Describes an experimental computer-assisted history tutoring system that uses augmented transitional networks to allow computer interaction in natural language. (IRT)

This article consists of a practical semantic explanation of the embedding process in French and English, and outlines a methodology devised to facilitate the teaching of this process. (CLK)

Discussed are the construction and scoring of elicited imitation tasks, a sentence repetition procedure which can be used to obtain information about a child's syntactic abilities. (LS)

This paper examines what devices a speaker of English uses to produce continuous language, and how such devices are used in English. (CLK)

Describes a program for understanding and generating natural language which handles paragraph-length imput. Its core, "preference semantics," a system of preferential choice between deep semantic patterns, is contrasted with: (1) syntax-oriented linguistic approaches, and (2) theorem-proving approaches to understanding. Available from…

This article discusses the notion of the scope of quantifiers in natural language. Previous studies are reviewed, and three factors essential to understanding scope are isolated: inherent characteristics of the quantifier, its grammatical function in a sentence, and serial distribution of predominance. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

The variety of syntactic forms for expression of directives is commented on. Data has been collected investigating the empirical distribution of formal variants across social features and predictability of the form of a directive if social features of its context are known. (Author/RM)

An experiment was performed to determine the effects of syntax complexity and vocabulary difficulty of problem statements on the ability of students to solve them. It was concluded that these variables do have an effect on students' performance, especially in cases of students with low general ability or reading problems. (SD)

Stresses the need for a sociolinguistic approach to the instruction of Chinese as a second language that would take into account recent changes in the Chinese language. A specific method used in the preparation of teaching materials is outlined. (CLK)

Recommends, for English teaching at advanced levels, equating English participial constructions with German participial constructions rather than with paraphrases, in order to develop an analytic approach on the part of the student. (IFS/WGA)

This study examined the sensitivity of adult second language learners to deviance in English sentences. The subjects were 18 Egyptian, Arabic-speaking students attending classes at the English Language Institute of the American University in Cairo. (Author/CFM)

According to a theory of textual cohesion, anaphoric references and noun phrase organizers may serve as cohesive ties linking separate sentences into unified paragraphs. This study revealed that only the noun phrase organizer condition was significant in promoting comprehension and indicated no difference in time scores by paragraph condition.…

In two experiments, subjects were interrupted while listening to a two-clause sentence just before the last word of either the initial clause or the final clause. The two experiments together suggest that interclause semantic relations affect the immediate processing of clauses. (Author/EJS)

The study, involving 12 poor and 12 good fourth grade readers, tested the effects of context on the identification of high-frequency words. (BD)