Language Learning

This study investigated a causal model of second language learning. Particular attention was given to three situation‐specific constructs: Language Class Discomfort, Language Class Risktaking, and Language Class Sociability. It was theorized that voluntary Classroom Participation mediates the effect of Language Class Discomfort, Language Class Risktaking, Language Class Sociability, and Strength of Motivation on success in classroom L2 learning. The subjects were students enrolled in first year (first and second quarter) university Spanish classes.

Data on Classroom Participation were gathered by means of classroom observation and audio recording. Proficiency was measured by correctness and fluency on a storyretelling task and correctness on a written final examination. The results of the causal analysis included findings that: Language Class Discomfort negatively predicted Language Class Risktaking and Language Class Sociability; Language Class Risktaking positively predicted Classroom Participation; and Classroom Participation positively predicted Oral Correctness for the first quarter students.

This article investigates results and antecedents of willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second Language (L2) through 2 separate investigations conducted with Japanese adolescent learners of English. In the first investigation, involving 160 students, a model was created based on the hypothesis that WTC results in more frequent communication in the L2 and that the attitudinal construct international posture leads to WTC and communication behavior. This model was tested with structural equation modeling and was found to fit the data well. The second investigation with 60 students who participated in a study‐abroad program in the United States confirmed the results of the first. Finally, frequency of communication was shown to correlate with satisfaction in interpersonal relationships during the sojourn.

We tested a theoretical model that integrated regulatory focus, second language (L2) self‐guides, anxiety and enjoyment, eager and vigilant L2 use, and L2 achievement. We collected data from 324 students learning English as a foreign language. Structural equation modeling results showed that (a) the promotion focus positively predicted ideal selves, whereas the prevention focus negatively predicted ought selves; (b) ideal self/own predicted enjoyment positively and anxiety negatively, ought self/other and ideal self/other predicted anxiety positively, and ought self/own positively predicted vigilant L2 use; (c) enjoyment predicted eager L2 use positively and vigilant L2 use negatively, whereas anxiety predicted vigilant L2 use positively; and finally (d) eager L2 use positively and vigilant L2 use negatively predicted achievement. The findings suggest that a promotion‐oriented approach to language learning and teaching might lead to more adaptive motivational, emotional, and behavioral patterns, which in turn contribute to language learning success. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.

Previous studies have shown a strong link between participants' apprehension about communicating and their perception of communicative competence in both native (L1) and second (L2) languages. This apprehension may intensify when participants communicate in the L2, especially if they believe their level of L2 competence to be very low. This study examines perceived competence in an L2 as a function of actual competence and language anxiety. Thirty‐seven young adult Anglophone students, with widely varied competence in French, participated. They completed scales of language anxiety and a modified version of the “can‐do” test, which assessed their self‐perceptions of competence on 26 French tasks. They then attempted each of those tasks. We found that L2 language anxiety, perceived L2 competence, and actual L2 competence intercorrelated. However, regression analysis with actual proficiency level controlled showed that anxious students tended to underestimate their competence relative to less anxious students, who tended to overestimate their competence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The present meta‐analysis examined the overall average correlation (weighted for sample size and corrected for measurement error) between passage‐level second language (L2) reading comprehension and 10 key reading component variables investigated in the research domain. Four high‐evidence correlates (with 18 or more accumulated effect sizes: L2 decoding, L2 vocabulary knowledge, L2 grammar knowledge, first language [L1] reading comprehension), and six low‐evidence correlates (L2 phonological awareness, L2 orthographic knowledge, L2 morphological knowledge, L2 listening comprehension, working memory, metacognition) were included in the study. For the four high‐evidence correlates, a series of moderator analyses were also carried out to examine the effects of age, L2 proficiency, L1–L2 script and language distance, and measurement characteristics. The results showed that L2 grammar knowledge (r = .85), L2 vocabulary knowledge (r = .79), and L2 decoding (r = .56) were the three strongest correlates of L2 reading comprehension. The six low‐evidence correlates had moderate‐to‐strong mean correlations, with L2 listening comprehension being the strongest correlate (r = .77) and metacognition (r = .32) being the weakest correlate. Age, some measurement characteristics, and L1–L2 language distance were found to be significant moderators for some reading components.

Linguistic simplification of written texts can increase their comprehensibility for nonnative speakers but reduce their utility for language learning in other ways, for example, through the removal of linguistic items that learners do not know but need to learn. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that elaborative modification observed in oral foreigner talk discourse, where redundancy and explicitness compensate for unknown linguistic items, offers a potential alternative approach to written text modification. We randomly presented 13 reading passages to 483 Japanese college students in one of three forms: (a) native baseline, (b) simplified, or (c) elaborated. Comprehension, assessed by 30 multiple‐choice test items, was highest among learners reading the simplified version, but not significantly different from those reading the elaborated version. The type of modifications to the texts interacted significantly with the kind of test item used to, assess comprehension—replication, synthesis or inference—suggesting that different kinds of text modification facilitate different levels of comprehension.

According to the “script dependent” hypothesis, accurate word recognition skills develop more slowly in languages with an irregular orthography, such as English, than in regular orthographies, such as Persian. According to the “central processing” hypothesis, basic reading skills in all languages are influenced primarily by underlying cognitive factors. These hypotheses were examined by studying the linguistic, cognitive, and basic reading skills of 70 children in Grades 1–5 learning to read concurrently in English (L1) and Persian (L2). Our findings supported both hypotheses. A consideration of these frameworks as complementary contributes to a crosslinguistic theory of reading skills development in bilingual children.

When discussing vocabulary, a distinction is often made between size of vocabulary (number of known words) and depth of knowledge (how well those words are known). However, the relationship between the two constructs is still unclear. Some scholars argue that there is little real difference between the two, while regression analyses show that depth typically adds unique explanatory power compared to size alone. Ultimately, the relationship between size and depth of vocabulary knowledge depends on how each is conceptualized and measured. In an attempt to provide an empirical basis for exploring the size–depth relationship, this critical synthesis identifies studies that contain measures of both size and depth. Based on a number of different conceptualizations of depth, various patterns emerged. For higher frequency words and for learners with smaller vocabulary sizes, there is often little difference between size and a variety of depth measures. However, for lower frequency words and for larger vocabulary sizes, there is often a gap between size and depth, as depth measures lag behind the measures of size. Furthermore, some types of word knowledge (e.g., derivative knowledge) seem to have generally lower correlations with size than other types.