In 2005, Klaus P. Schneider published a fascinating article with the title "'No problem, you're welcome, anytime': Responding to thanks in Ireland, England, and the U.S.A." Adopting the then emerging and now established framework of variational pragmatics, Schneider's pioneering paper presents the results of a study on differences…

This article critically reviews strategy research on learning Chinese both as a second and foreign language. Through a careful examination of major data bases in both the Chinese and English languages, the article summarizes research in the field and the principal research methods used in the studies reviewed. Moreover, key limitations in research…

Few challenges facing America today are as vital as improving the educational attainment of low social economic and English Language Learners (language minority children). The United States' educational reform has brought forth numerous initiatives throughout the past decades to address the "Achievement Gap" between Latino students and their Anglo…

Discusses some of the problems inherent in traditional methods of acquiring data for linguistic analysis, and proposes research methods which involve questionnaires and are designed to eliminate these problems, especially where reliable intuitive data cannot be obtained. (AM)

Survey responses of 121 professionals in applied linguistics indicated a range of knowledge of the concepts and procedures associated with empirical research. Respondents also showed differing attitudes about the usefulness of statistics and techniques in research methodology and the need to be informed about such procedures. (Author/CB)

Two types of verbal-report data (concurrent and retrospective) and four major introspective methods used in second-language research (L2) (thinking-aloud, questionnaires, interviews, diary-keeping) are described in a discussion of introspective L2 research studies. It is argued that, though incomplete, verbal reports from informant-learners offer…

A comparative study was conducted in two factories in the Montreal area which were in the process of changing the official language within the factory from English to French. The objective of the research was twofold: (1) to analyze the language use and behavior of the employees; and (2) to develop research instruments appropriate for evaluating…

A discussion of issues concerning the feasibility of conducting a Spanish version of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) is presented. The discussion is based on a 1992 seminar to address linguistic, political, and logistic concerns in such an undertaking. While the experience with the NALS guided discussion, the primary focus was on special…

In 1984, a new corpus of spoken Quebecois French (Canada) was added to the existing data. In developing it, half of the native speakers participating in a 1971 study were re-interviewed, providing previously unavailable data on individual language development. The report describes in detail the sociolinguistic methodology used in developing the…

A study in interlanguage pragmatics investigated the effect of three types of rejoinder (positive, negative, absent) on non-native informants' choices of strategies to perform complaints, requests, and apologies. Results show strategy choice differentially affected by rejoinder type, suggesting that findings from studies using different production…

Language-related attitudinal differences between two bilingual students at the University of Texas at El Paso are examined. The student designated "R" is found to exhibit language loyalty to both English and Spanish. Spanish is his language of choice chiefly when his conversational partner expects Spanish. Student "L" maintains…

This study tries to establish a baseline for the teaching of the French subjunctive in the United States and to encourage further scholarship by summarizing past activities. Distinctive subjunctive structures were extracted from 18 French newspapers and magazines and 15 recorded, non-directed interviews with native informants, thus providing…

This book includes: a theoretical summary of the various facets of motivation, an examination of how the theoretical insights can help classroom practitioners in their everyday teaching practice and practical recommendations on how motivation can be researched and assessed. The following chapters are included: "Main Challenges of Motivation…

Issues unique to survey research among limited-English-proficient (LEP) populations are discussed, with illustrations drawn from one recent doctoral study. The research in question was on language, culture, and ethnicity in five Chinese-language schools in northern California. Its aim was to investigate the role of the schools in maintaining…

What has been labelled mainstream dialectology has been criticized soundly on theoretical grounds, yet mainstream dialectologists have responded with the assertion that their critics have not been intimately familiar with dialect methodology and are therefore not qualified to criticize. Claiming that while theoretical issues are far from being…