In this study, the authors plotted the Spanish language usage of 10 preschool-age children over the course of 3 years and assigned them to one of two groups: language maintenance and language loss. The authors then compared the groups' scores on structured tasks, language behaviors, and language usage/exposure variables. They found that children…

This study examined discourse strategies used by males and females to convey embarrassing information to interlocutors of unequal status and unspecified gender. Subjects were 80 native speakers of Turkish (28 males, 52 females), from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and geographic areas. Data were derived from a written discourse completion…

A discussion of bidialectalism looks at whether it is analogous to bilingualism, particularly in the case of young speakers of Black English, and how this and related considerations may inform reading instruction. Theory and research concerning dialects and bidialectalism, bilingualism and its various types, and linguistic competence and…

This study investigated the nature of students' discussion in peer response sessions in an English-as-a-Second-Language composition class in Taiwan. Subjects were 17 university students, divided into four writing groups. Half of the 16 peer response sessions were computer-mediated (CM), the other half in face-to-face interaction (FF). Analysis of…

A study investigated 35 third grade students' requests and responses in their reading groups to determine (1) whether peer instructional groups designed to differ according to reading ability do, in fact, differ on measures of reading achievement; (2) how the processes of interaction, particularly requests and responses, differ in these groups;…

This descriptive study of language use examined the extent to which bilingual Hispanic young adults used their two languages in varying aspects of their lives and analyzed the extent to which they maintained the use of Spanish in these domains. A convenience sample of 202 undergraduate, Hispanic university students completed the Language and…

This study investigated the effects of "signals" in text (headings, previews, and logical connectives) on the reading comprehension of learners of English as a Second Language. Subjects were 232 female Hong Kong secondary school students, all less-skilled readers of English. The subjects read a relatively difficult passage in English on…

This study compared patterns in the requests of native Persian-speakers (n=50) and native speakers of American English (n=52) under the same social constraints. Students were undergraduate students in their native countries. Data were gathered by controlled elicitation (open questionnaire) and coded for degree of directness. Results show the…

An analysis of the use of attenuation (structural or semantic softening of the speech act) and sentence structure in elicited speech acts by normally developing, learning disabled, and developmentally delayed populations is presented. In the normally developing population (1) the development of attenuation strategies is different from structural…

A study relating mothers' language styles and techniques of family control to children's cognitive development was conducted with 163 urban Negro mothers from the lower and middle classes and their 4-year-old children. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) There was a significant negative correlation between responses of status-oriented…

This monograph presents data and conclusions derived from one phase of an investigation of objectives and methods in the teaching of modern foreign languages in high schools and colleges. A committee of specialists operating under the auspices of the American Council of Education and with financial assistance received from the Carnegie Corporation…

Analysis of French used in teleconferences between American and French university students, relative to technical and discursive dimensions and learners' Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), found much of the language used was beyond these learners' capability, due to heightened classroom anxiety and differences in language varieties used by…

Although the majority of New Zealanders speak English, and only English, the 1987 Maori Language Act and immigration from both Asia and the Pacific have had a significant impact on New Zealand society. Because increasing numbers of children are entering school with limited English language ability, students are arguably the group with the most…

A study investigated the use of lexical certainty modifiers, which have a mitigating or emphasizing function (e.g., "I suppose,""sort of,""obviously"). Although certainty modifiers add little to the referential information of messages, they can be very important interpersonally, particularly in terms of politeness.…

The development of written language and its functions were studied for 236 second graders (from four locations in the surrounding Birmingham, Alabama area) in 6 traditional and 6 writing process classrooms. Pen pal letters to undergraduates and written samples were obtained from three students from each class. Writing process classrooms reflect…