Although research shows that repetition increases second language vocabulary learning, only several studies have examined the long-term effects of increasing retrieval frequency in one learning session. With this in mind, the present study examined the effects of within-session repeated retrieval on vocabulary learning. The study is original in that it (a) gave posttests after a delay greater than 2 weeks, (b) employed a paired-associate format to exert strict control over the treatment, (c) considered time-on-task as a factor, and (d) used the same target items for different frequency levels. In this study, 98 Japanese learners studied 16 English-Japanese word pairs using one of the following four retrieval frequency levels: one, three, five, or seven. Results showed that five and seven retrievals contributed to significantly higher scores than one and three retrievals regardless of the posttest timing. When time-on-task was controlled, however, one retrieval led to the largest gain.

This article takes a social-theoretical view of the reality created by a foreign language in the classroom. It examines the interaction of teacher and learners in their various activities along a continuum that extends from instructional to natural discourse and is determined by the way participants present themselves to one another and negotiate turns-at-talk, topics, and repairs. Suggestions are made for broadening and diversifying the discourse options in the classroom to enrich the social context of the language learning experience.

This article adds to the growing body of research focused on second-language (L2) variation and constitutes the first large-scale study of the production of potentially variable grammatical structures in Spanish by English-speaking learners. The overarching goal of the project is to assess the range of forms used and the degree to which native and L2 speakers of Spanish differ in several independently defined syntactic or discourse-based contexts. The contexts examined in the current study have been the object of sociolinguistic research in monolingual environments and include the following: copula contrast, mood distinction, past-time reference, future-time reference, and subject expression. Interview data from 16 English-speaking learners and 16 native speakers of Spanish from a variety of countries, all of whom are part of a single speech community in the United States, are examined. The analysis focuses on the range of forms used in each of the contexts investigated and the frequency with which these forms appear. A possible relation of individual characteristics, such as country of origin, years of language study, and time spent abroad, to this frequency of use is also considered.

The title of this special issue, Gesture and SLA: Toward an Integrated Approach, stems in large part from the idea known as integrationism, principally set forth by Harris (2003, 2005), which posits that it is time to “demythologize” linguistics, moving away from the “orthodox exponents” that have idealized the notion of language. The integrationist approach intends a view that focuses on communication—that is, language in use, language as a “fact of life” (Harris, 2003, p. 50). Although not all gesture studies embrace an integrationist view—indeed, the field applies numerous theories across various disciplines—it is nonetheless true that to study gesture is to study what has traditionally been called paralinguistic modes of interaction, with the paralinguistic label given on the assumption that gesture is not part of the core meaning of what is rendered linguistically. However, arguably, most researchers within gesture studies would maintain just the opposite: The studies presented in this special issue reflect a view whereby gesture is regarded as a central aspect of language in use, integral to how we communicate (make meaning) both with each other and with ourselves.

In a visual world paradigm study, we manipulated gender congruence between a subject pronoun and two antecedents to investigate whether second language (L2) learners with a null subject first language (L1) acquire and process overt subject pronouns in a nonnull subject L2 in a nativelike way. We also investigated whether L2 speakers revise an initial interpretation assigned to an ambiguous pronoun when information in the visual context subsequently biased against it. Our results indicated both L1 English speakers and Greek L2 English speakers rapidly used gender information to guide pronoun resolution. Both groups also preferentially coindexed ambiguous pronouns to a sentence subject and current discourse topic, despite the fact that overt subject pronouns in the learners’ L1 index a topic shift. We also observed that L2 English speakers were less likely to revise their initial interpretation than L1 English speakers. These results indicate that L2 speakers from a null subject background can acquire the interpretive preferences of overt pronouns in a nonnull subject L2. The eye-movement data indicate that anaphora processing can become qualitatively similar in native and nonnative speakers in the domain of subject pronoun resolution, but indicate reanalysis may cause difficulty during L2 processing.

This study replicates, in the aural mode, Leow's (1993) study on the effects of simplification, type of linguistic item, and second/foreign language experience on learners' intake of linguistic items contained in written input. Aural simplified/unsimplified input with either the present perfect or present subjunctive form was made available to learners at two levels of language experience. Statistical analyses performed on the raw scores of a pre- and posttest multiple-choice recognition assessment task revealed significant main effects for type of linguistic item, language experience, and task and a significant interaction between language experience and task. While results corroborate those found in the written mode for the effects of simplification and language experience on adult learners' intake, the same did not hold true for type of linguistic item, underscoring the need for research to consider seriously the role of modality while addressing cognitive processes in SLA.

This paper provides a critical look at the use of mnemonic associations in vocabulary learning. The paper begins with a definition of mnemonic devices—that is, techniques for converting material to be learned into a form that makes it easier to learn and remember—and focuses on verbal and imagery mnemonics, whereby a word, a phrase, or a sentence and visual imagery serve as mediator between what is known and what is to be learned. Particular attention is given to the keyword approach, in which there is both an acoustic link between a native-language word and the second-language word, and an image of the keyword interacting with the native-language word or phrase. Contentions are discussed concerning both the learning of words through verbal and imagery mnemonics and their subsequent retrieval. Attention is also given to research issues in need of investigation.

This paper is based on ongoing research on a recent low-dose, late partial English immersion (IM) program in Germany. The evaluation compares English language outcomes of IM groups, groups from non-IM schools, and non-IM groups from the same school as the IM groups, at various points of their development. This paper focuses on whether English vocabulary learning occurs incidentally while students are learning history or geography, or both, taught in English and whether there is evidence to suggest that the learning abilities activated in the IM classroom are the same as those found in traditional foreign language teaching and in naturalistic (untutored) L2 acquisition. The data derive from a communicative group test. It is shown that some of the lexical items cannot have come from the textbook or from other kinds of teaching materials used during regular foreign language instruction in the program. This leaves the teacher's oral use of English as the most likely source. Several implications for L2 acquisition theory and teaching practice are discussed.

A remarkable example of Spanish-Italian contact is the Spanish variety spoken in Buenos Aires (Porteño), which is said to be prosodically “Italianized” due to migration-induced contact. The change in Porteño prosody has been interpreted as a result of transfer from the first language (L1) that occurred when Italian immigrants learned Spanish as a second language (L2; McMahon, 2004). This article aims to examine if and to what extent prosodic features that are typical of Italian show up in Porteño and in L2 Castilian Spanish produced by Italian native speakers. Specifically, we investigated speech rhythm and the realization of yes-no questions in Porteño and L2 Castilian Spanish in comparison to Italian and L1 Castilian Spanish. We hypothesized that Italian, Porteño, and L2 Castilian Spanish would exhibit similar rhythm patterns, showing high values for the percentage of vocalic material, the variation coefficient of vocalic intervals, and the speech-rate-normalized pairwise variability index for vowels as well as high frequencies of rising prenuclear accents, with the peak located at the end of the syllable (L+H*) and falling final contours in yes-no questions, in contrast to Castilian Spanish. The results confirm our predictions for speech rhythm but not entirely for the intonation of yes-no questions.

The study explores the psycholinguistic processes underlying L2 self-repair behavior by means of analyzing the timing of various types of self-corrections found in the speech of 30 Hungarian speakers of English at three levels of proficiency (pre-intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced). The paper discusses the relevance of timing data for the existing models of speech monitoring and examines how the level of proficiency of L2 learners affects the speed of error detection and the execution of correction. The results obtained indicate that the perceptual loop theory and the activation spreading theory of monitoring both rightly assume that monitoring involves the same mechanisms as speech comprehension. The analysis of the timing data reveals that corrections of pragmatically inappropriate lexical choice have detection times very similar to those of lexical errors. This may be regarded as indirect evidence for the claim that lexical entries in the mental lexicon also contain specifications concerning their pragmatic value. The results show that the level of proficiency of the participants affects the time necessary for the lexical, grammatical, and phonological encoding of the repair, which is caused by the difference in the degree of automaticity of these mechanisms at various stages of L2 development.

Topical structure analysis (TSA), a text-based approach to the study of topic in discourse, has been useful in identifying text-based features of coherence. It has also been used to distinguish between essays written by groups of native English speakers with varying degrees of writing proficiency (Witte, 1983a, 1983b). More recently, TSA has distinguished between higher and lower rated ESL essays, but with different results from those found with native speakers of English (Connor & Schneider, 1988). The present study replicated the previous ESL study of two groups of essays written for the TOEFL Test of Written English with three groups of essays. Findings indicate that two topical structure variables, proportions of sequential and parallel topics in the essays, differentiate the highest rated group from the two lower rated groups. We offer explanations for the results and propose that all occurrences of a particular type of topic progression do not contribute equally to the coherence of a text.

Perhaps we are no worse than any other, but I think our field must soon be known for the incredible leaps in logic we make in applying our research findings to classroom teaching. When contrasts drawn between first and second languages showed differences and those differences seemed to match errors our students made in the classroom, we leapt to say that Contrastive Analysis alone should form the basis of the language teaching curriculum. When a so-called invariant order of acquisition of morphemes was found, we made two leaps in logic––one to say that this was the best evidence of a creative language acquisition process and a second to say that this research shows that learners should just be exposed to, rather than taught, the language. When we found traits shared by good language learners, we suggested that the curriculum should be altered to make sure everyone does what good learners do. We have looked at conversational analysis and declared that teaching materials should reflect true conversational data. No matter what the finding, we have taught ourselves to ask ‘What -does this mean for the classroom teacher?’ and made suggestions without careful thought. There is hardly a publisher or a political group that won't find (or hasn't already found) something in all these leaps of logic to call giant strides. It shouldn't be hard to find the basis to sell almost any program to almost everyone on the strength of someone's research findings.

Ellis (2005) and his coresearchers developed a number of tests with a view to providing relatively separate measures of explicit and implicit knowledge. The aim in the development of these tests was to resolve a continuing problem in SLA studies—namely the construct validity of tests used to measure acquisition—and, more specifically, to provide a basis for investigating the relationship between implicit and explicit knowledge (i.e., the strong interface, the weak interface, and the noninterface positions).

This study investigates whether gestures can be used during recasts to enhance the saliency of a target structure (locative prepositions) and to lead to better production of the target structure. Forty-eight low-intermediate English as a second language (ESL) students partook in communicative activities during which they received either no feedback (control), verbal recasts only (R), or recasts plus gesture (RG), and a subset of participants completed a stimulated recall session. Then the pretest, immediate, and delayed posttest scores of grammar and oral production tests were used to analyze the linguistic development. The results showed that no one commented on recasts or locative prepositions during the stimulated recall session and that there were no significant changes in grammar test scores in all conditions; however, the R and RG conditions performed significantly better in the production test than the control in the immediate posttest. Furthermore, the RG condition maintained the development in the delayed posttest, whereas the R condition did not.

This study considers the role of instruction, second language (L2) input, first language (L1) transfer, and Universal Grammar (UG) in the development of L2 morphosyntactic knowledge. Specifically, it investigates the acquisition of the Spanish morpheme se by English-speaking adult learners. Participants included 91 university students and 30 Spanish native-speaker controls. Learners received form-focused, communicative instruction on se for one week and were tested before, immediately following, and 24 days after the treatment period. Assessment consisted of a grammaticality judgment task and two production tasks using se in a variety of verb classes. The results showed that se had been added to many learners' grammars, but also that L1-derived forms and overgeneralization errors had not been completely preempted. These findings are taken as evidence that the development of L2 grammars is affected by a number of independent, yet cooperating, knowledge sources, which thus supports a modular account of L2 acquisition.

The paper examines the influence of the formal classroom as a learning environment on the discourse behaviour of advanced German students of English in conversations with English native speakers. It is proposed that FL teaching as a causal factor in the formation of IL-specific rules can operate either directly, in presenting the learner with FL material which deviates from target norms, or indirectly, by triggering off psycholinguistic processes which in turn lead to IL-specific rule formation. These are referred to as primary and secondary teaching induction, respectively. On a more concrete level, the impact of two constituents of FL teaching on IL discourse is discussed:

(1) the textbook and other teaching materials;

(2) classroom specific discourse norms.

The influence of the first factor type manifests itself primarily in (a) the use of an inappropriately formal register, (b) an inappropriate use of modal verbs. The second factor type is found to result in (a) rising intonation with non-interrogative function, (b) inappropriate propositional explicitness of speech act realizations and discourse functions, (c) “complete sentence” responses, (d) a lack of marking for expressive and relational functions (“speech act modality”).

In conclusion of the data analysis, a classroom specific pidgin will be hypothesized which, when transferred to non-classroom settings, leads to pragmatically inappropriate communicative behaviour.

On a more general level, it will be postulated that second language acquisition hypotheses should be formulated with reference to specific types of acquisition/learning contexts.

This study compares patterns of consonant-to-consonant timing at word boundaries in English and Russian and investigates the roles of transfer and the emergence of linguistic universals in second language (L2) articulation. Native Russian speakers learning English and native English speakers learning Russian produced phrases in English and Russian contrasting VC#CV, VC#V, and V#CV sequences. The duration of all stop closures was measured as well as the percentage of consonant sequences in which the first consonant was audibly released. In their native language (L1), Russian speakers had a higher percentage of released final consonants than did English speakers in their L1 as well as a higher ratio of sequence-to-singleton duration. Examination of the timing patterns across different clusters revealed different articulatory strategies for the two languages. The native Russian pattern transferred to L2 English, but the native English pattern did not transfer to L2 Russian. Evidence was found for both articulatory transfer and the emergence of a default pattern of articulation, characteristic of neither L1 nor L2.

Recent research considers native reactions to various aspects of non-native speech and associated judgments regarding such speakers. The studies discussed here view listeners, speakers, and language from a variety of perspectives employing both objective and subjective research paradigms. Interlocutor variables which have been found to influence linguistic perceptions include age, social status, degree of bilingualism, and educational level. Even the linguistic sophistication of the listener may be important.

Studies of error gravity, which treat the perceived seriousness of error types in learners' interlanguage, may now be contrasted with data from several related and unrelated languages. The relative intelligibility of language samples has also been investigated as has the role of comprehension in the information of linguistic judgments.

Research reflecting listeners' personal impressions and reactions shows that non-natives tend to be downgraded in contexts ranging from the classroom to the workplace. This area of experimentation would be enhanced by exploration of the issues through studies in natural sociolinguistic contexts.

Implicit negative feedback has been shown to facilitate SLA, and the extent to which such feedback is given is related to a variety of task and interlocutor variables. The background of a native speaker (NS), in terms of amount of experience in interactions with nonnative speakers (NNSs), has been shown to affect the quantity of implicit negative feedback (namely recasts) in a classroom setting. This study examines the effect of experience and uses stimulated recall to attempt to understand the interactional patterns of two groups of NSs (with greater and lesser experience) interacting with second language (L2) learners outside of the classroom context. Two groups of NSs of English each completed an information exchange task with a L2 learner: The first group consisted of 11 preservice teachers with minimal experience with NNSs, whereas the second group included 8 experienced teachers with significant teaching experience. Immediately after the task, each NS participated in a stimulated recall, viewing a videotape of the interaction and commenting on the interaction. The quantitative results did not show a strong difference in the number of recasts used by the two groups, but it did show a difference in the quantity of NNS output between the two groups. This finding was corroborated by the stimulated recalls, which showed that those with experience—who clearly saw themselves as language teachers even outside of the classroom—had strategies for and concerns about getting the learners to produce output. Additionally, the experienced teachers showed greater recognition of student comprehension, student learning, and student problems. Those with little experience were more focused on themselves, on student feelings, and on procedural and task-related issues.

Although there is consistent evidence that higher levels of processing, such as learning the form-meaning associations specific to the second language (L2), are a source of difficulty in acquiring L2 speech, no study has addressed how these levels interact in shaping L2 perception and production of intonation. We examine the hypothesis of whether access to contextual meaning increases the chances of first language (L1) influence on L2 intonation. To test this hypothesis, we compared the perception and production of sentential English focus by 27 advanced English language learners (n = 13 L1 Mandarin speakers; n = 14 L1 Spanish speakers) and 13 controls, through a series of tasks that promoted different levels of access to meaning. Results showed that L1 transfer was especially clear in Spanish speakers. Not only did they consistently differ from controls in their perception of focalized verbs and subjects, showing their L1 bias to perceive focus at the end of a sentence, but they were also the only group of speakers that inserted pauses after the focalized word, which showed strong L1 effects. Moreover, these L1 transfer effects were more obvious in contextualized tasks, which indicated that facilitating access to meaning by adding context increased L1 transfer effects on the perception and especially on the production of focus intonation.