Language Learning Blogs

        Essays on second language teaching focuses on how the kinds of tasks performed by the learner relate to language output. "Choosing and Using Communication Tasks for Second Language Instruction"contains a taxonomy of communication task types, based on the concepts of goal and activity, particularly with reference to classroom pedagogy and learning theory. "Interlocutor and Task Familiarity: Effects on Inter actional Structure"  looks at the extent to which task participants' familiarity with each other and with task type affect the linguistic outcome. "Tasks and Inter language Performance: An SLA Research Perspective" (Patricia A. Duff) presents naturalistic research on an immigrant's second language acquisition, focusing on lexical variety and syntax (nominal reference and negotiation). In "Variation in Foreigner Talk Input: The Effects of Task and Proficiency" (Ian M. Short reed), the study is concerned with the effects of task complexity and learner proficiency on linguistic reduction and on communication and repair strategies. "Grammar and Task-Based Methodology" (Lester Loschky, Robert Bley-Vroman) argues that despite the communicative orientation of tasks in materials and curricula, there is a role for tasks in structurally-oriented second language teaching. (MSE)

   Second-Language Learning.

         This book summarizes a 12-year research program concerning foreign-language-learning aptitude and factors which influence academic achievement. Attention is centered on the matter of individual differences in skill with foreign languages, concentrating primarily on adolescents attempting to learn French or English. The studies carried out by researchers from  University and the University of Western Ontario give rise to a socio psychological theory of second- or foreign-language learning. In brief, the theory maintains that the successful learner of a second language must be prepared to adopt various aspects of another linguistic and cultural group. Research approaches are summarized and integrated while the separate research reports are appended with extensive supporting data. Students from Louisiana, Maine, Connecticut, and the Philippines were involved in the research. Subject and author indexes are provided. (RL)