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A unique anxiety for foreign language (L2) learning has been hypothesized to explain students' problems with language learning. However, L2 anxiety instruments have been challenged on the grounds that they reflect students' language learning ability and/or perceptions of their language learning skills. In this study, 266 U.S. high school students were administered measures of first language (L1) skills, L2 aptitude, and L2 achievement and followed through 2-3 years of Spanish courses. In 1st-year Spanish, they were administered the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS), divided into 3 anxiety groups, and compared on the L1 and L2 measures. Findings showed that the Low Anxiety group scored significantly higher than the High Anxiety group on all L1 and L2 measures, and significantly higher than the Average Anxiety group on most L1 and L2 measures at the end of 1st- and 2nd-year Spanish. Students who completed 3rd-year Spanish displayed either low or average anxiety on the FLRAS. Results revealed negative correlations between the FLRAS and all L1 and L2 measures. Correlations between the FLRAS and the L2 achievement measures increased over time. Findings show that the FLRAS is unlikely to be measuring anxiety for language learning but more likely to be a proxy for students' levels of L1 skill, L2 aptitude, and L2 achievement. (Verlag).

Second language (L2) educators have proposed a unique anxiety for general L2 learning and an anxiety specific to L2 reading. Since the early 1990s, the L2 anxiety concept has been challenged on theoretical and empirical grounds. In this investigation, U.S. high school L2 learners were administered the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) and measures of first language (L1) skills, L1 phonological memory and working memory, L1 print exposure, L1 reading attitudes, L1 metacognitive ability, L2 aptitude, and L2 achievement, then were followed through 2 to 3 years of Spanish. Results showed that the FLRAS explained significant unique variance in most L1 skills and L2 aptitude. Hierarchical regressions showed that the FLRAS explained growth in L2 achievement from first‐ to second‐ to third‐year Spanish. Findings suggest that the FLRAS is likely to measure individual differences in or self‐perceptions of students’ language learning skills rather than a specific anxiety for L2 learning. Implications for the teaching of L2s to U.S. students are discussed. The Challenge Language anxiety is thought to help or hinder U.S. students’ learning in L2 courses. But does it? This article presents results showing that language anxiety on an L2 reading anxiety scale is more likely to represent individual differences in students’ language skills.

A factor analysis of a test battery that included early first-language (L1) achievement, L1 cognitive ability, second-language (L2) aptitude, and L2 affective measures to predict oral and written L2 proficiency was conducted. The analysis yielded 4 factors that were labeled Language Analysis, composed of L1 and L2 language comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, and inductive language learning measures; Phonology/Orthography, composed of L1 and L2 phonemic coding and phonological processing measures; IQ/Memory, composed of L1 intelligence and L2 paired-associate learning measures; and Self-Perceptions of Language Skills, composed of L2 motivation and L2 anxiety measures. The 4 factors explained 76% of the variance in oral and written L2 proficiency. Findings support the view that L2 aptitude is componential. Results are discussed in the context of long-term L1-L2 relationships and individual differences in L2 learning. (Verlag).

Fifty-four students were tested at specific time intervals over 10 years to determine best native language (NL) predictors of oral and written foreign language (FL) proficiency and FL aptitude. All participants completed two years of Spanish, French, or German. Each was administered measures of NL literacy, oral language, and cognitive ability in elementary school. A measure of FL aptitude was administered at the beginning of ninth grade and FL proficiency was evaluated at the end of the 10th grade. Among the variables, NL literacy measures were the best predictors of FL proficiency, and NL achievement and general (verbal) intelligence were strong predictors of FL aptitude. Results suggest that indices of NL literacy as early as first grade are related to FL proficiency and FL aptitude nine and 10 years later. Findings provide strong support for connections between L1 and L2 skills, and for speculation that \"lower level\" skills in phonological processing are important for written language development and oral proficiency in a FL.

Objectives: To investigate the psychometric properties of the BMSLSS-College among 723 college students.Methods: Internal consistency estimates explored scale reliability, factor analysis explored construct validity, and known-groups validity was assessed using the National College Youth Risk Behavior Survey and Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study. Criterion-related validity was explored through analyses with the CDC's health-related quality of life scale and a social isolation scale.Results: Acceptable internal consistency reliability, construct, known-groups, and criterion-related validity were established.Conclusions: Findings offer preliminary support for the BMSLSS-C; it could be useful in large-scale research studies, applied screening contexts, and for program evaluation purposes toward achieving Healthy People 2010 objectives.

Cunningham and Stanovich reported a longitudinal investigation over 10 years that examined the unique influence of exposure to print in explaining individual differences on various measures of reading achievement and declarative (general) knowledge. The present study replicated their investigation with a larger number of participants and additional measures of literacy and language skills. Fifty-four 1st graders were administered reading, spelling, vocabulary, IQ, and listening comprehension measures and then followed to the end of 10th grade. At the end of 10th grade, they were administered an IQ test and measures of reading comprehension, language ability, general knowledge, and exposure to print. Results showed that 1st grade reading skills were a strong predictor of 10th grade outcomes. Second and third-grade reading skills were predictive of individual differences in print exposure even after 10th grade reading comprehension and language ability had been partialed. Individual differences in print exposure also predicted differences in the growth of reading ability, word decoding, spelling, vocabulary, and listening comprehension throughout the elementary grades. Findings confirm the powerful, long-term benefits of providing children with a fast start in reading and support the reciprocal nature of strong reading skills and engagement in reading and reading-related activities.

A study over time provides a unique approach to investigate if landscape-environmental conditions can explain community resistance to invasion by nonnative plants in protected forest patches. This study investigated overall and intra-forest spatial patterns of change in nonnative Lonicera maackii (Amur honeysuckle) after 18 y in a 5.2 ha mature deciduous forest in southwestern Ohio. Changes in height-class abundances were measured in 60 permanent plots and mapped using GIS. Amur honeysuckle density increased from 3361 to 5472 individuals/ha (62.8%), but increases and decreases occurred at different sample plots. Greatest increases were for individuals <1 m (86.3%). A repeated measures MANOVA confirmed the significant effects of time (1992–2010) for total density, density of individuals >1 and <1 m, and mean height, but the decrease in mean height (1.44 to 1.30 m) was not significant in the univariate analysis. Moran's I statistic calculations documented nonsignificant spatial autocorrelations among plots, but landscape-environmental attributes have weak and mostly non-significant relationships with the change in honeysuckle densities among the plots. Management practices can decrease propagule pressure along edges and reduce the establishment of small individuals in the interior, but Amur honeysuckle is likely to remain as a naturalized understory shrub that responds to spatially fluctuating resources in this mature forest fragment.

Studies with U.S. secondary second language (L2) learners have revealed individual differences (IDs) in first language (L1) skills and L2 aptitude and shown that these IDs are related to L2 achievement and proficiency. In this study, U.S. students were administered measures of L1 achievement, L1 cognitive processing, and L2 aptitude; followed through 2 to 3 years of Spanish courses; and administered standardized measures of Spanish achievement at the end of each year. Students were divided into high‐, average‐, and low‐achieving groups according to their scores on the Spanish measures and compared on the L1 measures and L2 aptitude test. Findings showed significant overall group differences on most L1 measures and significant between‐group differences on most L1 measures and the L2 aptitude test. IDs in L1 literacy, L1 working memory, and L2 aptitude best discriminated among students who completed 2 versus 3 years of Spanish. Results support claims that IDs in L2 achievement mirror IDs in L1 skills and provide evidence for the crosslinguistic transfer of L1 to L2 skills. The Challenge Students are thought to develop full competence in their mother tongue and to exhibit little or no variance in their first language (L1) skills. But do they? What if students in second language (L2) classrooms vary considerably in L1 skills such as literacy, vocabulary, and working memory, and in their language aptitude? The present study presents results showing that students’ L1 skills and L2 aptitude not only vary considerably but also mirror their L2 achievement.

Objective: To investigate the psychometric properties of the BMSLSS among 522 college students. Methods: Internal consistency reliability explored scale reliability, factor analysis explored construct validity, known-groups validity was assessed by use of items from the National College Youth Risk Behavior Survey and Harvard National Survey of Alcohol Use, and criterion-related validity was explored through analyses with the CDC's Health-Related Quality of Life Scale. Results: Acceptable internal consistency reliability, construct, known-groups, and criterion-related validity were established. Conclusions: These findings offer preliminary support for the BMSLSS; it could serve as part of comprehensive evaluations of subjective QOL for program evaluation and/or policy purposes among college students.

The Simple View of Reading (SVR) model, which posits that reading comprehension is the product of word decoding and language comprehension that make independent contributions to reading skill, has been found to explain the acquisition of first language (L1) reading and second language (L2) reading in young English language learners (ELLs). Researchers have not examined the SVR for explaining L2 reading acquisition in older L2 learners several years after they acquired literacy in their L1. In this investigation, 165 US secondary level students in high school Spanish courses were administered measures of Spanish word decoding, reading comprehension, phonemic awareness, language comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. Multiple regression analyses revealed that Spanish word decoding explained 35% and Spanish language comprehension explained 31% of the variance in Spanish reading comprehension. Participants were classified as having high, average, and low levels of Spanish reading comprehension and compared on all testing measures. Results revealed overall group differences with high-achieving Spanish readers exhibiting significantly stronger skills than average and low groups on all measures. Findings support the SVR model for older L2 readers and suggest that once a certain level of word decoding in the L2 is attained, L2 language comprehension and L2 vocabulary may be the limiting factors for proficient L2 reading comprehension.