Describes how, through the use of two diagrams, one can teach the English present-perfect to Iranian students. One diagram consists of a time-line divided into "past" and "non-past." The other uses an oval to indicate a time-span including the present. Both facilitate comprehension of present-perfect meaning. (PJM)

Outlines a method for teaching writing encourages self-improvement while downplaying competition. The instrument is a scoring grid which classifies and tabulates errors, then assigns values in each of several pertinent categories, based on the student's performance in that category relative to his classmates. Individual and group evaluation is…

Students of English as a second language (ESL) often come to the classroom with little or no experience in writing in any language and with inaccurate assumptions about writing. Rather than correct these assumptions, teachers often seem to unwittingly reinforce them, actually inducing errors into their students' work. Teacher-induced errors occur…

Notes that the basic elements of the English article system are best taught to foreign technical writing students over an extended period of time. Outlines a teaching method that emphasizes reducing errors that native English speakers perceive as wrong rather than teaching the nuances by which native writers fine tune their relationship with their…

Areas of contradiction and controversy over error analysis are discussed, and an interference error analysis project is described, giving a detailed definition of interference error. Several practical approaches to teaching out interference errors are outlined. (MSE)

A study of the holistic evaluation of writing compared holistic rating and the rating for "conformity to correct prose" technique, a technique based on error counting, of five essays representing five ability levels. The essays were produced in a college English-as-a-Second-Language program. The two scoring methods produced the same ranking of…

It is argued that dictation is a neglected technique for second-language training. Students' error patterns at three levels are presented to show how the technique can be used effectively for both teaching and testing, and to develop integrative skills and accuracy in both listening and writing. (Author/MSE)

Deals with English stress problems for Iraqis under three main headings: single-stressed words, double-stressed words, and unstressed syllables. While stress in Arabic is predictable, stress in English is not. The Iraqi will transfer native-language stress patterns to English. Errors cause miscommunication and are difficult to pinpoint. (PJM)

In interlanguage, the transitional state reaching from one's native language to a given target language, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical, sociocultural, or psycholinguistic errors may be generated and systematized by the process of fossilization. Depending on the amount of time needed for remediation, fossilized features may be…

A study of the gravity of non-native speakers' speech errors, particularly as viewed in the workplace, was based on two assumptions: that certain features of spoken English contribute more to speech acceptability than others, and that native speakers have an internalized, ordered list of criteria for making judgments about non-native speakers'…

Examines the nature of interlanguage as it affects second-language learning and teaching, focusing on the language transfer phenomenon, fossilization, how error analysis and error correction can be improved through understanding of interlanguage, native speaker norms, international varieties of English, and the contribution of interlanguage to…

A discussion of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching focuses on the relationship of lexical items to the syntactic situations in which they may occur, and the importance of teaching this relationship to language learners. First, common errors made by ESL students that are attributable to lack of syntactic context knowledge are identified.…

The purpose of this study was to: (1) describe differences in performance by non-native learners of English, when writing in different genres; (2) determine communicative value of grammatical errors as judged by a panel of native speakers; and (3) demonstrate inconsistencies in native speaker judgment of error gravity. Subjects were 20…

A discussion of cognates in second language teaching, particularly in English as a Second Language (ESL), looks at reasons and methods for teaching both true and false cognates ("friends"). A definition of cognates is offered, and a distinction is made between a cognate and a borrowed word, with examples from several languages.…

It is important that teachers help students to realize that writing is not simply a product, or a means to an end, but an exploratory, cyclical process. Research has shown that skilled writers conceptualize the effect of their writing as a whole, as a generative process, whereas unskilled writers are distracted by surface-level features and are…