Language learning and teachingskill emphasis. The students in the programmes learning strategies. It is concluded that communityrange widely in age, occupations, special needs and language programmes for adults offer a worthwhile,interests. Their motivation to learn is high. Theydisplay many characteristics of good language

flexible, and effective educational experience thatdiffers considerably from traditional, government-run

learners, yet they need assistance in developing programmes.

Language learning97-177 Al-Qadi, Nassir Saleh (King Abdulaziz U., Saudi Arabia). Testing theacquisition of English productive and non-productive derivatives by native-Arabicspeakers. ITL: A Review of Applied Linguistics (Louvain, Belgium), 113-114(1996),203-20.

This paper discusses how vocabulary developmentmight be enhanced through helping the foreignlearner of English to acquire productivity and non-productivity in English derivation. It is suggestedthat English productive derivatives be paid specialattention in teaching to and learning by native-Arabic speakers, given that the Arabic language is alanguage of derivation and is highly productive. Thepaper explores how adult native-Arabic speakerslearning English as a foreign language acquireEnglish productive and non-productive derivatives.Contrastive analysis (CA) is used to compare

productivity in standard written Arabic and standardwritten English. This approach is deemed helpfulsince Arabic is a language of productive derivationwhile English is a language of more than one sourceof word-formation — borrowing, compounding andderivation — with low productivity. In addition,morphology is subject to the phenomenon ofavoidance by foreign learners. The paper claimstherefore that CA has a high predictive value in thiscontext, and should prove helpful, particularly (butnot only) to teachers of English to native-Arabicspeakers.

97-178 Anton, Marta M. (Indiana U.-Purdue U., Indianapolis). Using ethnographictechniques in classroom observation: a study of success in a foreign language class.Foreign Language Annals (New York), 29, 4 (1996), 551-61.

Research on classroom interaction within anethnographic perspective views the classroom as acultural setting with its own norms of behaviour.Recent studies from this perspective have focusedon uncovering the (often-unspoken) norms ofbehaviour that need to be internalised in order to bea successful member of the classroom community.This article illustrates how to use ethnographictechniques to achieve a better understanding of

classroom dynamics, which it is suggested will be ofvalue to teachers and supervisors in planning andevaluating their courses. Focusing on thecharacterisation of 'success' in an Italian class throughthe analysis of interaction patterns and purposes ofthe participants, the study seeks to reveal the needfor a continuity of teacher and students' goals,methods, and forms of education.

97-179 Cameron, Lynne and others (U. of Leeds). Language development ofbilingual pupils in the mainstream: how do pupils and teachers use language?Language and Education (Clevedon), 10, 4 (1996), 221-36.

This paper examines language development inmainstream education through analysis of thelanguage demands made on bilingual pupils by tasksand interactions in subject classrooms, and theresponses pupils make to these demands. The datawere gathered while working with mainstreamsecondary subject teachers on an in-service languagedevelopment project. While no claims ofrepresentativity are made for the data, the authorsclaim that the samples analysed demonstrate clearlythe potentially crucial role of contextual factors in

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the English language development of bilingualpupils. Such factors include the amount of languageproduction generated by task organisation, theavailability of potential discourse roles to pupils, andthe amount of interactive input and feedback pupilsreceive. Implications for in-service training ofmainstream subject teachers in the area of languagedevelopment, and for future directions for researchand theory in the field of language development ofbilingual pupils in the mainstream, are discussed.

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Language learning97-180 Chikamatsu, Nabuko (DePaul U., Chicago). The effects of L1 orthographyon L2 word recognition: a study of American and Chinese learners of Japanese.Studies in Second Language Acquisition (New York), 18, 4 (1996).

This paper examines the effects of a first language(LI) orthographic system on second language (L2)word recognition strategies. Lexical judgment testsusing Japanese kana (a syllabic script consisting ofhiragana and katakana) were given to native Englishand native Chinese college students learningJapanese. The visual familiarity and length in testwords were controlled to examine the involvementof phonological or visual coding in word recognitionstrategies. The responses of the English and Chinesesubjects were compared on the basis of observed

reaction time. The results indicated that (a) Chinesesubjects relied more on the visual information in L2Japanese kana words than did English subjects, and(b) English subjects utilised the phonologicalinformation in Japanese kana words more than didChinese subjects. These findings are claimed todemonstrate that native speakers of English andChinese utilise different word recognition strategiesdue to LI orthographic characteristics, and that suchLI word recognition strategies are transferred into L2Japanese kana word recognition.

97-181 Clark, Ann and Trafford, John (U. of Sheffield). Return to gender: boys' andgirls' attitudes and achievements. Language Learning Journal (Rugby), 14, (1996), 40-9.

To investigate the discrepancy in performance inforeign language learning between boys and girls,interviews were carried out in four UK secondaryschools in South Yorkshire, including two whereboys had out-performed national norms. Many ofthe attitudes expressed by pupils did not appear to begender-specific. Variety of teaching and learningstyles and the relationship with the teacher had aprofound effect on both boys and girls, but the factthat most language teachers are women did not seemto alter perceptions of the subject. A foreignlanguage was felt by many to be more demandingthan other GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary

Education) subjects, and girls appeared to have amore conscientious approach to their work. Thiswas confirmed in interviews with teachers, who alsoadmitted to finding the generally neater presentationof girls' work 'seductive'. Some teachers felt boysneeded a more active approach to classwork, andwere aware of boys' monopolisation of classroominteraction, despite the teachers' resolution to beeven-handed. Given the inherent difficulty of thesubject, teacher personality and confidence-buildingmeasures emerged as crucial, but there was noevidence to show that any particular approach couldeven out gender imbalance in performance.

97-182 Damid-Bohafc, Darja (Zagreb U.). Difficultes de la langue frangaise vues parles croatophones: faire + I'infinitif. [Learning difficulties encountered by Croatianlearners of French: faire + the infinitive.] Strani Jezici (Zagreb), 24, 3-4 (1995), 123-32.

This article is the second in the series, the first ofwhich (in the previous issue of Strani Jezici) dealt withCroatian learners' difficulties with demonstrativepronouns. The present article deals with theirdifficulties with the use of the structure faire + theinfinitive. Classroom learners of French who have nothad the chance to spend some time in a francophonecountry seem to avoid the structure and to have

difficulties in translating it. As the structure does notappear in a parallel form in Croatian, the author usesa contrastive approach to highlight differencesbetween the two languages. The article attempts toexplain Croatian students' difficulties with thestructure by relating their most frequent errors to thestructural differences between French and Croatian,and to the element of mother-tongue interference.

97-183 Delamere, Trish (European U. of Madrid). The importance of interlanguageerrors with respect to stereotyping by native speakers in their judgements of secondlanguage learners' performance. System (Oxford), 24, 3 (1996), 279-97.

This article reports on a study which investigatedhow Americans respond to English as a secondlanguage (ESL) speech depending firstly, on thenon-native speaker's accent and secondly, onwhether there were errors in the ESL speech.Responses were elicited by means of a

questionnaire-type instrument and the resultingpatterns of responses were analysed. It was foundthat American respondents tended to exhibitdifferent cultural prejudices towards differentforeign speakers depending on the accent of thespeaker. Different stereotypes were also revealed

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Language learning and teachingdepending on the absence or presence of errors inthe ESL speech. The relative strength of thestereotype elicited, in some cases by the speaker'saccent, in other cases by the error content of thespeech, was found to be an important factor. Second

language errors, therefore, seem either to enhance orhinder communication depending on the accent ofthe speaker. The pedagogical and socio-culturalimplications of the study are discussed.

97-184 de Sousa, Ivor and Oakhill, Jane (Sussex U.). Do levels of interest have aneffect on children's comprehension monitoring performance? British Journal ofEducational Psychology (Leicester), 66, 4 (1996), 471-82.

This study examines the effect of interest levels onthe comprehension monitoring ability of 8- and 9-year-old children. Two groups participated in thestudy; they were matched for single-word readingand vocabulary skills, but differed in comprehensionskill. Two tests were carried out which required thechildren to read a number of brief passages, some ofwhich contained embedded problems. Thechildren's task was to identify the problems. Test 2was game-like in nature and the children reportedfinding it more interesting than Test 1. Interest level

was found to afreet test performance in the poorcomprehenders' comprehension monitoring: asignificant improvement in their performance wasfound at high interest levels (Test 2). However, theperformance of the good comprehenders wasindependent of interest level. This study suggeststhat the comprehension-monitoring deficit in thepoor comprehenders is not irreversible, and is likelyto be related to poor motivation and low levels ofinterest. The implications for remedial education arediscussed.

97-185 Donaldson, Morag L. (U. of Edinburgh). Contextual influences on children'sspoken and written explanations. Applied Psycholinguistics (Cambridge), 17, 3 (1996),355-75.

The relative influences of medium and contextvariables were investigated by comparing 7- and 8-year-old children's spoken and written explanationsin varying contexts: a story task, a question task, asentence completion task, and a whole sentenceproduction task. In the story task, performance in a'purpose' condition (which provided a specificcommunicative purpose for the production of anexplanation) was compared with performance in a

'neutral' condition. The frequency of explanationscontaining correct causal expressions wassignificantly higher in the purpose condition than inthe neutral condition and significantly lower in thestory task than in the three more structured tasks. Incontrast to these contextual influences, performancein the written medium was very similar toperformance in the spoken medium.

97-186 Duquette, Use (U. of Ottawa) and Painchaud, Gisele (U. of Montreal). Acomparison of vocabulary acquisition in audio and video contexts. The CanadianModern Language Review (Toronto, Ont.), 53, 1 (1996), 143-72.

This study compared the acquisition and retentionof second language (L2) vocabulary throughlistening to a scripted dialogue under twoconditions: with a video-tape, and with an audio-tape. The authors first examine some of the researchin mother tongue (LI) vocabulary acquisition inorder to show the limits of vocabulary learningthrough the use of contextual cues, and then brieflyreview the literature on L2 vocabulary acquisition.The study, with English-speaking university studentsat a high-elementary level in French, is thendescribed. Four groups participated (N=119): two

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experimental groups, one video, one audio; and twocontrol groups, one with audio, one withouttreatment. No statistically significant overalladvantage was found for the video over the audiotreatment, but, by looking closely at the specificwords learned under each of these learningconditions, the authors provide insights into thekinds of cues to meaning that proved useful to thelearners. The paper ends with suggestions forguidelines for the design of audio and video materialfor L2 learners of a high elementary level.

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Language learning97-187 Filippatou, Diamanto and Pumfrey, Peter D. (Manchester U). Pictures,titles, reading accuracy and reading comprehension: a research review (1973-95).Educational Research (London), 38, 3 (1996), 259-91.

This paper presents findings from studies into theeffects of Pictures and/or Titles on the reading andcomprehension of continous printed text. The'transfer-appropriate processing hypothesis'encourages the specification of conditions underwhich Pictures and/or Titles enhance or interferewith children's text-processing skills. Four groups ofresearch are summarised: those (a) considering theeffects of Pictures on reading comprehension alone,and (b) on both reading comprehension and readingaccuracy; and (c) those considering the effects ofboth Pictures and Titles on reading comprehensionalone, and (d) a single study examining the effects of

both Pictures and Titles on reading comprehensionand reading accuracy. Three main points emerge:firstly, that Pictures and Titles are not uniformlyeffective in all prose-reading situations; andsecondly, that not all types are equally effective forchildren with differing reading abilities. The finalpoint concerns the challenge inherent in the firsttwo, i.e., whether Pictures and/or Titles whichsystematically and differentially affect theaccessibility of running text can be constructed forchildren with different reading attainments andlearning styles working with texts of various genres.

97-188 Gardner, Sheena (U. of Winnipeg) and others. Individual variables, literacyhistory, and ESL progress among Kurdish and Bosnian immigrants. TESL CanadaJournal (Burnaby, B. C, Canada), 14, 1 (1996), 1-20.

This study examines the relationship betweenindividual variables and English as a second language(ESL) progress among nine Kurdish and sevenBosnian immigrants. All participants are adultrefugees who arrived in Canada with virtually noEnglish. Significant correlations are found betweenthe dependent variables of oral and written progressand the independent variables of literacy level, yearsof schooling, and ethnicity. Contingency, text

quality, and text quantity are also examined.Although the number of participants is small and thenumber of variables examined is large, it ishypothesised that in 18-21 months high literates willprogress from low beginner to advanced,semiliterates from pre-beginner to low intermediate,and preliterates from pre-beginner to low beginner.The article concludes with implications for ESLprogramming and future research.

97-189 Gawlitzek-Maiwald, Ira and Tracy, Rosemarie (U. of Tubingen). Bilingualbootstrapping. Linguistics (Berlin), 34, 5 (1996), 901-26.

Language mixing in young bilingual children isusually put down to language fusion or, on theassumption that they have available two linguisticsystems, to insufficient pragmatic control and/orlack of code-switching constraints. It is rarely seen asa sign of what the child can do. This paper exploresthe linguistic knowledge that goes into the languagemixing of young English/German bilinguals. It isshown that their language mixing helps them bridgenot just lexical but also structural gaps. In particular,

a connection is suggested between children'slanguage mixing and the types of syntacticbootstrapping discussed in monolingual acquisition,where the child can use his or her own expertise inone domain to solve problems in another. In ageneral sense, then, this bootstrapping metaphoravoids the negative connotations often associatedwith terms like interference or transfer andunderscores the resourcefulness of the bilingualchild.

97-190 Haudeck, Helga (Padagogische Hochschule, Ludwigsburg). Bewufttmachungvon lernstrategien an beispielen der negation und interrogation. [Making learningstrategies conscious using the examples of negation and interrogation.]Fremdsprachenunterricht(Ber\\n), 6 (1996), 419-25.

Three alternative methods of explaining negationand question formation in the present and past tenseform a part of the Ludwigsburg research project,some of the results of which are presented in thispaper. The subjects were seven classes of 13-14 yearolds learning English. The methods used were

visual/symbolic, visual with embedded text, and themore traditional rule form. The students wererequired to evaluate the three methods and todevelop possible learning strategies for themselves,with the intention of increasing their control overthe learning process. A third of the students chose

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Language learning and teachingthe visual/symbolic method, one fifth chose thevisual and textual combined approach, while a thirdopted for the rule form. These results show amajority of students dissatisfied with a traditional

rule-based approach. It is concluded that studentsshould be offered alternative learning strategieswhich correspond to their particular learningdisposition.

97-191 Hedgcock, John (Monterey Inst. of International Studies) and Lefkowitz,Natalie (Central Washington U.). Some input on input: two analyses of studentresponse to expert feedback in L2 writing. The Modern Language Journal (Madison,Wl), 80, 3(1996), 287-308.

Despite high interest in second language writers'revision processes, few studies have examined howlearners perceive or incorporate expert feedback intotheir revisions. Combining quantitative andqualitative analyses, this study profiles students'awareness of the functions and influences of expertinput in their writing. Data collected from 316university students include results of a survey offoreign language and English as a second languagewriters' beliefs about feedback behaviours known tointeract with revision processes. Factor analyticresults show that, whereas writers in both groups

share certain beliefs about feedback and revision,each group perceives expert response as servingdistinct functions. Interview data reveal thatinstructional practices largely shape learners'expectations concerning the pedagogical goals ofwritten feedback. Although tentative, evidence fromthese complementary studies supports the claim thatinsights in foreign and second writing research canbe enhanced by a reasoned pairing of methodologiesand that such tools can supply teachers withmeaningful information.

97-192 Heidecker, Berit and others (Bielefeld SLA Working Party).Fremdsprachenerwerbsspezifische Forschung. Aber wie? Theoretische undmethodische Uberlegungen. (I). [Research specific to foreign language acquisition. Buthow? Theoretical and methodological considerations. (I).] Deutsch als Fremdsprache(Berlin, Germany), 33, 3 (1996), 144-55.

This paper argues that German as a Foreign Languageshould be an academic, research-based subject in itsown right, not 'purely didactic' or a 'language coursesubject'. This necessitates definition of, and qualitycontrol criteria for research in, the discipline ofForeign Language Acquisition. The definitionproposed is 'the dynamic process in which the learnerprocesses an input perceptible in interactions to copewith foreign language situations'. Each part of this

definition, and the choice of 'foreign' and'acquisition' rather than 'second' and 'learning' in thename of the discipline, are supported by detailedargument. It is claimed that the criteria for goodresearch include validity, reliability, intersubjectivity,believability, acceptability and practicality, and thatresearch should have a close and reciprocalrelationship with teaching, [cf. abstract 97-193]

97-193 Heidecker, Berit and others (Bielefeld SLA Working Party).Fremdsprachenerwerbsspezifische Forschung. Aber wie? Theoretische undmethodische Uberlegungen. (II). [Research specific to foreign language acquisition. Buthow? Theoretical and methodological considerations. (II).] Deutsch als Fremdsprache(Berlin, Germany), 33, 4 (1996), 200-10.

This is the second and final part of a paper [cf.abstract 97-192]. It consists largely of summaries offour current or recent projects by individualmembers of the Bielefeld Working Party. Heideckeris exploring listening comprehension in classroomsthrough discourse analysis, taking account both ofinteraction — correction, negotiation, turn-takingetc. - and of cognitive processes such as hypothesis-testing. Niedergesahs has studied learners' speakingturns - repetition, hesitation, self-repair etc. - andthe underlying cognitive processes. Riemer hasstudied individual differences, including social and

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affective factors, especially self-confidence, and theireffect on input, output and learning. Yu is studyinghow input modification affects acquisition. Detailsare given of the instruments and methods used byeach researcher. The final section describes thegeneral view of language acquisition which underliesall the Bielefeld projects: as a creative dynamic,individual process conditioned by social interactionand affective variables; and lists questions still to beanswered, not least the practical one of how toensure financial security and continuity for research.

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Language learning97-194 Henry, Kathryn (Iowa U.). Early L2 writing development: a study ofautobiographical essays by university-level students of Russian. The Modern LanguageJournal (Madison, Wl), 80, 3 (1996), 309-26.

This article reports the results of a cross-sectionalstudy of 67 short autobiographical essays by UnitedStates students of Russian at four levels of study. TheNovice and Intermediate level descriptions in theAmerican Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language(ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines for Writingcharacterise the writing under study, but it issuggested that the Guidelines still require furtherempirical testing. Linguistics measures thatdifferentiated the groups included fluency and

syntactic fluency, but not accuracy, calling intoquestion the tendency of foreign language writingresearch and pedagogy to focus on grammaticalaccuracy. Finally, the article calls for further researchinto second and foreign language (L2) writing thataccounts for different languages (truly foreign as wellas cognate; non-English as well as English), differentdevelopmental levels (beginning as well asadvanced), and different learning situations (foreignlanguage learning as well as second).

97-195 Horiba, Yukie (U. of Massachusetts). Comprehension processes in L2reading. Studies in Second Language Acquisition (New York), 18, 4 (1996), 433-73.

This study examined four groups of readers, twosecond language (L2) and two first language (LI)(L2-Intermediate, L2-Advanced, Ll-Japanese, Ll-English), as they processed and recalled two passagesvarying in degree of causal coherence. Concurrentverbal reports and recall data were collected. It wasfound that LI readers used much of their attentionfor higher level processes such as the generation ofinferences and general knowledge associations. Theyprocessed the high- and low-coherence textsdifferently, generating more elaborations for the lowthan for the high. Furthermore, they generatedbackward inferences according to the text's causalstructure, and recalled events with many causal

connections more frequently than those with few.L2 readers on the other hand paid more attention tolower level processes and did not process differentlybetween the high- and low-coherence texts. L2-Advanced readers generated both backward andforward inferences during reading, whereas L2-Intermediate did not. Although L2-Advancedreaders' generation of backward inferences did notcorrespond to the text's causal structure, theirsecond recall indicated sensitivity to it. A closer lookat the data suggests that there were some delays inlower level processes such as understanding wordsand sentences, as well as resolution of anaphoricrelations, by these readers.

97-196 Hulstijn, Jan H. and others (Vrije U., Amsterdam). Incidental vocabularylearning by advanced foreign language students: the influence of marginal glosses,dictionary use, and reoccurrence of unknown words. The Modern Language Journal(Madison, Wl), 80, 3 (1996), 327-39.

Dutch advanced students of French read a Frenchshort story in one of three text reading conditions:Marginal Glosses (provision of first languagetranslations of unknown words), Dictionary(opportunity to use a bilingual dictionary), orControl. After reading, students were tested for theirrecall of 16 words that had appeared either once orthree times in the text. Support was found for thehypothesis that frequency of occurrence will fosterincidental vocabulary learning more when advancedsecond language readers are given the meanings of

unknown words through marginal glosses or whenthey look up meanings in a dictionary than when noexternal information concerning unknown words'meanings is available. In the former case,reappearance of a word will reinforce the form-meaning connection in the reader's mental lexicon.In the latter case, readers will often ignore unknownwords or incorrectly infer their meanings, whichwill limit the frequency effect. The article ends withrecommendations for teachers and researchers.

97-197 Johnson, Janice M. (York U., Toronto). Metaphor interpretations by secondlanguage learners: children and adults. The Canadian Modern Language Review(Toronto, Ont.), 53, 1 (1996), 219-41.

This paper suggests that the learner's conceptualcapacity to interpret metaphors is inadequatelyrecognised in second language (L2) instruction,which tends to be overly focused on literal meaning.The study reported here was conducted with child

and adult Spanish-speaking learners of L2 English,together with native English speakers of differentages, and indicated that the complexity level ofmetaphor interpretation in English is related muchmore strongly to age and developmental capacity

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Language learning and teachingthan to proficiency in English. The findings supportthe view that it is inappropriate to avoid metaphoricuse of language even in relatively early stages of L2learning, particularly when it is recognised that theuse of metaphor permeates everyday language. Thisdoes not mean that L2 learners will necessarily give

the same interpretations as native speakers to L2metaphors that reflect culture-specific concepts; it isargued that, in such cases, exposure to the relevantmetaphors can help the L2 learner to understandunderlying concepts of the target culture.

97-198 Ke, Chuanren (U. of Iowa). An empirical study on the relationship betweenChinese character recognition and production. The Modern Language Journal(Madison, Wl), 80, 3 (1996), 340-50.

This study investigated the relationship betweenChinese character recognition and production bysecond language learners. A panel study, whichemployed an instrument consisting of a characterrecognition task and a production task, was adopted.Subjects were 47 first-year Chinese languagestudents in the U.S. There were three major findingsin this study: (a) although the correlations betweencharacter recognition and production for both Time

1 (Tl) and Time 2 (T2) were moderate, it appearedthat there was a decrease of correlation for T2; (b)students performed better in the recognition tasksthan in the production tasks; (c) students performedbetter with low density characters than high densitycharacters in the production tasks. Direction forfuture research to complement the findings of thecurrent study is also suggested.

97-199 Kelly, Peter and others (Notre-Dame de la Paix U., Namur, Belgium). Acomparison of the perceptions and practices of Chinese and French-speaking Belgianuniversity students in the learning of English: the prelude to an improved programmeof lexical expansion. ITL: A Review of Applied Linguistics (Louvain, Belgium), 113-114(1996), 275-303.

This paper describes the first stage of a pedagogicallyoriented programme of research, the ultimateobjective being to facilitate the learning of lexiswithin the context of the language learningprogrammes already developed within the FacultesUniversitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix (Namur,Belgium) and Wuhan University of Hydraulic andElectrical Engineering (Wuhan, China). The firststage consists in exploring the personal languagelearning practices and perceptions of the student

populations concerned. The second stage, which isalready complete, attempts to highlight the mostsalient and persistent difficulties encountered by therespective student populations. At present, theauthors are investigating various exercises andtechniques which, in the light of theoretical andempirical findings, should facilitate the students'learning of lexis; if proved effective, they wouldeventually be integrated into the existing languageprogrammes.

97-200 Koppe, Regina (Hamburg). Language differentiation in bilingual children: thedevelopment of grammatical and pragmatic competence. Linguistics (Berlin), 34, 5(1996), 927-54.

The question of whether young bilinguals are able todifferentiate their two linguistic systems from early onis a central issue in research on bilingual first-languageacquisition. The occurrence of language mixing in thespeech of bilingual children has often been interpretedas evidence for a lack of language differentiation.Stressing the need to examine developing grammaticaland pragmatic competence separately, the presentpaper investigates formal as well as functional aspects

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of early language mixing in three bilingual children(German/French). The hypothesis that early mixing isdue to the fusion of two grammatical systems is notcorroborated in the data. It is shown that languagemixing can largely be accounted for in terms ofdeveloping pragmatic competence. On the otherhand, the separate development of early word order inboth languages suggests early differentiation of twogrammatical systems.

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Language learning97-201 Lao, Christy Y. and others (U. of Southern California). Conversationallanguage proficiency among international students at the university level: personalhypotheses versus actual practice. ITL: A Review of Applied Linguistics (Louvain,Belgium), 113-114 (1996), 245-62.

It is commonly assumed that international studentsin English-speaking countries have well-developedcompetence in academic language but deficienciesin conversational language. This study had two aims:firstly, to determine whether, in fact, internationalstudents perceive a difference in their competence inacademic and conversational language; and secondly,to identify possible barriers to the development oftheir conversational language. Subjects were 224graduate students from China enrolled at theUniversity of Southern California who completed aquestionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire

probed perceptions of their competence inconversational English; the second part attempted todetermine their personal theories of conversationallanguage acquisition. The data were analysed toascertain to what extent the students' personaltheories matched current theories on thedevelopment of conversational ability; and anexamination of the students' actual practices wasundertaken, in order to determine whether theyengaged in activities thought or known to be helpfulfor the development of conversational languageability.

97-202 Lessard-Clouston, Michael (Kwansei Gakuin U., Japan). ESL vocabularylearning in a TOEFL preparation class: a case study. The Canadian Modern LanguageReview (Toronto, Ont.), 53, 1 (1996), 97-119.

This paper reports on a case study whichinvestigated how students of English as a secondlanguage (ESL) on a preparation course for the Testof English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) approachtheir vocabulary learning, and whether theirapproach predicts their ESL proficiency. Subjectswere 14 ESL adult students from nine different firstlanguage (LI) backgrounds. Two questionnaireswere administered: one on the students' individualapproaches to vocabulary learning, the other avocabulary knowledge questionnaire which was anindividualised test focusing on newly-learnt wordselicited from each student. On the basis of the data

analysis, the students were grouped into one of threeapproaches to lexical learning: structured, semi-structured or unstructured. Very few of them fellinto the first category. The students' learningapproach did not predict their performance on thevocabulary knowledge test; nor were individuals'vocabulary learning methods found to be necessarilyindicative of their language proficiency. Thesefindings raise questions about the usefulness ofcategorising students in terms of theirstructured/unstructured approaches to vocabularylearning.

97-203 Liskin-Gasparro, Judith E. (Iowa U.). Narrative strategies: a case study ofdeveloping storytelling skills by a learner of Spanish. The Modern Language Journal(Madison, Wl), 80, 3 (1996), 271-86.

What does it mean to tell a 'good story'? Whatstrategies does the storyteller use to set the scene,move the action forward, and make sure the storyhas a point? For a second language speaker, how dothese narrative strategies develop? This paperexplores these questions by analysing the narrative,descriptive, and evaluative structures of two storiesabout the same event told by the same speaker. Thestories are drawn from oral proficiency interviewswith the speaker, a 21-year-old undergraduatestudent of Spanish, the first time when she was at the

Intermediate High level and the second when shewas at the Advanced level. The discourse analysisrevealed that the second story surpasses the first inlength, amount of narrative detail, systematic use ofdescriptive elements, and number and variety ofevaluative devices. Rather than departing from thenarrative structure of the first story, the second onebuilds upon the earlier version, using syntactic andlexical means to vary the pace of the action and drawthe listener into the story.

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Language learning and teaching97-204 Littlewood, William (Hong Kong Poly. U.). 'Autonomy': an anatomy and aframework. System (Oxford), 24, 4 (1996), 427-35.

This article examines the components that make upautonomy in language learning. At the core of thenotion of autonomy are the learners' ability andwillingness to make choices independently. Inforeign language learning contexts, the mainconcern is to help learners to make and carry outchoices in three domains: communication, learningand (by process of transfer) their personal life. In this

article, these components and domains of autonomyserve as the basis of a conceptual framework forcoordinating strategies for helping learners todevelop autonomy. Since the goal of languageteaching (and indeed all education) is to developindependent capacities in relevant domains, thisframework can also be seen as underlying an overallteaching methodology.

97-205 Maclntyre, Peter D. (U. Coll. of Cape Breton) and Charos, Catherine (OxfordU.). Personality, attitudes, and affect as predictors of second language communication.Journal of Language and Social Psychology (Thousand Oaks, CA), 15, 1 (1996), 3-26.

Numerous studies have established the importance ofaffective variables, such as attitudes, motivation,perceived competence, and anxiety, in predictingsuccess in second language learning andcommunication. Path analysis was used to investigatethe relations among these variables, to examine theirimpact on the frequency of second languagecommunication, and to examine the role of globalpersonality traits. Subjects were 92 Anglophonestudents taking introductory level conversationalFrench in adult evening classes. Significant paths

affecting the frequency of communication werefound, from willingness to communicate in thesecond language (L2), language learning motivation,perceived L2 communication competence, and theopportunity for contact with L2 speakers. Furtherresults demonstrate that global personality traits andlanguage-related affective variables (such as attitudesand anxiety) set the psychological context for secondlanguage communication. These results areinterpreted in terms of models of second languagelearning and communication.

97-206 Mitchell, Rosamond and Martin, Cynthia (U. of Southampton). Rotelearning, creativity and 'understanding' in classroom foreign language teaching.Language Teaching Research (London), 1, 1 (1977), 1-27.

This paper presents some preliminary findings froma longitudinal study of French teaching and learningin two secondary schools in southern England. Themain aims of the project were (a) to document thecourse of development in French of a cohort of 6011-13-year-old pupils over a two-year period, witha particular focus on the place in their developmentof prefabricated phrases or 'chunks' of language, and(b) to relate this development to their classroomexperiences, which were also documented. Thispaper focuses on a subgroup of teachers involved

with the project for much or all of the two years,examining their classroom practices and beliefs abouteffective teaching. In particular, teachers' beliefsabout classroom learning are compared with theevidence on learner progression derived from theproject's own elicitation procedures. The paper isintended as a contribution to the growing literatureon language teachers' craft knowledge, which todate has not systematically linked the study ofteacher beliefs with second-language learningtheory.

97-207 Morrison, Louise (York U., Ontario). Talking about words: a study of Frenchas a second language learners' lexical inferencing procedures. The Canadian ModernLanguage Review (Toronto, Ont.), 53, 1 (1996), 41-75.

Inferencing, or 'informed' guessing, is considered tobe a compensation strategy essential for skilled firstlanguage (LI) as well as second language (L2) readingcomprehension. This study examined the inferencingprocedures used by university-level L2 learners ofFrench to guess at the meaning of unfamiliar wordsin a written L2 text. The study combined qualitativeand quantitative research methodologies to comparethe strategies used by high- and low-proficiencystudents. The use of pair think-aloud protocolsrevealed substantial differences between the groups:

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whereas both groups based their inferences mostfrequently on contextual cues to word meaning, thehigh-proficiency learners were much more likely tomake use of linguistic cues derived from the worditself, as well as to make successful guesses. The studyprovides additional evidence of how low-proficiencylearners are hampered by a lack of knowledge ofother words in the context of a target word. It is alsosuggested that the pair think-aloud procedure couldprovide an interesting classroom activity designed toimprove inferencing skills.

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Language learning97-208 Munro, Murray J. (Simon Fraser U.) and others. The effects of age ofsecond language learning on the production of English vowels. AppliedPsycholinguistics (Cambridge), 17, 3 (1996), 313-34.

This study examined the English vowel productionsof 240 native speakers of Italian who had arrived inCanada at ages ranging from 2 to 23 years and 24native English speakers from the same community.The productions of 11 vowels were rated for degreeof foreign accent by 10 listeners. An increase inperceived accentedness as a function of increasingage of arrival was observed on every vowel. Not one

of the vowels was observed to be produced in aconsistently native-like manner by the latest-arrivinglearners, even though they had been living inCanada for an average of 32 years. However, highintelligibility (percent correct identification) scoreswere obtained for the same set of productions. Thiswas true even for English vowels that have nocounterpart in Italian.

97-209 Newton, Jonathon and Kennedy, Graeme (Victoria U. of Wellington, NewZealand). Effects of communication tasks on the grammatical relations marked bysecond language learners. System (Oxford), 24, 3 (1996), 309-22.

This study reports some possible grammaticalconsequences of interaction in split and sharedinformation tasks undertaken by adult secondlanguage learners of English participating in a pre-University level English proficiency course. Based onan analysis of a learners' corpus of almost 30,000words, the study examines the morpho-syntax oftask-based interaction and, in particular, ways ofmarking relationships between lexicalised conceptsand between clauses by means of prepositions andconjunctions, respectively. The study confirmed themain hypothesis that shared information tasks would

result in the use of more coordinating andsubordinating conjunctions than split informationtasks. The paper suggests that both cognitive andpragmatic reasons may explain why inter-propositional relationships are marked morefrequently than intra-propositional relationships in thecorpus, and why the marking of inter-propositionalrelationships may be encouraged more by sharedinformation tasks than by split information tasks. Theresults of the study suggest that communication tasksfor language learning can be designed to influence theuse of particular linguistic structures.

97-210 Nicoladis, Elena and Genesee, Fred (McGill U.). A longitudinal study ofpragmatic differentiation in young bilingual children. Language Learning (Cambridge,MA), 46, 3 (1996), 439-64.

Current evidence indicates that young bilingualchildren can use their languages differentially andappropriately in different language contexts at abouttwo years of age. The authors examined whetherthere is an even earlier developmental stage whenbilingual children do not use their languages inpragmatically differentiated ways. Natural languagesamples from four French-English bilingual childrenwere recorded during free play sessions with theirmothers and fathers, all of whom were nativespeakers and habitually used that language with theirchildren. The children were observed seven timesbetween approximately 1;7 and 3;0 years of age.Two aspects of pragmatic differentiation were

analysed: (a) use of French-only and English-onlyutterances and (b) use of translation equivalents.Analysis 1 indicated that none of the childrenshowed differentiated and appropriate use of Frenchand English during the initial recording sessions, butthat all did so in later sessions. Analysis 2 indicated ashift in their use of translation equivalents fromgenerally inappropriate to generally appropriate; thisshift coincided with the emergence of differentialusage with both parents, as revealed in Analysis 1.Taken together, the analyses suggest a stage veryearly in development when bilingual children do notshow pragmatic differentiation in language use.

97-211 Pennington, Martha (City U. of Hong Kong). Cross-language effects inbiliteracy. Language and Education (Clevedon), 10, 4 (1996), 254-72.

This paper reviews the nature of written languageand the relationship of written to spoken codes inEnglish and other languages, with particularreference to bilingualism and biliteracy in Englishand either Japanese or Chinese, both non-alphabeticlanguages. It describes different types of graphic

representational systems, and how differences inwriting systems affect language processes. Forexample, the characters in Chinese (a logographicsystem) involve more holistically visual and semanticor conceptual decoding strategies, and greater righthemisphere involvement, than English (a

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Language learning and teachingphonographic, alphabetic language). The differentways in which English words are taken into Chineseand Japanese, and how they are representedphonologically and graphically, are outlined. Thecross-language effects of biliteracy inEnglish/Chinese and English/Japanese (cognitiverepresentation and processing routines for encodingand decoding) are discussed. It is suggested thatJapanese and Chinese learners of English will transfer

their more holistic visual processing strategies toreading English texts, rather than using analytic,aural processing strategies. It is concluded thatmixing and borrowing expand the communicativeresources of a language; and that the interaction oftwo codes will increase the cognitive efficiency in anindividual's processing of the two languages,ultimately resulting in greater linguistic creativity.

97-212 Qian, David (Ontario Inst. for the Study of Ed., Toronto U.). ESL vocabularyacquisition: contextualisation and decontextualisation. The Canadian Modern LanguageReview (Toronto, Ont.), 53, 1 (1996), 120-42.

This paper provides a comprehensive review ofresearch that compares the learning of secondlanguage (L2) words in lists and in contexts. It isargued that most of this data is equivocal, in that itfails to show significant effects for one method overthe other; and the author challenges the assumptionthat contextualised vocabulary learning invariablyleads to superior retention. The paper then reports astudy of 63 Chinese university learners of Englishlearning a set of 15 English target words. The No-Context group produced significantly better scores

on an immediate recall test than the Context groupdid; and this difference continued to appear on post-tests administered one week and three weeks later.The results suggest that decontextualised L2vocabulary learning with feedback is more effectivefor these particular students than contextualisedvocabulary learning without feedback. Whileexercising due caution in generalising from thisstudy, the author argues that both contextualised anddecontextualised vocabulary learning activities havea place in the L2 classroom.

97-213 Rohde, Andreas (Kiel U.). The aspect hypothesis and the emergence of tensedistinctions in naturalistic L2 acquisition. Linguistics (Berlin), 34, 5 (1996), 1115-37.

It is generally assumed that verbal inflections in earlysecond language (L2) acquisition primarily marklexical aspect inherent in the verb or predicate, withtense distinctions being neglected (= the aspecthypothesis). This paper gives a brief account of theL2 acquisition of verbal inflections by two Germanchildren, one aged six and one aged nine, who werelearning English without formal instruction during asix-month stay in California. The results of thestudy, which are discussed in connection with theaspect hypothesis, support the affiliation of verbal

inflections with lexical aspect; however, contrary tothe predictions, it is shown that the -ING inflectionis not associated mainly with activity verbs but alsowith a relatively high proportion of achievementverbs. This is accounted for by the fact that thechildren use the progressive form with futurereference. It is argued that, although lexical aspectseems to grant the learnability of verbal inflections inearly L2 acquisition, tense is not defective, as impliedin the aspect hypothesis.

97-214 Schlyter, Suzanne (Lund U.). Bilingual children's stories: French passecompose / imparfait and their correspondences in Swedish. Linguistics (Berlin), 34, 5(1996), 1059-85.

In this study, the question of possible correspondingdevices in Swedish for the French aspectualopposition passe compose (PC)-imparfait (IMPF) wasstudied, in the language of Swedish-French bilingualchildren. The speech of four children aged three toseven years old was investigated. It was hypothesisedthat there was a relation between French PC and aSwedish construction consisting of Temporal

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connector+Subject-Verb inversion (= TVSconstruction) for foregrounding, and between IMPFand Subject-Verb word order for backgrounding.These devices appeared at roughly the same time, atabout age three, though first without text-structuring functions. At ages six and seven, parallelsbetween the postulated devices could be found, inboth elicited and spontaneous narratives.

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Language learning97-215 Schraw, Gregory and Bruning, Roger (U. of Nebraska-Lincoln). Readers'implicit models of reading. Reading Research Quarterly (Newark, DE), 31, 3 (1996),290-305.

This study examined the relationship betweenreaders' implicit models of the reading process (i.e.,tacit, systematic assumptions about the type ofreader) and reader engagement. The subjects were154 university undergraduates enrolled in anintroductory educational psychology class. A factoranalysis of a self-report inventory produced twofactors. Factor 1 corresponded to a transmissionmodel, i.e., beliefs that meaning is transmitted fromthe author and/or text. Factor 2 corresponded to atransactional model, i.e., beliefs that meaning isconstructed by a transaction between the reader,author and text. Beliefs relating to each of the twomodels were independent, indicating that readers

held multiple beliefs which potentially affected theirreading engagement. A cross-classification of readersusing scores on each of the factors revealed thatendorsing a transactional model was related tohigher recall of an expository text. This was true ofboth text propositions and propositional modifiers.An analysis of reader response essays completed afterreading indicated that individuals high on thetransactional dimension reported more criticalevaluations of the text, were more likely to relatetext information to prior knowledge, and reportedmore affective responses such as anger and empathy.Implications for reading theory and instruction arediscussed.

97-216 Stenzel, Achim (U. of Hamburg). Development of prepositional case in abilingual child. Linguistics (Berlin), 34, 5 (1996), 1029-58.

This is a study of the acquisition of prepositional casein a bilingual child, with special attention paid to themutual import of linguistic theory on theories oflanguage acquisition and vice versa, and with a focuson the nature of grammatical and lexicalrepresentations in bilinguals. The child, a bilingualboy growing up with German and French acquiredsimultaneously, was studied between the ages of 2;4

and 4;6. The paper discusses the nature of lexicalentries of German prepositions which assign twodifferent cases, and which motivate the author's claimthat the main problem for the child is to establish thecorrect format for lexical entries. It is proposed thatthe observed development can best be accounted forby a German-internal explanation, which rules outany influence from the child's bilingual situation.

97-217 Thornton, Barbara and Cajkler, Wasyl (U. of Leicester). A study of year 10student attitudes to German language and life. Language Learning Journal (Rugby), 14(1996), 35-9.

This article considers a LINGUA investigation intopupils' awareness of and attitudes to aspects ofGerman life and culture amongst 178 14-15 year-oldUK learners in the Midlands. They had beenlearning German for about 18 months and camefrom a mix of social classes and ethnic groups. Thesurvey explored attitudes to Germans and Germanlife, assessed knowledge of German geography andpolitics, and considered stereotypical views ofGermany. Parallel studies were conducted onFrance, Spain and Italy. Attitudinally most responseswere positive or neutral towards Germans, and therewas a core of non-negative attitudes on which to

build. Most learners had an empathy with Germans,but a superficial knowledge of the country; andopinions lacked sophistication due to an admittedlack of first-hand experience. One salient point toemerge was that there were few references to theclassroom and language learning as a source ofinformation about culture. If language learning andteaching are to assume an enhanced culturalperspective, it is suuggested that time is given toexploring student attitudes, evaluating newmaterials, reviewing curricula and exploringapproaches to relevant classroom activities.

97-218 Treville, Marie-Claude (U. of Ottawa). Lexical learning and reading in L2 atthe beginner level: the advantage of cognates. The Canadian Modern LanguageReview (Toronto, Ont.), 53, 1 (1996), 173-90.

The paper argues that English-speaking learners ofFrench as a second language (L2) begin with a majoradvantage in that the two languages share a sizeable

vocabulary, with numerous similar words, and witha substantial number identical in orthographic form.A seven-lesson programme designed to exploit such

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Language learning and teachinglexical similarities is described, focusing onbeginning university-level learners of French. Avariety of word analysis activities was designed to beused in association with the reading of authentictexts. An experiment was then run to assess theefficacy of the instructional programme; classes

receiving the treatment were compared with otherclasses who continued with their regular French L2course activities. Results suggest positive advantagesfor the experimental group on several sub-tests ofvocabulary knowledge assessing the ability to makeinterlexical connections.

97-219 VanPatten, Bill (U. of Illinois) and Oikkenon, Soile. Explanation versusstructured input in processing instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition(New York), 18, 4 (1996), 495-510.

This study replicates an earlier study by VanPattenand Cadierno in an attempt to determine whether ornot explicit information given to learners receivingprocessing instruction is responsible for thebeneficial effects of instruction. Fifty-nine subjects,senior high school students studying Spanish, weredivided into three groups: (1) one receivingprocessing instruction in object pronouns and wordorder in Spanish as in the earlier study, (2) another

receiving explanation only with no activities orpractice, (3) and another receiving only thestructured input activities with no explanation. Apretest/post-test assessment was used involving twotests, an interpretation test and a sentence-levelproduction test. Results suggested that the beneficialeffects of instruction were due to the structuredinput activities and not to the explicit information(explanation) provided to learners.

97-220 Vilke-Pinter, Dubravka (Zagreb U.). Stavovi studenata Veterinarskogfakulteta sveuc'ilis'ta u Zagrebu u vezi s uCenjem engleskog kao stranog jezika nafakultetu i njihovi razlozi za biranje ovog kolegija. [Attitudes of undergraduate studentsof veterinary medicine towards the EFL course.] Strani Jezici (Zagreb), 24, 3-4 (1995),114-22.

This paper examines attitudes towards and motivesfor choosing English as an optional course at theVeterinary Faculty, Zagreb University. The results ofthe study involving 71 students show that there areseveral aspects to learning English which studentsconsider to be the most important and value mosthighly. These are: the 'communicative aspect'(facilitating communication with members of otherlinguistic groups); the 'informative aspect'(facilitating the understanding of information ofvarious kinds); the 'cultural aspect' (enabling a fuller

understanding of various cultural products); and the'professional aspect' (enabling the understanding ofwritten information relating to the students'profession). For the male students, the 'integrativeaspect' of learning English, i.e. facilitating theirintegration into an English-speaking country, isequally important. The results demonstrate that thestudents have chosen this course freely, and not asthe result of some external pressure such as toimprove their grades or to comply with parents'wishes.

97-221 Werlen, Iwar and Zimmermann, Hansmartin (U. of Berne). La formulationde problemes de competence dans une langue (quasi-)etrangere a partir de recitsd'histoires. Approche comparative entre eleves suisses alemaniques et etrangers.[The formulation of problems of competence in a (quasi-)foreign language on the basisof story-telling. A comparison between Swiss-German and foreign schoolchildren.]/W/e (Paris), 7(1996), 35-69.

The problems of linguistic competence in StandardGerman manifested by Swiss and immigrant childrenare analysed by means of story-telling tasks. Thefocus is on the role of self-correction and code-switching as indicators of language awareness. TheSwiss children, whose first language is Swiss

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German, are all clearly aware of diglossia, but not sothe foreign children, whose first languages areSerbo-Croat, Catalan or Albanian. As a result, thetwo groups use self-correction and code-switchingin totally different ways.

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Language learning97-222 Wesche, Marjorie and Paribakht, T. Sima (U. of Ottawa). Assessingsecond language vocabulary knowledge: depth versus breadth. The Canadian ModernLanguage Review (Toronto, Ont.), 53, 1 (1996), 13-40.

Most research on the acquisition of second languagevocabulary has depended on estimates of vocabularysize, or 'breadth' measures, rather than on estimatesof 'depth' defined either in terms of kinds ofknowledge of specific words or in terms of degreesof such knowledge. Breadth tests provide roughcomparative estimates of individuals' overallvocabulary knowledge, useful for such purposes asplacement in instructional programmes, and forcharting group gains for purposes such asprogramme evaluation. However, such measureshave a number of limitations, an obvious one being

that they do not measure how well given words areknown; thus they are of limited value in studies ofthe vocabulary acquisition process or in assessmentof curriculum-related vocabulary learning. Fewprocedures and even fewer test instruments havebeen proposed that attempt to carry out thesefunctions. This article surveys existing secondlanguage vocabulary measures of both kinds, anddescribes in detail a recently developed instrumentdesigned to assess levels of familiarity with givenwords, the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale.

97-223 Wiberg, Eva (Lund U.). Reference to past events in bilingual Italian-Swedishchildren of school age. Linguistics (Berlin), 34, 5 (1996), 1087-114.

This paper is a contribution to first and secondlanguage studies on past-tense acquisition in spokenItalian. Twenty-four bilingual Swedish-Italianstudents aged between 8 and 17 and living inSweden were recorded in their Italian lessons atschool during informal dialogues with a proficientinterlocutor. A division into four levels ofdevelopment based on formal functional features andconversational strategies shows that past participlesand passato prossimo, the compound past tense,constitute the main formal and functional resourcesof all bilingual pupils. With a slightly differentinterpretation of Andersen's congruence hypothesis,

which states that the inherent semantic aspect ofverbs influences the acquisition of tense markers, thestudy suggests that the hypothesis is valid only incertain types of discourse, and only for imperfetto, nottotally for the principal past tense passato prossimo.The passato prossimo is primarily a past tense, usedwith all types of verbs, while imperfetto, used in amore limited way, shows a tendency to be restrictedto states. The results indicate that an unmarked past-tense hypothesis in a dialogue discourse can beproposed both for bilinguals and for native speakersof Italian.

97-224 Wright, Ronda (Wellington County Board of Ed.). A study of the acquisitionof verbs of motion by grade 4/5 early French immersion students. The CanadianModern Language Review (Toronto, Ont.), 53, 1 (1996), 257-80.

The objective of the action research reported herewas to examine the effectiveness of focusedvocabulary instruction aimed at filling an observedgap in the second language (L2) lexical competenceof early French immersion students in Canada. Verbsof motion were targeted, since research has shownthat immersion students differ from Francophonepeers in how they express motion and directionalityin French, and there is a fundamental difference inhow these notions are expressed in the twolanguages. Treatment materials, teaching activities,tests and scoring procedures are described (examplesin appendices). Results show that the experimentalgroup made more use of the target verbs than the

control group in immediate post-tests (oral andwritten), and that this advantage was maintainedover time. Use of high-coverage, high-frequencyverbs (aller, venir) by the experimental group alsoshowed a decrease over time relative to the controlgroup. Analysis of individual verb use indicates thatfocused teaching may have stimulated a readiness forlearning to use particular verbs, but that others arenot learned as readily at this level. Studentsresponded positively to comparative syntacticexplanation in English. It is concluded that a morefocused approach to vocabulary teaching thancurrently exists in immersion classes can result inincreased lexical competence in young L2 learners.

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Language learning and teaching97-225 Yu, Liming. The role of L1 in the acquisition of motion verbs in English byChinese and Japanese learners. The Canadian Modern Language Review (Toronto,Ont.), 53, 1 (1996), 191-218.

Research has demonstrated that cross-linguisticlexical similarities are generally positive for targetlanguage lexical acquisition, especially when thelanguages are typologically related. This paperexamines the case of typologically unrelatedlanguages. In a study comparing the use of motionverbs in English by Chinese- and Japanese-speakinglearners, a clear overall advantage was found for theChinese speakers, whose first language (LI)lexicalises the motion event in a way that ischaracteristically similar to English. A mini-lessondesigned to raise awareness of, respectively, therelevant similarity and dissimilarity for, respectively,

the Chinese-speaking and Japanese-speaking learnersdid not, however, appear in general to affectperformance on the English motion verb tasks. Thebrevity of the instructional intervention is onepossible explanation of this negative finding. It isconcluded that it may be counter-productive forteachers to focus exclusively on linguistic differencesbetween a distant first and second language (L2). Bydrawing attention to similarities, teachers can boostlearners' confidence in the relevance of their priorLI knowledge and improve their motivation to learnthe L2.

97-226 Zampini, Mary L. (U. of Arizona). Voiced stop spirantization in the ESLspeech of native speakers of Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics (Cambridge), 17, 3(1996), 335-54.

This study examines the role that voiced stopspirantisation plays in the acquisition of English/b d g/ and / 8 / by native Spanish speakers. Theresults of a data-based experiment show thataccuracy in English pronunciation is hindered bynative language transfer, including the transfer ofspirantisation and first language syllable structureconstraints. Furthermore, the suppression of

spirantisation is not achieved at an equal rate for allvoiced stops: /d/ is spirantised the least often. It isproposed that the phonemic value of / 8 / in Englishcontributes to this disparity. An examination of thesecond language pronunciation of /5/ further revealsthat learners do not assign phonemic status to / 8 / inall contexts; it is acquired in postvocalic position firstand only more gradually acquired elsewhere.

Language testing97-227 Denis, Jackie and Van Thienen, Karine (EVACOM, Belgium). Evaluer lescompetences communicatives. [Evaluating communicative competence.] Le Frangaisdans le Monde (Paris), 285 (1996), 62-5.

This is an account of how, having had no instructionduring their teacher training on how to evaluatepupils' performance, the authors based their earlyassessments on methods they had been familiar withas pupils themselves, but later, faced with pressure tomake their assessments more communicative, cameto question and revise the procedures they wereusing. This paper is concerned in particular with theassessment of written work and compares (withexamples) the very general approach used in the1980s and much more detailed procedures adoptedin 1995. The latter approach provided both tasks

that were more communicative and more detailedinstructions for the students in how to go aboutthem, and proved to be much more informative forteachers and motivating for students. This workarose as a result of the authors having attended aLingua course on communicative competenceassessment in Montpellier 1993 and their havingbeen involved in the setting up of a working party[EVACOM] in Belgium to develop instruments ofassessment. A description of the objectives and workof EVACOM is also given.

97-228 Edwards, Alison L. Reading proficiency assessment and the ILR/ACTFL texttypology: a reevaluation. The Modern Language Journal (Madison, Wl), 80, 3 (1996),350-61.

Two previous investigations into the validity of theInteragency Language Roundtable (ILR)/ American

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Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL) text typology concluded that the model

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