This paper draws on data gathered from a five-month phenomenological study of middle school students' perceptions of the effects of computer-based technologies on a learning community in an online synchronous environment. Twenty-four eighth-grade students participated in the Web Pen Pals project, a university-secondary telecollaborative…

This study is an attempt to identify social interactions which fit into a Piagetian model for cognitive change, and specifically to examine the degree to which the frequency of those interactions predicts the rate of cognitive development. The subjects were 74 elementary school children enrolled in 19 K-4 classrooms. These children were in the…

This is the fifth annual compilation of graduate theses and dissertations in English as a second language (ESL). This series is intended to provide researchers in ESL, bilingual education, and related fields with specific information on current graduate-level studies. Each of the sixty-nine entries provides the writer's name, thesis or…

Discourse analysis has provided a methodology for the study of conversational interactions between language learner and native speaker. This study examines the verbal and nonverbal strategies that native speakers use when communicating with second language learners in natural, non-academic, "survival type" settings. The areas discussed include:…

This profile in outline form of the English language teaching situation in Canada discusses the role of English within Canadian society and within the educational systems in the provinces. The discussion takes place within the context of the Official Languages Act of 1969, which declared English and French official languages for all government…

Dialect writing in nineteenth-century America has been used as a source of evidence about popular American language and culture. Works employing dialect have been studied as documents embodying perceptions of the relation between character, role, and moral values on the one hand, and speech variety on the other. Critics have noticed the difference…

In accordance with the growing trend in language teaching philosophy towards assessing learner needs before choosing methods and materials, this study concentrates on the attitudes of final year bachelor degree program students towards learning and using English. These 821 students from Thailand, India, and Singapore were majoring in the fields…

It is possible to communicate effectively in a second language in spite of highly deviant pronunciation and grammar as long as messages are semantically coherent and message forms are reasonably appropriate. Until now, research in second language acquisition has focused principally on the processes through which non-native speakers move towards…

This study describes the syntactic features of Black English Vernacular (BEV) spoken by black characters in three black situation comedies on American television: "The Jeffersons,""Good Times," and "What's Happening." Using scripts and audio tapes of three episodes from each series during the 1977-78 television season, transcripts were made of…

This report of recommendations describes in detail the system for determining communication/language objectives (C/LOBS) within an instructional systems development (ISD) framework. C/LOBS was developed to support the front-end analysis efforts of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and functions as a subsystem of the ISD…

This executive summary describes the communication/language objectives-based system (C/LOBS) developed to support the front-end analysis efforts of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. The C/LOBS functions as a subsystem of the instructional systems development (ISD) approach currently in use in the TRADOC school system. The…

This handbook provides basic information about adult learning as it relates to acquiring another language. It is intended to serve as an introduction to more comprehensive study for instructors and tutors. The guide provides some information on the following subjects: (1) an outline of reasons for adapting existing textbook material and…

This guidebook was designed to assist sex equity coordinators in the Los Angeles Community College District in promoting the recruitment, retention, and placement of students in vocational programs that are non-traditional for their sex. The guidebook's first ten chapters present: (1) outlines of relevant legislation and legal guidelines for…

This profile of the English language teaching situation in Bangladesh discusses the role of English in the community and within the educational system. The amount of time devoted to English is discussed, as well as the syllabus used, the teaching staff, teacher training, and teaching materials. English instruction outside the educational system is…

The purpose of the study reported here was: (1) to determine whether any predictable relationships exist between the spoken language patterns of individuals and those individuals' ethnic attitudes; and (2) to identify the degree of association present among various selected demographic factors, language patterns, and ethnic attitudes. The…