In this study, we present the analyses stemming from a survey administered to 2149 foreign language learners at Michigan State University. We had three goals. First, we aimed to compile a profile of language learners' technological acumen, access to and ownership of technology, and the current uses of technology across a wide range of languages…

The paper presents preliminary findings of a project which investigated whether learner background, in terms of instruction mode (i.e., school or intensive first-year course at university) and first language (i.e., character based or non-character based), has an impact on the development of writing skills in Japanese as a second language (JSL).…

This article argues that for students of Chinese and Japanese, learning to write Chinese characters ("hanzi/kanji") by hand from memory is an inefficient use of resources. Rather, beginning students should focus on character/word recognition (reading) and electronic writing. Although electronic technologies have diminished the usefulness of…

Five research projects concerning the Romanization of the Hebrew alphabet and its effect on the progress of adult English speakers learning Hebrew as a second language are reviewed. The hypotheses, subjects, procedures, results, conclusions, and validity of each study are summarized. The studies dealt with the Hebrew alphabet, spelling, plural…

Chinese characters are used in both Chinese and Japanese writing systems. When literate speakers of either language experience problems in finding or understanding words, they often resort to using Chinese characters or "kanji" (i.e., Chinese characters used in Japanese writing) in their talk, a practice known as "brush talk" ("bitan" in Chinese,…

The table of 545 simplified Chinese characters indicates the proper forms for general use according to the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The simplified characters are arranged according to a system that combines stroke counting and stroke order. Alongside the simplified characters are their traditional and more complex forms,…

Describes how the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei has used computers: 1) to select new vocabulary from texts for glossing; 2) to sort vocabulary for index listings; and 3) to print portions of textbooks. Problems with phonetic transcriptions and quality of print for Chinese characters are discussed. Samples are…

Provides suggestions for helping English-as-a-Foreign-Language teachers who work with students who write in a different alphabet or use a different form of script deal with the handwriting of their classes at the start of English learning. It is a way to systematically check, revise, and improve learners' handwriting through the use of dictations.…

This is a collection of reference materials to be used with the Chinese-Mandarin Basic Course textbooks. This collection consists of information on romanization systems, indexes for reading and writing characters, and other tables for quick reference. (NCR)

Lessons are presented on Mandarin Chinese concerning how to convert from the Yale romanization system to the Wade-Giles romanization system. The Yale system is the one most widely studied in the United States. Since biographical and geographical names in newspapers, magazines, books, and maps are still spelled out in the Wade-Giles romanization…

Kanji are a component of the Japanese writing system that originated from Chinese characters. There are about ten thousand kanji in use in Japanese literature, but knowledge of only the 2000 most frequently occurring of these is needed to be functionally literate in Japanese. The present study, therefore, aimed to address two questions: (1) What…

This Chinese-English glossary provides a ready-reference to all lexical items introduced in the 180 lessons of the Chinese-Mandarin Basic Course. The contents are arranged alphabetically from Chinese to English. Each entry has a reference number that corresponds to the lesson number of the basic course in which the item was introduced. (NCR)

Beginning Pashto is part of a set of materials for teaching oral and written Afghan Pashto. The Pashto writing system is taught in the first unit of the book and is used in the presentation of the material from then on. In the first three units, material is provided also in a romanized transcription. After that, the transcription of a word or…

These instructional materials for the Defense Language Institute's Chinese-Mandarin Basic Course include the following: (1) "Dictionary Drill"; (2) "Dictation Materials"; (3) "Character Flash Cards for the Basic Course, Lessons 16-124, Cards 1-52"; (4) "Character Flash Cards for the Basic Course, Lessons 125-279, Cards 53-97"; (5) "Basic Dialogues…

The historical development of written Japanese has resulted in an extremely complex system. Modern Japanese is usually written in logosyllabic script consisting of a combination of "kanji," the Chinese characters, and "kana," the Japanese syllables originally formed from them. There are two types of "kana," the…