Examination of the lexical proficiency of 24 near-native and 12 native senior high school speakers of Swedish found no consistent differences between the groups on measures of lexical density, lexical variation, and lexical sophistication. However, clear differences were seen in frequency of errors and in the distribution of error types. (CB)

Investigates the reactions of college professors to two 400-word English compositions (written by a native Chinese and a native Korean-speaking student). Results revealed that content received lower ratings than language; professors rated linguistic errors most seriously; humanities/social science professors were more lenient; older professors…

Describes how visual displays of their English speech patterns can be used to help native Chinese-speaking students to improve their English pronunciation. The distinct advantages of the technique over the more subjective teacher evaluations of students' pronunciation are discussed. (CB)

A study examining the mechanism of tone changes in the dialects of northern Chinese explored the geographic distribution on tone features manifested in 480 dialects. A set of prototypical tone patterns is proposed to form a basis for dialectal subgrouping and reconstruction of tone development. (Author/CB)

Evaluation of Chinese-speaking students' responses to a "Reporting Test" of oral proficiency in English as a foreign language indicated that the test may be valid and applicable for assessing oral proficiency. (CB)

Offers a typology of bilingual education in Malaysia, identifying four main types of transfer varieties (initial transfer, retransfer, circular transfer, and gradual transfer) of bilingual education and presenting an overview of bilingual education choices in Malaysia's public schools. (Author/CB)

A study investigating correlations between parents' and students' attitudes toward Hebrew and students' achievement in learning it as a second language found low and insignificant correlations between parents' and students' attitudes but high correlation between students' attitudes and achievement. (Author/CB)

Presents comparison of Cantonese and non-Cantonese students' expressed judgments of two samples of speech produced by same person but presented as coming from two different speakers. Although all students thought the better speaker would have a better chance for social advancement, Cantonese subjects who spoke with heavy Cantonese accents were…

Discusses the use of prepositional phrases as subjects and objects through consideration and analysis of: (1) characteristics of such phrases; (2) category status of prepositional phrases in typical noun phrase positions; and (3) sentences containing prepositional phrases in typical noun phrase positions. (CB)

This exploratory study compares the narratives of three Korean speakers living in the United States with those of two native English speakers. The subjects viewed the film, "The Red Balloon," and were given three tasks: to recount the events in the movie, to describe what they would relate to their friends about the movie, and to…

This paper discusses inclusion of the Russian language in European language resource development. It is suggested that European initiatives to develop language resources can not afford to ignore Russian, and that there is much work to do to resolve differences in resources on the two sides of the former Iron Curtain. A 1995 project, undertaken by…

This survey of the world's written languages consists of a series of historical sketches of different languages, each including a table of signforms in their standard order and their variations, but focusing primarily on how the sounds of the language are represented in writing. A brief text in the language(s) the script is used for is also…

A study of verb agreement and clause structure in Karaja, a Brazilian indigenous language of Macro-Je stock, discusses the subject and object agreement systems with relation to the Feature Specification Constraint. Implementation of the SOV order in Karaja is then analyzed and evidence is presented for the existence of a single functional phrase…

Papers in this volume include the following: "Evidence for Foot Structure in Hausa" (Ousseina Alidou); "Korean 'Tense' Consonants as Geminates" (Dong-Ik Choi); "Gemination Processes: Motivation, Form, and Constraints" (Mamadou Niang); "Syllable 'Sonority' Hierarchy and Pulaar Stress: A Metrical Approach"…

This journal is dedicated to the exchange of ideas related to language instruction in all its aspects--teaching, learning, and research. Each issue contains several articles presenting the latest findings on language teaching, learning, classroom strategies and techniques, and scholarly and applied research. Regular features include book reviews…