Volume 57, Issue 2 -

The contribution of formulaic sequences (FSs) to native speaker fluency is uncontroversial, but their contribution to L2 fluency is often assumed. These units package both meaning and form in an entire unit and facilitate both conceptualization and formulation of speech. These are the ‘fluency assumptions’ of these FSs. This study asks if the ‘fluency assumptions’ of FSs can be imitated in classroom settings by pushing learners to use common multiword (MW) patterns to achieve a kind of ‘instruction-enhanced L2 fluency’. It also compares the outcome with the teaching of single words (SWs). Learners’ (a) temporal fluency and (b) fluency at the levels of conceptualizing and formulating speech were assessed. Towell, R., R. Hawkins & N. Bazergui. 1996. The development of fluency in advanced learners of French. Applied Linguistics 17 (1). 84–119, avant-garde approach to analyzing fluency was drawn on in the discussion of the results. Broadly, instructing MW patterns and SWs sped up formulation processes but made demands on speech conceptualization, and there existed other subtle differences.

This study seeks to identify differences in language learning progress and experiences among 24 adult migrants, who arrived to Australia after the age of 40. The results suggest that age per se was not a reliable predictor of language learning progress. Instead, the initial English level of participants when they arrived to Australia, opportunities to use English and prior level of education were associated with considerable language learning gains. For example, participants who had a higher initial English level were able to find jobs that required them to perform a range of oral and written tasks across different domain, which further improved their level, while participants who had a low initial level were mostly unemployed. Another common factor we noted among participants with high and reasonable gains but not among those who made little progress was a proactive attitude and the use of a range of language learning strategies beyond the classroom. The study also revealed differences in age construal among participants with high and reasonable gains and those who did not improve.

Tones are the most challenging aspect of learning Chinese. We study tonal acquisition for American learners of Chinese in three learning contexts: study-abroad, at-home and immersion programs. This paper explores whether and how tone production is improved in these contexts. Fifteen learners of Chinese participated in this study. They took a pre-test and a post-test. The control group contained ten native speakers. The task was a read-aloud test in Chinese. Additionally, learners filled out a language contact form. To assess students’ tonal accuracy, we conducted two kinds of analysis: a perception assessment by native Mandarin speakers and an acoustic analysis of pitch track comparison. Contextual data were coded based on the length of language contact with native speakers of Chinese. The results indicate that difficult tone combinations are context sensitive. It also reveals what strategies learners of Chinese use to produce tones similar to native speakers’ production.

In research conducted by this author examining the development of adult second language listeners, one key aspect of that study was to evaluate the learners’ growth in their listening strategy use. A search of the literature, however, found no reliable conception of listener growth to guide the evaluation. Consequently, this study sought to develop such a framework. To accomplish this, cross-sectional verbal report studies comparing the strategy use of proficient and less proficient listener groups were examined, and the strategies used frequently by the proficient listeners, but infrequently by the less-proficient listeners, served to indicate developmental trends. A second component of the study was then to order these strategies into the stages of Anderson’s (1985, Cognitive psychology and its implications , 2nd edn. New York: Freeman, 2010, Cognitive psychology and its implications , 7th edn. New York: Freeman) three-stage comprehension model, those of perception, parsing and utilization. This second part of the study was conducted to address apparent flaws in past research categorizing listening strategies based on this model.