Discusses two questions: (1) What has the recent research conducted in French immersion programs in Canada contributed to understanding of second language acquisition?; and (2) What has it contributed to the broader field of applied linguistics? Considers research in the coming decade, and discusses obstacles that may be faced in Canada in…

Discusses how perspectives on the critical period hypothesis (CPH) have shifted over the last 20-20 years, because of the work of applied linguistics and other disciplines. Advises caution into translating CPH research into personal practice or public policy. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the relationship between the terms psycholinguistics and applied linguistics, and in the process explores key issues in multilingual processing, such as the structure of the bilingual lexicon, language choice in production and perception, and the language mode. (Author/VWL)

Offers a concluding summary to a special issue of the journal on applied linguistics as an emerging discipline. Raises concerns and discusses future directions. (Author/VWL)

Examines the role of figurative languages--specifically analogy and metaphor, reification and simile, personification and animation--in two introductory-level science texts. (Author/VWL)

Four classes of bilingual children from Grades 3 and 5, speakers of Spanish and Nahuatl, participated in a study of literacy development focused on interlinguistic transfer and the application of narrative schemata as seen in writing samples produced in both languages. Reports on a methodological approach seen to be effective in eliciting…

Focuses on a longitudinal study of young foreign language learners' acquisition of English adjectives. A series of tasks was developed to tap lexical relations between adjectives of emotion in order to study how a particular adjective, such as "thrilled," finds its place among other near-synonomous expressions in the subfield "happy." (Author/VWL)

Employs the Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) analytic framework to produce pictorial representations of lengthy Chinese and Australian news journal text. Results demonstrate the feasibility of using the RST framework in this type of analysis. (Author/VWL)

After discussing the different uses of the terms "competence,""proficiency," and "communicative language ability" in linguistic and applied language literature, the conclusion is that "competence" should be accepted in its Chomskyan formulation, whereas "communicative language ability" should be applied to speakers' ability to use language.…

Introduces the term "meta-pedagogical" and presents two case studies of English-as-a-foreign-language learners describing and evaluating their lessons, making the point that in the course of face-to-face interviews carried out over a 10-week period, these two individuals manifested a great deal of knowledge about teaching practice. (Author/VWL)

Drawing on a database of over 300 interactions collected in a range of New Zealand professional workplaces, this article identifies some potentially problematic areas for those who are expected to communicate in English at work when English is not their first language. Discussion focuses on small talk and social talk in the workplace. (Author/VWL)

Examined Grade 8 French immersion students use and accuracy of pronominal verbs within one of two tasks--jigsaw or dictogloss--while working in pairs. Two groups of students viewed a videotaped mini-lesson on pronominal verbs, while another two did not. Found that the mini-lesson had a significant impact on students' use of pronominal verbs in…

Sets out 11 principles that relate second language teaching to more general theoretical perspectives on teaching. (Author/VWL)

Reports on a study that found that both first-language summarizing skills and second language proficiency affect second language summarizing skills, with the exception of inclusion of main ideas and amount of distortion that are more affected by first language summarizing skills. (Author/VWL)

Demonstrates how multimedia tools can be combined with an enunciation based analysis of the French verb system in order to develop innovative ways of teaching the imparfait and passe compose. (Author/VWL)