Compares the performance of Black, Hispanic, and Anglo students on a story unscrambling task to determine if sociocultural differences in story schemata affect reading comprehension. Shows some effects suggesting that the three groups have somewhat different strategies for choosing initial and final sentences and for making narratives coherent.…

Task-specific language demands should be established by study of language in use on the job. The main components of the Casualty doctor's communicative competence must be specified, and the course in English for Special Purposes must reflect these components in its simulations. (CFM)

This study investigated the languages that interfered with Nigerian secondary school students' learning of French, focusing on the Esan-West and Esan Central local government areas of Edo State. It also examined error types identified in students' scripts, error types caused by the most interfering language, error types occurring most frequently,…

The purpose of this presentation is to encourage college teachers of writing, inside and outside Appalachia, to look at dialect-based errors in a more expansive way even as they help students to make better choices about standard usage. The discussion, which is presented within the context of a socio-cultural perspective on bias in perceptions of…

Written for the general classroom teacher whose class includes English language learners (ELLs), as well as for ELL teachers working in general classrooms, this book portrays ELL students in grades 3-6 who learn essential reading and writing skills and are full members of the classroom community. Throughout the book, the authors emphasize the…

This book describes the process whereby children born into a bilingual community learn to use one or two languages (Welsh and English). Twelve chapters include the following: (1) "How Do Children Acquire Language?" (e.g., theories of language development); (2) "Where Do You Find Bilingual Children?" (e.g., bilingual…

This collection of papers is divided into four sections. Section 1, "Historical Linguistics," includes "The Grammaticalization of Non-Dative Reflexes of Latin ill- in Spanish" (Jose R. Carrasquel) and "'Esto es Ligero de Fazer': Object to Subject Raising in Medieval and Early Modern Spanish" (Mark Davies). Section 2, "Language Acquisition and…

An ethnographic study examined slang as spoken on campuses of two universities in the United States, one on the West Coast and one in the Midwest. Subjects were students from Intercultural Communication classes, who served as participant/observers and data gatherers. Subjects were instructed to collect slang terms that they heard on campus and,…

This book examines how nonnative speakers develop pragmatic ability in a nonprimary language, focusing on acquisitional processes, conditions, and sequential patterns. Nine chapters discuss the following: (1) "Introduction to Second Language Pragmatic Development"; (2) "Theories of Second Language Pragmatic Development" (e.g., the acculturation…

This report profiles the 2000 status of and changes (since 1990) in rates of health and health-related measures for racially and culturally diverse populations living in the 100 largest U.S. cities and their suburbs. Data came from the U.S. Census Bureau and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify patterns in race/ethnicity, foreign…

This research report focuses on Asian- and Pacific-American adolescent high school achievement. It is part of a continuing collaborative effort between Stanford researchers and six high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. This Study of Families and Schools, as part of the larger Study of Stanford and the Schools, is primarily concerned with…

Everything changes over time, even languages. Despite language teachers, grammar books, and standardise exams, there's no way to stop languages from changing. One aspect of language change of particular interest to members and supporters of women's rights organisations is the ongoing shift from what some people call "gender-exclusive"…

The interaction patterns of eleven Spanish-speaking preschool children in two bilingual programs were observed for one year. In predominantly English-speaking classrooms, greater English proficiency was related to English use with peers. In prevalently Spanish-speaking classes, English proficiency was more related to interaction in English with…

Using Tough's hierarchical analysis of language functions, this study found developmental differences in the communicative functions and strategies used by preschoolers in their conversations with one another. Generally found that females developed language strategies earlier than males and achieved a more advanced level of cognitive complexity…

It is suggested that teachers take this test designed for boys from rural eastern North Carolina. The test should highlight the problem confronting typical classroom teachers as they attempt to deal effectively with a wide variety of backgrounds. (CM)