Language teaching · Language teaching Language teaching 98-325 Allan, Margaret (James Cook U., Australia). Assisting autonomous performance. Prospect (Macquarie U., Sydney), 12,

Language teaching

Language teaching

98-325 Allan, Margaret (James Cook U.,Australia). Assisting autonomous performance.Prospect (Macquarie U., Sydney), 12, 3 (1997),4-14.

This paper is concerned with second language (L2)pedagogy and focuses on two aspects of autonomy:autonomy as a communicator in the L2 and autonomyas a language learner. It draws on a case study of a pro-ject to introduce a group of six postgraduate learners ofEnglish for Academic Purposes to the concept of dis-course intonation. The paper first outlines the theoreti-cal framework of the project, which included thedesign of a CD-ROM program as an integral part of aconsciousness-raising approach to the study of languagesystem. Data are presented from the case study toexemplify ways in which this approach encouragesautonomous learning. Interview data are then drawnon for indications that the development of explicitknowledge of the language system can contribute toincreasing control over language performance. Thepaper also examines features of the context that appearto encourage learner autonomy.

98-326 Ayaduray, Jeyalaxmy (Bukit Merah Sec.Sen., Singapore) and Jacobs, George M.(SEAMEO Regional Lang. Centre, Singapore). Canlearner strategy instruction succeed? The case ofhigher order questions and elaborated responses.System (Oxford), 25, 4 (1997), 561-70.

Previous research on learner strategy instruction hasproduced mixed results. This article reports a study inwhich two classes of 32 Singapore upper secondaryschool second language users of English participated.Both classes had the same teacher. One class receivedinstruction in asking higher order questions; the otherclass did not. Higher order questions are related to thedevelopment of thinking skills. Participants' questionsand responses to questions during small group discus-sions were tape-recorded before and after the 10-weektreatment. While there were no significant pre-instruc-tion differences, after the instruction the treatment classasked significantly more higher order questions andprovided significantly more elaborated responses. A0.05 alpha level was used. The findings are discussed inthe light of theory and previous research on issues oflearner strategy instruction, the teaching of thinkingskills, and learners' use of questions.

98-327 Bariki, Ozidi (U. of llorin, Nigeria). Faut-iletudier la traduction au secondaire? [Shouldtranslation be studied at secondary level?]Francophonie (Rugby), 16 (1997), 8-11.

Having been displaced by language teaching methodswhich emphasise the spoken word much more, e.g. thedirect method, audio-aural methods and, more recently,the communicative approach, translation is once againbeing recognised as a useful teaching tool. Its use does,however, raise certain questions, including the type oftranslation undertaken, which is addressed in this paper.Three levels of translation are identified and related tothe school situation: a literal translation, which ignoressemantics and may thus be unintelligible; one in whichthe translation is comprehensible, but not what a nativespeaker would say; and one in which the translationoperates much more at a semantic level—the translatordecodes the meaning of the original and re-encodes itin the target language. The second level is seen as themost appropriate to expect of secondary-level pupils, atleast in translation into the target language, though thethird level might be achieved in translation into the firstlanguage. It is emphasised that the use of translation isone approach that needs to be adapted to modernteaching techniques, with texts chosen for their interestrather than as traps for the linguistically unwary. Someclassroom activities are suggested.

98-328 Barrett-Lennard, Siri (Macquarie U) .Encouraging autonomy and preparing for IELTS:mutually exclusive goals? Prospect (Macquarie U.,Sydney), 12,3(1997), 29-40.

Although the IELTS (International English LanguageTesting System) training industry is flourishing, over-seas students from non-English speaking backgroundsmay not be getting the assistance they need to integratesuccessfully into university studies in Australia. Thispaper reviews studies that show that these students needhelp not simply with language, but also require assis-tance in learning how to learn at an Australian universi-ty. The paper then goes on to describe and evaluate theacademic preparation courses at the National Centrefor English Language Teaching and Research (NCEL-TR) which attempt to address both the linguistic andsocio-cultural needs of learners from non-Englishspeaking backgrounds.

152 Lang.Teach. 31,152-185. Printed in the United Kingdom © 1998 Cambridge University Press

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Language teaching98-329 Benucci, A. (U. of Siena). La linguaitaliana descritta nelle grammatiche per stranieri.[The Italian language described in grammar booksfor foreigners.] Rassegna Italiana di LinguisticaApplicata (Rome), 29, 3 (1997), 59-73.

Learners often complain that, by favouring structuralskills, formal instruction in Italian as a second or foreignlanguage tends to neglect the acquisition of pragmaticcompetence. On the assumption that this imbalance ispartly due to the language content of grammar text-books, the author (herself an experienced Italianteacher) has carried out a comparative study of about150 volumes published since 1945. The findings sum-marised here show a clear shift in the late 1980s from aprescriptive approach modelled on written usage to amore inclusive description of language use and 'lower'registers. Innovations are noticeable at severallevels-from syntax and vocabulary to pronunciationand sociocultural data—but await a consistent, explicitillustration of the actual impact on learners. Despite the'permissive' trend observed in later publications (asreflected in their richer content), the traditional author-ity of abstract literary norms remains largely unchal-lenged. Future developments will show which changesare deep enough to become widely accepted and thusassimilated by grammarians and textbook authors.

98-330 Bloomer, Robert K. (The State U. of NewYork, Stony Brook). Etymology in a course on thehistory of the German language. Foreign LanguageAnnals (New York), 30, 3, 345-51.

This article suggests a method for reinforcing some of thetopics covered in an upper-division or graduate course onthe history of the German language. Among these are thesecond or High German consonant shift and the influ-ence of culture on the development of the language. Inthree-week-long projects towards the end of the semes-ter, students investigate modern German words accordingto conceptual groups (Musikinstrumente, Sdugetiere, etc.)from the penpective of etymology. For their groups ofwords, students perform a number of concrete tasks. Theproject introduced in this article is practical: it is claimedthat it enhances the learners' decision-making and organ-isational skills, expands vocabulary, and makes purposefuluse of etymological sources as it achieves its primary goalof deepening the practical understanding of these issues.

98-331 Brosh,Hezi (Tel Aviv U.). Thesociocultural message of language textbooks:Arabic in the Israeli setting. Foreign LanguageAnnals (New York), 30, 3, 311-26.

This paper investigates both the explicit and theimplicit sociocultural messages conveyed by languagetextbooks. More specifically, it investigates (1) whatkind of concept frameworks or schemata learners canform based on the cultural information communicatedto them through language textbooks; and (2) to whatextent these messages are clear and in agreement withmessages coming to them from different socialisation

agents. Twelve Arabic textbooks taught in junior highschools in the Hebrew educational system in Israelwere examined. The findings indicate that Arab societyis presented in a partial, subjective, and unbalancedmanner. It is claimed that the textbooks under investi-gation do not reflect the new reality in the Middle Eastin the era of peace nor the contemporary Arab culture.These findings are seen as especially significant in lightof the fact that within the Israeli setting Arabic text-books constitute one of the most meaningful sources ofknowledge about Arab society.

98-332 Biihrig, Kirstin (U. of Hamburg).Innerbetriebliche Wirtschafts-kommunikation in derFremdsprache Deutsch: Erfahrungen mitdemEinsatz von Transkriptionen im Unterricht Deutschals Fremdsprache. [Internal businesscommunication in German as a foreign language:experiences using transcriptions in the teaching ofGerman as a foreign language.] ZielspracheDeutsch (Munich, Germany), 28, 4 (1997), 180-90.

The teaching of business German as a foreign languageoften takes the form of individual tuition with studentswho already possess an advanced level of German andhave very concrete requirements of the tuition, whichcannot easily be fulfilled by extant teaching materialsdue to the heterogeneous nature of business. One ofthe main-and particularly problematic- requirements isthat of (business-)internal communication. This isexemplified by one of the author's own students, anadvanced learner of German in a business situationwho felt, nonetheless, the need for more specific teach-ing in the area of business communication. A transcriptof a lesson based on a business presentation [provided inan appendix] was discussed with the student in the lightof effective communication strategies and discoursestructure. Using transcriptions in this manner, wherethe student is also a participant in the transcribed dis-course, it is deemed possible to reconstruct and controlthe student's linguistic aims to see whether the form ofthe utterances efficiently serves these aims.

98-333 Busa.M.G. (U. of Bologna).L'insegnamento della fonetica a studenti dellafacolta di economia. Risultati di un questionariosomministrato a conclusione di un'esperienzadidattica. [Teaching phonetics to undergraduates atthe Faculty of Economics. Answers to aquestionnaire administered at the end of a course.]Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata (Rome),29,3(1997),115-38.

Despite its presence in many language teaching pro-grammes, the influence of phonetic training on learnermotivation is still largely unexplored. This article illus-trates the results of a nine-hour pilot course on Englishphonetics, attended by 25 students of economics atBologna University. At the end of the project, partici-pants were asked to complete an anonymous question-

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Language teachingnaire eliciting their assessment and an estimate of futurelanguage needs. The answers showed great appreciationof teaching methods/materials and increased awarenessof phonetic difficulties in spoken communication;while most students expected to employ English pro-fessionally and ranked oral/aural skills well above read-ing and writing, only 8% were confident that foreignlanguage competence would be 'highly useful' to theircareers. Over 90% of attenders acknowledged the ben-efits of phonetic training, not only for comprehensionpurposes but also to overcome sociocultural barriersand feel accepted by the host language community. Thescheme's positive impact was widely confirmed by thefact that most students claimed their peers would bewilling to attend a similar course, especially if spreadover a longer period.

98-334 Carter, Ronald (Nottingham U.). Ordersof reality: CANCODE, communication, and culture.ELT Journal (Oxford), 52,1 (1998), 43-56.

This article is concerned with the topic of languageawareness in relation to spoken texts and their culturalcontexts. The topic is considered to have become moreand more relevant in recent years, given the increasingdevelopment of corpora of spoken English; more excit-ing developments in the work of COBUILD; thegrowth of the British National Corpus, with its spokencomponents; and the development of CANCODE(Cambridge/Nottingham Corpus of Discourse inEnglish) by the present author and Michael McCarthyat Nottingham University, with the support ofCambridge University Press. The data in this paper aredrawn from everyday situations of language use collect-ed for CANCODE and developed with an eye to theirpotential relevance for English language teaching.

98-335 Chen, Daxing (U. of South Carolina) andZhao, Yong. EWeb and HomePage Maker: makingit easier to develop content on the WWW.Computer Assisted Language Learning (Lisse, TheNetherlands), 10, 5 (1997), 427-41.

EWeb and HomePage Maker are two Web-based pro-jects that aim to make the World Wide Web (WWW)more interactive and, at the same time, easier for lesstechnically-inclined language professionals to takeadvantage of Web technology and allow them to con-centrate on content development. The eWeb, an inte-grated Web-based education environment thatfacilitates collaboration as well as individualised learn-ing, consists of a set of functions that support bothlarge-group and individual synchronous and asynchro-nous communication; enhance learning in a variety ofmodes; and provide instructors with additional toolssuch as exercise/test maker, materials development, pre-sentation templates and class management utilities.With database support, all data are interlinked andshareable and can be organised in a variety of ways.TheHomePage Maker allows the instructor to create andmanage interlinked Web pages such as course syllabuses,daily schedules and assignments, and lecture notes, as

well as links to other Web sites, all using regular word-processing skills. It also allows students to create andmanage their own personal pages and project pages.

98-336 Collentine, Joseph (Northern Arizona U.)and Collentine, Karina. The compatibility ofcomputer-mediated communication solutions withbeginning level foreign language curricula.Computer Assisted Language Learning (Lisse, TheNetherlands), 10, 5 (1997), 411-25.

This paper explores the compatibility of computer-mediated communication (CMC) with two basic objec-tives of modern foreign language curricula: (1) thatstudents should develop functional (i.e. real world) andpragmatic abilities; and (2) that instructional design andmaterials should be informed by what is known aboutthe cognitive processes responsible for acquisition. Theauthors assert that CMC is indeed compatible with thesegoals, and that in many ways CMC environments havegreater potential than previous technologies. CMC solu-tions largely entail input-oriented acivities; and it is sug-gested mat the CMC environment is particularlycompatible with the manner in which acquisition occursin the early stage.The paper concludes with an outline ofan introductory Spanish curriculum, created in conjunc-tion with the Educational Management Group, whoseinstructional design is informed by these notions.

98-337 Craig, Barbara (Tunghai U., Taichung,Taiwan). Negotiating discourse expectation in anEnglish as a Foreign Language classroom. HongKong Journal of Applied Linguistics (Hong Kong), 2,1 (1997), 1-22.

When students and instructor have been socialised indifferent educational systems, they often hold divergentviews of the learning process. Such mismatches ininstructional expectations can have significant effectson the participants' satisfaction with their interactionsin the foreign language classroom. This paper describesa year-long study of two classes of university Englishstudents in Taiwan, and contrasts the students' custom-ary approach to learning with that promoted by theirAmerican instructor. Through ethnographic partici-pant-observation by the instructor, combined withinformal written feedback and brief oral interviewswith the students, the study documents the processthrough which the participants re-negotiated theirexpectations and adjusted their classroom social andlinguistic behaviours during the course of the year. It issuggested that international university English as aForeign Language programmes can better meet thesociocultural and linguistic needs of their students bybasing their initial instructional approach on students'locally-held attitudes towards learning, rather than byimposing exogenous models of language instructionoften promoted in English language teaching.

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Language teaching98-338 de Carlo, Maddalena (Rome).Stereotype et identite. [Stereotype and identity.]Etudes de Linguistique Applique'e (Paris), 107(1997), 271-90.

This article discusses the relationship between identityand stereotypical representations of'the other', particu-larly in relation to foreign language teaching. It beginsby examining the concept of stereotypes and the cogni-tive need to use them to make sense of complex reality.This leads into a reflection on the means by whichidentity is constituted through the self's relationshipwith the other (drawing on the work of Paul Ricoeur).Identity construction is represented as being a narrativeprocess, and thus both dialogic and transformable; rela-tionships between 'self and 'other' can therefore becritically addressed and challenged. Finally, the authorsuggests activities in the foreign language classroomwhich could lead students to reflect critically on theconstruction of stereotypes. Pupils are asked first toconstruct narratives of their own identity, and then torealise the reductive nature of others' representations oftheir identity in comparison. Role plays and interviewsare used to encourage students to put themselves in theposition of'the other', and to recognise how their ownstereotypes about other groups can be equally reduc-tive.

98-339 de Courcy, Michele (U. of Melbourne).Teaching and learning with different scripts: cross-cultural conflict in a Chinese late immersionclassroom. Language and Education (Clevedon), 11,4 (1997), 242-59.

This paper reports some of the results of a study con-ducted with learners of Chinese who were involved ina late immersion programme in a graduate school ofeducation in Australia. Four learners acted as key infor-mants for the project. The aim of the project was toexplore in depth the learners' experiences of learningChinese in an immersion setting. The learners and theirteachers faced many problems during the time theywere involved with this project: these problems can bedescribed as being those involved in learning to 'doschool' with/in a different script. The challenge oflearning to read and write in a different script-a char-acter-based language—was one of the challenges facedby the learners. However, both learners and teacherswere faced with the challenge of coming to grips witha different script for what was meant by learning andteaching a language in a classroom.

98-340 De Vries, Jr., Herman J. and Long,Richard P. (U. of Connecticut). The EUROTECHmodule: a curricular innovation for Germaninstruction. Foreign Language Annals (New York),30, 3, 369-77.

This paper presents the module course as an effectivecurricular innovation within the framework of a dual-degree programme in German and engineering. Threemodules, or one-credit courses, are offered in a series

within the curriculum of EUROTECH: AnInternational Programme in Engineering at theUniversity of Connecticut. By virtue of the structure ofthese modules, which feature multiple lectures by out-side experts in fields of engineering and science, themodule functions as a unique vehicle for content-basededucation. As such, the module is deemed a creativeresponse to the curricular demands of a dual-degreeprogramme. The paper discusses these curriculardemands, examines the concept of a 'module' course,presents the EUROTECH module series, and arguesfor its advantages.The authors see the module arrange-ment as an effective implementation that may wellserve other dual-degree courses.

98-341 Duran, James P. (Marymount Coll., PalosVerdes). Preparing a structural syllabus for adultlearners of Irish. Journal of Celtic LanguageLearning (Paramus, NJ), 3 (1997), 6-40.

The author of this article proposes that a careful exami-nation of Modern Irish linguistic structures suggests aninherent logical sequencing of grammatical structureswhich could prove very useful in designing a languagecourse syllabus. It is suggested that the teacher ofModern Irish, following this somewhat flexiblesequence of structures embedded in natural commu-nicative situations, could slowly introduce the learnerto the grammatical core of the language over time. Thepaper provides detailed illustration of such an approachto teaching Irish grammatical structures. It is claimedthat a similar approach could also be useful in teachingthe grammatical structures of other languages.

98-342 Edmondson, Willis (Hamburg U). Therole of literature in foreign language learning andteaching: some valid assumptions and invalidarguments. AILA Re view (Oxford), 12 (1997),42-55.

This paper takes a negative stand on two issues. One is ateaching strategy whereby the systematic and extensivehandling of literary texts is pursued in courses whichare in fact designed to teach foreign/second language(L2) skills and proficiency. The second issue is the claimthat literary texts have, in some sense, a special role toplay in the L2 classroom—not in their own right, but asa means of developing language competence. Thesetwo issues of curriculum inclusion and theoretical justi-fication are not necessarily directly related; it is never-theless suggested that a negative stance regarding thesecond point would appear to lead to a negative viewof the practices associated with the first. The authorbegins by presenting some empirical observations con-cerning how the role of literature in L2 teachingappears in practice. The basic questions then addressedare whether literature has something special to offer thelanguage learner and teacher, and whether its inclusionin language teaching programmes is justified. It isargued that there are no valid arguments whatever forthe special status of literature in L2 teaching and learn-ing.

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Language teaching98-343 Fox, Matthew (Southampton Inst).Beyond the technocentric-developing andevaluating content-driven, Internet-based languageacquisition courses. Computer Assisted LanguageLearning (Lisse, The Netherlands), 10, 5 (1997),443-53.

The Language Learning Network project has set out todesign, deliver and evaluate empirically vocational lan-guage courses with a strong emphasis on sound peda-gogical approach.This report of the project's pilot phaseseeks to demonstrate how a range of learning and tech-nological devices can be combined to create a rich andcommunicative content-driven learning experience viaa mix of media, including the Internet and Video-Conferencing, for distance (or indeed, classroom andself) study. The primary focus of the courses is to offerthe learner stimulating materials which will encourage,enable and enhance language learning.The course Unitsdraw on customised situational dialogues, rich inhumour and imagination. While technology is utilised asa conduit for enriched language acquisition, it is clearlynot the end in itself-the project aims to address thequestion of what type of content should be used andhow it is best mediated through technology to enablesuccessful language acquisition. The major part of thepaper is devoted to an explanation and initial assessmentof the project and its pedagogical framework.

98-344 Gika, Anastasia-sissy (Inst.of Ed., U. ofLondon). Modem foreign languages in primaryschools: a comparison of four national schemes.English Language Teacher Education andDevelopment (ELTED) (U. of Warwick / U. ofBirmingham), 3,1 (1997)45-71.

This article compares research findings gathered byquestionnaires, interviews and observation relating tosix main areas of modern foreign languages (MFLs)teaching in four European countries. First, it comparesthe official primary school curriculum of each countryand the aims of MFLs teaching. It then moves on toconsider initial teacher education and entry require-ments for MFLs teacher trainees, revealing that varyingdegrees of general education and linguistic competenceare demanded. In-service training is next considered,with representatives from all four nations acknowledg-ing the need for better in-service provision to maintainlanguage skills. Teachers' most frequent concerns arehighlighted: lack of linguistic competence in the targetlanguage; misgivings about implementing a commu-nicative approach which may detract from the status ofMFLs teaching; and classroom management issues againarising from a child-oriented, fun approach to MFLsteaching. Aspects of good classroom practice are identi-fied, with teachers tending to focus on listening andspeaking skills rather than reading and writing. Finally,the reactions of pupils are presented, showing that theyare positive about MFLs teaching and enjoy languagelessons. The article concludes, however, that neitherparents, teachers nor pupils perceive the longer-termbenefits of foreign language learning.

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98-345 Gonzalez-Bueno, Manuela (U. ofKansas). Voice-onset-time in the perception offoreign accent by native listeners of Spanish. IRAL(Heidelberg, Germany), 35, 4 (1997), 251-67.

The experiment reported here sought to determine theextent to which the variation of temporal characteris-tics of stops in a particular Spanish utterance spoken byan English speaker had a noticeable effect on the per-ception of foreignness of speech. The experiment wasconducted by manipulating an utterance with specialcomputer programs and using native participants to ratethe manipulated utterances as being more foreign ormore native. The results were positive: the variation ofthe temporal characteristics of stops did have a notice-able effect on the perception of foreignness of speechby native listeners. The author therefore recommendsinstruction directed to shorten such temporal charac-teristics of English accented stops towards moreSpanish-like values. It is suggested that this might beachieved through the use of interactive computer tech-niques.

98-346 Gonzalez-Bueno, Manuela (U. ofKansas). The effects of electronic mail on SpanishL2 discourse. Language Learning and Technology(http://polyglot.cal.msu.edu/llt), 1, 2 (1998), 50-65.

This paper analyses the effectiveness of using e-mail as atool to promote foreign language learning in and out ofthe classroom. The study identifies the following fea-tures of the foreign language generated through theelectronic medium, some of which have already beenobserved in previous studies: (a) greater amount of lan-guage; (b) more variety of topics and language func-tions; (c) higher level of language accuracy; (d) moresimilarity with oral language; (e) more student-initiatedinteractions; and (f) more personal and expressive lan-guage use. These observations are expected to expandthe generalisations made in previous studies, and morefinely tune theoretical propositions, about how to inte-grate electronic communication in the classroom inorder to facilitate foreign language learning.The obser-vation of these features, together with the tentativeexplanations of the cause for their appearance, isexpected to contribute to a better understanding of thelanguage learning processes that result from the use ofelectronic communication in the context of a foreignlanguage course. It is also hoped that further research inthis topic confirms the prediction that foreign languagelearners exposed to this learning tool would becomelifelong learners of the foreign language beyond theclassroom context.

98-347 Hemsley, Michael (U. of Huddersfield).The evaluation of teachers' guides-design andapplication. English Languager Teacher Educationand Development (ELTED) (U. of Warwick / U. ofBirmingham), 3,1 (1997), 72-83.

This paper begins with a discussion of the functions ofteachers' guides, summarised as follows: to state the



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Language teachingpurpose of the associated teaching materials anddescribe the rationale behind them; to encourage thedevelopment of teaching skills and assist the teacher tounderstand the course as a whole; to provide guidanceon how to use the material and the linguistic and cul-tural information required for its effective use; and tohelp teachers develop towards an eventual position ofself-reliance and independence of such explicit guid-ance. Various issues in the design of evaluations for suchguides are then examined; and several existing check-lists of criteria for evaluation both of teachers' guidesand of English language teaching materials in generalare introduced. Finally, a model for evaluation of teach-ers' guides in this context is developed, with the inten-tion of providing readers with an evaluation frameworkthat can be adapted for their own contexts. Referencetables are provided in two appendices.

98-348 Johnston, Bill (U. of Minnesota). Do EFLteachers have careers? TESOL Quarterly(Alexandria, VA), 31, 4 (1997), 681-712.

The terms career and profession are increasingly commonin discussions of English as a Foreign/Second Language(EFL/ESL) teaching; yet little is known about theworking lives of teachers in this field.The study report-ed here, based on life history interviews with 17 EFLteachers in Poland, set out to address this issue. In thelight of a range of substantive and theoretical problemswith applying existing teacher career models to an EFLcontext, the study employed an innovative analysisbased on the theory of language of Mikhail Bakhtin.Bakhtin describes language as heteroglossic, or compris-ing multiple, competing discourses that are in ongoing,dynamic dialogue with one another. In the presentstudy, die interview transcripts are treated as discourse,and the central question posed is what discoursesteachers draw on in discursively constructing theirlives. The analysis reveals that, in teachers' discursivepresentations of their lives, teachers' life-story narrativesdo not appear to be present. Rather, teachers' storiesreflect dynamic and non-unitary identities that interactdiscursively in complex ways with a range of other dis-courses from the social, economic, and political con-text. The implications of this situation for the field ofEFL/ESL are considered.

98-349 Kendrick, Helen (Hurtwood House Coll.,Dorking, UK). Keep them talking! A project forimproving students' L2 pronunciation. System(Oxford), 25, 4 (1997), 545-60.

This paper describes a substantial research projectwhich looked at the effectiveness of different methodsof improving the pronunciation of learners of Englishas a Foreign Language, and evaluated the significance ofinstruction as one of the factors affecting the acquisi-tion of second language (L2) pronunciation. The learn-ers who participated were eight non-native teenagestudents at (approximately) intermediate level residentin an English boarding school. Following quantitativeand qualitative analysis, the research resulted in the fol-

lowing observations: (1) learners' L2 pronunciation didappear to improve; (2) the greatest improvementappeared to be in segmental features; (3) suprasegmen-tal aspects had a greater effect on listeners; (4) improve-ment varied depending on individual learners, time ofyear within the course, and type of task; and (5) success-ful acquisition of L2 prounciation appeared to beaffected by training, aptitude for oral mimicry and talk-ativeness. In short, it is suggested that the proven posi-tive effects of training and talkativeness shouldencourage educationalists to keep the students talking!

98-350 Koifman, Clara S., Justo, Elisabeth A.C. and Kerr, Lilian (Escola Tecnica Federal deQuimica, Rio de Janeiro). Considering aspects onselecting ESP teachers. The ESPecialist (Sao Paulo,Brazil), 17, 2(1996), 175-95.

This paper deals with the issue of teacher selection,specifically of teachers of English for Specific Purposes(ESP) in the authors' institution, a technical school inRio de Janeiro. Since the authors did not consider theirpedagogical practice to be based on a 'traditional'approach, they wished to design selection proceduresbased firmly on their own ESP theory and practice, andreflecting a broader perspective than simply linguisticand pedagogical skills and knowledge. They emphasisethe need to find teachers who are aware of, and share,the philosophy underlying ESP teaching. The paperdescribes the features of the local context and the roleof English within it, and oudines the structure and stepsof the selection process, reflecting on its positive andnegative results.

98-351 Kwakernaak, Erik (U. of Groningen).Vernieuwing en leermiddelen in hetvreemdetalenonderwijs. [Innovation and teachingmaterials in foreign language teaching.] LevendeTalen (Amsterdam), 524 (1997), 547-52.

This paper describes how materials development forforeign language teaching is organised in theNetherlands. As a result of the professionalisation dur-ing the 1970s, materials development and, hence, inno-vation have become complex processes in whichteachers, authors, publishers, experts and authorities allplay a role. Since national exam requirements are thegovernment's main instrument of control over educa-tion, the opportunities for innovation are largely dictat-ed by these general requirements and the way in whichCito, the Dutch Institute for Educational Measure-ment, translates them into actual exams. On the otherhand materials development is-for political and histori-cal reasons-a completely liberal market in theNetherlands.Thus, the authorities attempt to introduceinnovations by means of exam requirements, but theimplementation of these new policies is then left tomarket mechanisms. Competition is supposed to exer-cise sufficient quality control, but the author argues foradditional policy measures. The authorities shouldextend their control into the domain of materialsdevelopment; teachers should be trained specifically in

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Language teachingevaluating teaching materials, and objective evaluationsshould be made available to them.

98-352 Lee, Una (The U. of New Hampshire).Using Internet tools as an enhancement of C2teaching and learning. Foreign Language Annals(New York), 30, 3, 410-27.

The author affirms that, in spite of many efforts andcontributions from previous researchers, the need for acreative approach in using combined Internet tools forlearning about the target culture (C2) has not yet beenfound. It is claimed that the pilot study reported hereshows the use of Internet resources to be a meaningfulway to integrate language and culture that providesopportunities for students to learn about the target cul-ture while using E-mail to discuss cultural aspects withnative speakers. In addition, the use of the Internet andE-mail is claimed to increase students' interest andmotivation for learning the target language and culturein a dynamic rather than passive way. It is suggested thatforeign language teachers be encouraged to exploreand experiment with the Internet to fully exploit thepossibilities for language learning by means of thisresource •which opens pathways to authentic materialsand dynamic communications with native speakersaround the world.

98-353 Liou, Hsien-Chin (Nat. Tsing Hua U.,Taiwan). The impact of WWW texts on EFLlearning. Computer Assisted Language Learning(Lisse, The Netherlands), 10, 5 (1997), 455-78.

The project reported here aimed to examine how theuse of the World Wide Web (WWW) has an impact oncollege English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning.The study set out to explore the Web's function asinformation provider—real time and spontaneous. Newsites were the focus. The study used a comparisonmethod to investigate the use of the Web texts in a col-lege writing class, with an experimental group of 15students, and a control group of 18 students. In addi-tion, four ethnographic observations were conductedon four students. Questionnaires were given to investi-gate participants' perception of the activity. It was foundthat the experimental group improved their readingcomprehension and writing, and that they held positiveattitudes towards the Web activity and its prospects.Interesting findings from the ethnographic observationsare also reported.

98-354 Long, Donna Reseigh (The Ohio StateU.). The experiential course: an alternative to studyabroad for non-traditional students. ForeignLanguage Annals (New York), 30, 3, 301-10.

The general consensus is that study-abroad pro-grammes for language students contribute significantlyto consciousness-raising, world knowledge, and acade-mic knowledge, as well as to development of languageskills. However, many students today do not fit the tra-ditional mould of those who enter college directly

from high school and complete their baccalaureatedegrees in four years; and the rising numbers of suchstudents, coupled with the economic crunch caused byincreasing tuition and decreasing financial aid, makestudy abroad inaccessible to some students. It is suggest-ed in this paper that an intensive experiential coursebased on university and community resources can offersuch students a rich alternative linguistic/cultural expe-rience. In describing such a course run at theDepartment of Spanish and Portugese at the Ohio StateUniversity, the author hopes to provide a model forother departments wishing to identify and incorporatecommunity resources into their curriculum, as well asoffer their students an alternative to study abroad.

98-355 Malmkjaer, Kirsten (U. of Cambridge).Translation and language teaching. AILA Review(Oxford), 12(1997), 56-61.

Translation has had a bad press among language teach-ers in recent decades, although a re-evaluation appearsto be under way. This paper briefly charts the history ofthe use of translation in language teaching from the late18th century, summarises the objections that have beenraised repeatedly since the late 19th century, and sug-gests that, if translating in the foreign language class-room resembles 'real-life' translation sufficiently closely,all these objections fall away. In conclusion, it is arguedthat translation might profitably be seen as a valuableadditional language learning method, from both a ped-agogical and a pragmatic point of view.

98-356 McCarthy, John (Regional TechnicalColl., Galway, Ireland). Towards a conceptualframework for implementing a cross-curricularapproach to language awareness in the schoolcurriculum. Language Awareness (Clevedon), 6, 4(1997), 208-20.

One of the most important perceived benefits of lan-guage awareness is its facilitative effect on all languagelearning, and it has been assumed that this effect isincreased by establishing linkages and pathways betweenthe learners' various language learning experiences. Atthe same time, among the major problems identified asmilitating against a cross-curricular approach has beenthe lack of suggestions for bringing together teachers ofthe mother tongue and teachers of foreign languages,and the generally compartmentalised development andorganisation of the school curriculum. This paper sug-gests that one approach to these problems may bethrough the provision of a conceptual framework out-lining what is known about language development andmetalinguistic awareness. It then goes on to consider theways in which this may provide a reference frameworkto guide the work of the various committees responsiblefor developing the language curriculum. The exampleof the curriculum in Ireland is used to explore the prac-tical implementation of this proposal.

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Language teaching98-357 McLaughlin, Denis (Australian CatholicU., Queensland). The clash of cultures: learningthrough English in Papua New Guinea. Language,Culture and Curriculum (Clevedon), 10, 2 (1997),89-105.

When expatriate academics teach Papuan NewGuineans, there is often a cultural dynamic at play thatis inconsistent with that operating in 'Western' univer-sities. Insights into some of these issues, particularly lan-guage, may assist expatriates to restructure acceptedassumptions about teaching and learning in English tomore appropriately meet the needs of students from adifferent culture. This paper argues that language prob-lems occur because students are educated in a languagein which their teachers themselves lack facility.Moreover, in the Papua New Guinea context the learn-ing problems with English are associated with a lack ofequivalence between the concepts in the academic dis-course and the students' existing conceptual frame-work. Learning problems in English are deemed to bemore about concept acquisition than translation.

98-358 Meyer, Meinert A. (U. of Hamburg).Erziehender Unterricht-von Johann FriedrichHerbarts 'Zucht' zur 'Lernerautonomie'. [Educatingteaching-from Johann Friedrich Herbart's'cultivation' to 'learner autonomy'.]Fremdsprachenunterricht (Berlin, Germany), 6(1997), 411-17.

The author discusses the concepts of independence,self-activity and learner autonomy, and finds their rootsin the classical German pedagogical writings of JohannFriedrich Herbart, focusing in particular on the idea ofeducation as both mediation of declarative and proce-dural knowledge and promotion of character develop-ment. Similar views also found in the writings of theEast German pedagogue, Lothar Klingberg, and, morerecently, of David Little on learner autonomy are dis-cussed.The dialectic problem of students being compe-tent to organise their own learning, yet remainingprimarily receptive, and not active, during teaching, ishighlighted by interviews with students from the 11thgrade with respect to English lessons. This is discussedin the light of recent developments in cognitive psy-chology. From both an historical and a contemporaryperspective, the author draws conclusions pertaining toreforms of foreign language teaching which would bet-ter facilitate the development of learner autonomy.

98-359 Miyamoto, Yumi (San Diego State U.)and Rasmussen, Roger. The effectiveness of aJapanese language course on cross-culturalcompetence. Journal of Language for InternationalBusiness (Glendale, AZ), 9,1 (1998), 53-64.

The study reported here examines how Japanese lan-guage and culture instruction affects the cross-culturalcompetency level of the participants, specifically ininteracting with Japanese people. A quasi-experimentalresearch design was employed to measure the effective-

ness of the Japanese language and culture course enti-ded Japanese for the Business Community 1 (JBC l).Thestudy analysed seven cross-cultural competence attrib-utes in interactions with Japanese people in businesssettings. Seven participants were in the experimentalgroup, and 22 in the control group. A small sample t-test for parallelism was calculated prior to the analysisof co-variance. Although enrolment in JBC 1 was notstatistically significant as a predictor, there was at leastan implication that it helped the participants raise theircross-cultural competence levels. It is recognised thatthis result could be due to the small sample size.

98-360 Murray, Liam (U. of Warwick). AdvancedCALL to WALL. Francophonie (Rugby), 16(1997),28-32.

There exists a plethora of Computer-Assisted LanguageLearning (CALL) packages which are designed to meetthe needs of French learners up to GCSE level (age 14to 16 in the UK) and of adult beginner and intermedi-ate learners. Some of these packages are good, some badand many are indifferent, whereas for A(dvanced)-level,Scottish Higher and equivalent (age 16 to 19) levels, theauthor considers that there are very few decent CALLproducts. This article has a twofold aim: to provide asummative yet critical review of several of the packagesthat purport to cater for advanced level learners, and tooffer ideas to teachers on using and integrating othersources of electronically-based materials for higher-level teaching purposes.These include designated mul-timedia programs and the much-hyped Web, a form ofWeb-Assisted Language Learning (WALL).

98-361 Nagata, Noriko (U. of San Francisco). Anexperimental comparison of deductive andinductive feedback generated by a simple parser.System (Oxford), 25, 4 (1997), 515-34.

This paper describes a new parser-driven Japanesetutor-BANZAI-designed for second language acquisi-tion. An empirical study using the BANZAI program isalso presented. The relative effectiveness of teachingexplicit grammatical rules as opposed to providing rele-vant examples without rule instruction has been a sub-ject of continuing debate in second languageacquisition research. This debate raises an importantdesign question for computer feedback. To address thisquestion, an experiment was performed in which twotypes of feedback were implemented into the BANZAIprogram: rule-based (deductive) feedback and exam-ple-based (inductive) feedback. The participants werestudents taking Japanese at the college level, most ofwhom were native English speakers. The results of thestudy suggest that ongoing rule-driven deductive feed-back is more effective than example-driven inductivefeedback for learning relatively complex structureswhose grammatical rules are not salient in the light ofexamples.

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Language teaching98-362 Osuna, Maritza (U. at Albany) andMeskill, Carla. Using the World Wide Web tointegrate Spanish language and culture: a pilotstudy. Language Learning and Technology(http://polyglot.cal.msu.edu/llt), 1, 2 (1998), 66-87.

This pilot study investigates the potential role ofInternet resources as a means to gain a deeper sense ofthe culture of the Spanish-speaking world for collegestudents. Thirteen college students enrolled in the firstquarter of Basic Spanish were instructed to utilise theWeb to complete five activities that expanded on theaspects of culture studied in the class. The aim was toassess learners'perceptions of their experiences in termsof both the language and cultural learning designedinto each of the five tasks they were assigned. Data col-lected demonstrate that the Web is a suitable tool toincrease language and cultural knowledge, as well as ameans to increase motivation. Pedagogical implicationsare discussed.

98-363 Pally, Marcia (City U. of New York).Critical thinking in ESL: an argument for sustainedcontent. Journal of Second Language Writing(Norwood, NJ), 6, 3 (1997), 293-311.

This article suggests that, in adult learners of English as aSecond Language (ESL), development of critical think-ing skills, as defined by English for Academic Purposes,cognitive psychology and transformative pedagogy, ben-efits from sustained content study-or studying one areaover time. Sustained content study is recommendedbecause it allows students: (1) to accrue information,without which they are less able to question, synthesiseand evaluate what they read; (2) to become familiar withthe rhetorical conventions of a discipline; and, as theseare the skills needed for university study, today's work-place and to understand the socio-political factors thataffect students' lives, (3) to practise in the ESL class whatthey will need outside it. This article defines criticalthinking; discusses who should learn it and why; reviewsthe role of content in ESL and the literature supportingsustained study; and discusses content that engages ESLstudents with varied majors and goals.Three courses aredescribed, one on selected economic/political issues,one on language acquisition itself, and one on film andsociety. Selections from students' discussion and writingare examined.

98-364 Romney, J. Claude (U. of Calgary).Collaborative learning in a translation course. TheCanadian Modern Language Review/La Revuecanadienne des langues vivantes (Toronto, Ont.),54,1 (1997), 48-67.

Collaborative learning, based on small group discus-sions conducted according to specific rules, provides analternative to traditional classroom structure which hasbeen shown to be useful in second language acquisi-tion. This article describes its application in a translationcourse at a Canadian university: participants were stu-dents in their third year of a French language course. It

is suggested that a more in-depth understanding of thesource text is arrived at collectively, and that a greaterdegree of grammatical correctness, accuracy, and faith-fulness can be achieved in the translation through dis-cussion and negotiation as participants are required tojustify their solutions. Social support is important asparticipants share their difficulties. They gain in self-confidence and self-esteem; they also become more tol-erant of different opinions and appreciate thenon-threatening atmosphere of working in smallgroups.

98-365 Schleppegrell, Mary J. (U. of California,Davis). Teacher research through dialogic inquiry.The Canadian Modern Language Review/ La Revuecanadienne des langues vivantes (Toronto, Ont.),54,1 (1997), 68-83.

As teachers engage in research to improve their teach-ing practice and inform their pedagogical programmes,they need appropriate tools for collecting and analysingdata. This paper seeks to show how dialogic inquirythrough problem posing is a tool for teacher research inthe interpretive tradition which can help teachers todevelop a richer knowledge base regarding students'backgrounds, motivations, cultures, and the strategiesthey use to learn English. In addition, it is suggestedthat dialogic inquiry can inform curriculum and mate-rials development by providing teachers with informa-tion about students' responses to potential curriculumtopics. The process of engaging students in structured,open-ended inquiry provides data which teachers cananalyse from both content and linguistic perspectives.Outlined are the steps in dialogic inquiry and examplesof how teachers have used it to inform their classroompractice and improve their curricula.

98-366 Sengupta, Sima (Hong Kong Poly. U.).Peer evaluation: 'I am not the teacher'. ELT Journal(Oxford), 52,1 (1998), 19-28.

This article is based on an exploratory investigation of asecondary school writing class in Hong Kong. Throughexamination of the way learners in this study viewed theroles of the teacher and learner as 'readers' of the com-positions they had written, it explores the extent towhich the broader educational context and its belief sys-tem shaped six English as a Second Language students'perceptions of peer evaluation. Finally, the article ques-tions whether notions of collaborative construction ofknowledge in the classroom are viable options within anexamination-driven, accuracy-oriented second languagecurriculum which may preclude learners (and teachers)from re-conceptualising their traditional roles.

98-367 Smith, Geoff P. (U. of Hong Kong). Anindependent learner's guide to Cantoneseinstructional materials. Hong Kong Journal ofApplied Linguistics (Hong Kong), 2,1 (1997), 55-80.

This article reviews some available instructional materi-al for learning Cantonese, particularly from the point of

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Language teachingview of the independent learner. These materialsinclude introductory courses consisting of printed textsand audiotape recordings, as well as dictionaries andglossaries and academic descriptions of Cantonese. Themore successful materials for self-study are identified,and some possible ways of avoiding the usual pitfallsinvolved in learning Cantonese are discussed. Somesuggestions for future instructional materials are alsomade.

98-368 Smith, Kevin J. (La Trobe U., Victoria,Australia). Cross-cultural schemata and change inmodern China: 'First fresh air comes in and alsoflies come in'. Language and Education (Clevedon),11,4(1997), 260-70.

This paper presents basic theorising regarding thenotion of'cultural schemata', as well as an analysis ofhow this theory impacts on cross-cultural understand-ing in modern China. A small-scale classroom study ofan aspect of cross-cultural thinking related to marriageand divorce is outlined. The procedure, developed witha group of Chinese university students, demonstratesthe value of simple 'in role' drama as a means of stimu-lating dialogue and transforming ordinary discussioninto a powerful learning and thinking process. Thepaper concludes by emphasising that task-based prob-lem-solving approaches, which have a socio-culturalbasis, can provide a very useful structure for developingoral language skills in an 'English as a ForeignLanguage' setting.

98-369 Storch, Neomy (U. of Melbourne).Students' reactions to innovations in grammarinstruction. Prospect (Macquarie U., Sydney), 12, 3(1997), 41-53.

A constant concern for language teachers when design-ing innovative courses is how accepting students will beof such innovations. This paper presents the findings ofa qualitative evaluation study which set out to investi-gate students' reactions to an innovative grammarcourse and the reasons for these reactions. Decisionsregarding the course's content and methodology werebased largely on the writings of Rutherford (1987) onconsciousness-raising and Ellis (1991, 1993) on thecomprehension-based approach to grammar instruc-tion. Eleven tertiary students-seven females and fourmales—from a range of language backgrounds partici-pated in the course. The study used oral and writtenstudent feedback, course documents, the instructor'sdiary, and peer observation reports for its data. Theresults of the study show that students may be quitewilling to accept innovations if they perceive them asvaluable and if they concur with the students' viewsabout language learning.

98-370 Tang, Gloria M. (U. of British Columbia).From graphic literacy across languages tointegrating English and content teaching invocational settings. Hong Kong Journal of AppliedLinguistics (Hong Kong), 2,1 (1997), 97-114.

This paper is about the teaching of English and specificcontent areas in vocational settings. It supports therecently established Hong Kong medium of instructionpolicy and aims to contribute to the government's ini-tiative to improve the use of the language in the work-place by advocating a model which employs knowledgestructures and graphics. It is suggested that these can beused to promote the use of one language, English, forteaching vocational subjects by integrating the teachingof English and content. The paper reports on the find-ings of research conducted in a pre-vocational school inHong Kong which show that (1) knowledge structuresand graphics are common across English and Chinese,and (2) students were aware of knowledge structuresand could interpret graphics presented in an unfamiliarlanguage. It is demonstrated how a content unit takenfrom Hong Kong vocational materials, in English orChinese, can be planned according to Mohan's categori-sation of knowledge structures indicating that languageand content knowledge can be taught simultaneously.

98-371 Vigner, Gerard. Comment favoriserI'apprentissage du FLS? [How can the learning ofFrench as a second language be encouraged?]Diagonales (Paris), 43 (1997), 17-19.

This article claims that, despite a recent increase ofinterest in the learning of French as a second language(FLS), there is still a lack of a theoretical basis andresearch into appropriate teaching methods. Teachingtechniques are usually borrowed from the teaching ofFrench as a first or foreign language. The many and verycomplex problems associated with the teaching of FLSare highlighted here, with specific reference to coun-tries where French is the medium of instruction inschools within cultures that use one or more other lan-guages. In this environment, French tends to be taughtby more traditional methods, not for oral communica-tion but for study relying on the written word. Culturalas well as educational problems can arise, e.g. adolescentlearners have difficulty in reconciling their develop-ment in their own language with their education inanother, and tend to rebel; teachers are often unsure oftheir own abilities in conveying their subjects in Frenchand tend to be very conservative in their teaching. It isargued that the answer lies in more research into theproblems that are related specifically to this situation.

98-372 Vogt, Eric W. (Thunderbird, AmericanGrad. Sch. of Internat. Management). A fast track tocultural understanding: literature in translation.Journal of Language for International Business(Glendale, AZ), 9,1 (1998), 10-27.

Students of international business need to know thecultures of the countries in which they may one day

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Language teachingwork. This article proposes teaching cultural compe-tence through the use of literature in translation, inconjunction with original language texts. By teachingstudents to examine texts from a translation perspec-tive, highlighting culture-specific items, the aim is thatthey acquire an ability to 'read' a culture. In seeking todemonstrate the efficacy of this approach, the authorexamines the interface between language, culture, liter-ature, and translation, relying on an array of sources,including translators and scholars involved in the fieldof translation studies.

98-373 Warschauer, Mark (U. of Hawaii,Manoa). Computer-mediated collaborative learning:theory and practice. The Modern Language Journal(Madison, Wl), 81, 4 (1997), 470-81.

Recently interest has grown concerning the use ofonline communication for language teaching. It is sug-gested here, however, that this growing interest in com-puter-mediated collaborative language learning has notbeen matched by sufficient research and theory. Thisarticle seeks to introduce a conceptual framework forunderstanding the role of computer-mediated interac-tion based on a sociocultural analysis of the relationshipamong text, talk, and learning. The article then analysescurrent research according to five features particular toonline communication, namely: text-based and com-puter-mediated interaction; many-to-many communi-cation; time- and place-independence; long distanceexchanges; and hypermedia links.

98-374 Watson, Moray (U. of Aberdeen).Constructing a Gaelic dictionary for children: somephonological and orthographic considerations.Journal of Celtic Language Learning (Paramus, NJ),3(1997), 51-8.

The substance of this paper was generated by a researchproject the author was commissioned to carry out onbehalf of the Primary Review Group on GaelicEducation (PRG), which has powers to disburse specif-ic grants from the Scottish Office EducationDepartment designed to provide for Gaelic inEducation. In 1994, the PRG viewed the author's find-ings on the present level of dictionary provision inGaelic and then asked her to compile a basic Gaelic-Gaelic dictionary for children to use in their primaryschool classrooms. There were many difficulties in thistask, some foreseen, others unforeseen; two of these areoutlined in the paper, in the hope that others facing thetask of writing a monolingual dictionary for a minoritylanguage might be forewarned, if not forearmed.

98-375 Watt, Yasuko Ito (Indiana U.). Attritionand performance in Japanese language courses: astudy of articulation between the high school anduniversity levels. Foreign Language Annals (NewYork), 30, 3, 327-44.

As the number of students who enter American col-leges and universities with high school Japanese train-

ing has increased, articulation between high school-and university-level Japanese language instruction hasbecome a matter of concern. In order to add to theunderstanding of the problem of articulation, theauthor of this paper conducted a two-year study inwhich students with high school Japanese languageinstruction were compared to those who began theirstudy after entering Indiana University. Their attritionand performance through the first four semesters ofinstruction were compared. The findings indicate thatthe attrition rate of the students who studied Japaneseat high school prior to coming to college is muchlower than that of the students who did not have thatadvantage. Also, the former group tended to outper-form the latter group, particularly in the early stages.The findings are reported and discussed.

98-376 Weinstein, Gail (San Francisco State U.).From problem-solving to celebration: discoveringand creating meanings through literacy. TheCanadian Modern Language Review /La Revuecanadienne des langues vivantes (Toronto, Ont),54, 1 (1997), 28-47.

This article attempts to demonstrate the ways in whicha classroom teacher can get a very distorted picture ofstudents and their resources. Drawing on ethnographicresearch in Philadelphia's Hmong community, theauthor illustrates the ways in which her own assump-tions were challenged, specifically about three individu-als whom she came to know in the context of theircommunities. Next, the article looks at the intellectualclimate which has permitted a new view of literacy,where the emphasis has shifted from cognitive conse-quences to an interest in literacy in social context as ameans through which relationships are negotiated.Finally, it is argued that the ideal classroom is one inwhich both teachers and students have the opportunityto learn about how the world looks through oneanother's eyes. Suggestions are made to teachers for cre-ating in their English as a Second Language classroomsa setting in which they can discover more about therole of literacy in their students' lives, and where stu-dents can both identify and expand the contexts inwhich literacy can create meanings for them.

98-377 Zwete, Genadieve (U. of Sofia),Hartung, Regina and Koreik, Uwe.FiktiveVerhandlungssituationen im interkulturellausgerichteten Wirtschaftsdeutschunterricht.[Fictitious negotiating situations in interculturallyoriented business German teaching.] ZielspracheDeutsch (Munich, Germany), 28, 4 (1997), 191-207.

This article deals with communication strategies inintercultural negotiating situations, and how these canform a part of business German teaching with the ulti-mate aim of making students more sensitive to theinfluence of culture on thought, perception, interpreta-tion and action. Two separate groups of Bulgarian stu-dents of German were involved in this study, which

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Language learninginvolved fictitious negotiating situations between twofictitious cultures. The simulation consisted of tworounds of negotiations; after each round the negotiatorsreturned to their respective cultures to report on theother culture and their methods of negotiation.Following the simulated negotiations, all studentsinvolved gathered for a plenary session to discuss andevaluate the proceedings. All students found the simula-tion to be a fun alternative to everyday teaching, and itled to much discussion of international business com-munication. Furthermore, the students found that ithelped them to understand the problems inherent inintercultural contact situations.

Language learning

98-378 Alcon, Eva (U. Jaume I, Castell6n, Spain).Integrating research on the study ofmiscommunication in non-native discourse.Rassegna Italians di Linguistica Applicata (Rome),29. 3(1997), 139-53.

One of the research topics currendy attracting atten-tion is the language learner's role in various types ofnegotiated interaction. In the last twenty years,researchers have focused on different areas related tothis topic: comprehensible input, comprehensible out-put, and communication strategies. However, althoughthese related areas of research have been devoted toinvestigating the attempts of those interacting toachieve mutual understanding, it is claimed that there istoo much of a separation between them. This articleconsiders two main approaches to the study of mis-communication in non-native discourse—one focusingon comprehensible input and negotiated interaction,and the other on learners' use of communication strate-gies-emphasising the empirical research conductedwithin each of them. The underlying framework ofboth approaches is then examined, in order to establisha more precise relationship between learners' interlan-guage modifications and second language acquisition.

98-379 Bierwisch, Manfred (Humboldt-Universitat, Berlin). Universal Grammar and theBasic Variety. Second Language Research (London),13, 4 (1997), 348-66.

The Basic Variety (BV) as conceived by Klein andPerdue (K&P) [cf. abstract 98-396] is a relatively stablestate in the process of spontaneous (adult) second lan-guage acquisition, characterised by a small set ofphrasal, semantic and pragmatic principles derived byinductive generalisation from a fairly large body of data.These principles are considered by K&P as roughlyequivalent to those of Universal Grammar (UG) in thesense of Chomsky's Minimalist Program, with the pro-viso that the BV allows for only weak (or unmarked)formal features.This article first discusses the viability ofthe BV principles proposed by K&P, arguing that someof them are in need of clarification with learner vari-

eties, and that they are, in any case, not likely to be partof UG, as they exclude phenomena (e.g. so-called psychverbs) that cannot be ruled out even from the core ofnatural language. The article also considers the proposalthat learner varieties of the BV type are completelyunmarked instantiations of UG. Putting aside problemsarising from the Minimalist Program, especially thequestion of whether a grammar with only weak fea-tures would be a factual possibility and what it wouldlook like, it is argued that the BV as characterised byK&P must be considered as the result of a process thatcrucially differs from first language acquisition as fur-nished by UG for a number of reasons, including prop-erties of the BV itself. In fact, several of the propertiesclaimed for the BV by K&P are more likely the resultof general learning strategies than of language-specificprinciples. If this is correct, the characterisation of theB V is a fairly interesting result, albeit of a rather differ-ent type than K&P suggest.

98-380 Blok-Boas, Atie (U. of Amsterdam).Italiano L2: il lessico mentale del discente avanzato.[Italian as a second language: the mental lexicon ofadvanced learners.] Rassegna Italiana di LinguisticaApplicata (Rome), 29, 3 (1997), 155-70.

Not much is known about the second language (L2)lexicon of advanced learners. Most studies are con-cerned with the initial stages of the acquisition processwhere the input of foreign vocabulary is often strictlydetermined by didactic procedures. Since advanced stu-dents are more independent in their contacts with theL2, it is assumed that their lexicon will develop moreautonomously and may vary from becoming near-native to remaining limited to only high-frequencywords. It is argued in this article that it is possible to dis-cuss the advanced L2 lexicon of the ideal learner interms of probability determined by the degree of learn-ability of non-frequent words.

98-381 Bongaerts, Theo, van Summeren,Chantal, Planken, Brigitte and Schils, Erik (U. ofNijmegen). Age and ultimate attainment in thepronunciation of a foreign language. Studies inSecond Language Acquisition (New York), 19,4(1997), 447-65.

This paper reports on two studies that addressed theissue of ultimate attainment by late second language(L2) learners. The aim of the studies, which included acarefully screened group of highly successful Dutchlearners of English in their designs, was to determinewhether or not late L2 learners who had achieved anativelike performance in the pronunciation of an L2could be identified. Speech samples provided by twogroups of learners, one of which consisted of highlysuccessful learners only, and a native speaker controlgroup were rated for accent by native speakers ofEnglish. The ratings obtained by some learners werewithin the range of the ratings assigned to the nativespeaker controls. Such results suggest that it is notimpossible to achieve an authentic, nativelike pronunci-

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Documents

Language teaching · Language teaching Language teaching 98-325 Allan, Margaret (James Cook U., Australia). Assisting autonomous performance. Prospect (Macquarie U., Sydney), 12,