Four groups of respondents comment on and evaluate oral communication of university level students. Implications of results are that students must feel desire to communicate; teacher must seem interested, not critical; teacher must deal openly with cultural sensitivities; lexical items should be dealt with in context; and objectives in classroom…

Argues for the studying of the language learning process itself, rather than doing contrastive or error analyses for determining the source of error in second language acquisiton. Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies can help determine the language learning stages. A multidimensional model of language learning is proposed. (PJM)

Inexpensive spelling computers can give children entertaining practice, but students still need teachers who look for patterns in a child's spelling errors and teach accordingly. (Author)

Two hypotheses explaining the cause of errors in second language production are reviewed and compared. Classroom techniques related to each are described. The viewpoint of each theory on which errors should be corrected, when, by whom, and how is summarized. (PMJ)

Examines aspects of foreign language teaching in Nigeria with examples drawn mostly from English phonology and proposes a more practical use of contrastive analysis and error analysis. The approach proposed emphasizes error analysis and discusses criteria based on the extent to which errors affect comprehension. (MES)

Examines 158 examples of malapropisms and determines three possible sources of this type of error: (1) childhood errors that were never corrected, (2) other kinds of imperfect learning, and (3) breakdown in the storage and retrieval system of the mental lexicon. (AM)

Confirms previous observations about the tonal character of English stress. Notes that Finnish listeners relied on duration as the perceptual cue for noun/noun phrase distinction (blackbird/black bird), reflecting the absence of linguistic contrasts based on an active use of the larynx in standard Finnish stress and intonation. (Author/RL)

Suggests the use of the Qualitative Analysis System in conjunction with the Informal Reading Inventory to analyze student reading difficulties. Includes instructions and analysis and profile sheets for using the system correctly. (TJ)

Reviews the use of miscue analysis in conjunction with the informal reading inventory and recommends the use of a miscue mini-form to refine the identification of reading levels and error pattern analysis. Includes a copy of the mini-form. (TJ)

A six-year-old with a language problem responded consistently to 100 locative commands by putting objects in containers and on flat surfaces regardless of the preposition or order of the nouns in the commands. (Author/CL)

On the basis of German compositions written by second- and third-year English students, with specific reference to the placement of "nicht," it is shown that performance is affected by the mother tongue, but also by the level of experience in using the target language. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

A study examined the effects of overt phonologic impairment on the phonological awareness, verbal working memory, and letter knowledge of 29 children with phonologic impairment and 16 controls (ages 3-6). Children with phonologic impairment performed significantly worse on tasks of verbal working memory, phoneme segmentation, and letter…

Summarizes results from theory, research, and practice in technological assisted language instruction aiming toward an integrated theory of what will be available in this area in the 21st century. The study focuses on conceptualizing the use of advanced technologies in language instruction. (25 references) (Author/CK)

Challenges the prevalent misconception among many students that the grammatical gender system of Spanish is transparent. Data concerning the number of exceptions in gender assignment in Spanish is presented along with samples of student production. (VWL)

This study compared responses of 16 pupils either with or without autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and matched for gender and verbal ability. Subjects' responses to various pictures were categorized. Results suggested errors made by the two groups differed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Errors made by pupils with ASD were largely…