Second Language Competence

This work details a plan for bringing students to high levels of foreign language proficiency in the United States and elsewhere.

This book provides a holistic overview of what leads to success in foreign language learning at an early age and deepens our understanding of early foreign language learning. The studies use an array of methodological approaches to research learners aged between three and ten, as well as their parents and teachers, in instructional, minimal-input settings. They describe various ways of organising and promoting very early foreign language learning, both through language policy and innovative pedagogy, and focus on ways of providing input for second language acquisition, which include oral classroom discourse strategies, as well as learner development of literacy skills. Special attention is given to the necessity to develop critical reading skills, the ability to handle multimodal texts, and attitudes, motivations and behaviours and how these may impact on the teaching and learning process. Chapters emphasise that ultimate outcomes depend on extra linguistic environmental factors, such as parental involvement and teacher competences. These include establishing control in the classroom, as well as using appropriate strategies for Negotiation of Meaning, and helping learners build positive self-concept. This book will be of interest to all professionals involved in the teaching of foreign languages to young learners, as well as to researchers, teacher educators and students working in this area.

This volume explores the competence/performance distinction with reference to second language acquisition.

The first book-length collection of studies on the assessment of pragmatic competencies in a second or foreign language. Grounded in theoretical perspectives on communicative and interactional competencies, it examines the reception and production of speech acts through a variety of assessment methods and quantitative and qualitative analyses.

This text presents the findings of a major investigation of second language proficiency in various groups of school-aged learners. It invites a frank appraisal of the research from an outside panel of experts. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are the subject of a lively debate focused on three main research issues: the nature of second language proficiency, the impact of classroom treatment on second language learning, and the role of social and individual factors in bilingual development. This original collection of articles will be of interest to all those concerned with policy and practice in second language education.