Three stages of the developing second language of a 3;9-3;11 year-old English-speaking child in an Urdu speech milieu were examined and compared with findings that have been accumulated about the order and process of first language acquisition. The study showed that in the development of many syntactic and morphological features the child used…

This paper proposes a broader and more rigorous approach to the analysis of errors produced by second language learners. As a supplement to longitudinal studies, a procedure called "lateralisation" is advocated as a way of providing the researcher with more data than is normally available through examination of learner text alone. In…

The purposes of this paper are to examine the effects of synchronic description in distinguishing between interference and integration in cases of language contact, and to suggest alternative methods of description suitable for the analysis of systems in motion. The "synchronic fallacy" is defined here as the belief that one can describe a…

This is a discussion of another phase of bilingualism--structural difficulties in the target language of the student which impede his second language acquisition. The paper focuses on errors in learning English which do not derive from transfers from another language, and which cannot be predicted from contrastive analysis. These are intralingual…

An approach to a contrastive analysis of phonologies for pedagogic purposes is illustrated through the discussion of selected problems of interference which arise in the teaching of Russian pronunciation to native speakers of American English. The need for a recognition of a hierarchy of errors and the importance of the phonetic level of analysis…

Discusses the reasons for the occurrence of spelling errors in the writing of a group of Arab learners of English. (Author/HP)

Investigation of the extent to which young bilingual children's code differentiation correlated with language mixing revealed that children who avoided using their other language when naming pictures of objects which were not known in one of the languages showed significantly less mixing in their speech than children who freely substituted words…

Discusses the design and interpretation of instrumental phonetic studies of second language (L2) speech production. The speech of L2 learners is evaluated to determine to what extent it diverges from the differing phonetic norms of L1, which are estimated from the speech of a small number of native speakers. (Author/LMO)

The phonemic-based view of teaching second language pronunciation is contrasted with a discourse-based view comprising segmental, voice-setting, and prosodic features. Research is surveyed on first language influence, the acquisition processes operative in second language phonology, psychosocial and individual factors, and the role of instruction.…

Describes an investigation into whether second language learners use knowledge of their first language to comprehend and produce idioms in the second language. Results showed identical idioms were the easiest to comprehend, similar idioms were comprehended almost as well, and different idioms were the most difficult to comprehend and produce.…

Discusses second language acquisition, the importance of comprehensible input to this acquisition, and the inadequacy of the theory of language interference as an explanation for errors in second language speech. The role of the teacher in the language classroom and the "procedural syllabus" are described. (SED)

Looks at the pedagogical aspects of the communicative approach, especially as it relates to syllabus design and authentic materials. Suggests that language teaching should integrate semantic and formal syllabi and combine authentic with specially written teaching materials. Argues that the communicative approach ignores the importance of the…

Examples of the differences between the oral language of Blacks and the standardized written language forced on them in English classrooms illustrate the need for teachers to appreciate language differences and to create a workable context for effective language instruction. (RL)

The development of German proficiency by a three-year-old Australian boy living in Germany was monitored for a five-month period. His command of German negation is reported. The study is seen as bearing on issues in first and second language acquisition, such as competence and interference. (JB)

Presents a historic overview and analysis of the Sardinian language (actually a system of dialects), and defines diglossia and bilingualism. A discussion focuses on research conducted in two junior high schools to determine the differences in linguistic behavior in two contrasting situations (village and city) in regard to Sardinian and Italian.…