Analyses the differences among writing samples by secondary school students in terms of the writer's ability to achieve certain stylistic requirements and to produce a well organized discourse. Relates underachievement to social factors and to educational methods that overemphasize the role of the written language. (MES)

A revised approach to teaching French orthography should aim at error prevention and emphasize differences between teaching spelling in the native language and in French. An analysis of spelling errors in the third, fourth, and fifth years of French yields some suggestions for evaluation and error prevention. (IFS/WGA)

Suggests that for improving syntactic fluency and the overall quality of compositions, exercises should be based on generative rhetoric. These exercises in which students supply the content of the sentence from a list of suggested structures are superior to sentence-combining exercises that provide the student with all the information. (PMJ)

Discusses a paragraph-centered approach to the teaching of reading in a foreign language. (CFM)

Proposes a pedagogy of French grammar which takes into account the varieties found in spoken French as distinct from those found in written French. (AM)

Reviews the evolution of semicolon use in English, examining the frequency of semicolons, colons, and dashes in grammar, language, and linguistic books from the mid-16th century to the present. Concludes that after flourishing in the 17th and 18th centuries, the semicolon may have become a marginal component of the English punctuation system. (42…

Presents as an alternative to the traditional Spanish textbook a modular approach that consists of activities based on essay reading and grammar exercises. Students liked this form of instruction, and most indicated that they had learned material previously unknown to them. (seven references) (Author/CK)

Takes the communicative intentions of the writer to a typical type of business letter as the basis for a genre-analysis and suggests that such a perspective will allow English-for-special-purpose practitioners to teach business writing more effectively and economically. Examples from a Singapore government project are used to illustrate this…

The concept of authenticity in foreign language pedagogy is discussed with particular reference to the methodology of instructing through the medium of authentic texts. It is suggested that the use of authentic texts in a classroom setting actually deauthenticates those elements that made the texts originally authentic; i.e., placing them in a…

The study investigated the effects of intrinsic motivation training and/or written language training on the written language achievement and motivation of 55 learning disabled adolescents (grades 10-12). Interventions included Alley and Deshler's "Learning Strategies" approach (writing strand) and "TARGETS," a systematic instructional strategy…

Second language students are often discouraged in trying to acquire oral fluency skills. Four specific problem areas are: (1) timidity; (2) listening comprehension difficulties; (3) oral reading problems; and (4) difficulty in putting sentences together. An approach that emphasizes writing skills avoids these problem areas and uses skills the…

Errors made by first and second year university students are grouped into categories and means for dealing with these errors are suggested. The article is divided into six parts. The introduction includes information about: (1) the linguistic background of the students and the university staff, (2) the educational system, (3) some language…

Modern linguistic theory offers two main contributions to the improvement of writing: readability and appropriateness. Readability can be developed by improving the correctness of forms used and achieved by carrying out an error analysis on the student's writing to provide insights into errors and clause structure. Linguists have determined that…

The five different methods of teaching reading used in the schools of Neuchatel, Switzerland, are described in this study. Remi-Colette is the official method, approaching reading through the study of key words, then syllables, letters, and sounds. The second method, S'Exprimer-Lire (Express oneself-read), inspired by recent linguistic studies,…

Describes a classroom activity that emphasizes syntactic fluency and the richness of linguistic resources available in written language, while downplaying the "dos and don'ts" of traditional punctuation instruction. (RL)