Commentary on research in second language acquisition and language education
Study Reviewed: Hill, M., & Laufer, B. (2003). Type of task, time-on-task and electronic dictionaries in incidental vocabulary acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 41(2), 87–106. I recently came across a reference to a claim related to vocabulary acquisition that struck me as rather usual: Hill & Laufer (2003) stated that a second language reader [...]
A recent post by Brad Peterson on the supposed popularity of Chinese language study around the world sent me digging for some data on the whole question of what foreign/modern languages are popular in U.S. schools and, well, what we mean by “popular.” There are at least three ways you could define popular when it [...]
Study Reviewed Frishkoff, G., K Collins-Thompson, C. Perfetti, and J. Callan. (2008). Measuring incremental changes in word knowledge: Experimental validation and implications for learning and assessment. Behavior Research Methods, 40(4), 907-925. We have long known that we acquire most of our vocabulary, in both a first and second language, through reading (Krashen, 1989). Our knowledge [...]
Note: The following guest post by Stephen Krashen concerns an article recently reviewed on TBL. by Stephen Krashen I comment on two statements in K. Nielson’s paper, “Self-study with language learning software in the workplace: What happens?” published in Language Learning and Technology, 2011, 15 (3): 110-129. The first is the claim that Rosetta Stone is [...]
Studies reviewed: Evans, N., K.J. Hartshorn, R. McCollum, & M. Wolfersberger. (2010). Contextualizing corrective feedback in second language writing pedagogy. Language Teaching Research, 14(4), 445 -463. Hartshorn, K.J., N. Evans, P. Merrill, R. Sudweeks, D Strong-Krause, & N. Anderson. (2010). Effects of dynamic corrective feedback on ESL writing accuracy. TESOL Quarterly, 44(1), 84-109. Evans, N., K.J. [...]
Study Reviewed Nielson, K. (2011). Self-study with language learning software in the workplace: What happens? Language Learning & Technology, 15(3), 110-129. Almost no one who studies a foreign language in the United States gets very far. Millions of high school and college students show up to their Spanish or Chinese I classes in the hopes [...]
Stephen Krashen, University of Southern California Syying Lee, National Taipei University Jeff. McQuillan, Center for Educational Development Abstract Three multivariate analyses, all controlling for the effects of poverty, confirm the importance of the library. Replicating McQuillan’s analysis of 1992 NAEP scores, access to books in school and public libraries was a significant predictor of 2007 fourth grade NAEP [...]
The Backseat Linguist is my personal project, allowing me to comment on and post research related to second language acquisition and language education in general. It has no official association with my job as host of English as a Second Language Podcast, and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This blog is “backseat” [...]
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