ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics - Volume 155, Issue 1, 2008

This article presents the results of a CALL-experiment in which reading material is selected dynamically, based on the “fit” between the vocabulary proficiency of individual students and the relative difficulty of texts. The texts were analysed, selected and presented online, together with a personalized electronic dictionary with words that were assumed to be unknown. In a pre-test – treatment – post-test design in which 32 Dutch L2-students took part, the vocabulary learned implicitly while reading the texts was measured. The relation between user-initiated noticing and word retention was also examined.

We found an average word-learning improvement of 10.8%. On the basis of the non-significant differences between various proficiency groups, we concluded that the method we propose for the automated adaptive selection of reading texts ensures that learners of different proficiency levels receive linguistic input that is best fitted to their abilities. Using frequency information for both automated analysis of texts and the compilation of a personalized dictionary has great potential for more user-centred task selection and guidance. We also found a relation between user-initiated dictionary use and word retention, which was strong for the lowest proficiency level. With respect to the words looked up in the dictionary, a strong correlation was found between noticing and retention.

This study compares pronominal possessive constructions in Dutch first language (L1) acquisition, second language (L2) acquisition by young children, and untutored L2 acquisition by adults. The L2 learners all have Turkish as L1. In longitudinal spontaneous speech data for four L1 learners, seven child L2 learners, and two adult learners, remarkable differences and similarities between the three learner groups were found. In some respects, the child L2 learners develop in a way that is similar to child L1 learners, for instance in the kind of overgeneralisations that they make. However, the child L2 learners also behave like adult L2 learners; i.e., in the pace of the acquisition process, the frequency and persistence of non-target constructions, and the difficulty in acquiring reduced pronouns. The similarities between the child and adult L2 learners are remarkable, because the child L2 learners were only two years old when they started learning Dutch. L2 acquisition before the age of three is often considered to be similar to L1 acquisition. The findings might be attributable to the relatively small amount of Dutch language input the L2 children received.

Après un bref aperçu des risques d’infidélité d’une évaluation critériée de la compétence de traduction, liés principalement à la subjectivité du correcteur, nous mettons en évidence les limites des tentatives d’objectivation du processus d’évaluation au moyen de grilles de correction ou d’évaluation de la qualité telles qu’utilisées dans les écoles de traduction et le monde professionnel. Pour pallier le manque de fidélité des épreuves de traduction traditionnelles, nous proposons une méthode d’évaluation normative qui permet de neutraliser complètement la subjectivité du correcteur. Dans cet article, nous décrivons et illustrons par un exemple concret les différentes étapes de la confection d’une épreuve standardisée. De cette description, il ressort que notre méthode naît du mariage des principes de la docimologie, qui fournit les instruments de contrôle de la fidélité, et des acquis de la traductologie, indispensables pour se prononcer sur la validité des épreuves.

This paper reports on the development of Collex-Biz, a corpus-driven web-based learning platform for general economic English. The design of this platform was informed by a number of research-based principles, particularly frequency and collocation, which are insufficiently incorporated in existing Business English course materials. Following Sinclair & Renouf (1988) and Nelson (2000), we first developed a ‘lexical syllabus’ for first-year Business English students on the basis of frequency data from a self-compiled 6 million word corpus of business news reports. A didactically inspired selection of the most useful single words and collocations was then thematically classified. On the basis of concordances, finally, exercises were created in which lexical items were maximally contextualised and systematically recycled. In this article, we discuss the criteria that guided our selection of items and elaborate on the principles behind the exercise design.

The increasing recognition of the concept language ideology and the corresponding increasing use of the term have not yet been matched by applications in the field of second language acquisition. However, applications of the concept in analysis of actual classroom practices have shown it to have considerable explanatory power. Greater consideration of language ideology in SLA is necessary not only to achieve greater understanding of the role of ideology in various areas but also to show connections between these areas that may yield important generalizations and to impel the application of the concept in areas where it has been neglected by highlighting its uneven treatment.