Conducts a small-scale survey similar to one conducted by Maxine Hairston in 1979 to test whether nonacademic professionals' attitudes towards usage errors have changed in 20 years. Indicates a trend for respondents to find errors less bothersome than the respondents did 20 years ago. Supports the claim made by Hairston and other researchers that…

Investigates those words which cause students the most difficulty in usage by collecting data to determine the extent of their misuse. Lists the 75 most frequently misused words, and suggests that teachers focus on these in their classes. (PRA)

Evaluates, in pragmalinguistic terms, errors made in dialog initiating sequences and in responses made by advanced German students of English speaking with English partners. The errors are seen as revealing deficient language competence, both receptive and productive, rather than a lack of social competence. (IFS/WGA)

Points out that writing errors of journalism students can result from faulty thought patterns involving thinking in sentence fragments, personifying objects, using bureaucratic abstractions, and condensing complex ideas; examines ways of dealing with sentence fragments and personification. (First of a two-part article.) (GT)

Measures the extent to which students' reactions to usage errors changed as a result of having completed a business communication course. Finds that student reactions to usage errors can be positively affected by completion of a business communication class that does not have a formal basic skills development unit. (PRA)

A discussion of error analysis understood as the differences between the way people learning a language speak and the way adult native speakers use the language. The inevitable errors can be turned to pedagogical advantage if the teacher provides appropriate feedback to help the learner modify his grammar. (AMH)

An examination of 2,000 freshman themes, half written from 1950 to 1957 and half from 1973 to 1976, revealed that recent themes had many more deviations from standard usage, mechanics, and punctuation. (DD)

Describes a study designed to examine native speakers' reactions to errors contained in compositions written by advanced Spanish students, as a measure of error seriousness and a guide for selective correction. Suggests that errors interfering with comprehension should be eliminated first, followed by those that elicit negative reactions from…

Explains a technique for teaching proofreading to basic writing students that calls forth their inner competence with language and causes them to attend to what is actually written in order to find and correct manuscript errors. (EL)

Written examinations are considered to be more searching than oral ones; they are less subject to chance because they give more time to the student for reflection, and they do not favor one type of learner over another. This view is taken even though language is speech before it is writing. While there may be a need for a complementary oral…

Because of open admissions policies at the college level, college English teachers are faced with increasing numbers of students whose writing skills are well below desired standards. This journal, addressed to the concerns of teachers who want to help such students, attempts in this issue to point out ways in which English teachers can examine…

Examines the use of computers for error detection in natural language texts. Focuses on a computer program designed to teach students to edit their papers for errors using pattern matching in error detection. Describes a "pedagogy for editing" and speculates on ways to improve computer detection of errors in natural language texts. (AEM)

As a step toward developing appropriate instructional techniques to help learning disabled college students, mechanical errors were compared in the expository essays and controlled stimulus passages (rewrites) of 15 learning disabled, 15 normal, and 15 basic writers at the college level. Analysis of both types of writing samples showed that…

Some of the errors in selected areas of English grammar and lexis made by a sample of 100 first year college students from Madhya Pradesh, India, were investigated. The errors of students are described in linguistic terms, and some of the probable sources of errors are explained. The rules of grammar and usage that should be established to help…

A response to a paper on Translation Quality Assessment and the training of translators looks at parallel developments in second/foreign language learning/teaching, particularly in error analysis, error evaluation, and language authenticity. Argues criteria used to assess quality of translations in a professional context, for which functionalism…