This dissertation examines the principles of two current theories of first language acquisition and from them synthesizes a second language methodology. As a background to the problem of second language methodology, it is stated that the basing of second language methodologies on first language learning is currently being questioned and that the…

This study was designed to investigate, describe, and compare the intonation patterns of Black English and Standard English speaking children in a reading (formal) and free discourse (informal) situation. Black English was defined as the linguistic code of the subjects sampled from the inner city black poverty area schools, and Standard English as…

Today's inclusion of semantics within the overall language design offers proof against the earlier mistaken view that semantics was irrelevant to the study of language. Sociolinguistics have reassessed language as a social matrix that encompasses the sum of linguistic variation present in a given community. Variability in language is described by…

This paper investigates some of the underlying assumptions prevalent in much of the research concerning the language patterns of black children and compares two competing research approaches: the deficit model, which assumes that black children from the ghetto hear very little language, much of it ill-formed, and that they are impoverished in…

This paper concerns the question of linguistic deficiency in the bilingual setting. The author believes that language is a uniquely human phenomenon developing mainly in response to maturation in the midst of confusing linguistic input, varying in style and language according to situation. However, there seems to be no reason to expect the…

To explore some of the ways in which notions of grammaticality reflected in secondary English language textbook series affect a student's acquisition of standard English and his attitude toward language, (1) statements which authors of widely-used textbooks made about standard English and why it is taught in the schools were compared with comments…

Departing from Baconian science which focuses on explanation of the occurrence of events, Chomsky's linguistics involves a different orientation--namely the explanation of form to account for linguistic behavior. The "knowledge" upon which linguistic judgements are based involves the premise of innate mechanisms. The assumption that speakers and…

A report on a study exploring the relationship between observed variability in second-language speech and the process in which correct variants are acquired and incorrect ones are replaced. Three phonological variables in the English speech of French-Canadian second-language speakers in Montreal were investigated. The method, results and…

Indicates that (1) children's violations decreased with age; (2) in the dyadic context, fathers assumed a more directive role in response to children's violations than did mothers; (3) there were no between-parent differences between parents regarding reactions to children's violations in the triadic context. (NKA)

Explores specific classroom language used by students for whom English is a second language. (HOD)

A salient characteristic of the morpho-lexical systems of the Salish languages is the widespread use of reduplication in both derivational and inflectional functions. Salish reduplication signals such typologically common categories as "distributive/plural,""repetitive/continuative," and "diminutive," the cross-linguistically marked but typically…

Presents an Ohio experiment in which 30 kindergartners and 76 first graders, all English speakers, attempt to learn to produce three non-English phones. Bibliography. (MB)

Analyzes data from natural settings and controlled experiments in order to describe native speakers' responses to questions asked by nonnatives and discusses what variables of a nonnative's speech might elicit these responses. (EKN)

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)