Lexical Inferencing in a First and Second Language

Marjorie (Mari) Wesche is a former Professor and currently an Adjunct Professor at the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute of the University of Ottawa. Her teaching and research specialties are in second language acquisition including vocabulary acquisition; language aptitude and performance-based testing; and content-based instruction including immersion. Since the early 1990s she and her colleague, Sima Paribakht, have been involved in joint research on L2 vocabulary acquisition and reading, including several major research projects involving lexical inferencing. She has published widely in all these areas.

T. Sima Paribakht is a Professor at the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute of the University of Ottawa. She is currently Director of the Instituteâs Academic Programs. Her current research interests include second language vocabulary development through reading, the effect of the first language on second language lexical processing, testing vocabulary knowledge, and second language vocabulary teaching. She has authored and edited several books and has published a number of book chapters and articles in these and other areas.