ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics - Volume 127, Issue 1, 2000

In second language acquisition (SLA) research various tests are employed for theory building. However, what tests should be administered to participants in a research setting? In order to address the issue, this study was conducted to examine the reliability, validity of tests themselves, and the difference in results according to the difference of test-types, focusing on cross-sectional restrictive relative clause acquisition and relative clause test-types. Among the variety of relative clause tests, four test-types that appear frequently in recent SLA academic publications were selected. The four test-types were Translation, Cloze Procedure, Grammaticality Judgment, and Sentence Combining. The results from 120 Japanese students indicate the following. First, Sentence Combining shows high reliability in internal consistency and the highest validity. Second, the research results change across the different test-types. Third, the concept of 'test-type (task) related interlanguage variability' should be explained by the combination of quality-related issues such as 'measurement error' and the cognitive demands each test-type requires of the subjects. Implications for the practical issues of language test construction for SLA research, educational evaluation, and the directions for further research are also discussed.

This article examines the relationship between two kinds of methods used to assess the quality of second language writing : 1) objective computerised text analysis focusing on the linguistic features of written texts, and 2) subjective evaluation performed by human raters using a combination of holistic and analytical scoring procedures. In particular, it attempts to explore the potentials and possible limitations of using computerised programs as research tools in second language writing research.

The written sample consisted of a total of 132 short essays written b y ESL students enrolled in various academic programs at an American university. The first method used computerized programs to assess the written texts in terms of syntactic complexity, lexical complexity and grammatical accuracy, whereas in the second method, two ESL raters evaluated the same sample of texts by first assigning a holistic score to each piece of writing, then applying an analytical scheme to assess linguistic features at the syntactic, lexical and grammatical level as well as textual and rhetorical features at the discourse level. A series of correlation analyses were performed using the scores obtained from these two kinds of assessment procedures at the correspondent levels. The results show that a significant correlation was consistently found between these two kinds of scores at the level of grammatical accuracy, yet n o significant correlation was found in any of the other categories. The results also indicate a high level of internal consistency in t he computerized analysis.

This article focuses on the study of pauses in second language production by analysing the frequency of silent and filled pauses and their functions. It also examines the combination of pauses and other hesitation phenomena in second language production and it explores the relationship between pauses and language proficiency. The results confirm that pauses and hesitations are frequent phenomena in second language production and the individual variation in their occurrence. It was also found that pauses are often associated with other hesitation phenomena and that filled and silent pauses can have the same functions.

The main hypothesis sustained in this paper maintains that language is not a mere reflection of external reality but that language also powerfully contributes to it constitution. In this sense, the analysis shows the different symbolic constructs the interviewer establishes in the presentation of the information in various headlines and interviews on the Spanish public radio; symbolic constructs that contribute to the fictionalization of the events. By employing these communicative practices the interviewer manages to activate a cognitive model that presents the Government as having been betrayed by some public people, and as the victim of a conspiracy by certain sectors of the private media and individual judges.

The interpretation of these symbolic practices shows that they contribute to the delegitimation of people involved in those matters. In addition, they constitute an indirect alliance with the thesis defended by the ruling political party on those issues. There is also evidence which indicates that the power exercised by this public media is aimed at manipulating the audience's cognitive representations.

There are two fundamentally different views regarding which side of culture, i.e., target or base, foreign language learning materials should take. Approaches that emphasize the learner's assimilation into the target culture tend to advocate the use of learning materials which focus on the target side, while those that signify cross-cultural communication are inclined to emphasize the need for information-sending regarding the learner's own culture. From a constructivist perspective, content relevance of learning materials to the learner's existing knowledge is a key ingredient for intrinsic motivation. Acculturation theories, on the other hand, predict that those who are ready to be assimilated in the target culture will have more chance of success in foreign language learning, and therefore learning materials should focus on the target culture.

The author conducted a study investigating if the use of culture-bound proper nouns in materials for listening comprehension may influence the motivation towards foreign language learning, which could eventually make a difference in the use of general learning strategies. Japanese learners of English, subjects in this study, were divided into two groups : one which listened to listening materials using Japanese proper nouns such as Hanako, Sapporo, Judo, etc., and the other which listened to those using English counterparts such as Jane, Atlanta, basketball, etc. The other parts of the material were the same. Pre- and post-tests were conducted regarding motivation and strategy use before and after the ten-week-long listening practice.

The research results revealed that the expected tendency exists but that was not statistically significant. The researcher further investigated the effects of learning styles. The relationship among these variables is intricate, and foreign language learning appeared multidimensional. The results implies that learning materials do not have to reside on one-side of either base or target cultures. Further investigation is recommended to examine if other means of learning material personalization may affect motivation and strategy use.