This contribution investigates the frequency patterns of the modal verbs as they occur in the one-million-word corpus of Cameroon written English. An analysis of dominant senses of some of the modals is also attempted. I have used results and statistical figures from British and American English (as reported in studies such as Biber et al. 1999…

Students enter pre-service teacher education programmes with certain preconceptions about what the world is like, what classrooms are like and how students acquire literacy. In our increasingly multicultural society, teachers in pre-service teacher education courses are often not representative of the wider population. The present paper reports on…

Error analysis has consistently neglected to give any treatment of the phonological aspects of non-native linguistic performance. Using Selinker's Interlanguage model as a starting-point, an attempt is made here to develop a descriptive apparatus capable of accounting for the phenomena of "foreign accents." The data of one such…

Understanding the inputs to syllabus design makes for practical and relevant syllabus planning. This article summarizes an attempt to combine the concept of register in language, as a basis for selecting authentic language material, with what is known about the learner's contribution to the acquisition of the target language. (CLK)

This study presents a formal device which can be used to display interlanguage variability while revealing its overall systematicity. Two types of variability are recognized: (1) production of a number of variant structures for a single target language structure at one point in time; and (2) variation over time that is attributable to the…

This article investigates a specific foreign language (FL) learning problem, the substitution of /s,z/ for English unvoiced and voiced "th" by native speakers of Egyptian Arabic, and concludes that the facts are better explained in terms of language transfer than by an explanation in terms of inherent difficulty independent of native…

Argues that language varieties represent an important aspect of the development of bilingualism. Analysis of migrant children's acquisition of German and their productive, reactive, and receptive competence demonstrates that children who fail in the understanding and use of language varieties often lack the necessary sociocultural knowledge.…

Discusses language use as a variable in studies of second-language learning, considering a study of 300 secondary school students learning Chinese that showed that integrative and instrumental motivation to be independent and that language use explains one-fifth of total variance in language achievement. (Author/CB)

The differences between the use speakers make of a language in different areas of a country, or in one social class as opposed to another, are nowadays recognized as essential parts of a description of a language. Progress beyond the elementary stage of language acquisition requires the development of sensitivity to the appropriateness of language…

A study investigated the substitution of the Japanese flap for English liquids /r/ and /l/ by 11 Japanese students in their first and fourth years of college. Phonological patterns were examined at the two different stages, in reading vs. spontaneous oral language tasks, and for word-initial singleton vs. word-initial cluster environments. The…

Results of an error analysis of compositions by students of Spanish are reported. Advanced students are shown to still make errors in morphology, syntax, choice of prepositions, and lexical choice. Error patterns suggest utilization of variable rules in the analysis of transitional competence. (JB)

Finds that American English is slighted in favor of British English in German schools. Cites examples of differlng language norms which could cause misunderstandings. Finds that American usage deserves more attention because of the political and cultural importance of the United States. (IFS/WGA)

Discusses the relationship in language and specifically in French between the standard language norm, the various registers and styles available to native speakers of a given language, and second language learning. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article reviews the situation of the instruction of French in Quebec, in terms of the role of French and attitudes toward standard and non-standard varieties of French, the acquisition of French by native French speakers. Bidialectal instruction is suggested as one way of dealing with non-standard varieties. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Introduces this special issue of the journal and presents results from comparative research into the principles constraining learner varieties (interlanguages) in use. Articles analyze the oral production of complex verbal tasks in second language Dutch, English, French, German, and Italian. (Author/VWL)