Responds to VanPatten's update of the findings for processing instruction. Questions the explanatory adequacy of the model of input processing that VanPatten proposed and that underpins his pedagogic proposals. Questions the validity of the limited-capacity, single-resource model of attention proposed for second language learning. (Author/VWL)

Responds to comments made regarding an earlier article written by the author on processing instruction in second language learning. (Author/VWL)

Examines how babies exposed to two languages simultaneously acquire the meanings of words across their two languages. Particular focus was on whether babies know that they are acquiring different lexicons right from the start or whether early bilingual exposure causes them to be semantically confused. (Author/VWL)

Examines five factors that may impact the use of second language emotion vocabulary. Considers the impact of language proficiency, gender, and extroversion on the use of emotion words in the advanced French interlanguage of 29 native Dutch speakers, and examines influence of sociocultural competence, gender, and type of linguistic material on use…

Examined the effects of semantic and structural elaboration on second language lexical acquisition. English-speaking low-intermediate Spanish learners attempted to learn 24 new Spanish words in three conditions. Results provide evidence that increased semantic processing can inhibit the ability to encode the formal properties of new words.…

Uses a sociocultural framework to suggest task engagement as a viable construct in second language learning research. Examines second language learner data to identify task engagement as it emerges, unfolds in dialogic activity, and becomes associated with he transformation of task, self, and group. (Author/VWL)

This diary study focuses on the second language learning styles and strategies of the diarist/researcher in a naturalistic setting, utilizing categories from Oxford's (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning and the Style Analysis Survey. Analysis of diary entries indicates that the learners' learning style remained relatively constant…

Analyzes major assumptions underlying schema theory. Considers an alternative perspective, a construction-integration model of text comprehension, and discusses how this perspective, when applied to second language (L2) reading comprehension offers a different and more comprehensive account of the role of knowledge and knowledge-based processes…

In recent years, the Educational Testing System organisation has developed two models of the computer-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). However, the computerization of the test has shown a number of problems according to the testees' origin. This paper suggests some of these problems after conducting short interviews with four…

Examines a collaborative language learning project that brought together elementary and middle school students in France, Canada, and a Basque school to communicate about monsters--a topic of concern to any child who has heard a fairy tale or watched a Disney movie. The Internet is used as the medium of interaction, allowing more students to…

Discusses two recent innovations made available via the Internet that are useful to language educators: blogs and wikis. Blogs are on-line journals that offer opportunities for collaborative use. They are easily linked and cross-linked, thus creating larger on-line communities. Wikis feature a loosely structured set of pages, linked in multiple…

Develops a conceptual framework for understanding how intercultural communication, mediated by cultural artifacts, creates compelling, problematic, and surprising conditions for additional language learning. Three case studies of computer-mediated intercultural engagement draw together correlations between discursive orientation, communicative…

Presents a case study of the development of intercultural competence in a German-American e-mail partnership by examining the electronic interaction produced in this exchange within the framework of appraisal theory, a Hallidayan-inspired linguistic approach to the investigation of evaluative language. (VWL)

Reviews recent research on intercultural learning and reports on a yearlong e-mail exchange between Spanish and English second year university students. Identifies key characteristics of e-mail exchanges that helped to develop learners' intercultural communicative competence. Outlines elements of e-mail messages that may enable students to develop…

Analyzes negotiation of meaning and code switching in discourse between 29 language students from classes at a German and a North American university, who teamed up with their peers to collaborate on projects whose results hey had to present to the other groups in the MOO during the final weeks of the project. (VWL)