An analysis of verbs in Tlingit, a U.S. Northwest Coast Indian language, begins with an overview of its situation and usage and of previous research. The second chapter sketches its phonological and syntactic characteristics. Subsequent chapters deal specifically with the verb. An analysis of verb categories distinguishes two groups: argumental…

A study explored the cognitive processes and social-situational influences underlying students' assessment of their own foreign language proficiency, focusing on process rather than result of self-evaluation. The subjects, 28 college student learners of French at different course levels, were administered a self-assessment questionnaire on the…

Papers in various aspects of phonological research and theory include: "One-Step Raising in Gbanu" (Mary Bradshaw); "ATR Harmony in Konni" (Mike Cahill); "Prosodic Structure in SiSwati" (Rebecca Herman); "The Deletion of /w/ in Seoul Korean and Its Implications" (Hyeon-Seok Kang); "Tense, Aspect, and…

Research has underscored the need to develop pragmatic competence in learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). Learners have a target community (native speakers) to both model themselves after and practice with. However, in English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) settings, this is not the case. Most learners will not use pragmatic competence at…

A study of two contemporary American novels, told in first-person narration, explored the distribution and function of relative clauses in literary narrative. For comparative purposes, data from oral conversation, 2 written expository works, 6 other novels, and 20 short oral narratives were also considered. Three types of relative clause are…

The history and development of research on Esperanto, a language created for universal communication, are reviewed. Discussion begins with the early context and intellectual tradition of efforts to create a universal language and proceeds to the creation of an Esperanto community and the context in which it operates currently. Expansion of the…

A study investigated the ways in which native and non-native speakers of Kiswahili close conversations. Native speaker data were obtained from observation and field notes, recorded face-to-face interactions, recorded telephone conversations, reconstructed dialogues, and televised plays. Non-native speaker (American) data were drawn from role-play…

A study compared (1) data on rejections of advice by native and non-native speakers collected from natural conversation with (2) data collected from a discourse completion task (DCT). Subjects were students in an academic advising session (13 native speakers, 11 non-native speakers of English) who responded to a DCT and students (18 native…

Two samples of college student writing, paragraphs from freshman compositions, are analyzed for presence or absence of two characteristics of literate prose, decontextualization and autonomy. Writing is decontextualized and autonomous when whatever is needed for its comprehension is included in the words of the text, and comprehension is not…

An analysis of the use of language in a social service context using microethnographic research techniques is described. The study examined a single interaction between a welfare caseworker and a client as they address the client's employment and educational options. The interaction was videotaped and a segment of just over a minute was analyzed…

The Whorfian Hypothesis, which states that the structure of one's language influences the understanding of reality, is examined in relation to the Chinese language and culture and to the English language and American culture. Examples supporting the Whorfian Hypothesis are offered in language relating to personal relationships. Research on the…

A study investigated the role of pragmatics, the factors that govern choice of language in social interaction, on interpretation of elliptical verb phrases (VPs) in spoken English by learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). Ellipsis requires the listener to recall the surface form of a presupposed element and to integrate it into the…

The four 1993 issues of this serialized bibliography, entirely in German except for titles in other languages, contain citations of journal articles, essays, studies, and instructional materials on aspects of modern language teaching. In each issue, an introductory section describes the bibliography's organization and lists related periodicals and…

In four experiments studying the think-aloud method, two first-year and two fifth-year students of translation were asked to produce a written translation from English into Finnish. This paper discusses the differences in how the two levels of students used various sorts of reference material. The fifth-year students proved to be very skillful and…

A review of the literature focuses on the use of the whole language approach to second language teaching in reading instruction for students of English as a Second Language (ESL). First, research on the whole language approach is explored, particularly as it has been used to teach reading. The approach itself is explained, and growth in its use is…