Although previous work has analyzed the communication strategies (CS) of L2 learners (e.g., Faerch & Kasper, 1983; Tarone, 1980, 1977), this research is an attempt at studying CS used by both 12 speakers and their interviewers during a videotaped interview. Fifty-three beginning French learners were interviewed and the videotape was analyzed for CS used by both interactants; learners' performance was also rated (ACTFL, 1982). Subjects were instructed either by Total Physical Response (Asher, 1977, 1969) or Strategic Interaction (SI) (Di Pietro, 1982, 1979).

Data were subjected to correlational and MANOVA analyses. Significant differences were detected between groups. In general, the higher the proficiency rating, the lower was the use of CS. The method of instruction appeared to have an important bearing on amount and kind of CS used and on proficiency ratings received. SI students and their interviewers used fewer CS; SI learners also received higher ratings.

It appears that SI facilitated students' development of at least two underlying competencies, linguistic and interactional (Palmer, 1979; Canale & Swain, 1980). It is also posited that SI students' diminished use of CS indicates a higher degree of control over the activity, as proposed by the Vygotskian paradigm (Vygotsky, 1962).

The present study investigated the retention of school-learned French language skills in Dutch students across a period of 4 years following the training period. Two training levels were investigated: 4 and 6 years of French training. The skills tested were all receptive: general receptive proficiency; listening and reading comprehension; and receptive phonological, lexical, and grammatical skills. In addition, self-assessment measures were administered.

The results indicated that global skills improved, if anything, and that only lexical and, particularly, grammatical skills “attrited” during the period investigated. On the other hand, subjects' self-perception of their retention was much more negative.

To test the effects of talker variability and explicit instruction on the statistical learning of lexical tone, 80 monolingual English listeners were taught an artificial language that mimicked Mandarin’s asymmetric distribution of syllable-tone co-occurrences. Training stimuli consisted of either speech from one talker or speech from four talkers. Participants were either never instructed or explicitly taught associations between phonemes (CVs), tones, and nonce symbols across four consecutive days. Learning was assessed by the accuracy of mouse clicks and eye movements to visual nonce symbols. Critical trials induced competition between the target symbol, which matched the acoustic input, and a competitor symbol that had a statistically more probable tone (but mismatched the acoustic input). Eye fixations indicated that participants were sensitive to syllable-tone co-occurrence probabilities even without explicit instruction of tone. The degree to which statistical knowledge was used to recognize words appeared to increase when participants processed more variable speech.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that native Mandarin speakers have pervasive difficulties processing L2 English agreement morphology. However, less is known about the lexical and morphological cues that may modulate Mandarin speakers’ sensitivity to English number agreement. To investigate this, we examined subject-verb agreement processing in English by L1 Mandarin participants using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and focused on the use of quantificational cues to noun number and their interaction with agreement morphology on the verb. Previous work in English monolinguals has shown that agreement violations elicited larger P600s when preceded by a plurally quantified subject noun phrase (NP) compared to an unquantified NP. In the present study, Mandarin speakers were tested on the same quantified and unquantified sentences (e.g., Most/The cookies taste/*tastes…) as in the prior work. Like the L1 English speakers, ERPs time-locked to the verb showed a reliable P600 in response to agreement violations. However, the P600 in Mandarin speakers was larger for ungrammatical verbs with unquantified subjects, a contrast with English monolinguals. First, these results demonstrate that L2 agreement violations can elicit qualitatively similar neural responses in L1 Mandarin speakers as in English monolinguals (P600 effects), a finding that is to our knowledge novel. Second, quantification modulated the P600 in the L2 speakers in a qualitatively different way than in natives. Overall, these findings suggest stronger reliance on lexical versus morphological cues to number in Mandarin speakers, and that this impacts anticipation of subsequent grammatical features.

The Spanish mood contrast is a good test case for research on acquiring form-meaning connections in contexts where input is variable and multiple areas of the grammar are implicated (e.g., syntax, semantics, pragmatics). Nevertheless, research on interpretation of this contrast lags and little is known about how individual lexical items and patterns of co-occurrence of adverbial clauses with subjunctive forms influence interpretation. Addressing this void, we compare interpretation of the present subjunctive by native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs) at three relatively high levels of experience. Participants completed an interpretation task containing clauses with indicative and subjunctive forms paired with one of six adverbial conjunctions, categorized as co-occurring with subjunctive, indicative, or both forms. Our analysis suggests individual lexical items play a role in morphosyntactic variation and that nuanced differences in interpretation exist for NSs and highly advanced NNSs, even on items that prescriptively co-occur with only one form.

In this study, we propose a hypothesis that domain-general auditory processing, a perceptual anchor of L1 acquisition, can serve as the foundation of successful post-pubertal L2 learning. This hypothesis was tested with 139 post-pubertal L2 immersion learners by linking individual differences in auditory discrimination across multiple acoustic dimensions to the segmental, prosodic, lexical, and morphosyntactic dimensions of L2 proficiency. Overall, auditory processing was a primary determinant of a range of participants’ proficiency scores, even after biographical factors (experience, age) were controlled for. The link between audition and proficiency was especially clear for L2 learners who had passed beyond the initial phase of immersion (length of residence > 1 year). The findings suggest that greater auditory processing skill benefits post-pubertal L2 learners immersed in naturalistic settings for a sufficient period of time by allowing them to better utilize received input, which results in greater language gains and leads to more advanced L2 proficiency in the long run (similar to L1 acquisition).

To probe the limits of attention raising through form-focused instruction, second-language research must adapt to the needs of a technologically driven learning environment. In this study, we used a randomized control design to investigate the effect of captioned media on the learning of vocabulary and grammar in L2 Spanish (n = 369 learners). Through four data-collection sessions, participants were presented with a grammar-lesson video and a multimodal video with one of three captioning formats: textually enhanced target vocabulary, textually enhanced target grammar, or no captioning. Results show strong immediate effects of captioning on target vocabulary, with additional effects of captioning on some, but not all, target-grammar structures. The findings demonstrate that (a) the learning of some grammatical structures is more conducive to captioning than others, and (b) there is space for future investigation into the factors that may influence the effectiveness of multimodal interventions, such as prior knowledge or frequency of use.

Donald (2001) argued that mimesis is fundamental to communication and culture. The basic level of mimetic action is mime—as found, for example, in the imaginative, expressive play of children, who typically imitate aspects of the world around them, including the actions of their parents, and pretend to be those they will become. Mimesis has a prominent position in the lives of children in relation to language acquisition as well; for example, Nelson (1996) found that mimetic portrayals of events, such as in play, largely precede language and are key to its development. According to Donald, mimesis is also central to tribal identity (culture), in how emotions are expressed and understood. This article argues that mimesis plays two prominent roles in acquiring another language. The first relates to how people materialize aspects of their second language discourse through gesture as a means of making meaning for themselves as well as for interlocutors. This perspective is grounded in the Vygotskian branch of Soviet psychology, particularly the work of Gal'perin (1989). The so-called tribal aspect of mimesis (identity) in the form of gesture is also taken up in relation to SLA, again from a sociocultural perspective. Overall, it is argued that our material being impacts the way we live and learn and that sound theories of SLA will need to take this into account.

This study examined the role of visual cues (facial expressions and hand gestures) in second language (L2) speech assessment. University students (N = 60) at English-medium universities assessed 2-minute video clips of 20 L2 English speakers (10 Chinese and 10 Spanish speakers) narrating a personal story. They rated the speakers’ comprehensibility, accentedness, and fluency using 1,000-point sliding scales. To manipulate access to visual cues, the raters were assigned to three conditions that presented audio along with (a) the speaker’s static image, (b) a static image of a speaker’s torso with dynamic face, or (c) dynamic torso and face. Results showed that raters with access to the full video tended to perceive the speaker as more comprehensible and significantly less accented compared to those who had access to less visually informative conditions. The findings are discussed in terms of how the integration of visual cues may impact L2 speech assessment.

The purpose of this study is to begin work toward a grammatical assessment measure that could bridge the gap between theoretical work on grammatical development, on the one hand, and tools such as the Michigan Test (which uses multiple-choice questions on vocabulary and grammar) or the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages scale (which uses holistic descriptions of grammar use), on the other hand. Such a measure would need to be practical to administer with large groups. Two proposals of grammatical development (processability theory, Pienemann, 1998, 2005; and organic grammar, Vainikka & Young-Scholten, 2006) were applied to short samples of spontaneous production data from 48 adult second-language learners of English from mixed first-language backgrounds. The rapid profile scale successfully accounted for the learners’ development but is of somewhat limited use with short samples of data. The organic grammar placement scale may need to be further refined, but it includes important indicators of grammatical development. A preliminary proposal for using a combined measure with a rubric is presented.

This quasi-experimental study explores the effects of three types of instruction (form-based, meaning-based, and form- plus meaning-based) on the learning of Japanese relative clauses (RCs) and postsecondary Japanese as a foreign language learners' ability to generalize different types of relativization, examined in comparison to the predictions of Keenan and Comrie's (1977) noun phrase accessibility hierarchy (NPAH). The study investigated whether instruction focused on a marked relativization type could facilitate the learning of other types. Results of comprehension and sentence-combination pretests and posttests showed that although the scores of all three groups increased, the form-based group outperformed the other two groups on both tests. Whereas the comprehension pretest results did not reflect the predictions of the NPAH, participants were able to generalize rules for other relativization types. This study suggests that learners' attention to detailed analysis of form facilitates the learning of RCs in this context, and that the teaching of marked items might inform effective syllabus development in second language relativization.I would like to thank Yasuhiro Shirai for giving me an opportunity to present this paper at the workshop on the SLA of relative clauses held at Cornell University on January 28, 2006. I greatly appreciate the insightful feedback that I received from the participants of the workshop (in particular, Stephen Matthews, James Mitchell, and Hiromi Ozeki) as well as the two anonymous SSLA reviewers, and Kiyoko Toratani, my colleague at York University. This paper is part of my doctoral dissertation to be submitted to the University of Toronto, and I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Sharon Lapkin, as well as my thesis committee members, Nina Spada, Eunice Jang, and Yuki Johnson, for their continuous support and encouragement. I am also grateful to my former students in the Japanese course for agreeing to participate in this study.

The relationship between working memory (WM) and second-language (L2) reading has been extensively examined, with mixed results. Our meta-analysis models the potential impact of underresearched variables considered to moderate this relationship. Results from 74 studies (228 correlations) showed a significant, small relationship between WM and L2 reading (r = .300). Of the eight moderators examined, the WM–L2 reading relationship differed between studies using first-language (L1) and L2 WM tasks and between studies reporting and not reporting WM task reliability. Methodological features of reading comprehension measures or learners’ proficiency did not moderate the relationship. These results suggest that measurement practices of WM—rather than L2 reading measures or learner characteristics—matter in understanding the WM–L2 reading relationship. Implications and future directions are discussed.

This article describes the undirected learning (learning without explicit teaching) of tense markers in German by Spanish migrant workers. It will be shown that the remarkable differences the informants displayed in expressing the concept of tense are a function of the daily communicative routines which they developed in order to meet their communicative needs and demands. By examining very simplified learner varieties, I will demonstrate that a traditional grammatical analysis of tense is not capable of accounting for the wide range of expressions for temporal relations which were produced in an elicited Spanish-German translation task.

This paper reviews work in the philosophy of science pertinent to theory formats and relates it to recent second language acquisition (SLA) theories. Recent developments in philosophy of science and science studies have shown that the theory format advocated by philosophy of science for much of this century is unhelpful; developments in theory format in cognitive science, particularly psychology, artificial intelligence, and linguistics, have proceeded on lines independent of the older tradition in theory format. The naturalization of philosophy of science has resulted in improved understandings of what is necessary in a theory if it is to be adequately explanatory. SLA theory development has largely taken place in ignorance of such recent developments, and initial critiques of SLA theory from within the field reflected the earlier conception of theory. However, SLA research has reached the stage where a meta-understanding of theory formats, in terms of the components of a theory and the language in which a theory is couched (its formalism), is badly needed to facilitate theory development.

This article describes processes of facilitation involved in exolingual conversation, i.e., interaction between partners who are dynamically adjusting their respective linguistic performances. The type of exolingual conversation examined in this paper is that between foreign learners and native speakers.

The foreign learner's linguistic competence, known as interlanguage, and his performance, which I refer to as intertalk, give rise to certain strategies in exolingual conversation. By studying these strategies, linguists can describe communicatively competent behavior in second language acquisition.

I conclude that such behavior is dynamic and creative, incapable of being described and defined within predetermined structures.

Tacit linguistic knowledge derives from experience of the input data or from domain-specific principles without the interaction of experience. Recognition of constraint violations is generally deemed to call upon the second kind of knowledge source. This paper proposes that this epistemological distinction should be reflected in native speaker and nonnative speaker performance. More precisely, performance should be more uniform across the species where it engages knowledge without the interaction of experience. A review of six studies investigating nonnative speaker acceptability judgments supports the predicted asymmetry. The paper concludes that the observed asymmetry supports the modular position on nonnative linguistic knowledge.

Second language development in writing: Measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity is a technical report that reviews 39 studies examining measures of writing development. It is a comprehensive, lucid, and carefully researched piece of work analyzing an untidy body of literature. This volume is essential reading for anyone doing quantitative research in L2 writing. The studies included in this review are those that have attempted to correlate potential linguistic measures of writing development with writing proficiency, not simply studies that have used the various measures as dependent variables to examine the effects of some instructional treatment. Complicating the picture is the fact that indicators of writing proficiency are varied, as is the case with indicators of oral proficiency (Thomas, 1994). Each of these indicators, including standardized tests, levels in various language programs, and holistic measures, has its own set of problems. For example, of the 16 studies using holistic scales, only half reported interrater or intrarater reliability.

In SLA research, dependence in frequency data is a prevalent problem (Hatch & Lazaraton, 1991). Researchers usually regard the data as being independent and subject them to statistical analyses. Another problem in frequency data analysis in SLA research is the exclusion of interaction terms. This is the case because of the use of chi-square analysis or the unpopularity of multifactorial frequency data analyses. This study investigates the violation of the “independent observation” assumption as well as the effect of including interaction terms in frequency data analysis. Reanalyzing a couple of published data sets, the paper argues in favor of using multifactorial frequency data analyses over multiple chi-squares in order to take into account dependence and interaction of the frequency data. A set of recommendations for SLA researchers will be provided when statistically analyzing frequency data in SLA research.

The first public presentation of the ideas leading up to the Interlanguage (IL) Hypothesis occurred a decade ago at the Second International Congress of Applied Linguistics (Selinker 1969; presented in greater detail in Selinker 1972). At that time, it was stated that, in attempting to understand the phenomenon of second-language learning, the field was at a stage where there existed an “inability to unambiguously identify the phenomena we wish to study” (Selinker 1969:35). That first presentation of the IL notion focused on the “psychologically relevant data of second-language learning,” trying to describe what it was that should be studied; the paper attempted to provide some theoretical constructs which would help identify and explain that data.

The advantages and disadvantages of wider or narrower definitions of pidginization and pidgin are reviewed to determine the differences between pidgins and naturalistically learned second languages (L2s). It is argued that a wider definition is preferred because it avoids problematic counterexamples and captures generalizations that allow us to view the difference between naturalistic L2 varieties and pidgins as one of degree, not of type. In first language (L1) acquisition, Bates and Goodman (1999) showed the link between the development of vocabulary and grammar and argued that this may be explained by, among other things, logical and perceptual bootstrapping. It is suggested that these types of bootstrapping are also relevant for explaining the pace of grammar development in pidgins and naturalistic L2 varieties. The tense-aspect system of a Spanish variety spoken by a Chinese immigrant in Spain is examined in detail. The data, taken from a 90-minute interview that yielded 602 tokens, reveal several clear traits of the informant's verbal system: (a) All nonfinite, imperfective verb forms (gerunds) correspond exclusively to Vendlerian activities; (b) all but three of the perfective nonfinite forms (past participles) correspond to telic verbs or predicates; and (c) 81% of the stative verbs appear in the third-person-singular present form. The sensitivity to aspectual distinctions in the informant's variety of Spanish is not addressed by logical and perceptual bootstrapping. Furthermore, although this sensitivity can be partially explained by language-specific considerations (i.e., transfer from Mandarin), such an explanation does not speak to precise form–function mappings found, which are best accounted for by appealing to the Primacy of Aspect and Distributional Bias hypotheses (Andersen, 1993; Andersen & Shirai, 1996).