Explores unformalized problems arising from different linguistic representations and non-representations of the categorical distinction between the real and unreal in French and in English. Because the different sensitivities to these oppositions are not acknowledged by manuals and not formalized by dictionary examples of usage, the differences…

Studies patterns of frequent mistakes in the use of articles in English by speakers of Hindi/Punjabi. The control over the definite and indefinite article is examined in relation to their forms and functions. The use of articles is also considered in complex noun phrases and different syntactic structures, and an attempt is made to establish a…

No single foreign language teaching method can produce speakers with competence in all areas of the target language. Teachers should be aware that the relative importance of form versus function varies with the specific goals of language use and should consider the consequences of fossilization, error correction, and comprehensibility in teaching…

This article examines recent research in the areas of contrastive analysis (CA) and error analysis (EA) as they apply to second-language learning, focusing on redefinitions and modifications of the concepts of language "transfer,""error," and "native speaker." It argues that both CA and EA remain vital components of applied linguistics and…

Fluent Spanish-English bilinguals were asked to translate passages containing idioms into everyday conversational English. Results confirmed the use of knowledge of English to produce many idioms and the production of more idioms that were identical in both languages. (Contains 20 references.) (Author/LB)