A study revealed two problems that influence Australian students' attitudes toward the learning of Indonesian. Internal problems related to use of teaching facilities. External problems included (1) lack of knowledge about Indonesia in Queensland, (2) lack of awareness of importance of learning Indonesian, (3) marginal position of Indonesian in…

Presents an analysis of code switching in the interaction between Japanese as a topic prominent language and English as a subject prominent language, using English sentences uttered by Japanese-English bilingual speakers in North America. A comparison is made with the early English interlanguage of a speaker of Hmong, another topic prominent…

Provides a brief account and explanation of the phenomenon of language use among the Baba community, which uses Hokkien, Malay, and English in the process of code selection and code mixing/switching. Data are drawn from recordings of conversation of the Babas and Nyonyas. (Author/OD)

A study investigated teacher, student, and supervisor attitudes toward and specific use of native Arabic in classes of English as a Second Language. Findings are reported, and recommendations for a systematic and purposeful use of the native language are made. (52 references) (MSE)

The quantification of communication network integration provides valuable information for the study of language change in very small rural communities such as Grossdorf, Austria. The approach is particularly relevant when study of aggregate group behavior has failed to yield results due to small sample size or group internal inconsistency. (26…

A study of college faculty and student attitudes toward artificial languages, particularly Esperanto, found faculty more knowledgeable but less enthusiastic than students about the languages. Faculty were less likely to see practical benefits in the knowledge and use of constructed languages, and less interested in seeing them taught or learning…

The audiolingual method and the counseling-learning approach (CL) to foreign language learning were compared in a study involving 29 students in a beginning Japanese course. The study was undertaken to learn whether an adaptation of CL would bring about significant changes in students' communicative and linguistic competence. (32 references) (CB)

Outlines 12 differences between American and Chinese culture. The different connotations of five lexical items are discussed. Social behavior discussed includes 1) response to a compliment or offer; 2) greetings; and 3) sending gifts. The Chinese and American forms of expressing time and location, and of confirming the premise of a question are…

Focuses on a real world technique used to teach language proficiency in the classroom. This method involves creating deliberate information and opinion gaps by administering pop quizzes and other communicative games and filling those gaps through cooperative action. Use of this technique generated heated discussion among students. (nine…

A sociolinguistic research project conducted in two adjacent Belgian villages with a Low Frankish-speaking population is reported. Questionnaire surveys measured the impact of the fixation of the linguistic frontier between the two villages on the local population's French/Dutch language behavior and attitudes. (Contains seven references.)…

Compares five textbook courses designed to teach Turkish. All proved disappointing with respect to course content but were well laid-out with good quality cassette recordings. The courses reviewed indicate how little consensus there is over what should go into a beginner's course. They also lacked appropriate milestones for the learner to evaluate…

Discusses some aspects of the Japanese language that look inexplicable at first but that turn out to be explainable by pragmatic principles shared with English. Focus is placed on how the Japanese choose a particular word to use in a sentence involving indirect quotations, when the words would be synonyms in other languages. (20 references) (GLR)

Evaluates the hypothesis that interlanguage is an efficient means of communicating referential information. The presentation includes review of evidence of the functional hypothesis in different forms of language; description of two studies of spoken English interlanguage of learners from different backgrounds; and discussion of the consequences…

Defines English phrasal verbs (EPVs) and analyzes Italian students problems when studying them. Through contrastive analysis of English and Italian syntax and study of student errors, important insights are offered. (over 100 references) (LET)

A contrastive textlinguistic study of rhetorical differences between texts written by academics with different cultural backgrounds is described. The results indicate that Anglo-American writers use more metatext or text about text than Finnish writers, suggesting a more reader-oriented attitude among Anglo-American writers. (27 references)…