Showing papers in "Studies in Second Language Acquisition in 2000"

The Robustness of Critical Period Effects in Second Language Acquisition.

Abstract: This study was designed to test the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis (Bley-Vroman, 1988), which states that, whereas children are known to learn language almost completely through (implicit) domain-specific mechanisms, adults have largely lost the ability to learn a language without reflecting on its structure and have to use alternative mechanisms, drawing especially on their problem-solving capacities, to learn a second language. The hypothesis implies that only adults with a high level of verbal analytical ability will reach near-native competence in their second language, but that this ability will not be a significant predictor of success for childhood second language acquisition. A study with 57 adult Hungarian-speaking immigrants confirmed the hypothesis in the sense that very few adult immigrants scored within the range of child arrivals on a grammaticality judgment test, and that the few who did had high levels of verbal analytical ability; this ability was not a significant predictor for childhood arrivals. This study replicates the findings of Johnson and Newport (1989) and provides an explanation for the apparent exceptions in their study. These findings lead to a reconceptualization of the Critical Period Hypothesis: If the scope of this hypothesis is limited to implicit learning mechanisms, then it appears that there may be no exceptions to the age effects that the hypothesis seeks to explain.

How do learners perceive interactional feedback

Abstract: Theoretical claims about the benefits of conversational interaction have been made by Gass (1997), Long (1996), Pica (1994), and others. The Interaction Hypothesis suggests that negotiated interaction can facilitate SLA and that one reason for this could be that, during interaction, learners may receive feedback on their utterances. An interesting issue, which has challenged interactional research, concerns how learners perceive feedback and whether their perceptions affect their subsequent L2 development. The present research addresses the first of these issues–learners' perceptions about interactional feedback. The study, involving 10 learners of English as a second language and 7 learners of Italian as a foreign language, explores learners' perceptions about feedback provided to them through task-based dyadic interaction. Learners received feedback focused on a range of morphosyntactic, lexical, and phonological forms. After completing the tasks, learners watched videotapes of their previous interactions and were asked to introspect about their thoughts at the time the original interactions were in progress. The results showed that learners were relatively accurate in their perceptions about lexical, semantic, and phonological feedback. However, morphosyntactic feedback was generally not perceived as such. Furthermore, the nature as well as the content of the feedback may have affected learners' perceptions.

An exploratory cross-sectional study of interlanguage pragmatic development

Abstract: This paper reports the results of an exploratory cross-sectional study of pragmatic development among three groups of primary school students in Hong Kong who completed a cartoon oral production task (COPT) designed to elicit requests, apologies, and compliment responses. The first two of these speech acts are among the most well represented in the pragmatics literature and are also included in the Hong Kong English language syllabus for primary schools. The latter has also been studied extensively but is not part of the syllabus. Data was collected in Cantonese using the same instrument. Although a number of developmental patterns are revealed—particularly in choice of request strategy, frequency of supportive moves, and use of adjuncts with apologies and compliment responses—there is little evidence of sensitivity to situational variation or pragmatic transfer from Cantonese. This study adds to the small, but growing, body of research on pragmatic development in a second language.

A STUDY OF THE ROLE OF AWARENESS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE BEHAVIOR Aware versus Unaware Learners

Abstract: This study is a quantitative and qualitative investigation of the effects of awareness, or the lack thereof, on 32 adult second or foreign language (L2) learners' subsequent intake and written production of targeted Spanish morphological forms. Think-aloud protocol data, gathered while learners completed a problem-solving task (a crossword puzzle) and postexposure assessment tasks (a multiple-choice recognition task and a written production task), were used to measure awareness or the lack thereof, and morphological learning was assessed by learners' performances on the two postexposure tasks. From a theoretical perspective, no dissociation between awareness and further processing of targeted forms was found in this study, the results of which are compatible with the claim that awareness plays a crucial role in subsequent processing of L2 data (e.g., Robinson, 1995; Schmidt, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995). From a methodological perspective, the data collection procedure clearly underscores the need for studies that investigate the roles of attention and awareness in second language acquisition (SLA) to gather as much data as possible from different sources that reveal participants' internal processes. By attempting to ascertain what learners really attend to or are aware of, or both, while exposed to or interacting with L2 data, such information can also address the methodological issue of how representative learners' performances in experimental groups really are in studies conducted under an attentional framework in SLA.

Morphological type, spatial reference, and language transfer

Abstract: This study clarifies issues related to the transferability of bound morphology and reports on an empirical investigation of morphological transfer in the spatial expressions of Finnish-speaking (n= 140) and Swedish-speaking (n= 70) adolescent learners of English. The results indicate that both the bound, agglutinative morphology of the L1 Finnish spatial system and the free, prepositional morphology of the L1 Swedish spatial system constrain the types of options that learners pursue in their L2 English spatial reference. Additionally, however, the structural and semantic differences between the two L1 systems result in different patterns of spatial reference in the L2. We characterize these differences in terms of semantic transfer and simplification, and go on to show how transfer and simplification interact in our data.

GESTURE AS A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY IN SECOND LANGUAGE DISCOURSE: A STUDY OF LEARNERS OF FRENCH AND SWEDISH.Marianne Gullberg. Lund, Sweden: Lund University Press, 1998. Pp. 253.

Abstract: Nonverbal behavior has received little serious attention among second language acquisition researchers until now. Its importance is acknowledged with token attention in communicative competence frameworks and taxonomies of communication strategies, but empirical studies are few and far between. Marianne Gullberg's study of second language learners' use of gesture as a communication strategy is a welcome attempt to fill this gap.

The Relevance of Information Organization to Second Language Acquisition Studies. The Descriptive Discourse of Advanced Adult Learners of German.

Abstract: The present cross-linguistic study deals with the relevance of principles of information organization in adult second language acquisition. It looks at typological features of information structure that allow speakers to organize and shape the flow of information when carrying out complex tasks, such as giving a description, and pinpoints factors that lead to the selection of linguistic form. At the focus of our attention are means used in reference introduction, such as existential and locational constructions, the morphosyntactic forms of expressions applied in reference maintenance, and word order. The cross-linguistic comparison shows that the options found in the expression of these functions in German, English, and Romance languages (French, Italian, and Spanish) follow distinct patterns in that the linguistic means used reflect unifying principles of a typological nature. These principles are perspective driven and are associated with patterns of grammaticization. Structures in language that reflect core principles in information organization may be difficult to acquire because learners have to recognize clusters of form-function relations that range over different domains. The nature of the analyses required is described for learners of German with English and Spanish as their source languages. The interlanguages (ILs) of these speakers show a high degree of compatibility with German in formal syntactic terms and are near native in many respects, but the levels at which the IL and target language diverge can be linked to fundamental principles of organization underlying information structure. Although the stage of acquisition is advanced, the languages still retain core principles in information structure typical of those found for English and Romance languages.

Overpassivization errors by second language learners

Abstract: This study investigates whether conceptualizable agents in the discourse play a role in English L2 overpassivization errors (nontargetlike passivization of unaccusative verbs, a subclass of intransitives). It hypothesizes that learners are more likely to make overpassivization errors in externally caused events (in which an agent or cause may form part of the speaker's mental representation) than in internally caused events (in which the cause or causer of the event is not clear). Advanced Chinese learners of English were asked to choose the more grammatical form (active or passive) in target sentences with unaccusative verbs. Each target sentence was embedded in two different contexts expressing external and internal causation. A significant difference in error rates was found between the two different contexts: Learners accepted passivized unaccusative verbs more frequently when an agent or cause was available than when it was not. This finding is taken as an indication that learners transitivize unaccusative verbs before they passivize them and that the degree of transitivization varies depending on the presence of conceptualizable agents in the discourse. Thus this paper argues against a purely syntactic analysis of interlanguage errors such as overpassivization and in favor of an approach that takes cognitive factors into account.

TRANSITIVITY ALTERNATIONS IN L2 ACQUISITION Toward a Modular View of Transfer

Abstract: This experimental study on English, Spanish, and Turkish as second languages investigates the interaction of universal principles and L1 knowledge in interlanguage grammars by focusing on verbs that participate in the causative/inchoative alternation (such as break in English). These verbs have the same lexico-semantic composition, but differ crosslinguistically as to how they encode the alternation morphologically. Results of a picture judgment task show that, as in L1 acquisition, L2 learners of Turkish, Spanish, and English with different L1s rely on a universal mechanism when learning transitivity alternations. L1 influence plays a prominent role in the morphological realization of the alternation. These findings suggest that UG and L1 knowledge may not affect all linguistic domains in the same way at a given stage of development. It is proposed that transfer is subject to modularity in interlanguage grammars.

FORM-MEANING CONNECTIONS AND THE FRENCH CAUSATIVE: An Experiment in Processing Instruction

Abstract: This study examines the generalizability of VanPatten and Cadierno (1993b) by investigating the relative effect of two types of explicit grammar instruction on learners' ability to interpret and produce sentences containing the French causative. Nine classes of 179 fourth-semester French students were assigned to three groups: (a) processing instruction, (b) traditional instruction, and (c) no instruction. The results indicate that processing instruction is as effective as traditional instruction in enabling learners to interpret the French causative and that traditional instruction is more effective in enabling learners to produce the French causative.

The timing of self-repairs in second language speech production

Abstract: 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, upperintermediate, 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.

TALKING AND TESTING: DISCOURSE APPROACHES TO THE ASSESSMENT OF ORAL PROFICIENCY.Richard Young and Agnes Weiyun He (Eds.). Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1998. Pp. x + 395. NLG 138 cloth.

Abstract: The goal of this volume is to provide a rich, interdisciplinary foundation of empirical studies describing the discourse of Language Proficiency Interviews (LPIs), focusing on “interactional competence.” The studies not only show how difficult it is to validly assess oral proficiency; they also show that discourse analysis of LPIs—as the editors point out—is very much in its infancy. Most of these studies face research design challenges (e.g., small sample size, sample comparability, coding reliability, or a combination of these), yet they illustrate the potential contributions of various (mostly qualitative) discourse analytic approaches to an understanding and assessment of oral proficiency.

The Interaction of Instruction and Learner-Internal Factors in the Acquisition of L2 Morphosyntax

Abstract: 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.

Transferability and Productivity of L1 Rules in Catalan-English Interlanguage

Abstract: This paper examines the interference of L1 neutralization rules in the acquisition of a marked L2 phonological feature. More specifically, it presents results from a study of the acquisition of the voicing contrast in English word-final obstruents by native speakers of Catalan. The voicing contrast in final position in Catalan is neutralized by voicing or devoicing rules, depending on the environment. The results of an experiment testing the production of target final obstruents in different environments indicate a very high incidence of devoicing, which confirms the prevalence of final devoicing in second language acquisition and points to the joint effect of transfer and universal tendencies. In contrast with devoicing, the results reveal a more limited effect of the L1 voicing rules. It is argued that this difference is due to an effect of word integrity in the interlanguage that restricts the domain of application of the transferred rules.

The acquisition of topic marking in l1 chinese and l1 and l2 french

Abstract: This paper focuses on the acquisition of linguistic devices used for discourse cohesion in Chinese and French. Particular attention is paid to how two types of learners (child L1 [Chinese, French] and adult L2 [Chinese learning French]) acquire the linguistic means for marking topics, in particular French dislocation,and its discourse-pragmatic functions. Data consist of narratives based on picture sequences, produced in absence of mutual knowledge. Previous studies in L2 acquisition have shown that, at early stages, adult learners' utterances and texts are organized along semantic and pragmatic principles, rather than along structural ones. These principles play a preponderant role in Chinese as well. French shares this tendency with Chinese, insofar as particular utterance patterns—dislocations—mark topic and antitopic. Results show that French children have to acquire the discourse functions related to dislocations. Postbasic-variety adult learners readily use French dislocations to mark—appropriately—a variety of discourse-pragmatic functions. However, the adult learners quite often use forms that deviate from the dislocated form found in target language French. This is all the more interesting because the chosen forms, though not usable without a certain context in standard French, do occur in colloquial French and are clearly functionally related to the target forms.

THE POWER OF BABEL: TEACHING AND LEARNING IN MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS. Viv Edwards . Stoke-on-Trent, UK: Trentham Books, 1998. Pp. 88. £11.95 paper.

Abstract: As a result of large-scale migrations from the less developed to the more developed countries, the multilingual, multicultural school is becoming a reality, not only in cities with traditionally large immigrant populations such as New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto, but throughout North America and Western Europe. Indeed, the 1990 U.S. Census shows that one in every seven children between the ages of 5 and 17 comes from a home where a language other than English is spoken. These major demographic changes have left many teachers and other school personnel unprepared to deal with the new realities of the multilingual, multicultural classroom. Edwards' brief volume is directed to mainstream classroom teachers who, if current trends continue as expected, will spend much of their careers in even more linguistically and culturally diverse schools than exist currently. Edwards' intent is to counter widespread myths about second language learning and bilingualism, and to assist teachers maximizing the rich educational resource that the multicultural, multilingual school represents.

Negative Items and Negation Strategies in Nonnative Italian

Abstract: Acquisition of negation in Italian as a second language (L2) is investigated on the basis of the longitudinal data of five learners with different first languages (L1s) in the framework of a functional approach focusing on the semantic and pragmatic principles governing the organization of learner varieties and the process of their complexification. Negation develops in a cumulative process in four successive stages. New constructions entering into interlanguage (IL) at each stage effect reduction in frequency of use of previous constructions that specialize for special functions, such as constituent negation. The acquisition process provides insight into some of the mechanisms involved in the processing and filtering of grammatical elements from the input and into strategies employed by the learners to integrate the expression of the scope of negation into the syntactic organization of their variety. The results contribute to a better understanding of the acquisition processes of negation in L2s, allowing the comparison of the development of a relatively straightforward target with an invariable preverbal particle, Italian, with the better investigated development of the complexpatterns of English and German.

Introduction: Organizing Principles of Learner Varieties

Abstract: This special issue presents results from comparative research into the principles constraining learner varieties (interlanguages) in use. The contributors analyze the oral production of complex verbal tasks (descriptions, instructions, narratives, retellings) in L2 Dutch, English, French, German, and Italian, concentrating on the way information from different semantic domains is organized across utterances (referential movement) and on a major aspect of the interaction between utterance-level and discourse-level constraints, namely, scope phenomena. We hope the results presented here will provide insights into the structural and communicative factors pushing, or hampering, L2 acquisition and will further our understanding of how the organizing principles interact at different levels of discourse production, be it in L1 or L2.

WHAT'S IN A WORD? VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT IN MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS. Norah McWilliam . Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham Books, 1998. Pp. xiii + 192. £14.95 paper.

Abstract: This book is intended for teachers of children whose first language is not English and who are in mainstream classes in an English-speaking country. It has a strong orientation toward Great Britain.

The scope of additive particles in basic learner languages

Abstract: Based on their longitudinal analysis of the acquisition of Dutch, English, French, and German, Klein and Perdue (1997) described a “basic learner variety” as valid cross-linguistically and comprising a limited number of shared syntactic patterns interacting with two types of constraints: (a) semantic—the NP whose referent has highest control comes first, and (b) pragmatic—the focus expression is in final position. These authors hypothesized that “the topic-focus structure also plays an important role in some other respects. . . . Thus, negation and (other) scope particles occur at the topic-focus boundary” (p. 318). This poses the problem of the interaction between the core organizational principles of the basic variety and optional items such as negative particles and scope particles, which semantically affect the whole or part of the utterance in which they occur. In this article, we test the validity of these authors' hypothesis for the acquisition of the additive scope particle also (and its translation equivalents). Our analysis is based on the European Science Foundation (ESF) data originally used to define the basic variety, but we also included some more advanced learner data from the same database. In doing so, we refer to the analyses of Dimroth and Klein (1996), which concern the interaction between scope particles and the part of the utterance they affect, and we make a distinction between maximal scope—that which is potentially affected by the particle—and the actual scope of a particle in relation to an utterance in a given discourse context.

LITERACY DEVELOPMENT IN A MULTILINGUAL CONTEXT: CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES. Aydin Durgunoglu and Ludo Verhoeven (Eds.) . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1998. Pp. xviii + 308. $29.95 paper.

Abstract: Simultaneously theoretical and data-rich, this volume explores ways in which ethnic minorities grapple with conflicts related to the literacy practices of their home culture as well as those practices demanded by the dominant culture. Truly multicultural in nature, the book offers in-depth glimpses into a variety of teaching and learning contexts: how young Gujarati teenagers in England learn Gujarati (chapter 3), how Hmong parents wish their children to retain fluency in Khmer while also insisting that they attend “English only” schools (chapter 4), how Finns in Sweden and Karelias in Russia grapple with the literacy demands of the majority culture (chapter 1), how “usefulness” becomes the most crucial variable in determining the language of schooling in bi- and multilingual contexts (chapter 2), and how Vietnamese people wrestle with learning their mother tongue in Norway (chapter 8).

GENERATION 1.5 MEETS COLLEGE COMPOSITION: ISSUES IN THE TEACHING OF WRITING TO U.S.-EDUCATED LEARNERS OF ESL. Linda Harklau, Kay M. Losey, and Meryl Siegal (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1999. Pp. v + 245. 24.50 paper.

Abstract: For the last decade, college campuses across the United States have witnessed an influx of U.S.-educated nonnative speakers of English. Many of these students come to postsecondary institutions with almost nativelike communicative competence yet marginal literacy skills. This mismatch in proficiency has proved to be a daunting challenge to ESL and composition faculty. Furthermore, few researchers have examined the linguistic needs of this population, creating a gap in our knowledge of how best to intervene with these students. Generation 1.5 Meets College Composition: Issues in the Teaching of Writing to U.S.-Educated Learners of ESLis one of the first attempts to fill that void. This noteworthy volume brings together the current research on U.S.-educated learners of ESL, or Generation 1.5, a reference to U.S.-educated immigrant students who are caught somewhere between the cultural and linguistic experiences of the first and second generations.

Modality and Referential Movement in Instructional Discourse: Comparing the Production of Italian Learners of German with Native German and Native Italian Production.

Abstract: This paper describes the process of acquisition in learner varieties with respect to reference and referential movement in the domain of modality. The findings are based on data from the longitudinal ESF and P-MoLL projects and on cross-sectional data of Italian learners of German, as well as German and Italian native speech. The theoretical framework is provided by Klein and von Stutterheim's (e.g., 1987) “quaestio model” and their concept of referential movement. The concept of modality is based on Dietrich's (1992) theory of modality. The present findings show that, in instructional discourse, the German native speakers prefer implicit, contextual-based modal means when referring to maintained topic information in the domain of modality, whereas in the learner varieties at least three main stages can be observed: a phase of formulaic speech and pragmatic mode, a phase of high explicitness, and a phase of approach toward implicit reference based on (target) principles of referential movement. With the help of a new category—subquaestio—I show how, with respect to the change of modal means, the use of explicit modal marking in German native speech generally arises from specific local difficulties. In contrast, the use of explicit modal reference in learner varieties remains to a large extent unaffected by whether the modal marking depends on the overall text quaestio or on local problems.

THE CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. VOL. 5: EXPANDING THE CONTEXTS. Dan Isaac Slobin (Ed.) . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1997. Pp. xiii + 339. $89.95 cloth.

Abstract: This is the fifth volume in a renowned series edited by Dan Slobin, focusing on cross-linguistic studies of children acquiring their first language. The series is seminal for its focus on languages other than English and for addressing the astonishing diversity and complexity of the language acquisition task. Slobin notes that, in contrast to Chomskyan models that consider core grammar to be the main topic of interest, the series was conceived with the notion of showing “how much fruit there is beyond the core” (p. 14). The goal of Volume 5 is to explore themes that were relatively backgrounded in the others. Specifically, these themes include: typological analysis, semantic systems, phonology and prosody, individual differences, and diachronic processes.

FOCUS ON FORM IN CLASSROOM SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. Catherine Doughty and Jessica Williams (Eds.) . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xiv + 301. $64.95 cloth, $22.95 paper.

Abstract: This volume contains 10 original chapters reflecting research and discussion on the issue of focus on form (FonF) in second language instruction. As the editors point out in the preface, it is timely now to discuss and clarify terminology and research issues in FonF studies, mainly because of the diversity of reactions to this construct. The central aim of the chapters is to explore the nature and feasibility of FonF and their intended audience is second language acquisition (SLA) researchers and language teaching practitioners, as well as graduate students in the field of applied linguistics.

STANDARDS AND VARIATION IN URBAN SPEECH: EXAMPLES FROM LOWLAND SCOTS . Ronald K. S. Macaulay . Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1997. Pp. x + 202. $64.00 cloth.

Abstract: This book, which focuses on the Lowland Scots variety of English spoken in Glasgow, is a welcome addition to the John Benjamins series “Varieties of English Around the World.” Macaulay brings together work based on data collected in three decades—the '70s, '80s, and '90s. The 12 chapters thus represent several strands of research, all centered on the basic theme of language standards and variation. Macaulay argues that the “view of the inherent superiority of standardized varieties is misleading and that allvarieties of language persist because they are functional for their speakers” (p. 5).

Asymmetries in Universal Grammar: The Role of Method and Statistics.

Abstract: Felix (1988) claimed to demonstrate that UG-based knowledge of grammaticality causes nonnative speakers (NNSs) to have more accurate grammaticality judgments on sentences that are ungrammatical according to UG than on those that are grammatical. Birdsong (1994) criticized the methodology employed, noting that it ignores “response bias” (a propensity to judge sentences as ungrammatical) as a potential explanation. Felix and Zobl (1994) dismissed this criticism as merely methodological. In this paper, Birdsong's criticism is upheld by considering a statistical model of the data. At the same time, a more complete logistic regression model allows a fuller statistical analysis, revealing tentative support for the asymmetry claim, as well as differential learning states for different constructions and a tendency toward transfer avoidance. These theoretically significant effects were unnoticed in the earlier discussion of this research. For SLA research on grammaticality judgments to proceed fruitfully, appropriate statistical models need to be considered in designing the research.

HOW LANGUAGE COMES TO CHILDREN: FROM BIRTH TO TWO YEARS. Bénédicte de Boysson-Bardies (translated by Malcolm DeBevoise). Cambridge, MA: A Brafford Book, The NET Press, 1999. Pp. xiv + 274. $27.50 paper.

Abstract: The focus of this book is the very early stages of language acquisition, with (an inevitable) particular focus on phonological and lexical development. As such, it might have been better if enfantsin the original title had been translated as “infants,” because the main title might mislead one into thinking that the book would illuminate a longer developmental path than it actually does. That said, there is much in this volume that might interest a second language researcher interested in second language phonology and lexis who would like to be reminded of what the human animal does under the natural circumstances of first language acquisition. It presents a particularly clear picture of the sensitivities of infants to human sounds, as well as a detailed account of how those sensitivities become tuned to particular language characteristics very early on.

READING IN A SECOND LANGUAGE: PROCESS, PRODUCT AND PRACTICE . Sandy Urquhart and Cyril Weir . New York: Longman, 1998. Pp. xvi + 346. £15.99 paper.

Abstract: This book addresses issues of major concern among researchers and practitioners of second language (L2) reading, including theory of reading, testing of reading comprehension, L2 reading instruction, and methodological issues in L2 reading research. The book not only critically examines reading theories, previous studies, and conventional practice in teaching and testing, but also provides valuable insights into new forms of testing and teaching materials for L2 readers.

INPUT, INTERACTION, AND THE SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNER. Susan M. Gass . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1997. Pp. xi + 189. $45.00 cloth, $22.50 paper.

Abstract: Input, interaction, and the second language learner is, as the title suggests, a view of the relationship among input, interaction, and second language development. Susan M. Gass has written an extremely readable book that explicates many of the most discussed issues in second language learning in the 1990s. Her intention, successfully achieved, is to demonstrate where theories and frameworks coincide, not just collide.