The research to be reported on in this paper was originally motivated by the finding that about 70% of the mistakes made by university students when translating from their mother tongue (Dutch) into their foreign language (French) were lexical in nature (NIENHUIS et al. 1989). This was partially… read more
This paper describes an investigation into the relation between the results of a newly developed test of deep word knowledge (DWK) and a series of other word knowledge tests as well as a writing task. The DWK consists of 63 items constructed along the following model: one stimulus plus 6 responses. read more
In this article, we report on the construction of a test of deep word knowledge in French as a second language that can be used at advanced levels of proficiency. By 'deep word knowledge' we mean the knowledge of the semantic network of L2-words; our test focuses on the knowledge of the relations… read more
In this article we address the question whether polysemous words are more difficult to translate than monosemous words. If the two different meanings of a polysemous word have to be translated by two different words in the target language, the translator wil have to select the right one. We… read more
The distinction between lexicon and grammar has long been seen as one between loose elements and rules, between building blocks and building principles. For that reason the lexicon was considered as scientifically less interesting. In the last few years however, the idea has grown that the lexicon… read more
The description of language is in a sense just like statistics: on the basis of a sample the linguist wants to get an idea of the language as a whole. However, statistical procedures can only be used with units which are in a significant way interchangeable. This article attempts to define the… read more
In European universities, translation from native to target language continues to be a commonly used testing tool in programs of modern language writing proficiency. The selection of native language texts that are used as source texts in the translation test and especially the question of… read more
Dictionaries should be designed with a special set of users in mind and for their specific needs". This claim has been made for at least 25 years, but the information gathered in this period about dictionary users is very scant. More is said in the lexi-cographical literature about what dictionary… read more
In his dissertation Bogaards (1982) developed a model of the relations between the factors that affect the success in learning French as a foreign language. This article reports on the results of a replication investigation in four forms of two Dutch schools, employing the pad-analysis, the… read more
In the present article the author tries to define the notion of "strategy", with respect to related notions like "approach" plan and process. "Approach" must be seen as a relatively large category, that is linked with personality and acts upon the choice of "plans". Plan is seen as opposed to… read more
A model is a system of which the structure is known and which provides information through isomorphism about a system of which the structure is not known. In (applied) linguistics a model is often not more than a theory in the form of a diagram, but constructing a model is useful especially when… read more