Subject-Matter Content: How does it Assist the Interactional and Linguistic Needs of Classroom Language Learners?

This study focused on the role of subject-matter content in second language (L2) learning. It sought to identify ways in which teachers modified classroom interaction about subject-matter content in order to assist the input, feedback, and production needs of L2 learners, and to promote their attention to developmentally difficult relationships of L2 form and meaning that they had not fully acquired. Data were collected from 6 preacademic English L2 classes, whose content consisted of thematic units on film and literature. Each class was composed of 10-15 high intermediate English L2 students and their teachers. Analysis of the data focused on teacher-led discussions, because these were the predominant mode of interaction in each of the classes, and on form-meaning relationships encoded in noun and verb forms for purposes such as reference, retelling, argument, and speculation regarding film and literary content. Results of the study revealed numerous contexts in which the discussion interaction might have been modified for the kinds of input, feedback, or production that could draw students’ attention to developmentally difficult form-meaning relationships. However, there were relatively few instances in which this actually occurred. Instead, the teachers and students tended to exchange multiutterance texts, the comprehensibility of which provided little basis for modified interaction and attention to form and meaning

A Re-Examination of L\u3csub\u3e1\u3c/sub\u3e Interference and L\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e Complexity as Factors in Second Language Syllabus Design

A fundamental weakness shared by second language syllabi is that they have been based on their authors\u27 assumptions about language learning and have lacked an empirically supported, psycholinguistic grounding. The following article will review two major traditions in syllabus design which share this weakness. Underlying one tradition is the assumption that second language structures which are the most different from the learner\u27s L1 are also the most difficult to learn, and therefore should be given strongest emphasis in the syllabus. In the other tradition, it is assumed that there is a direct relationship between linguistic complexity and learning difficulty, and that the syllabus, therefore, should present target structures to the learner in an order of increasing linguistic complexity. This article will re-examine the assumptions underlying these two traditions in syllabus design in light of recent findings from second language acquisition research

Second Language Acquisition Research and Applied Linguistics

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of second language acquisition (SLA) research over the past several decades, and to highlight the ways in which it has retained its original applied and linguistic interests, and enhanced them by addressing questions about acquisition processes. As the paper will illustrate, SLA research has become increasingly bi-directional and multi-faceted in its applications. These many applications to and from the study of SLA reflect the robustness and vitality of the field