This article discusses the notion of acquiring a basic threshold of communicative competence in a second language as it applies to the instruction of French as a second language. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

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…

A notional syllabus places the greatest emphasis on the use of the language, unlike most foreign language syllabuses, which emphasize its structural form. Each entry defines a type of purposeful communication. When the student has mastered the syllabus, he has thus acquired a communicative competence. (CFM)

This paper examines the effect which certain environmental variables have upon learning to speak English as a second language. (Author)

Argues for an awareness on the part of employers and teachers of the important role language skills can play in industry. (AM)

Examines growth of metropolitan Miami's Spanish-language economy and the economic and cultural advantages of a multilingual workforce. Discusses Hispanic and Latin American businesses, Spanish-language media, statewide and local Spanish instructional programs, Dade County census data on language use and educational attainment, a Miami business…

Studied number use in language by preschool children and their mothers during cooking experiences. Found that although children used a variety of number words, mothers made greater use of number words than did children. Strong relationship between reciprocal numeracy episodes (between mother and child) and child's number use suggests that adult…

This paper reports on an empirical study of street language, a multilingual youth register in the Netherlands. Nearly 300 secondary school students completed a questionnaire on their acquaintance with and use of street language. A subsample of students was also interviewed. Use of street language will be related to background information about the…

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the applicability of task-based language teaching (TBLT) to state secondary foreign language classes. After discussion of method in general, TBLT is defined and its particularities described. Tasks are assessed as the basis for syllabus and then as the basis for method. In both cases, the proposals are…

For the monolingual population, research has shown that vocabulary knowledge is closely related to reading achievement. However, the role of vocabulary has not been studied as extensively in the bilingual population. It is important to look at vocabulary to better understand reading achievement in the bilingual population in the United States.…

This study examines out-of-school use of Irish and motivation to learn Irish among final year post-primary students from three different instructional backgrounds: mainstream students studying ordinary and higher level Irish as a subject only and immersion students. Information on motivation and use is linked to student proficiency in Irish.…

This book is about language prejudice as experienced by Puerto Ricans in the mainland United States. Prejudice is expressed as social signs that include, but go well beyond, language. When people express linguistic prejudices, they generally start by objectifying the languages in question as though the languages were sharply defined. For Puerto…

Three articles on near-native English language proficiency are presented. "Attitudes to English Usage: A Comparison between Native and Non-Native Speakers," by Ann-Christin Miemois, reports on a study of attitudes toward usage of certain lexical items in English in four distinct situations. Subjects were natives of Finland and New…

Second language acquisition (SLA) research is examined in terms of what might be used in the planning, design, and implementation of language courses. A conception of language and the communicative use of language that is appropriate for formal language teaching and learning is discussed, and different conditions are described under which second…

Several external and internal factors combine to hinder optimal communication in "Competency," the language of behavior modification. As a language, Competency a) is spoken with varying degrees of fluency and facility, b) is difficult to translate into English because the common vocabulary is used descriptively in English while it is…