Language learners are known to perform best in one-on-one interactive situations in which they receive optimal corrective feedback. However, one-on-one tutoring by trained language instructors is costly and therefore not feasible for the majority of language learners. This particularly applies to oral proficiency, which requires intensive tutoring. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) sys...

The aim of our current research is to investigate the possibility of using likelihood ratios to perform utterance verification within the context of automatic oral proficiency assessment. The likelihood ratios under investigation have the appealing feature that they may be computed simply by using an off-theshelf automatic speech recognition system in two different recognition modes (forced and...

Although anecdotally there appear to be differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language, most empirical investigations of language processing study university students and none have studied differences in language proficiency, which may be independent of resource limitations such as working memory span. We examined differences in language proficiency in adult mon...

& Lexical proficiency, as a cognitive construct, is poorly understood. However, lexical proficiency is an important element of language proficiency and fluency, especially for second language (L2) learners. For example, lexical errors are a common cause of L2 miscommunication (Ellis, 1995). Lexical proficiency is also an important attribute of L2 academic achievement (Daller, van Hout, & Treffe...

Oral Proficiency Interview: Based on the guidelines established by the American Council of Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The interview ill be conducted by an outside examiner who has not had the student in class. Strengths and weaknesses in student performance are discussed at subsequent LFS Faculty Council Meetings and used for program review and revision purposes. 80% of students ach...

B a r b a r a L a f f o r d In this paper, we report the results of a study that compared differences in the linguistic gains made by native English-speaking students from the United States who were studying Spanish in one of two different contexts of learning. One was a regular university classroom situation in Colorado; the other was a study abroad program in Alicante, Spain. We examined the ...

BACKGROUND A significant number of children now enter formal education in England with reduced levels of proficiency in oral language. Children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and who are English language learners (ELL) are at risk of limited oral language skills in English which impacts on later educational achievement. AIMS This paper reports the development of a theoretically motiv...