [The norm inthe use of aural materials in the second language: effects of its inevitability.] Bulletinof the CAAL (Montreal), 14, 2 (1992), 121-30.

Texts and cassettes devoted to listening to Frenchas a second language are the basis of this inquiryon various norm effects. For aural material, choicesmade as to the register of the document, thespeakers, the use of aural material other than thetarget document can generate norm effects, as well

as the relationship of the product to the environmentwhere it has been produced or is actually used.Textbooks which give priority to the form ratherthan the content need to refer to a privileged usage,more or less explicitly — unless the data internal tothe document allow a more structural approach.

93-453 Thiirmann, Eike and Otten, Edgar (Landesinstitut fur Schule undWeiterbildung, Soest). Uberlegungen zur Entwicklung von Lehr- und Lernmaterialienfur den bilingualen Fachunterricht. [Reflections on the development of teaching andlearning materials for bilingual subject teaching.] Zeitschrift furFremdspmchenforschung (Bochum, Germany), 3, 2 (1992), 39-55.

Schools with a bilingual section ought to organiselanguage instruction and language acquisition acrossthe whole curriculum. Individual subjects (e.g. L2-English, L2-geography/history/political science,Ll-German, other Ll-subjects) share responsibilitiesin developing (a) basic interpersonal communicationskills as well as (b) cognitive academic languageproficiency. The individual functions of thesesubjects in the language acquisition process areexplained.

German schools with a bilingual section are inurgent need of material supporting subject learningas well as content-based language learning. Ananalysis of a German textbook for second-yearhistory shows that translating ordinary German

textbooks — as was proposed by school admin-istrators - will answer neither the needs of teachersnor those of students since they are lexically toocomplex. What is more, they contain no exercisesor specific support for building up content-basedcommunication skills.

Since there is no specific textbook material forbilingually taught subjects on the German school-book market, there is need for innovation. TheLandesinstitut (Soest) has begun to conceptualisemodular units for geography classes that mightserve as examples for other subjects. The authorsdefine functional elements and comment on futuredevelopmental work.

Teacher training93-454 Birks, Renee (U. of Glasgow). La formation linguistique des instituteurs:une experience franco-ecossaise Glasgow/CREDIF. [A Franco-Scottish experiment inlanguage training for primary school teachers by the University of Glasgow andCREDIF.] Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee (Paris), 89 (1 993), 11 5-24.

French classes in Scottish primary schools are notusually taught by primary teachers but by visitingsecondary specialists. However, if the teaching of

primary French is to expand, more teachers must befound and they must have fluent and correct French.

In November 1991, 26 primary school teachers

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from Strathclyde were chosen from volunteers tofollow a French course at the University of Glasgow.The course, two hours a week for 20 weeks, wasbased on two video films produced with the help ofCREDIF, 'Une vie d'instit' and 'Le travail d'instit',which were designed to allow the trainees toidentify with their French counterparts, learn aboutthe French school system and acquire the languageneeded in the classroom in addition to increasing

their fluency, grammatical competence and vo-cabulary.

The time allowed proved too short to cover allthe ground and the students were too busy to domuch private study. However, they were enthusi-astic, attending regularly throughout the winter,and manifested greatly increased confidence in theirability to teach French.

93-455 Tsui, Amy B. M. (Hong Kong I).). Classroom discourse analysis in ESLteacher education. ILEJ (Hong Kong), 9 (1992), 81-96.

The importance of encouraging ESL teachers toundertake discourse analysis of their own classroominteraction is argued. Teachers can thereby developa sensitivity towards classroom dynamics and theeffect of their own language on student participationand learning. A simple framework is introduced,based on Sinclair and Coulthard's system foranalysing the structure and organisation of in-teraction during a lesson. It is suggested that withinthis general framework teachers devise their own

analytical categories according to which aspect ofclassroom discourse they wish to focus on. Threesuch aspects are discussed here: the use of questions,the possibility of modifying the interaction, andteacher feedback. Examination of one's own be-haviour in these areas through discourse analysisenables the teacher to consider various alternativestrategies in the pursuit of more effective classroomcommunication.

93-456 Ur, Penny (Haifa U., Israel). Teacher learning. ELT Journal (Oxford), 46, 1(1992), 56-61.

The current ' technical rationality' of typical B A orBEd. teacher training programmes (wherein thetrainee professional 'learns' the theory and then'applies' it in the teaching classroom) is felt to beinadequate. Such a paradigm is based on themisconception that the teacher's primary pro-fessional activity is of the same type as an academic'sand, moreover, that the teacher does not do it aswell as the academic. Teachers and academics are,however, engaged in fundamentally dissimilarpursuits, with different priorities, the former think-ing abstractly to find the ' truth', the latter trying todiscover what works in the 'real-time' classroom.They are not at different points on the same axis, butfunction in parallel.

Researchers (e.g. Harris, 1974) support the viewthat the traditional relationship between theoreticalcoursework and practical teaching is inadequate,theory often being seen as irrelevant by professionals.The nature of learning/teaching may in any case beso complex as to preclude the production ofconsistently verifiable statements/predictions thatare of any use whatever to the practitioner. Analternative model is presented here, wherebytheories are adduced heuristically by teachersthrough 'reflection in action' (Kolb, 1984). Teachertraining courses should therefore develop trainees'personal theories of action, integrate practice/observation, and complement lectures with a varietyof ' experiential' activities.

Teaching methods93-457 Albertini, John (National Technical Inst. for the Deaf). Critical literacy,whole language, and the teaching of writing to deaf students: who should dictate towhom? TESOL Quarterly (Washington, DC), 27, 1 (1993), 59-73.

In response to reports of widespread adult illiteracyin the U.S., two positions on educational reformhave emerged: a back to the basics movement thatstresses enduring truths, and a social constructivistposition that highlights the social context oflanguage teaching and use. Each holds different and

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competing assumptions about language learningand the teaching of writing. In order to uncover theassumptions operating in classrooms for deaf stu-dents, two sets of recollections concerning writingactivities were analysed: the autobiographical essaysof 87 U.S. deaf college students and the journal



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Teaching methodsentries of 55 college-aged German deaf students.Students from both countries generally recalledwriting for two purposes: to report and to practicegrammar and mechanics. It is argued here (a) thatthese activities represent narrow conception ofliteracy and inaccurate assumptions about language

learning and (b) that the back to the basics movementperpetuates such assumptions, whereas a socialconstructivist approach does not. Finally, edu-cational, social, and political implications of usingwhole language approaches, among others, in theteaching of writing to deaf students are considered.

93-458 Alpi, Walter and others. Remediation aux difficultes en expression ecritedes etudiants de premiere annee d'universite: compte-rendu d'experience.[Remediation of difficulties in writing for first year university students: an account ofan experiment.] Melanges CRAPEL (Nancy, France), 21 (1993), 17-42.

The authors report on an experimental remedialcourse in academic writing for first-year under-graduates. They first identified the most commonmistakes made by the students and related them toa mismanagement of the subskills that constitute thewriting process. A programme was then devised toenhance the students' awareness of the diversity andcomplexity of the operations involved in writing.The course attempted to simulate the actual steps

taken when writing an academic paper and providedthe students with the opportunity of discussing howthey managed these steps when writing themselves.The students also analysed faulty texts and identifiederrors that interfere with the legibility of their owntexts. Having realised that these errors are generatedduring the writing process, the students thendetermined the skills to apply when writing.

93-459 Barre, Annie (U. of Strasbourg II). Medias et autonomie dansI'apprentissage des langues. [Teaching aids and autonomy in language learning.]Langues Modernes (Paris), 87, 1 (1993), 43-55.

General issues of autonomy and use of aids arediscussed, with illustrations from five groups learn-ing German in Alsace in 1992, in a programme ofalternating self-study and work with a teacher. It isconcluded that self-study can be imposed, butautonomy cannot: a group of learners left tothemselves with audiotape material behaved intraditional classroom ways, did not work indi-vidually, and did not use the various available aids

when they had problems. Other groups, asked tohelp the researchers by working in experimentalways and filling in feedback sheets, were moresuccessful, and showed that self-study strategieshave to be taught and learned. The usefulness ofvideo, audio and 'minitel' (information network)cannot be taken for granted, but teachers must workout ways of exploiting them to lead pupils graduallytowards autonomy.

93-460 Bernhardt, Elizabeth B. (Ohio State U.). A psycholinguistic perspectiveon second language literacy. AIL A Review (Madrid, Spain), 8 (1991), 31-44.

This article questions the characterisation inAlderson (1984) of second language reading asa 'problem', maintaining that the implication ofdeficit/disability is unfair. L2 reading is a complexand different literacy, being in part dependent on LIliteracy. Those already literate in the LI are involvedin a language process when acquiring L2 readingskills, whereas learners who are not literate in theirLI have an additional burden.

The author discusses linguistic, literacy andknowledge variables as they impinge on thedevelopment of L2 reading skills. The formerinclude such elements as word structure, syntax andmorphology; literacy variables involve purpose forreading, reader goal-setting/comprehension check-ing. Knowledge variables entail the 'background

information' a reader uses to decipher texts. Thisextended discussion is then related to a particularstudy involving 23 first-year Spanish students[tabular data], the results of which appear to indicatethat LI literacy is a significant component in L2reading. This is seen to imply, for example, thatwhere learners do not have to switch orthographies,there is no need to provide overt instruction inword recognition. In addition, 'conceptual trans-lation ' (wherein word meaning is seen contextually,rather than on a one-word, one-concept 'standalone' basis) ought to be stressed. Rather thandevising structured activities to ' improve' studentcomprehension, teachers should try to discover howlearners process L2 texts, and how they might needhelp in developing checking/repair strategies.

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93-461 Comblain, Annick and Rondal, Jean A. (U. of Liege). Apprentissageprecoce de I'anglais en contexte immersif scolaire: I'experience liegeoise. [Earlylearning of English in a school immersion programme: the Liege experiment.] Etudesde Linguistique Applique'e (Paris), 89 (1993), 13-22.

The disadvantages of traditional school languageteaching are that it starts too late, is not intensiveenough, is 'reflexive' (i.e. language itself is thesubject) and is based on translation. Immersionprogrammes in Canada have proved themselves tobe a better alternative, and semi-immersion has beentried on a small scale in Belgium since 1988. Threeexperimental groups — 66 children in all, aged 4 to6 at the start — were taught through English fortwo-thirds of their timetable, and tested at intervalsin both French (mother tongue) and English. Theextensive battery of tests covered phonology, lexisand syntax, and included naming pictures, rep-

etition, extended production and various aspects ofcomprehension.

The French tests showed no reduction in mother-tongue level, compared to a control group. InEnglish, results were generally good - lexical per-formance after two years of teaching, for example,often resembled that of five-year-old native-speakers- though the youngest children (aged 4 at the start)progressed much more slowly. Although the dataare so far limited to oral performance - results ofwriting tests are still to come - they encouragecontinuation and extension of the project.

93-462 Ellis, Rod (Temple. U. Japan, Tokyo). Interpretation-based grammarteaching. System (Oxford), 21, 1 (1993), 69-78.

Most grammar activities seek to teach grammar bystimulating learners to produce sentences containingthe target structures. This article presents argumentsin support of a comprehension-based approach togrammar teaching. It offers a model of second-language acquisition and on the basis of this examinesa number of possible goals for grammar instruction.One goal, somewhat more limited than that usually

adopted, is to promote 'intake' of new grammaticalfeatures by helping learners to notice the features inthe input and to comprehend the meaning(s) theyrealise in communication. An example of an activitywith this goal is provided. Finally, this articleexamines a number of empirical studies that givesupport to interpretation grammar activities.

93-463 Glisan, Eileen W. and Drescher, Victor (Indiana U. of Pennsylvania).Textbook grammar: does it reflect native speaker speech? Modern Language Journal(Madison, Wis), 77, 1 (1993). 23-33.

If grammar is to have a role within a communicativeapproach to teaching, the structures presented shouldreflect their use in current-day native speakerdiscourse. This purpose of this study was to examinethe occurrence of specific grammatical structures inoral samples of Spanish from native speakers, and tocompare the results with the treatment of thestructures in six beginning-level college Spanishtextbooks. Natural conversations were recorded ineight South American countries, and the recordingswere then transcribed and the written corpusanalysed using the 'Tact' software package atthe University of Toronto. The study focused onuse of four structures: double object pronouns;nominalisation with lo; demonstrative adjectives/pronouns; possessive adjectives/pronouns.

For all of these, the grammar of the textbooksdealt very inadequately with the grammatical

structures most frequently used by native speakers.Textbook grammar has not changed to reflectthe philosophy of communicative, contextualisedlanguage teaching. Language teachers should useauthentic recordings and videos more extensivelyand if necessary adapt the grammar of the textbooksfor use in real discourse. The most essential (i.e.frequent) grammatical structures should be pre-sented for production at beginner level, and theranking or' seeding' of other, less frequent structurescan serve as the springboard for introducing them atintermediate and advanced level. Textbook authorsmust be willing to research the use of structures inauthentic discourse. Research into native speakers'reactions to errors in the use of structures identifiedas being of either high or low frequency mayprovide further information about the best order ofintroducing them.

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Teaching methods

93-464 Green, John M. (U. of Puerto Rico). Student attitudes towardcommunicative and non-communicative activities: do enjoyment and effectiveness gotogether? Modern Language Journal (Madison, Wis), 77, 1 (1993), 1-10.

Students' ratings of a variety of ESL activities wereelicited by questionnaire and revealed a high positivecorrelation between the reported enjoyableness andperceived effectiveness of certain techniques andprocedures. While non-communicative methodshad been experienced more frequently than com-municative ones it was the latter which weredeemed to be more enjoyable and it is proposed thatthe relationship between enjoyment and effect-iveness is circular and mutually reinforcing.

Contrary to one prior hypothesis, there was nocorrelation between the perceived effectiveness andunpleasantness of a task. Such results may beregarded as encouraging for teachers concerned asto whether students will accept real languagetechniques in the classroom. It is suggested thatconducting such a survey amongst both studentsand teachers and comparing the results could helpidentify potentially troublesome differences betweenteacher styles and student expectations.

93-465 Green, Peter S. (U. of York) and Hecht, Karlheinz (U. of Munich)Pupil self-correction in oral communication in English as a Foreign Language.System (Oxford), 21, 2 (1993), 151-63.

This article focuses on self-correction as a cognitivestrategy. Is it a strategy that is typical of the moresuccessful foreign language learner ? After a look atthe different forms of self-correction - covert self-correction and overt editing — as psycholinguisticprocesses, Krashen's Monitor Theory is considered.Six suppositions about self-correction are thenexamined in the light of an empirical investigation.The self-corrections in spoken language (English) of

286 German and English pupils are analysed and theresults interpreted. As the test population comprisednative and non-native speakers, the extent to whichtheir self-correction behaviour is comparable is alsoexamined. The results throw a favourable light onthe efficacy of self-correction, and relevant sug-gestions for the foreign language teacherpresented at the end of this article.

are

93-466 Harbord John. The use of the mother tongue in the classroom. ELTJournal (Oxford), 46, 4 (1992), 350-5.

Mother-tongue avoidance has caused disquietamongst non-native-speaking teachers (who makeup the majority of EFL practitioners). Emphasis onan 'English only' classroom is inappropriate in somecontexts, as teachers may find themselves lackingthe English language strategies necessary to get theirmeaning across. On the other hand, there hassometimes been a reluctance to employ native-speaking teachers overseas because their ignoranceof the LI purportedly makes it impossible for themto explain the English language system to students.Both sides of the argument are considered. AllowingLI use is humanistic, as students can exploit preferred(and time-efficient) learning strategies: method-ology should work with this natural tendency, not

against it. However, its use should be limited toparticular situations, or else students will fail toobserve semantic/form/pragmatic equivalences,and will oversimplify.

The author examines the advantages/disadvan-tages of three mother-tongue classroom strategiesthat facilitate (1) teacher-student communication,(2) teacher-student rapport, (3) learning. Examplesof (1) include explicit explanation of the meaning ofa grammatical item at the time of presentation orchecking comprehension by inviting student trans-lation of particular words; examples of (2) could bechatting to students/telling jokes, whereas (3) mightinvolve contextualised translation of words/phrases.

93-467 Johns, Ann M. (San Diego State U.). Written argumentation for realaudiences: suggestions for teacher research and classroom practice. TESOL Quarterly(Washington. DC). 27, 1 (1993), 75-90.

Of the various concerns in the teaching of second-language writing, issues regarding audience, orreaders' expectations, have been the least explored.

inThis article reviews the audience literaturecomposition studies, focusing on the topic of realaudiences as central to understanding how writers

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Language learning and teachingproduce successful texts in authentic contexts. It bilingual researchers. Finally, it suggests ways indiscusses the efforts of one teacher/researcher toexplore the interaction of audience awareness,writers' purposes, and argumentation in the processof grant-proposal writing undertaken by two

which teachers can give students experiences writingauthentic argumentative texts addressed to realaudiences.

93-468 Jones, Glyn (Eurocentre Learning Service). Setting up self-access learningfacilities within one institution. English Studies Information Update (Manchester),10 (1993). 6-10.

In designing a new self-access centre, an attemptmust be made to reconcile practical, institutionaland pedagogic considerations. Most self-accesscentres are organised according to media, but theycan also be divided into sections according to level,or both approaches can be combined. A self-accesscentre need not be permanently enveloped in areverent hush, but some students do need a modicumof peace and quiet, and the separation of noisy andquiet areas should be incorporated at the planningstage. The disposition of the furniture in an openplan centre will also have an effect on its acousticproperties. The activities most likely to cause noiseare: group speaking activities; solitary speakingactivities using audio cassettes; computers used bypairs of groups; group video viewing; the issuedesk; electronic equipment. Cassette-based speakingactivities are almost invariably solitary, and learnerstend to feel embarrassed about speaking to a

machine, so a good position for such machines is ata bench placed against a wall, helping learners toavoid eye contact with others. Students workingwith cassettes will need a book or worksheet and sowill need free work space, which can sometimes beprovided by mounting cassette players on the wall.Exercises using computers can be the basis of verysociable and rewarding group work, and group self-access also makes for more economical use ofexpensive machines. Island tables are better forgroup work than rows of computers against'a wall,although the positioning of power cables can causeproblems. Economical video viewing facilities canbe provided by one or two large screens with sounddistributed to separate headsets by means of a sounddistribution cable or an infra-red remote headsetsystem. Moving images can be distracting to otherseven if there is no sound, so it is advisable to screenoff the viewing area.

93-469 Mar-Molinero, Clare and Wright, Vicky (U. of Southampton).Languages and open learning in higher education. System (Oxford), 2 1 , 2 (1993),245-55.

This paper describes the organisation, resources, andusers of the Language Centre at the University ofSouthampton, and discusses the major issues behindthe open learning approach to language learningwhich is currently being developed there. The

materials being devised are analysed and a specificexample of how open learning methods haverecently been integrated into the teaching of themodern languages undergraduate degree is given.

93-470 Mitchell, Jane Tucker (U. of North Carolina at Greensboro) andRedmond, Mary Lynn (Wake Forest U.). Rethinking grammar and communication.Foreign Language Annals (New York), 26, 1 (1993), 13-19.

The role of grammar in the communicativeclassroom has yet to be determined. This articleexamines several recent views on grammar, thenrevisits some of the perpetual problem areas inteaching grammar such as the deductive-inductivedebate, the use of LI or L2 for grammaticalpresentations, and the explicit-implicit controversy.Examples of contextualised exercises, a guidedinductive lesson using the target language, and theuse of 'many instances of the same structure' to

suggest ways of introducing grammar into thecommunicative classroom. Since much of thecurrent research favours more explicit teaching ofgrammar and since textbooks remain grammaticallyoriented, it seems clear that grammar and com-munication must join together in order to producemore proficient language users. The use of thetarget language for grammar explanations by theteacher and in the textbook may facilitate realcommunication in the classroom.

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93-471 Moore, Danielle (U. of Geneva). Entre langues etrangeres et languesd'origine: transformer la diversite en atout dans I'apprentissage. [Between foreignlanguages and community languages: turning diversity to advantage in learning.]Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee (Paris), 89 (1993), 97-106.

This article explores the early teaching of foreign foreign languages and ' immigrant' languages tolanguages in situations where many children are of sensitise pupils to the different functions of languageimmigrant origin and do not have a uniform and encourage the development of favourablemastery of the school's first language. These perceptions of, and attitudes to, the languages andsituations are usually considered difficult, but have those who speak them,the advantage that teachers can exploit links between

93-472 Titone, Renzo (U. of Rome and U. of Toronto). Le jeu-langage et lelangage-jeu dans I'enseignement des langues etrangeres aux enfants. [Languagegames and the language of games in the teaching of foreign languages to children.]Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee (Paris), 89 (1 993), 23-31.

In a child's language learning processes play and essential they are to it, from linguistic, metalinguisticspeech are inextricably entwined and so the only and social viewpoints. Discussion then follows onvalid way of teaching languages is through the how these ideas can be used to develop languagelanguage functions of games. Different types of play teaching for children, even those of school age.are considered [ritual games, 'let's pretend', role Games can be based on activities which areplay, dramatisation] in the light of how they reflect themselves the objects of discussion or on languagethe development of a child's language and how itself.

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Documents

Language learning and teaching – theory and practice...Language learnin ang d teaching 93-395 Widdowson, H. G. ELT and EL teachers: matters arising. ELT Journal (Oxford), 46, 4 (1992),