Reports on an international test development project in which a revision team worked with experts in applied linguistics, and their varied opinions on language theory, test design and validation, and needs analyses, to identify the appropriate construct for the English Language Testing Service (ELTS) test. (52 references) (CB)

Examination of the ability of 300 German learners of English to state relevant rules and supply appropriate corrections to 12 common English errors indicates that, although rules do seem to help students correct errors, students could frequently supply appropriate corrections without knowing rules, which were sometimes difficult to learn. (41…

Investigation of the accuracy of novice learners of British Sign Language (BSL) and sign-naive subjects in recognizing possible and impossible BSL signs and in naming signs suggests that rated iconicity and the ability to process potentially meaningful gestures, determined recognition and naming accuracy. (19 references) (Author/CB)

An empirical study of the speech act of definition in science lectures found that definitions signposted the logical/discourse structure of the lecture, helped to maintain comprehension as discourse progressed, and were often clustered together in discourse. (14 references) (Author/CB)

A description is given of a model of the bilingual speaker. The model is based on Levelt's (1989) "speaking model," which sketches a framework in which a number of highly autonomous information processing components are postulated. (56 references) (JL)

This study proposes an alternative approach to research on the acquisition of sociocultural competence, focusing on a speech event rather than a speech act, and drawing on the concept of scripts as developed by cognitive psychologists. (51 references) (JL)

Reports on an analysis of the forms, strategies, and functions of complimenting in one genre of written discourse. It is argued that writers use complimenting discourse strategies to establish and maintain rapport and to mitigate both global and genre-specific face-threatening acts and that these social purposes help account for both their…

Properties of the maintenance and loss of Spanish/English bilingualism were investigated in 308 high-school students of Mexican background. Variables investigated included actual and self-reported proficiencies in Spanish and English, self-reported language choice behavior in various settings, and language attitude. (JL)

Discusses a study on the untutored acquisition of possessive constructions in Dutch by two Turkish and two Moroccan adults during the first three years of their stay in the Netherlands. The focus is on the order of the owner and the possession in possessive constructions. (28 references) (JL)

Twelve community translators provided verbal accounts of their strategies while completing translations of a short leaflet from English into one of seven community languages. They adopted approaches wholly oriented to the needs of a specific ethnic minority groups in British society, resulting in a markedly sociocultural translation model.…

Written apologies of deaf students were examined from data obtained from a discourse completion test. Results show that both word choice and word order give a routinized feel to the apologies, in part attributable to American Sign Language; and that strategy choices may reflect a culture-specific view of social offenses. (Contains 44 references.)…

Research is presented that investigates the amount of learner noticing produced by two types of grammar consciousness-raising treatments: teacher-fronted grammar lessons and interactive, grammar problem-solving tasks. Results indicate that task performance is as effective as formal instruction in promoting noticing. (Contains 33 references.)…

Twelve business telephone conversations were analyzed to determine intercultural differences between speakers of Finnish and speakers of American English. Intercultural differences were found in the use of nontopical elements, "how are you" sequences, and interruption behavior. (Contains 27 references.) (Author/LB)

Research results suggest that neural networks are able to generalize the past tense form from the base form and that phonological form plays a significant role in generalizing. This conclusion questions the scope and validity of learning models currently promoted in both first- and second-language learning theories. (Contains 29 references.)…

Philosophy may help to resolve fundamental problems in theories of second-language acquisition (SLA) theory construction. A well-known example is Chomsky's use of the philosophy and history of science in his own work. In SLA, presenting the case for attention to construction issues will help give momentum to the drive toward SLA theory. (Contains…