To clarify the role of dialect in the ever-changing English language and to demonstrate its relationship to efficient communication, this curriculum guide has been organized around an outline which includes the examination of such topics as exploration of regional dialects, geography of pronunciation differences, geographic and regional assessment…

Comparison of two fourth-grade spelling classes (one for hearing-impaired students and the other a general education class under consideration as a mainstream placement) revealed significant differences in interactional behaviors across physical, instructional, and social contexts. The hearing-impaired class was characterized by routinized…

Discusses stylistic variation in communication, the elements involved (participants, contact, message, context, and code), and ways in which to incorporate the knowledge of this process in second language instruction. (AM)

Describes the functional/notional approach to language instruction, discussing key features, misconceptions, and practical applications of the model. (AM)

Describes an assignment designed to dispel prospective English teachers' dichotomous ideas about language ("right" or "wrong"); gain a sense that more than one dialect could be accepted; and understand that the variations from the handbook rules ("errors") might even be rhetorically based. (TB)

Examines communication training aimed at women, such as assertiveness training, as an example of linguistics applied to real-world problems and argues that both the problem and the proposed solution are sociolinguistically and politically misconstrued. Such training often makes overgeneralizations regarding women's communication skills and assumes…

Discusses how research on conventional discourse patterns in professional settings provides useful insights into the design of language for specific purposes/English for specific purposes courses (LSP/ESP). Suggests an LSP course should aim at developing students' genre awareness. The question of whether genre conventions should be explicitly…

Students need to be made comfortable with the "foreign" language of British English before they can fathom the range of and changes in English literature through the centuries. In one approach to college English, students spend most of the first semester studying nineteenth century novels. After having studied four such novels, each for between…

This paper focuses on a language variation model that incorporates a number of concepts from linguistic and rhetorical studies. The model views language variation as a product of two correlating causes: one, the user and his or her personal, regional, and social dialect; and the other, the user's use of the language in terms of such discourse…

The essays in this volume enunciate the pressing need for a theoretical framework for the study of technical communication. The first part of the volume provides an overview of extensive ways to study technical communication. Subsequent chapters discuss humanistic approaches to technical communication, the history of technical communication,…

A curriculum rationale and model which meet the constraints of what is known of communicatively-based language teaching/learning are presented. The curricula prepares non-English speaking students for higher educational experiences in the U.S. Current program rationales, communicative and interactive teaching, and issues in curriculum design are…

Curriculum development in the United States has been based on the assumption that white middle-class values should serve as the standard for all of American society, but there is a need for courses in Afro-American communication which depart from traditional standards and categories of speech communication curricula. They should reflect concern…

Forty fourth-grade students participated in a study of the effects of intact-group versus small-group discussion on type and level of verbalization and on reading attitudes. The experimental group, divided in subgroups of five pupils each, discussed seven stories; the control group discussed the same stories as an intact class with teacher…

Pursues the argument that grammar teaching in a second-year university degree French course should be in line with the functional/notional communicative aims of the "Lyon a la une" project. Discusses the study of the pragmatic dimension of language as an essential prerequisite to the functional skills fostered by the project. (SED)

Outlines a method for classroom presentation of model dialogues which uses the problem-solving approach to stimulate students' awareness and production of functional elements suited to a variety of attitudes and situations. Gives examples illustrating classroom activities designed for each phase of the teaching-learning process. (MES)