English prepositions are generally considered difficult to teach to nonnative speakers, for a variety of reasons: the large number of possible meanings for many prepositions, which change according to the context in which they are used; the lack of a written guide to usage; and, for native Arabic speakers, the commonly-used grammar-translation…

Analyzes a corpus of 360 errors made by Polish university students in the German department. Sets up categories of interference-induced and non-interference-induced errors. Relates error analysis to teaching techniques. (Text is in German.) (DH)

AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE GRAMMATICAL SYSTEM OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE GIVES THE BEGINNING STUDENT A FOUNDATION UPON WHICH THE BASIC SKILLS CAN BE DEVELOPED. THUS, THE TEACHER'S PRESENTATION OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE SHOULD ADHERE TO THE BASICALLY LINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING, IN ORDER, THE BASIC FORMS, GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES, STRUCTURES WHICH HAVE NO…

Arguing that dialect interference in writing does not exist, this paper contends that pedagogies for teaching writing skills to native speakers of English that assume such interference are wrong. It examines arguments and evidence that support the notion of dialect interference in writing, offers counter evidence, and explores an alternative…

THE IDEAL SITUATION IN THE TEACHING OF HINDI TO AMERICAN STUDENTS SHOULD BE SUCH THAT--(1) THE TEACHER OF HINDI IS AWARE OF ALL THE LIKELY PROBLEMS ENGLISH SPEAKERS MAY FACE IN LEARNING HINDI, (2) THE TEACHER HAS DEVISED WAYS OF OVERCOMING THESE PROBLEMS, (3) HE HAS A HINDI TEXT WHICH IS ORGANIZED AND BASED ON THE RESULTS OF A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS…

This paper first considers the inadequacy of definitions of dialect speech that are too rigid. Some of the ways in which dialect can influence the performance of children in school are discussed, and the notion that dialect is an indication of linguistic deficit is also considered. In the last part of the paper, the attitude of the Schools Council…

The language problems described here concerned undergraduate college science courses taught by foreign Teaching Assistants, whose students claimed they could not understand their instructors' English. Upon investigation it was clear that a standard course in English was not sufficient to deal with the communication problems caused not only by…

A contrastive analysis of some phonological, morphological, and syntactical differences existing in French and English are cited along with suggestions for teaching each variation by the systematic approach. Also discussed briefly are such language interference problems as auditory discrimination of segmental and supra-segmental phonemes,…

The nature of common language errors for learners of second languages is explored, and it is found that the errors cannot adequately be explained in terms of the theory of language interference. A new rationale for these errors can come from an investigation of the perceptual strategies common to error analysis, and thus it is postulated that…

Appears in "The Florida FL Reporter special anthology issue "Linguistic-Cultural Factors and American Education. (FWB)

The syntactic distribution and behavior of five English and Persian "measure" nouns and their adjectives are compared. From this, errors attributable to transference and those due to inconsistencies in English are enumerated. A unified analytic model of Persian errors in learning English suggests useful teaching strategies. (PMJ)

Describes a sequence for teaching the Russian passive construction to exemplify how a learning sequence based on a contrastive analysis and on error analysis can lessen student errors. These errors are caused either by interference from the first language or over-generalization in the second language. (PMJ)

The consensus of opinion seems to be that the processes of mother tongue acquisition are essentially analogous to those of second language (SL) acquisition. These processes, however, seem to work best in childhood years. A theory of adult SL learning should try to incorporate interlanguage. (CFM)

Discusses difficulties of Persian speakers, including literacy problems in learning English because of differences in script, and offers suggestions for solving some of the problems in handwriting, spelling, form-filling, punctuation, and reading. (LB)

A language proficiency survey showed the inability of French students to be creative in a second language learned in high school. The article reviews current foreign language teaching methods in the French national school system and suggests that narration might be an effective exercise and that language instruction should begin at the elementary…