 |
 |
 | |||||
 | |||||||
 | |||||||
|
Volume 61, No. 2, December 2004 Editorial Articles Nazmia F. Bengeleil and T.
Sima Paribakht Jan Hulstijn Marysia Johnson Gerson Book and Software Reviews Joyce E. James (ed.). Grammar
in the Language Classroom: Changing Approaches and Practices Kimberlee Campbell. Échos: Cultural Discussions for Students of French critiqué par Denise Lussier Zoltán D örnyei. Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom reviewed by Alina MacFarlane DIALANG: A
Diagnostic Language Assessment System Calendar of Forthcoming Events A Guide for Authors Abstracts Susanne
Rott This investigation assessed whether L2 readers' sensitivity towards a new lexical form is heightened if they are repeatedly pushed to produce output and are immediately provided with relevant input in input-output cycles. In addition, the study sought to assess how these interventions influence text comprehension. Fourth-semester learners read three texts, with four target words each, under the following conditions: (a) cued-output task, (b) self-selected output task, and (c) un-enhanced (control) reading. Results showed that four input-output cycles did not contribute to retain more or more robust form-meaning connections (FMCs) than the normal reading condition. In all three conditions, FMCs varied in strength and completeness, requiring different cues for retrieval. The two input-output tasks affected text comprehension differently. The self-selected output task resulted in text comprehension similar to the un-enhanced reading; the cued-output task seemed to interfere with text comprehension. Daphnée
Simard This article reports on a study exploring the perceptions of French grade six students learning English as a second language (ESL) and their use of a diary. The participants (n = 54) came from two intact classes (Regular Group and Enriched Group). Once the students had used the diary for a two-month period, a questionnaire was administered. A pre-test and a post-test were used to observe the diary's effect on the subjects' metalinguistic abilities as well as on their acquisition of English as a second language. The answers revealed that although the majority of subjects enjoyed using the diary, a greater percentage of those who found the diary useful came from the Enriched group. The answers also revealed that the use of a diary had a positive effect on the students in the Enriched group in the acquisition of English as a second language. Results obtained on the tests proved this observation to be correct. Nazmia
F. Bengeleil and T. Sima Paribakht This article reports on an introspective study that examined the effect of EFL learners' L2 reading proficiency on their L2 lexical inferencing while reading an English expository text. The knowledge sources and contextual cues they used in the process, the level of success they achieved, and their rate of learning and retention of the inferred target words are examined. A taxonomy of the knowledge sources used by the participants of the study and illustrative examples are presented. The findings of the study are discussed in light of previous research, and some pedagogical implications are suggested. Laura
Collins This study investigated the relationship between L1 and the developmental sequences for the acquisition of temporal morphology that are predicted by the aspect hypothesis. The use of tense-aspect markers in 7,784 past contexts by 139 Japanese- and French-speaking ESL learners was analyzed. A repeated measures ANOVA supported the predictions of the aspect hypothesis. For both L1 groups, the marking of past spread from achievements and accomplishments (telics) through activities to statives, and the preferred non-past responses for statives and activities were present and progressive, respectively. The magnitude, rather than the direction, of the lexical aspect effect with achievements was the only significant L1 difference. The results lend support to the hypothesis that the influence of lexical aspect on the acquisition of grammatical morphology is a language learning universal. They are also consistent with research on other linguistic features in which selective influence of L1 on developmental sequences has been observed.
|
CMLR
HOME |
||||||
| |||||||
