The functioning of any language is regulated not only by linguistic rules, but also by norms of social and cultural life. Nowadays, development of lingua cultural approach in worldwide education is conditioned by a re-construal of culture phenomena as a specific form of human existence. Until now, we have been dealing with an absence of sufficient…

In vocabulary research there has been a shift from focusing on single words to considering multiword sequences, such as collocations. Despite the general consensus among language researchers that collocation is essential to effective language use in real-world communication, particularly oral communication, language-testing researchers have made…

So far, the comprehension and production language modes have typically been studied separately in generative second language acquisition research, with the focus shifting from one to the other. This article revisits the asymmetric relationship between comprehension and production by examining the second language (L2) acquisition of the noun phrase…

Language samples were gathered from two children, from several weeks after the first birthday of each child to the beginning of the child's two-word period (approximately 10 months). The children were observed and videotaped every two weeks, to obtain 33 continuous minutes of tape. Analyses focused on the question of whether or not the child uses…

Contrasts two definitions of communication strategies: the interactional definition in which the central function is the negotiation of meaning, and the psycholinguistic definition in which communication strategies are related to individual language users' experience of communicative problems and the solutions they pursue. (EKN)

This paper begins with an outline of some desirable properties of a communicative-pedagogical grammar. This serves as a theoretical point of reference for the subsequent description of a narrowly bounded semantic area, that of regret and relief. Conceptual analysis reveals a systematic relationship between these two emotions, which is…

An overview is given of semantic research in adult Second Language Acquisition (SLA), focusing particular attention on undirected SLA. Several studies on child SLA are mentioned, and suggestions for further research on SLA semantics are offered. (35 references) (GLR)

In a review of two decades of vocabulary research, it is noted that vocabulary has moved from "poor relation" to "guest of honor" status in language teaching. Research areas include specialized bibliographies, vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary teaching, course materials, and lexicography. Future research directions are suggested, including…

An outline is provided of the contents and boundaries of three areas of competence, or systems of knowledge, that are to be minimally included in a theory of communicative competence: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence. Grammatical competence is concerned with the rules of sentence grammar and sentence…

This study describes some aspects of the emergence of displaced reference (talking about topics other than those in the immediate context) in conversations between a child and her parents. The data consisted of tape recorded interaction with the child between 17 and 36 months. During this period, speech about the here and now always dominated, but…

Argues that communicative competence is as important in writing as in speaking, and that more emphasis should be placed on written work and writing skills in the second language classroom. Discusses some of the insights that discourse analysis provides into written communication in the areas of pragmatics, semantics, lexicon, and syntax. (EKN)

Three groups of Grade 7 students participated in a study to examine the personality and language exposure factors associated with learning French as a second language. (CFM)

Speech performance data, including hesitations in the stream of speech, fragmented words or phrases, retracings, and the use of intonation contours for noncommunicative purposes, are examined. It is proposed that these types of speech phenomena are indicative of underlying hypothesis testing and utterance planning strategies. Data produced by 48…

This paper discusses the meaning of the term "lexical simplification" in the context of second language acquisition. It is suggested that simplification be viewed as a universal feature of language use which may be manifested in a number of linguistic contexts, including the creation of a learner's interlanguage. It is further suggested…

A number of studies on the acquisition of communicative competence (the ability to communicate effectively in natural social settings) in varying cultural and social settings are described. Languages covered are English, including urban Afro-American dialects; Samoan; Tzeltal, an Indian language of Southern Mexico; Luo of Kenya; and the Spanish of…