The authors review some of the constructs provided by recent classroom language studies. By employing constructs from these studies to describe part of a classroom lesson, the authors illustrate one way to explore how classrooms work. They then list some cautions and recommendations about the use of classroom research for making policy decisions.…

Reports data on the validity of a Canadian version of Labov's "index of linguistic insecurity." Scores on the two tests were highly correlated, indicating high criterion validity of the Canadian test. Also, social class and gender differences followed the same pattern as Labov's study, with the lower middle class and females showing…

Surveys the development of language tests toward authenticity and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of indirect and direct (authentic) language tests. Discusses the difficulty of applying appropriate psychometric measures to tests using real-life language, and the large number of tests variables which interfere with the authenticity of…

Reviews organizational communication studies since 1955: (1) explores problems with the use of language in these studies; (2) reviews specifically the literature on organizational hierarchies; (3) discusses promising areas of emerging research, and (4) recommends ways research can be productively conducted and reported. Includes an extensive…

Examines the way the metaphorical language used by researchers in educational administration to describe the processes, concepts, and relationships they are investigating reveals their attitudes and biases toward education, educational administration, and research. (PGD)

Characteristics, idiosyncrasies, borrowings, and other aspects of the French terminology for computers and computer-related matters are discussed and placed in the context of French computer use. A glossary provides French equivalent terms or translations of English computer terminology. (MSE)

The author shares her insights about the principles and knowledge of the writing system that children discover, develop, and learn to control. She categorizes these principles as functional principles, linguistic principles, and relational principles. (CT)

Discusses the usage of French in Gabon. As in other nations of francophone Africa, French is the language of upward social mobility in Gabon, and it offers access to the international community. However, one factor peculiar to Gabon is the virtual absence of a Gabonese national language, which promotes a greater dependency upon a mastery of the…

Tests 4- to 12-year-old children's use of the verb "lying" and their moral judgment of true and false assertions. Stories that produced either a false statement despite truthful intentions or a true statement despite deceptive intentions were used. (Author/CI)

Describes a comparative study of interrogative words in Spanish and English, which resulted in a series of hypotheses about the way Spanish speakers convey the interrogative how plus adjective or adverb. To test the hypotheses, surveys were conducted with native Spanish speakers. Surveys and results are discussed. (AMH)

Four teachers discuss benefits of humor and the disadvantages of sarcasm. Includes a humorous piece on teaching cheating in the classroom. (EL)

Discusses the conflict between academic discourse and students' right to their own language. Shows how the study of interlanguage looks at the learner's present language use and provides a conceptual framework for seeing student writing as a stage in a developmental process, for seeing individual differences, and for seeing common patterns. (EL)

Current colloquial use of the simple past and present perfect shows a tendency of the former to encroach on the semantic field of the latter so that the two may be used in free variation in many contexts. The contexts in which this is not possible are defined, and implications for teaching English as a second language are discussed. (MSE)

Describes the development and validation of a simple scale for quantifying English use among Mexican Americans and analyzes its applicability to the study of health behavior and attitudes. Asserts that this scale may prove most useful for studying clinical phenomena which are more dependent on communication and less dependent on income and…

Outlines a method for introducing poetry to two-year college students, many of whom have negative feelings about poetry after years of schooling that required them to read bad poems and that presented explication as a puzzling, frustrating activity. (FL)