Peter Ecke

• Ph.D.
• Professor at University of Arizona

Frequency of (aural) language exposure and productive (oral) language use, context, and interlocutors are important factors for language learning. Applied linguists and study abroad (SA) researchers have studied these variables mostly retrospectively through questionnaires and learners’ self-reports which have unknown correspondence with learner's...

This study investigated the assessment literacy of teachers of English as a Foreign Language in postsecondary education in Oman. Using self-assessment questionnaires, it examined teachers’ assessment competencies and practices and digital assessment literacy. Multivariate and correlation analyses tested the effects of gender, age, pre-service and i...

This chapter explores quantitative research in second language study abroad (SA) contexts. It sketches out common research objectives, methods, and design options without attempting to take stock of all possible approaches to quantitative study abroad research (SAR). Instead, it raises seven issues that quantitative SAR is confronted with, explores...

Acquiring nouns’ grammatical gender, corresponding articles, and their morphological variants is one of the biggest challenges for adult learners of German. In this study, we analyze determiner noun phrases (NPs) produced orally by Spanish L1/English L2 beginning learners of German L3. We explore the extent to which L3 learners correctly produce de...

This article analyzes 164 publications that appeared in the journal "Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German" between 2008 and 2018 with respect to the applied research methodological and theoretical approaches as well as the investigated topics in order to gain insights into current research trends in the field of German as a foreign language in the...

This study investigates the motives, expectations, and perceived gains in language and culture learning of 123 U.S. college students from five generations of a summer study abroad program in Germany. It compares the participants’ perceptions of members of their own national culture and the German culture before program beginning with corresponding...

In this chapter, I describe and discuss the challenges that I faced developing, teaching, and assessing an intermediate-level conversation class in German as a foreign language. I address three major challenges with respect to the teaching and assessment of students in this course, describe the choices that I made converting this course into a more...

This chapter provides suggestions for the planning, conduct, and assessment of group (video) projects in foreign language classes. It first outlines a rationale for the use of project work and discusses the benefits and challenges of incorporating group projects in foreign language classes. To illustrate how group projects may be implemented and as...

Mit einer internationalen Online-Befragung unter 114 DaF/DaZ-Forschenden und Lehrkräften wurden Antworten auf zentrale Fragen zur Verortung, Förderung und Verbreitung von Forschung im Arbeitsfeld Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache gesucht. Insgesamt herrscht die Meinung vor, dass noch viele Forschungsdesiderate bestehen, um den wachsenden Herausfo...

This study explored language dominance, verbal fluency, and language control abilities of two groups of younger and older Russian–English bilinguals who had spent similar amounts of time as immigrants in the U.S. Verbal fluency tasks (based on letter and semantic cues, including a new method to elicit parallel letter-fluency data for Russian and En...

Vocabulary acquisition is an indispensable part of second language acquisition. It is crucial in the development of overall language proficiency and sub-skills, such as listening, reading, speaking, and writing. This book presents theoretical frameworks and research findings to a broad audience that extends beyond researchers who work in the field...

Introduction to and overview of the book "Understanding Vocabulary Learning and Teaching: Implications for Language Program Development". Vocabulary acquisition is an indispensable part of second language acquisition. It is crucial in the development of overall language proficiency and sub-skills, such as listening, reading, speaking, and writing....

This chapter examines the potential of selected children’s series on German television for the teaching/learning of German as a foreign/second language (FL/SL) for both child and adult learners. It explores the role that humor plays in these programs, how humor is used by moderators and actors and how it is perceived and understood by young viewers...

In this chapter, we analyze foreign language learners’ errors and tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states. The two phenomena, which can be both frustrating and funny at times, can reveal interesting insights into how words from second and third languages (L2 / L3) are accessed in speech production. Based on observable patterns of similarity between target w...

The first part of this paper reviews research evidence for typological similarity and/or L2 status as determinants of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in multilingual lexical production. The second part presents a model of vocabulary acquisition as a framework to explain CLI at form, (syntactic) frame, and meaning levels as well as some of the deve...

This paper provides strategies and examples of how program administrators can monitor a variety of potentially important indicators for the health of a university language program and how they can utilize technological tools and resources for the collection and analysis of program-relevant data. It identifies and addresses four challenges of a lang...

Research on learning during study abroad has become a vibrant area within the field of second language acquisition. However, relatively few studies have been published on the outcomes of language and culture learning during study abroad in German-speaking countries. This article (1) critically reviews research on study abroad effects in US and othe...

This paper reviews evidence for the Parasitic Model of Vocabulary Acquisition for second and third language learners/developing multilinguals. It first describes the model’s predictions about default processes based on the detection and use of similarity at the three stages involved in the development of individual lexical items: (1) the establishi...

How stable or how permeable to attrition are a multilingual’s first and second languages during life periods characterized by dynamic changes in language-use frequencies? This longitudinal study sheds some light on this issue by investigating changing patterns in a multilingual speaker’s tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states. Over a period of 10 years, th...

This article is written for educators and administrators at institutions of higher education who would like to create and run a short-term study abroad program for their students. It discusses practical issues that need to be addressed when designing, planning, and maintaining a program by illustrating part of the decision making process that was i...

This article reviews data about German spoken at home, and German taught in U.S. elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions. It discusses data about U.S. students studying in Germany, U.S. teachers of German, doctoral research related to German conducted at U.S. universities, and employment opportunities for German language p...

This is a pre-publication version.

This is a review of Gessica De Angelis' (2007) book: Third or additional language acquisition.

This study investigated students' motives for participating in a short-term study abroad program in Germany, their expectations about learning progress at the beginning of the program, and their perceived progress in various language skills at the end of the program. Findings indicated that students' expectations were higher than their perceived pr...

Learners of third language (L3) German and L3 French studied unfamiliar verbs that were cognate with first language (L1) Spanish equivalents, second language (L2) English equivalents, or neither. We examined whether learners would assume that the verbs shared syntactic frames with cognate forms in the typologically closer language. In immediate tes...

This chapter reviews resources for research and practice of multilingualism and L3 acquisition. It presents and describes (1) associations, organizations, and networks, (2) research journals, and magazines for the general public, (3) book series, and (4) research bibliographies, devoted to the study and promotion of multilingualism as well as (5) l...

This study examined the effects of English as a second language (L2) vocabulary on native Spanish speakers’ word searches in Spanish (first language or L1). It analyzed word-finding problems, known as tip-of-the tongue states, in three groups of Spanish native speakers with different proficiency levels in English L2 and explored whether and to what...

In this article, I review the options that teachers and students have to obtain German TV in the U.S.: through satellite and cable networks and by streaming, downloading, or recording TV programs through the internet. I also address how one can access TV programs over the air in the German-speaking countries by using a notebook PC and TV card.

Foreign language teachers’ use of DVDs, purchased abroad, has become increasingly difficult through restrictions imposed by the motion picture industry on DVDs, DVD-playing equipment and software. In addition, the law, in particular through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), has imposed restrictions that negatively affect the fair use of...

This is a book review of Wolfgang Börner and Klaus Vogel (2002): Grammatik und Fremdsprachenerwerb: Kognitive, psycholinguistische und erwerbstheoretische Perspektiven.

My purpose in this paper is to examine the psychological nature of forgetting (parts of) a language by individuals involved in language change across the lifespan. The objectives of the article are (1) to summarize psychological theories and hypotheses about forgetting and memory failure, and (2) to evaluate their relevance for the explanation of i...

Seit langem werden Märchen von Deutschlehrern als beliebtes Zusatzmaterial im Unterricht genutzt. Wenigen Lehrern in den USA ist bekannt, dass die (ost-) Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA) zwischen 1946 und 1990 über 40 Märchenfilme für Kinder und Erwachsene produzierte. Dieser Beitrag stellt eine Reihe von 23 DEFA Märchenfilmen vor, die inzwi...

Cognitive diary and TOT-elicitation studies investigated whether (English-dominant) fluent bilingual Heritage Spanish (HS) speakers of the southwestern U.S. experienced more and different tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) compared to Mexican Spanish (MS) speakers from northern Mexico and whether word retrieval in the dominant and non-dominant languag...

Mnemonic techniques are mental procedures used to facilitate the memorization, storage and recall of information. They rely on elaborated associations and imagery or verbal interactions between the to-be-learned target structures and already represented information in memory. This article reviews research on the effectiveness and limitations of the...

The human capacity to categorise new information on the basis of similarity with existing knowledge representations is, perhaps, the most important organising principle for mental representation. It is essential for the development of conceptual relations and networks (Rosch, 1978; Smith and Medin, 1981; Schönpflug, this volume), as well as for the...

This is a review of Herdina and Jessner's book "A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism".

In this article, I present and analyze examples of two types of lexical retrieval failures in third language learners: tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states and word substitution errors. Based on observable patterns of similarity between target word and word associations in TOT states and between target word and substitution in lexical errors, I discuss h...

This is a book review of Britta Hufeisen and Beate Lindemann (1998). (Eds.). Tertiärsprachen: Theorien, Modelle, Methoden.

This article attempts to illustrate the potential of simulation techniques for the teaching of German as a foreign language at the beginners' level. It reviews arguments for the use of simulations in language teaching, suggests a step-by-step procedure to use simulations, and presents a set of ready-to-apply simulation scripts on the topic of "eati...

This article analyzes the resolution types of tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states with foreign / second language (FL) words. It attempts to describe some of the search passes, strategies, and cues that are used by the learners to overcome the temporary word retrieval failures. More than a hundred TOT states were recorded in cognitive diaries by Russian...

Basic Data: Objectives: To improve communication in a foreign/second (or native) language, in particular, speaking skills; to analyze, understand, and present a specific point of view; to become aware of important human rights issues. Target audience: College-level students of English as a second/foreign language (intermediate/advanced level of pro...

This is a book review of Aquilino Sánchez Pérez (1997): Los métodos en la enseñanza de idiomas: Evolución histórica y análisis didáctico.

This is a book review of Mathilda Holzman (1997): The language of children (2nd edition).

In this article, I present a rationale, practical suggestions, and applicable examples for simulation-games in classes for beginning and advanced foreign language learners at high-school and college levels.

The acquisition of foreign language (FL) vocabulary involves two aspects: (1) learning to recognize a word’s meaning, and (2) becoming able to retrieve or produce the word’s form in speech production. The second aspect usually takes more time and practice to be developed. While learners may have no problem understanding a FL word’s meaning, they fr...

Most students abroad (56.6%) participated in short-term programs (summer, 8 weeks or less). • Number of students in programs of less than 8 weeks has tripled over the last decade.