This study demonstrates how native and learner corpora can enhance modal verb treatment in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) textbooks used in mainland China. Data analysis compares modal verbs in the textbook and native corpus by referring to distributional features, semantic functions and co-occurring constructions; and the analysis of the…

Focuses on the language situation in Luxembourg, examining the interference between Letzeburgesch on one hand and, French German, and English on the other. Bourdieu's concept of legitimate language is modified to match the situation in Luxembourg of "triglossia with trilinguaism" and the legitimate multilingual language competence, which…

An excerpt from the resolution of the executive committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, which espouses the view that no variety or dialect of a language is intrinsically superior to any other, is presented. Implications for teaching standard and nonstandard dialects are discussed. (KC)

Romanian is characterized by a richness of surface forms that are difficult to classify and even more difficult for the learner to assimilate. There is much instructional material available in Romanian, and in a survey of fifty works published outside the country, four categories emerged: teaching materials, pedagogical grammars, grammars, and…

Examines arguments in favor of the notion of dialect interference in writing; offers counterevidence and explores an alternative explanation for apparent dialect interference in writing. Concludes that pedagogies for teaching writing skills to native speakers of English that assume dialect interference are theoretically wrong, pedagogically…

After a brief summary of the literature on interference and code switching, research with adult Sardinians living in Rome is discussed to determine the relationship between dialectal phonological interference and the degree of identification with the new culture. (26 references) (CFM)

Summarizes research on educational programs that use stigmatized varieties of English in the classroom, and reviews relevant theory and research in psycholinguistics and second language acquisition. Research on educational programs shows that using the stigmatized variety in formal education seems to have a positive effect on the acquisition of…

Renewed interest in the connection between black English and reading difficulty warrants a summary of the groundwork laid in the 1960s and 1970s. Linguists have established the fact that black English is a legitimate language, that its speakers are not language deficient, and that the basic difference in black and standard English pertains to…