This study investigated the links between second language classroom anxiety and second language writing anxiety as well as their associations with second language speaking and writing achievement. The results indicate that second language classroom anxiety, operationalized by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, and second language writing anxiety, measured by a modified second language version of Daly and Miller's Writing Apprehension Test, are two related but independent constructs. The findings suggest that second language classroom anxiety is a more general type of anxiety about learning a second language with a strong speaking anxiety element, whereas second language writing anxiety is a language-skill-specific anxiety. Nevertheless, low self-confidence seems to be an important component of both anxiety constructs.

Two experiments are described in which reaction times for understanding target sentences or phrases in terms of a preceding context were measured. In Experiment 1, the target sentences followed either short or long contexts which induced either literal interpretations or metaphorical ones. Results indicated that only in the short context condition did subjects take significantly longer to understand metaphorical than literal targets. This interaction is explained in terms of the availability of appropriate schemata for interpreting the target. In Experiment 2, targets were phrases that could be given either an idiomatic or a literal interpretation. It was found

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Terms used to designate knowledge constructs have proliferated in the literature and often seem to duplicate, subsume, or contradict one another. In this article, we present a conceptual framework for organizing and relating terms that pertain to select knowledge constructs. We begin with an examination of the literature. Based on that review, we build a framework that is intended to clarify terms, and the associations among them, and to articulate definitional statements for these knowledge terms. Finally, we consider the importance of this theoretical undertaking for future research in cognition and in learning.

This study examines the contribution of L2 proficiency and L1 reading ability to L2 reading ability in terms of the threshold hypothesis of language proficiency. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) The contribution of L2 proficiency is greater than the contribution of L1 reading ability in predicting L2 reading ability, and (b) a threshold level of language proficiency exists such that learners with low levels of L2 proficiency will show little relationship between their L1 and L2 reading ability whereas learners with higher levels of L2 proficiency will show a positive relationship between their L1 and L2 reading performance. The participants were 809 Korean 3rd‐year middle school and 1st‐year high school students who exhibited a wide range of ability in reading both Korean and English and in their English proficiency. Scores from the three measures were subjected to descriptive, inferential, and correlational analyses. The results provided support for both hypotheses. Learners need to establish some knowledge of an L2 per se before they can successfully draw on their L1 reading ability to help with reading in the L2.

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Thirty physical education students and 30 music education students read a passage that could be given either a prison break or a wrestling interpretation, and another passage that could be understood in terms of an evening of card playing or a rehearsal session of a woodwind ensemble.Scores on disambiguating multiple choice tests and theme-revealing disambiguations and intrusions in free recall showed striking relationships to the subject's background. These results indicate that high-level schemata provide the interpretative framework for comprehending discourse. The fact that most subjects gave each passage one distinct interpretation or another and reported being unaware of other perspectives while reading suggest that schemata can cause a person to see a message in a certain way, without even considering alternative interpretations.

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