Resumen. Partiendo de la relevancia que en el momento actual tiene el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras, este artículo presenta un análisis estadístico de los datos que proporciona la primera edición del Estudio Europeo de la Competencia Lingüística (EECL) (European Commission, 2012a) para España y Holanda en la destreza de comprensión oral en inglés. A partir de dicho análisis, se pretende arrojar luz sobre dos cuestiones principales: por un lado, la descripción del rendimiento del alumnado de ambos países en comprensión oral en lengua inglesa al finalizar la etapa de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria. Por otro lado, se trata de profundizar en los posibles factores explicativos del rendimiento en esta destreza en lengua inglesa en los dos contextos, analizando la influencia que sobre la misma muestran determinadas variables de carácter individual, familiar y escolar. El propósito final de este análisis es enunciar, a la luz de las conclusiones extraídas, una serie de propuestas encaminadas a la reflexión y mejora de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras en España y, en concreto, de la habilidad de comprensión oral. El artículo concluye con la necesidad de comprender cómo algunos factores ajenos al sistema educativo determinan, en cierta medida, el éxito de las distintas iniciativas puestas en marcha en el campo de la enseñanza de las lenguas extranjeras. En este sentido, el análisis del EECL subraya la incidencia de factores de diversa índole en el proceso de aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera. Palabras clave: enseñanza y aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras; comprensión oral; estudio cuantitativo.[en] Explanatory factors of acquiring English oral comprehension skills in secondary education: a comparison between Spain and The Netherlands Abstract. Based on the current relevance of foreign language education and acquisition, this article presents a statistical analysis of the data provided by Spain and The Netherlands from the First European Survey on Language Competences (ESLC) (European Commission, 2012a). The intention of the statistical analysis of this data is to shed light on two main issues. First, it offers a description of student performance in both countries, regarding oral comprehension in English at the end of the stage of compulsory secondary education. Secondly, it delves into potential explanatory factors of performance in English in this evaluated skill area in both contexts, analyzing the influence which certain variables, related to students' own characteristics, family and school environment, reveal. The article's final aim, based on the conclusions, is to propose ideas for reflection, thought and _____________

I This book approaches the study of L2 lexical acquisition from the standpoint of its relationship to L1 word knowledge, which Singleton sees as an interactive one. The book is distinctive among works on lexis in that it is written from a single perspective instead of attempting to cover the range of lexical studies from the wide variety of approaches that characterize the field. The volume does, of course, survey in depth the research literature on both L1 and L2 lexical acquisition, and it covers the field from basic questions such as the definition of word to the modeling of the mental lexicon, with empirical findings. Readers interested in the important role lexical learning plays in second language acquisition and use will find this volume an important resource. Language Teaching: New Insights for the Language Teacher.Christopher Ward and Willy Renandya (Eds.). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 1999. Pp. vii + 308. I This volume is a collection of 16 selected papers from the 1998 Regional Language Centre seminar on language teaching. Together the papers are intended to document the changing roles of English teachers in a rapidly changing world and the current methodological innovations and research findings in the field of L2 education. The book is organized into sections focusing on the teacher, language teaching and learning, and computers and language learning. The authors are well-known practitioners and researchers from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States, thus ensuring a wide range of situations and perspectives on L2 pedagogy.

No abstract

The idea that ther e is an age factor in langua ge developm ent has long been and continues to be a hotly debated topic. This review begins by briefly revisiting some of the early perspe ctives on this issue; it goes on to sketch some of the relevant findings which emerged in the three decades following the onset in the late 1960s of serious em pirical investigation of the age fact or in L2 acqu isition; and, finally, in the third section of the survey, it hones in on the results of some more recently published age-related research. The article concludes with a short discussion in the light of the foregoing of (a) the de gree of abso luteness of the age factor in L2 acq uisition; and (b) the notion that there may be not one, but a number, of age-related factors at work.

No abstract