The present study aims to explore the role of Chinese EFL learners' rhetorical strategy use in relation to their achievement in English writing in Taiwan. It has been argued that traditional Chinese text structures (indirect style) continue to influence the contemporary English writing of Chinese students in expository writing text. The manner of…

After a discussion of cognitive schemata, identified as representing a "gestalt" stored in human memory, this paper explores three pedagogical modes: the use of drama, humor, and suspense in the classroom. Ways that each pertain to cognitive and communication theory are discussed, and classroom examples of how each mode provides…

A study of the linguistic interference of nine multilingual immigrants to the Saguenay Peninsula of Quebec province examined three types of interference in their spoken English. They included: (1) interlingual interference from the mother tongue; (2) intralingual intrusion from structures and lexical items from within English in situations and…

The theory of articulatory setting, originally published in 1964, is outlined and expanded on, drawing on experiences with Polish and English. The theory proposes that each language has a unique configuration of articulators accounting for or establishing the natural sounds of that language that give it phonological unity and differentiate it from…

Results of a diagnostic test revealed that Thai students have no more trouble in learning English prepositions than others learning English as a second language; all the groups had difficulty. Error analysis was found to be just as effective in explaining mistakes as contrastive analysis. (AG)

Error analysis has been presented as a means of "finding a shorter way" in the analysis of learners' difficulties in foreign languages. The alternative starts with a comparison of the native and foreign languages in order to predict such difficulties. The two types are complementary rather than mutually exclusive. (Author/MSE)

The following are discussed as the main reason for English spelling mistakes among non-native speakers: interference from the native writing system, lack of auditory discrimination, misapplying analogy and direct translation. Techniques for handling spelling errors are also discussed. (AG)

A review of the literature and teacher observations are used to examine the processes and strategies by which second language learners attain and organize verbal knowledge. Classroom data are derived from experience in teaching German to Dutch-speaking university students. The analysis looks at the relationship of morphology and word recognition…

There is one and only one common human language processing system and a variety of linguistic data to be processed. This system must operate opportunistically with certain areas of freedom. Within that system there is competition between the first and second languages on all levels and through all stages of development. Some processing procedures…

The noun phrase of the Norwegian dialect of the multilingual village of Skibotn, in northern Norway, is analyzed. Attention is focused on the possible influence of two other languages, Finnish, an imported language, and Sami, the original language of the area, in the development of three different clusters of features characteristic of nominal…

A study investigated the relationship between language style and variability in the phonology of Japanese learners of English. The subjects were five adult native speakers of Japanese at the intermediate stage of English learning. Speech materials elicited three different speech styles of varying formality: reading of a word list, reading of a…

Due to differences in the grammars of English and French, "pendant" and "depuis" are as difficult to master for English speakers as their equivalents "for" and "since" are for French speakers. To the former, three facts are crucial: (1) "depuis" corresponds to both "for" and "since," which creates ambiguities; (2) "depuis" applies to an…

A study investigated variations in five native Japanese-speakers' consonant patterns in English as a Second Language. The eight phonological segments considered were English consonant clusters and final consonants. Subjects listened to a recording of a text by a native English-speaker and then read the text aloud five times. A similar procedure…

The research on which this study is based found that 50% of the errors in English of French-speaking students were due to interlingual causes and 50% had their source within the target language itself. The question of a correlation between the errors and the teaching method used is explored. Five methods are discussed and evaluated:…

An analysis is presented by the Puerto Rico office of the College Board of the English as a Second Language Achievement Test (ESLAT), which was undertaken to measure the specifications and item content of the examination against the students' performance. The report, based on 400 randomly selected structure items used in one or more versions of…