Three experiments investigated the relationship between memory for input andinductive learning of morphological rules relating to functional categories in a semiartificial formof Italian. A verbatim memory task was used as both the vehicle for presenting sentences and as acontinuous measure of memory performance. Experiments 2 and 3 introduced increasinglyexplicit manipulations of attention to form compared to Experiment 1. In all experiments therewere strong relationships between individual differences in memory for input as measured earlyin the experiment and eventual learning outcomes, and in Experiments 2 and 3 learningform-form (but not form-function) rules was related to vocabulary learning efficiency (taken as ameasure of phonological long-term memory ability). These relationships along with the lack ofan effect of feedback in Experiment 3 suggest that subjects tended to adopt a data-driven, asopposed to conceptually driven, mode of learning. However, the fact that the introduction ofhighlighting and vocabulary pretraining in Experiment 2 had a large impact on learning withoutimproving early memory is taken to suggest that knowledge of distributional rules does notsimply emerge out of memory encodings of the relevant forms but depends upon the appropriateallocation of attention over relationships between input elements at the time of encoding.

This paper explores the relationship between formulaic language and creativeconstruction in SLA by examining the production of interrogatives in an extensive naturalisticcorpus of L2 French produced by early classroom learners. The paper first analyzes theproduction and breakdown of such formulaic language over time, before exploring thedevelopment of more creative structures. The interaction between the two processes “rotelearning of formulas and creative construction” is then investigated. This interaction isshown to be a dynamic two-way process, with learners being driven forward in the developmentof their L2 system by their attempts to resolve the tension between structurally complex butcommunicatively rich formulas on the one hand, and structurally simple but communicativelyinadequate creative structures on the other hand.

Within both first andsecond language acquisition research, a critical or sensitive period for complete attainment haslargely been substantiated in phonological studies, although it is questionable whether age shouldbe examined in isolation from sociopsychological influences and the extent of exposure to thesecond language. This study sets out to challenge the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) byexamining phonological performance among highly motivated subjects who use German daily asgraduate student instructors and who have been immersed in the language through in-countryresidence, augmented by years of instruction in both language- and content-based courses. Themethodology developed seeks to expand the realm of factors that are potentially conflated withage, such as instruction, motivation, suprasegmental training, and self-perception of productiveaccuracy, and other factors that have not been addressed in previous studies on ultimateattainment. Production tasks target sounds difficult for nonnative speakers (NNSs) according tocontrastive analysis, and task types range in complexity from isolated words to sentences,paragraphs, and free speech. A mean rating was computed for each speaker, including nativespeaker controls, according to native speaker judgments. When averaged across all tasks,nonnative speaker performance did not overlap with native performance. However, severalvariables correlated significantly with outcome, including suprasegmental training, whichindicated performance closer to native level.

Previous research on the impact of pretaskplanning on interlanguage development (e.g., Crookes, 1989; Ellis, 1987; Foster & Skehan,1996) has focused solely on the linguistic quality of planned output, leaving the cognitive andattentional processes engaged during planning time unexplored. Drawing on recent research onfocus on form (Doughty & Williams, 1998a) and on retrospective methodologies used instrategy use research (e.g., O'Malley & Chamot, 1990), the study reported hereinvestigated whether planning opportunity results in an increased focus on form at the level ofstrategic attention to form during planning time, as well as at the level of production outcomesduring task performance. The results provide support for the claim that planning before doing anL2 task can promote an increased focus on form by providing space for the learner to devoteconscious attention during pretask planning to formal and systemic aspects of the languageneeded to accomplish a particular task.

Interaction and grammar is a valuable addition to the Cambridge “Studiesin Interactional Sociolinguistics” series. The book is a collection of papers that all, in oneway or another, and within the frameworks of linguistic anthropology, functional grammar, orconversation analysis, investigate the interface, or rather the essential interrelatedness, oflanguage and real-time social interaction. The value of the book for the L2 researcher orpractitioner is perhaps not direct; however, because much of L2 research focuses on interactionand draws its data from naturally occurring discourse, the indirect contribution is notable. Inparticular, the chapter by Fox, Hayashi, and Jasperson beautifully underscores those typologicaldifferences between English and Japanese that lead to different interactionalstrategies—an issue of direct relevance to L2 studies.

This multifaceted mosaic of vocabulary acquisition should be in every languageprofessional's library, nudging us to look beyond size of vocabulary and toward a betterunderstanding of what Meara (1996) has called its cognitive “organisation.”

This book, which is one of a series of papers from the University of Duisburg, is ajustification of the visual elements of a particular computer-assisted language learning programfor learning Dutch called EuroLex. About one third of the book is a description of the EuroLexprogram. Because of this, it suffers from the seemingly unavoidable problem that many accountsof CALL programs face, and that is the need for elaborate step-by-step description of theoperation of the program when five minutes working with the actual program would conveymore information more effectively.

A fattish edited volume on SLA based on a Dutch summer course held in 1991, the book isdivided into eight chapters, each containing between one and three contributions by experts invarious specialized areas. These chapters are headed as follows:

This book is a first attempt to bring together a collection of state-of-the-art studies of variouslines of research on language processing in Spanish, ranging from speech perception to sentenceproduction.

In this dissertation based on empirical studies conducted by the author and reprinted as aseries of articles in the text, Kuure studies the development of different types of bilingualism.The primary purpose of the studies is to determine the significance of age in the acquisition of asecond language. Evidence is also provided for describing the acquisition and use of languages invarious multicultural and multilingual settings. Data for the studies were obtained fromFinnish-Swedish bilingual students between the ages of 13 and 15 for whom Swedish was thesecond language.

Translating by factors (henceforth TBF) is an attempt at systematizingthe multiplicity of factors affecting the translation process, in particular those relevant to thetranslation of the modals between English and German. TBF is an example of theso-called linguistic approach to translation and an illustration of why such an approach has oftenbeen criticized by translation scholars and professionals. Although it is useful to linguisticsengaged in descriptive and contrastive studies of modals, the predominantly formal,sentence-based, contrastive-analysis approach embraced by the authors (who adopt, withoutdiscussion, formal equivalence as the goal to strive for in translation activity) will not be of asmuch use to those engaged in the teaching and practice of translation for purposes ofcommunication. This is especially true in light of mounting empirical evidence in the translationcompetence literature that supports functional considerations as a dominant factor in professionaltranslator processes.

The goals of this volume are: (a) to demonstrate that young children are sensitive toproperties of language structure (such as word order), (b) to detail a new method for studyingearly language comprehension, (c) to provide a novel theoretical framework for understandingearly syntactic development, and (d) to provide a clear and accessible account of languageacquisition. The authors succeed splendidly on all four counts.

Hickey's volume is a welcome addition to the already important body of literature onthe immersion experience. This comprehensive account of preschool immersion education inIreland provides interesting insights into areas not previously looked at. Although its focus is onIreland, its relevance is universal and it compares the Irish experience to similar ones in NewZealand, Catalonia, Canada, and Wales.

Methods for assessing children's syntax is an invaluable contribution to thestudy of child syntax. As the editors note in their preface, the volume has two major aims. First,it is designed in part to function as a how-to manual to aid students and researchers in theselection and use of methods for investigating children's linguistic performance andcompetence. Second, it is intended to serve as a valuable resource for the evaluation of researchin the area of child language acquisition. The volume, which includes contributions by some ofthe most prominent scholars in the field, succeeds admirably in fulfilling both of the abovegoals.

There are few in-depth studies that have attempted to explore the complex relationshipsamong second language proficiency, foreign language aptitude, and intelligence. Information onsuch studies is usually found only in unpublished dissertations or in greatly reduced form injournal articles. This text is a rare example of a full-length report of such a study. Based on datafrom 160 EFL students in Japan, the researcher employed an extensive array of analyticalprocedures relating performance on English language proficiency measures with performance ona three-part aptitude battery and an intelligence measure. The proficiency measures includedmultiple-choice tests of grammar, cohesion, vocabulary, listening, and reading using short andlong texts as well as a cloze and a free composition. The foreign language aptitude battery was aJapanese version of a test modeled after the short version of the Modern Language Aptitude Test.The measures of verbal intelligence and reasoning came from an existing Kyoto University testwith 12 subtests.

This is an excellent and stimulating book, if like me you have been disturbed at how littlematerial can be found relating the broader psychological processes of learning a second orforeign language to the field of psychology. Narrow cognitive or psycholinguistic treatments ofthe area are about all that is to be found, and even they are very few in number. (A very distantpredecessor of this book would be Steven McDonough's no longer viable Psychologyin foreign language teaching.)

In the article “The relationship between prior knowledge and topic interest in secondlanguage reading,” by Patricia L. Carrell and Teresa E. Wise (SSLA 20(3), September1998), the labels “Females” and “Males” should be reversed inFigure 1, page 298.